Best Turbo emulator with CD support?

[Joe Redifer]

Please... your not a programmer, so quit talking out your ass.

I'm not talking out of my ass, but the developers are programming out of theirs.  This app is made for programmers, not for people to actually use and enjoy.  People who like command lines usually forget that we lower-than-scum non-programmers like to use their fruits of labor as well.

Anyway, thanks for the tips.  I'll give 'em a try.

[Joe Redifer]

When I type that command line, Windows cannot locate mednafed.  If I use the frontend, the System Card loads, but the only thing that happens when I press start is the "Just a Moment" screen comes u, but the inserted CD never loads.  There also seems to be no way for the program to recognize my Xbox 360 controller.  I can type in what keyboard keys I want it to use, but hell if I know how Windows deals with joysticks.  A person could become very popular by making a usable version of this emulator for real people.

[Keranu]

LOL, yeah.  My problem is that Magic Engine costs $$$ that I don't want to pay.  I don't recall being able to get it to capture screenshots very well, though I'm sure it can.  Also I don't think Magic Engine screen caps are in he game's native resolution.

ME is fantastic for screen caps. Set the capture button to whatever you'd like and you can take captures quick and easy and they'll be displayed in their correct resolution (even past the standard 256x224). ME is my favorite emulator for taking screenshots.

I was sooo pissed when I first tried setting up Mednafen too! I'm still not completely pleased with my results since I can't figure out how to set the correct pixel aspect ratio (don't worry, the screenshots come out in there native resolution), but overall it's a nice accurate emulator. If you give it enough patience, you'll finally be able to run a game and it feels great .

[Joe Redifer]

Yeah, I noticed that about the screen caps.  As long as they're fine, then that's cool.  But I can only capture the System Card screen.  I'm sure I can get HuCards to run, but that's not what I want to do and I also don't want to use the keyboard.  I'll try downloading Windows MagicEngine and see if it pleases me, but again I don't want to pay for it.  I rarely use emulators except when doing screen grabs.

EDIT:  The Windows version of Magic Engine is even worse than the Mac version!  God I hate Windows with such a passion.

[GUTS]

Don you have access to a modded Xbox?  Mednafen on Xbox has an awesome GUI and loads discs from the xbox's dvd drive, plus it runs nearly every PCE game flawlessly.

[Joe Redifer]

That's right, I forgot about those Xbox emulators.  Obviously my Xbox is modded since I want to get some worth out of the thing.  And those emulators even offer screen caps as well.  Everything is taken care of.  Thanks guys!

[SignOfZeta]

I didn't even know there was an OSX version of Magic Engine...

Anyway, about command lines and front ends. Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this, he is, at the same time, absolutely correct. Why any command line interface exists anywhere in life is beyond me. Its just...staggering to think that a person would write something as complex as an emulator, something I have only the vaguest understanding of, and the clothe it in a pretentious layer of L337-ness like a command line interface so that %99 of the world will never even be able to use it. WTF is the point in this? A front-end is barely more difficult to make than a functional web page. The program is %99 done, just do the last little bit so that it will actually work.

I don't have to be a programmer to know that not having a GUI is f*cking stupid. I don't know anything about the world of high rolling corporate finance, but I'm sure that the Ford Motor Company is run by a bunch of very well educated retards if it just keeps losing money and laying off people for decades in a row. Something is wrong. I don't know what it is, but the evidence is clear.

The idea that I'm a dumb-ass because I don't like having a readme open at the same time as a program, alt-tab-ing over and over because I need to refer to it every single time I do any single thing, or because I can't remember how to spell a word that isn't actually a word, or because I forgot the exact string syntax I need, is, frankly, a bunch of crap.

[Joe Redifer]

Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this

I prefer "overly abrasive prick", thankyew.   

[malducci]

I didn't even know there was an OSX version of Magic Engine...

Anyway, about command lines and front ends. Although Joe Redifer is being his usual a$$hole self about this, he is, at the same time, absolutely correct. Why any command line interface exists anywhere in life is beyond me. Its just...staggering to think that a person would write something as complex as an emulator, something I have only the vaguest understanding of, and the clothe it in a pretentious layer of L337-ness like a command line interface so that %99 of the world will never even be able to use it. WTF is the point in this? A front-end is barely more difficult to make than a functional web page. The program is %99 done, just do the last little bit so that it will actually work.

I don't have to be a programmer to know that not having a GUI is f*cking stupid. I don't know anything about the world of high rolling corporate finance, but I'm sure that the Ford Motor Company is run by a bunch of very well educated retards if it just keeps losing money and laying off people for decades in a row. Something is wrong. I don't know what it is, but the evidence is clear.

