Interesting project...

Part 1: http://lallafa.de/blog/2011/11/vamos-runs-amiga-cli-programs-on-my-mac/
Part 2: http://lallafa.de/blog/2011/11/inside-vamos-part-2/

@Shufflepuck

It is an interesting if a little strange project, as I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to run an Amiga Cli/ Shell utility on a Mac (notice it's intel only) that only as the author says uses the Exec & Dos library functions !!!

I mean what sort of even basic CLI/ Shell utility that only uses the exec & dos library would you use on a Mac, seems a very strange project the more I think about it...

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@Franko
From a programming standpoint, CLI commands are much faster to write and easier to implement. I can write a CLI command to perform a specifiic function in an hour while a GUI takes much longer. If you know some programming, CLI commands and scripts are a quick and effective way to get a job done. For example, I wanted to reformat some text files from a 100 character line length to 80 char line length. I wrote (in less than an hour) a quick command line program that reformats the text and a script that runs the program on every file in a directory. It would have taken me hours to load every file into a text editor or word processor and save reformatted copies.

Up until MAC OSX, I don't think MAC's even had a builtin command line (CLI) capapability. Modern MACs have CLI but I think the purpose of Vamos is to write Amiga (68k) programs without leaving the MAC environment. It's essentially a programming tool for writing Amiga programs on a MAC.

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X1000 with 2GB memory & OS4.1FE

@Xenic

I know plenty about coding CLI/Shell utils in assembler (been doing so for over 20 years) I actually prefer to work from the most part using the CLI/ Shell rather than Workbench...

Like I said I'm not quite sure what the purpose is behind this guys project but it's still interesting though. I don't think I'd like to write my utils on a Mac when it's much simpler to write them on my Amiga's which of course has the benefit of being able to bug fix and test them on the hardware on which they are designed to run without having to transfer them across from my Mac each time...

It's still a strange but interesting project no matter which way you look at it...

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It seems to be used quite the same way and have a similar behavior as Emumiga on AROS. Even the concept of the implementation using FD files is not so far away. Interestingly, it already proved to be more usable for what it does, as MagerValp reported to have successfully ran AmigaE compiler with Vamos!

Thank you Shufflepuck for having shared the info!

@Franko

Sounds like something someone would take on as part of a masters degree program. Reminds me of the DosBox project in many respects.

@Ball000

Reminds me of Emumiga as well! At this stage I see it somewhat as an exercise, being a 68k CPU emulator and system interface, but the thing is it intercepts exec and dos library calls mapping them to OSX. Theoretically the same approach could be used to run AmigaOS4+ applications...

Last edited by Shufflepuck on 26-Nov-2011 at 08:04 PM.

@ferrels

No idea what the DosBox project is (sounds like something for the homeless) but even if it's only part of a degree project it would need an awful lot more than just using the exec & dos library routines to create anything useful...

Maybe it's the start of a new Amiga emulator for the Mac now that would really be interesting...

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@Shufflepuck

The os4 bit is interesting. Maybe it could be done like os4emu on morphos...

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@Shufflepuck
A major major project if he really takes it to completion. I wish him luck.

@Franko

Quote:

It is an interesting if a little strange project, as I can't for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to run an Amiga Cli/ Shell utility on a Mac (notice it's intel only) that only as the author says uses the Exec & Dos library functions !!!

If I understand this project correctly, one has to learn to crawl before one can learn to walk. This is indeed an important milestone in a very long marathon. I wish him well, this is a huge project to complete.

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Dammy

@damocles

Not a big fan of emulators to be honest, I have on my iMacs VIC 20, C64 & SNES emulators but I much prefer to use the real hardware for all three of those platforms...

On the C64 I use the C64 MMC64 cartridge which does away with tapes & floppies as it uses an SD Card which hold every C64 Games/ Programmes ever written...

On the SNES I just recently purchased the EverDrive for it which again uses an SD Card and holds (almost) every SNES game ever sold...

Just wish someone would make such a device for the VIC 20...

However I would be interested in this this guys project if it were to be an actual Amiga Emulator for the MAC, not that it would replace my real hardware but just more out of interest to see how well it could emulate the Amiga and have it running on a Mac, heck it may even actually have some use if that were the case...

Either way it's should be interesting to follow it's development...

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@Franko

Quote:

Not a big fan of emulators to be honest,

It's not an emulator, it's a translator.

