Can I point out here that permissions on WoS are for WoS only, and the titles aren't there for the taking.
If this causes a lot of problems, we may have to look at other ways to make the archive available, such as user logins, restricted downloads, etc.,
It's not something that would be fun to do, but copyright holders clearly have a say into what happens to their titles, and we would hate to see more denied titles appearing...
but if it's funded and successful does this mean people writing software for the Speccy today have a new machine to write for?
What does it mean for WoS?
Basically - what does it mean!?
Well not something I would personally be interested in but I take my hat off to the team that have created VEGA. Chris is certainly one of the most knowledgeable people on Spectrum hardware so I would expect this device to be very accurate.
Also having the backing of Sir Clive certainly adds credibility although I am surprised he agreed given his alleged dislike of computer games.
Sir Clive talks about the importance of computer programming in his video but I assume the VEGA does not support this in any way? Personally I think a Nintendo DSi XL with ZXDS is a better handheld Spectrum than this.
Still I wish them luck as it seems to be for a good cause.
But why should the original creators allow their work to be used just because a donation is being made to charity? It's unfair and borderline illegal.
They don't have to if they don't want to. I'm sure no one is going to start chasing down developers that don't give Retro Computers permission to ship their titles
I've asked Retro not to include any of my games. They responded right away and asked for a list so they don't accidentally add them. Doesn't *sound* like they plan to get explicit permission for each game.
That sounds disappointing, I can only presume that Retro Computers assume that any game is available for inclusion unless the author categorically states his games should not be included.
Then how will the authors know until the Vega is released or the list of games to be included is released?
I'm beginning to think this device will not be able to play snapshots or other emulator formats we take for granted. (.scr screen files another example)
For developers this device would have been ideal for play testing new games in the environment they are intended for.
Shove it in your pocket, take it round a mates house, plug it in their telly and get their opinion on your latest project.
Can I point out here that permissions on WoS are for WoS only, and the titles aren't there for the taking.
If this causes a lot of problems, we may have to look at other ways to make the archive available, such as user logins, restricted downloads, etc.,
It's not something that would be fun to do, but copyright holders clearly have a say into what happens to their titles, and we would hate to see more denied titles appearing...
WoS REALLY needs to change the way the games it's been given permission to host are listed as 'freeware' - I object to that label being placed on what I've contributed. However you want to define it, the label itself is misleading.
WoS REALLY needs to change the way the games it's been given permission to host are listed as 'freeware' - I object to that label being placed on what I've contributed. However you want to define it, the label itself is misleading.
Am I missing something? Games aren't listed as freeware just because they've been granted distribution permission shirley.
The FAQ also says the device supports " all models of the Spectrum" including the 48k and the 128, and presumably the +3? Does this mean that it's using some on-board emulation to do its magic or just some clever hardware thingy to support all the models?
I've given this site permission to distribute my work but I think I'd like to update that to expressly forbid any commercial exploitation of the games.
This is not necessary. All permissions provided to WoS only refer to software distribution at WoS.
WoS REALLY needs to change the way the games it's been given permission to host are listed as 'freeware' - I object to that label being placed on what I've contributed. However you want to define it, the label itself is misleading.
According to Wikipedia, freeware means "software that is available for use at no monetary cost, but with one or more restricted usage rights such as source code being withheld or redistribution prohibited".
Don't you think this is a very accurate way to describe your Speccy software at WoS?
The FAQ also says the device supports " all models of the Spectrum" including the 48k and the 128, and presumably the +3? Does this mean that it's using some on-board emulation to do its magic or just some clever hardware thingy to support all the models?
I'm guessing (hey, everyone else in this thread is doing it, so why shouldn't I?!) it'll probably run a forked version of FUSE, which we know runs fine on a fairly low-spec ARM SoC (the Raspberry Pi).
Supply an SD card with it, containing control configuration files for around 1,000 games, and a little executable which prompts " Download Games From WoS ? Yes / No "
Add donations to charity to keep things smooth.
Rights holders and developers suddenly realise that they have been handed an opportunity to actually make money by supplying nicely retro packaged SD card games to thousands of people who have just proven they will pay money for nothing out of sheer enthusiasm for this beautiful new device.
Everyone has a group hug with uncle Clive.
The FAQ also says the device supports " all models of the Spectrum" including the 48k and the 128, and presumably the +3? Does this mean that it's using some on-board emulation to do its magic or just some clever hardware thingy to support all the models?
I'm 99.9% certain it will be a custom emulator running directly on the ARM.
I'm 99.9% certain it will be a custom emulator running directly on the ARM.
In which case I guess (yes, why not?) they wouldn't bother trying to emulate everything as "accurately" (TM) as possible seeing as how it's just a fun plug-n-play device. Which is just fine by me. :)
In which case I guess (yes, why not?) they wouldn't bother trying to emulate everything as "accurately" (TM) as possible seeing as how it's just a fun plug-n-play device. Which is just fine by me. :)
They would if they want everything to run properly. That and it's Chris doing it so I can't imagine he'll fudge the ULA emulation ;)
They would if they want everything to run properly. That and it's Chris doing it so I can't imagine he'll fudge the ULA emulation ;)
Why would they go to the bother of writing a whole new emulator from scratch rather than use FUSE (which is accurate enough to run every Speccy game apart the one or two that are deliberately fudged to require MEMPTR)? Seems like a no-brainer to me - they could even implement DRM and just supply a dummy private key in the forked source.
