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Re: Executor Macintosh Emulator for DOS



>>>>> "Haghani" == Haghani Sasha <a228hagh@cdf.toronto.edu> writes:
    Haghani> Hi there.  I recently got the Executor Linux 1.99 demo on
    Haghani> the InfoMagic Slackware CDs, and happy to discover that
    Haghani> there existed Macintosh emulators for both Linux and DOS.
    Haghani> I have some questions about the emulator though...

Just out of curiosity, what version of Executor ships on those CD's?

For future reference, most of your questions are more appropriate for
"questions@ardi.com" than for this mailing list.  However, the answers
to some of your questions may enlighten others, so I'll cc: my
response to the list.

    Haghani> 1) Does it currently or will it support System 7 in the
    Haghani> near future?

No, although we have long term plans to do so.  We may "spoof" a
subset of System 7 to get some apps to run.

    Haghani> 2) Will HyperCard 2.2 run on it?

HyperCard has a few problems, but more or less runs.  To be honest,
we've done most of our testing with HyperCard 2.1.  Our usual answer
to questions like this is "try it with the free demo version of
Executor and see if it runs adequately."

    Haghani> 3) I ran the Linux demo on a 386DX/40 and it was very
    Haghani> slow (as expected of course).  Does the emulator run
    Haghani> substantially better on higher CPUs?  I'm considering
    Haghani> buying a Pentium 90.  With this chip and Executor and 16
    Haghani> MB of RAM, which Macintosh system would this setup be
    Haghani> comparable to?

We do most of our development on P90's running Linux.  Speedometer
3.23 (a widely available Mac benchmarking app) claims that Executor's
raw CPU emulation on a Pentium/90 is roughly equivalent to a 50MHz
68040.  We get such good performance by translating the 68k program to
x86 code "on the fly" and running the translated code.  Graphics
performance suffers a little under Linux because we need to go through
the X server, but it's not too bad.

    Haghani> 4) Which of the two versions, Executor/DOS or
    Haghani> Executor/Linux is faster, more stable and more recent?

Version 1.99h is available for both DOS and Linux.  1.99h has a few
serious problems, especially the DOS version; you may want to wait for
1.99i, which will be out sometime in the next few days (hopefully
before Tuesday).  The Linux version is more stable than the DOS
version because Linux provides a more robust environment than DOS.
Graphics under the DOS version are faster because we speak directly to
the SVGA board.  We could write an svgalib version for Linux (I
believe DOOM uses this under Linux), but that's a fairly low priority.

    Haghani> 5) Where can I get a copy of the Executor/DOS demo?

ftp.cs.unm.edu:/pub/ardi has our FAQ and the latest versions of all
Executors, including the DOS demos.  As I mentioned earlier, you may
want to wait a few days for 1.99i to be released.

    Haghani> Any additional information you can provide regarding the
    Haghani> Executor demo and its features for both DOS and Linux
    Haghani> would be much appreciated.  Thanks

You should check out the FAQ on ftp.cs.unm.edu:/pub/ardi for more
information.

-Mat


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