AppleWin/linux.md

Linux

Structure

There are 4 projects

• libapple: the core emulator files
• applen: a frontend based on ncurses
• qapple: Qt frontend
• sa2: SDL2 frontend
• libra2: a libretro core

The main goal is to reuse the AppleWin source files without changes: only where really necessary the AppleWin source files have been modified.

What works

Almost everything works, except the serial port, SNES-MAX and FourPlay.

The UI has been rewritten in Qt or ImGui.

The rest works very well. Uthernet I is supported via libpcap, but it requires elevated capabilities:

sudo setcap cap_net_raw=ep ./sa2

Unfortunately, this must be reapplied after every build.

Most of the debugger now works (in the ImGui version).

New features

Uthernet II is supported too and by default uses libslirp which does not require elevated capabilities. Use the ImGui settings to enable it.

libslirp is not packaged on Raspberry Pi OS. libpcap will be used instead, unless the user manually compiles and installs libslirp.

Audio files can be read via the cassette interface (SDL Version). Just drop a wav file into the emulator. Tested with all the formats from asciiexpress.

Executables

sa2

This is your best choice, in particular the ImGui version.

TL;DR: just run sa2

See sa2 for more details.

applen

Frontend based on ncurses, with a ASCII art graphic mode.

Keyboard shortcuts

• F2: reset the machine
• F3: terminate the emulator
• F11, F12: Save, Load Snapshot
• ALT-RIGHT: wider hi res graphis
• ALT-LEFT: narrower hi res graphics
• ALT-UP: vertical hi res (smaller)
• ALT-DOWN: vertical hi res (bigger)

In order to properly appreciate the wider hi res graphics, open a big terminal window and choose a small font size. Try CTRL- as well if ALT- does not work: terminals do not report a consistent keycode for these combinations.

The joystick uses evdev (--device-name /dev/input/by-id/id_of_device).

qapple

This is based on Qt.

• keyboard shortcuts are listed in the menu entries
• joystick: it uses QtGamepad
• emulator runs in the main UI thread
• Qt timers are very coarse: the emulator needs to dynamically adapt the cycles to execute
• the app runs at 60FPS with correction for uneven timer deltas.
• full speed when disk spins execute up to 5 ms real wall clock of emulator code (then returns to Qt)
• audio is supported and there are a few configuration options to tune the latency (default very conservative 200ms)
• Open Apple and Solid Apple can be emulated using AltGr and Menu (unfortunately, Alt does not work well)
• yaml files can be dropped to restore a saved state

ra2

There is an initial libretro core.

A retropad can be plugged in port 1 (with or without analog stick).

Keyboard emulation

• JOYPAD_R: equivalent to F9 to cycle video types
• JOYPAD_L: equivalent to CTRL-SHIFT-F6 to cycle 50% scan lines
• START: equivalent to F2 to reset the machine

In order to have a better experience with the keyboard, one should probably enable Game Focus Mode (normally Scroll-Lock) to disable hotkeys.

Video works, but the vertical flip is done in software.

Audio (speaker) works.

Must be manually configured: cmake -DLIBRETRO_COMMON_PATH=/path/to/libretro-common

Easiest way to run from the build folder: retroarch -L source/frontends/libretro/applewin_libretro.so ../bin/MASTER.DSK

Build

The project can be built using cmake from the top level directory.

qapple can be managed from Qt Creator as well and the 2 have coexisted so far, but YMMV.

Checkout

git clone https://github.com/audetto/AppleWin.git --recursive
cd AppleWin
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE ..
make

Fedora

On Fedora 35, from a fresh installation, install all packages from fedora.list.txt.

Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu and other Debian distributions

Install all packages from raspbian.list.txt.

You can use sudo apt-get -y install $(cat raspbian.list.txt) for an automated installation.

See Travis CI too.

Packaging

It is possible to create .deb and .rpm packages using cpack. Use cpack -G DEB or cpack -G RPM from the build folder. It is best to build packages for the running system.

Speed

Fedora

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz

Full update = 582 MHz

Video Stype	Video update
RGB Monitor	39
NTSC Monitor	27
Color TV	25
B&W TV	27
Amber Monitor	31

Raspbian

Pi 3B+

Full update = 54 MHz

Video Stype	Video update
RGB Monitor	5.3
NTSC Monitor	3.6
Color TV	2.6
B&W TV	2.9
Amber Monitor	4.5