Why would they go to the bother of writing a whole new emulator from scratch rather than use FUSE (which is accurate enough to run every Speccy game apart the one or two that are deliberately fudged to require MEMPTR)? Seems like a no-brainer to me - they could even implement DRM and just supply a dummy private key in the forked source.
Would Fuse allowed to be used in a product that is not freely available?
Why would they go to the bother of writing a whole new emulator from scratch rather than use FUSE
So that they didn't have to have a cumbersome operating system stack underneath? I dunno, I'm speculating just as much as anyone else here, but why would you not write one from scratch that boots straight off the flash for something like this? You're going to have to write the game browser and graphics stuff from scratch anyway.
Writing a z80 core and ULA emulation from scratch should only take chris a week :)
So that they didn't have to have a cumbersome operating system stack underneath?
FUSE doesn't need any more cumbersome an operating system than anything else. Especially when you consider that they'll have to have filesystem support of some kind, plus support for USB HID if it's ever going to support plug in keyboards or joysticks. Writing custom drivers for all that rather than using some bare bones embedded operating system would be nutty.
FUSE doesn't need any more cumbersome an operating system than anything else. Especially when you consider that they'll have to have filesystem support of some kind, plus support for USB HID if it's ever going to support plug in keyboards or joysticks. Writing custom drivers for all that rather than using some bare bones embedded operating system would be nutty.
Reading files off an SD card is pretty trivial and there are plenty of projects that do that without having any sort of operating system. I can think of at least one free embedded FAT library you could use for that.
Comments
As an aside I also now wonder if the Vega would be suitable to be used in our hardware own projects.
If this causes a lot of problems, we may have to look at other ways to make the archive available, such as user logins, restricted downloads, etc.,
It's not something that would be fun to do, but copyright holders clearly have a say into what happens to their titles, and we would hate to see more denied titles appearing...
Well not something I would personally be interested in but I take my hat off to the team that have created VEGA. Chris is certainly one of the most knowledgeable people on Spectrum hardware so I would expect this device to be very accurate.
Also having the backing of Sir Clive certainly adds credibility although I am surprised he agreed given his alleged dislike of computer games.
Sir Clive talks about the importance of computer programming in his video but I assume the VEGA does not support this in any way? Personally I think a Nintendo DSi XL with ZXDS is a better handheld Spectrum than this.
Still I wish them luck as it seems to be for a good cause.
Merry Christmas
Paddy
They don't have to if they don't want to. I'm sure no one is going to start chasing down developers that don't give Retro Computers permission to ship their titles
At first I thought this was something like an android pc for smart tv. Just plug the console to the tv and control it with a wireless gamepad.
JSpeccy-win32-portable
Then how will the authors know until the Vega is released or the list of games to be included is released?
Q - What file format will work on the SD card?
A - The standard FAT filesystem.
That's sidestepping the issue somewhat!
I'm beginning to think this device will not be able to play snapshots or other emulator formats we take for granted. (.scr screen files another example)
For developers this device would have been ideal for play testing new games in the environment they are intended for.
Shove it in your pocket, take it round a mates house, plug it in their telly and get their opinion on your latest project.
If you cant do that its pretty pointless...
WoS REALLY needs to change the way the games it's been given permission to host are listed as 'freeware' - I object to that label being placed on what I've contributed. However you want to define it, the label itself is misleading.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
Am I missing something? Games aren't listed as freeware just because they've been granted distribution permission shirley.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
It certainly doesn't.
Kinda... yes.
This is not necessary. All permissions provided to WoS only refer to software distribution at WoS.
I cannot imagine a more efficient way to kill WoS!
According to Wikipedia, freeware means "software that is available for use at no monetary cost, but with one or more restricted usage rights such as source code being withheld or redistribution prohibited".
Don't you think this is a very accurate way to describe your Speccy software at WoS?
Add donations to charity to keep things smooth.
Rights holders and developers suddenly realise that they have been handed an opportunity to actually make money by supplying nicely retro packaged SD card games to thousands of people who have just proven they will pay money for nothing out of sheer enthusiasm for this beautiful new device.
Everyone has a group hug with uncle Clive.
I'm 99.9% certain it will be a custom emulator running directly on the ARM.
In which case I guess (yes, why not?) they wouldn't bother trying to emulate everything as "accurately" (TM) as possible seeing as how it's just a fun plug-n-play device. Which is just fine by me. :)
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
They would if they want everything to run properly. That and it's Chris doing it so I can't imagine he'll fudge the ULA emulation ;)
vbSpec is also GPL - I'd like to see them get running on an ARM cpu :)
So that they didn't have to have a cumbersome operating system stack underneath? I dunno, I'm speculating just as much as anyone else here, but why would you not write one from scratch that boots straight off the flash for something like this? You're going to have to write the game browser and graphics stuff from scratch anyway.
Writing a z80 core and ULA emulation from scratch should only take chris a week :)
Reading files off an SD card is pretty trivial and there are plenty of projects that do that without having any sort of operating system. I can think of at least one free embedded FAT library you could use for that.
If they were going with a bare metal approach they'd just make an ASIC, it'd be cheaper and easier than writing a ZX Spectrum emulator in ARM assembly
Why assume it would be written in assembly language?