The idea that I'm a dumb-ass because I don't like having a readme open at the same time as a program, alt-tab-ing over and over because I need to refer to it every single time I do any single thing, or because I can't remember how to spell a word that isn't actually a word, or because I forgot the exact string syntax I need, is, frankly, a bunch of crap.

You guys are probably around my age (31) so you should've grown up around a command prompt? Did you use a MAC all your life?

 There are a lot of people that are not programmers that used the command prompt. If you can't be bothered to take the time to learn to use it, then you can't be bothered to take the time to learn to use it. Simple as that, not it's "crap" or "WTF!" or "not having a GUI is f*cking stupid". You don't like, don't use it. There are alternatives. There's no need to bash people who can and do use it. It's not the programmers duty to cater to windoz or MAC zealots.

 It's funny, there are even hackers that won't use mednafen and other apps because they're command line based. Instead, they'll use a inferior app or nothing at all ( or by hand - hex editor). That! just blows my f*cking mind. This newer generation is hopeless, I swear. It's the age of GUI and bloat-ware.


Joe, how are going to get the screen shots off the xbox?

[Joe Redifer]

FTP

[SignOfZeta]

Yes, I used plenty of command line on my P.E.T., and my C64, and my 8088 machines. I've also loaded programs from analog audio cassettes. That shit is over. There is no logical, practical reason to use command line. It requires memorization, perfect syntax, and a pre-existing knowledge of all the program's commands (or a lot of alt-tabing) since discovering features is...pretty much totally impossible. In a GUI-based app you can find stuff by just poking around, in a command line app...well, I suppose you could find stuff by just randomly typing stuff into it, but I don't see how.

You really can't do much with a command line anyway since its a one dimensional input scheme. Computer's do great things for us these days. They are used to plan a shuttle mission for NASA, edit a photo, remove cancer with lasers, monitor a cars engine performance, create music, blah blah blah, and honestly using a command line for any of that stuff is pretty much impossible, or at least so impractical as to be never achieved.

I know people who champion the command line interface. I also know people who collect guns, and lift a lot of weights. Both of these people complain about this "generation", and honestly they are the real zealots. I'm not trying to prove anything, I'm just trying to get work/play done on a computer and if I can do it by clicking on a box, rather than searching for some shit to type into a box, that's the way its going to be done.

Now that I think about it, the reason so many underground apps use a command line is obvious; the authors of such programs are championing a dead cause in the only way they know how. I mean, you just can't do anything like Photoshop with a command line. Its just impossible. However, it is possible to run vintage ROMs that way, so they neuter their programs to prove what spoiled zealots we are. Its a shame because I really would like to try Mednafen, but after f*cking with it for 40 minutes or so I just gave up.

[Odonadon]

I'm perfectly comfortable with a command-line myself, but I'm rather techy and that's the only way I can do most of my work (telnet, ssh, Linux, etc.) but I see where Joe and gang are coming from.   In the world of Windows, it's rather silly to have the command-line program and a separate front-end.  I'm with them here - Mednafen for Windows *should* come with a GUI.

OD

[Joe Redifer]

Actually I grew up drawing complex pictures on Apple-based computers by typing line by line.  I create web pages by typing pure HTML in a bare-bones text editor.  Something passed back and forth between programmers during development certainly doesn't need a GUI, but once something is released to the general public, it should have one.  Granted, many emulators never even get up to version 1 and they have "beta" attached to them frequently.  Personally I don't care what hackers use.  They are of little importance.  I don't group them with programmers.  Command line is not hard to learn, but I don't want to have to learn the specifics of each program since they will all undoubtedly have different options and whatnot.  If I am trying to create something like a web page, then it is fine because I feel I have more control with less bloated code.  But for something just to use?  GUI is best.

[ccovell]

They probably don't even understand the concept of a GUI.  And again, I bet they have glasses and/or ponytails.

Chances are very good that the author of Mednafen has a ponytail, 'cause she's a girl.   

But I do agree 100% with Joe; command-line-only programs are not only a thing of the past, but a vile thing of the past.  Of course, the fact that Mednafen is a portable emulator across different platforms makes its console-onlyness understandable, but look at iNES for an example of an emu that's been ported to many platforms but has kept its excellent GUI on all of them.

And it isn't a matter of DOS folks being more macho than wimpy Mac-OS tit-clutchers... think about your modern word processor, like Word, with its myriad menus that while complicated, are easy to get around and figure out for beginners.  Then think back if you can to the WordStar days, when you had to print out the key-command list and pin it to your wall and keep going back to it; or print out the function-key shortcuts, laminate the sheet, and tape it above your function keys.  Remember those days?  I don't want to go back to them...

[Keranu]

I love command line .