home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
ST-Computer Leser 2002 January
/
STC_CD_01_2002.iso
/
MAGAZIN
/
CHOSNECK
/
CHOS_1ST.001
/
CHOSNECK.1ST
/
STUFF
/
DATAS.ZIP
/
ART26.SCR
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
2001-12-23
|
7KB
|
128 lines
<head>
<title="...forever...">
<font=monaco10.fnt>
<image=back.raw w=256 h=256 t=-1>
<buf=1770>
<bgcolor=-1>
<background=0>
<link_color=128>
<module=console.mod>
<pal=back.pal>
colors:
251 - black
</head>
<body>
<frame x=0 y=0 w=640 h=1400 b=-1 c=-1>
<f0><c253>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F A C E T O F A C E W I T H F A M O U S P E O P L E
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
::: ::::::: ::::::: :::::: ::::::: ::: ::: ::: :::::: ::: :::
::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::
::: ::: ::: ::: :::::::: ::::::: ::: ::: ::: :::::::: ::: : :::
::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::: ::::
::: ::: ::: ::: :::::: ::: ::: :::::: ::: :::::: ::: :::
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interview with: Darren Birks
author of STew - WinSTon based emulator
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trophy: When did you buy your first ST?
STew: Hmm...About 1987/88 I think. It was a brand new 1040STFM with TOS
v1.02 which my parents bought to replace the outdated Acorn
Electron we had at the time. This STFM is currently sitting less
than 3 metres away from me as I type this now. :) Just got an STE
(Thank to Womble) so this should be interesting research :)
Trophy: Why have you decided to take WinSTon sources and make STew emu?
STew: Actually, there is more to this than most people know. I had
received the source code to WinSTon v0.2r2 over a year ago and had
spent a great deal of time studying it. Later I received the FULL
source code to WinSTon v0.4 (just before it was released). Because
I'd had a lot longer to study the code structure than most I felt
I was the obvious person to take over the project. At first I did
not want to (publicy, anyhow) because Paul had released the source
code in a restricted form. The SourceForge development team was
formed and Andreas asked me to help him, the first task to re-
implement the missing features such as the GUI. I did not think
this was fair because Paul went to the trouble of removing them,
so I decided not to help at that time. When Paul released the full
source code due to a hacker, it meant I could start development. I
have not heard much from the SourceForge team so I carried on as a
sole developer.
Trophy: What is the most difficult problem for you while writing it?
Have you encountered any special difficulties?
STew: Well, the first problem was understanding the technical documents.
It took me a long time to figure out the BLiTTER chip despite the
excellent documents, because there were small parts I did not
understand. Also the way memory locations are intercepted is ok,
but adding more entires to it makes it hard to follow. I also
found a slight problem with the implementation of this intercept
method which was messing up the BLiTTER chip code for a long time.
Implementing STE DMA sound is hard because I have absolutly no
experience both in sound theory and in sound programming, although
I am still working on it.
Trophy: What is the strongest and the weakest side of your emulator?
STew: GEMDOS emulation on virtual hard drives causes lots of problems.
So far I have found numerous problems with certian functions.
Sound emulation (especially SID sound support) has problems in
some games and demos. Overscan emulation is very weak (This has
never really been right in my opinion) and I am working on making
this much more reliable. On the stronger side, most games work
very well. My BLiTTER chip emulation is very reliable even though
a small amount of work still needs to be done. It's amazing how
buggy some other emulators handle the BLiTTER chip. PaCifiST did
not even emulate the BLiTTER even though the documents said it
did (sic!), even the option to enable/disable it was available due
to this bodge. WinSTon / STew has no 'bodges' like this.
It is very accurate.
Trophy: Was it the first emulator you have written? Have you written
any emulators of other computers ?
STew: I have worked on a previous emulator (both the name and system
shall remain nameless due to my emulator never been released)
which I abandoned due to certian lamers in the scene.
Trophy: When can we expect a new version of STew?
STew: Thats the question everyone is asking :) Dunno. Initially I said
January, but I have been very busy with University related work
(I'm in my final year studying for a degree in computing). But
STew is NOT dead, and a new version WILL be released soon.
Check out the screenshot at http://www.atarigames.net
Trophy: What is your favourite game? (ST only)
STew: Too many! Main favourites include:
- Operation Stealth
- Lemmings / Oh No! More Lemmings
- Turrican / Turrican 2
Trophy: What is your hobby?
STew: You mean I am allowed a life outside of coding STew? :) Erm...
programming (C,ASM etc. Currently learning Dark Basic).
Trophy: Any words you could say to ST fans?
STew: I still need help from anyone who has experience is programming
for the Atari ST (especially the STE) to assist with the coding
of STew, by writing test programs which I can debug, etc. Keep
waiting...
- - --- --- -- ----------------------------------------------------------------
CHOSNECK magazine contact us:
we're listenin' 2 da voice of da scene! atarimsb@wp.pl
------------------------------------------------------ ---- ---- --- ------ ---
</frame>
</body>