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Dammy

@Shufflepuck

Funny how far the tables have turned.

It's gone from running Mac OS faster than a Mac could (Shape Shifter)
To a Mac running AMIGA OS faster than an AMIGA

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It's not the question that's the problem, it's the problem that's the question.

@damocles

Quote:

damocles wrote: It's not an emulator, it's a translator.

According to the author, it's an emulator. Just because it doesn't emulate an entire machine doesn't mean it's not emulating something...

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RobTheNerd.com | InstallerGen | SMBMounter | Atoms-X

@Franko

Quote:

On the C64 I use the C64 MMC64 cartridge which does away with tapes & floppies as it uses an SD Card which hold every C64 Games/ Programmes ever written...

I seriously doubt it holds every single C64 program, especially considering there's a HUGE amount of software that can't be run with an MMC64 ;)

Quote:

Just wish someone would make such a device for the VIC 20...

For example the 1541ultimate works fine with the Vic-20 (and I prefer it on the C64 too, instead of the crappy MMC64)

@Britelite

Quote:

Britelite wrote: @Franko Quote: On the C64 I use the C64 MMC64 cartridge which does away with tapes & floppies as it uses an SD Card which hold every C64 Games/ Programmes ever written... I seriously doubt it holds every single C64 program, especially considering there's a HUGE amount of software that can't be run with an MMC64 ;) Quote: Just wish someone would make such a device for the VIC 20... For example the 1541ultimate works fine with the Vic-20 (and I prefer it on the C64 too, instead of the crappy MMC64)

You're obviously not a fan of the MMC64 but it sure as hell aint crap...

You can use the 1541 Ultimate if you want that's your choice but it's not mine...

Just for your information I have over 6,000 titles on the MMC64, tape images & floppies images, pretty sure I have everything amongst that little lot that was ever released for the C64...

Thing is, I'm very happy with the MMC64 and whether you THINK it's crappy or THINK I have everything on it, honestly I couldn't really care less as to what you THINK or your opinions on the MMC64...

It's amazing what some folk THINK others have in their collections when they know nothing about that person or their collection...

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@Franko

Quote:

Just for your information I have over 6,000 titles on the MMC64, tape images & floppies images, pretty sure I have everything amongst that little lot that was ever released for the C64...

As I already said, there's such a huge load of stuff that doesn't work with the MMC64 (including anything with a custom diskloader, which already leaves out hundreds, if not thousands of demos).

Quote:

It's amazing what some folk THINK others have in their collections when they know nothing about that person or their collection...

I most certainly know you're collection is far from complete, no need to guess here ;)

Edit: Oh, and to back up my claim, CSDB (C-64 Scene Database) lists over 90000 releases for the C-64, and that's mostly demoscene-related. And even if there are duplicates and so on, it's quite a bit more than your 6000 titles ;)

Last edited by Britelite on 29-Nov-2011 at 03:25 PM.

@Britelite


Quote:

As I already said, there's such a huge load of stuff that doesn't work with the MMC64 (including anything with a custom diskloader, which already leaves out hundreds, if not thousands of demos).

Well first of Demos aren't a part of my collection and there is no custom diskloader that can't be cracked or hasn't been cracked to run from the MMC64, I can assure you I haven't come across a single C64 Disk Image file that I can't run from the MMC64, obviously you don't know too much about the MMC64 or the C64...

Quote:

I most certainly know you're collection is far from complete, no need to guess here ;) Edit: Oh, and to back up my claim, CSDB (C-64 Scene Database) lists over 90000 releases for the C-64, and that's mostly demoscene-related. And even if there are duplicates and so on, it's quite a bit more than your 6000 titles ;)

You most certainly know nothing of the sort... and your guesses are just that... guesses...

As I have said I don't consider demos to be part of my collection only commercial games & utility software and some PD/ Shareware releases. Of those 90000 releases you speak of the vast majority are demos and also consist of doubles of the same games released under another title in different countries...

I haven't even half filled the SD card yet and the 6000 odd titles I do have on it are less than one third of the total number of files I have stored in my collection on DVD's & HD's which I haven't got round to putting on the SD yet...

So get back to me when you can actually say something factual and accurate instead of "guessing" what you think is right, cos you haven't got a clue about anything your saying or rather guessing about here so far...

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@Franko

Quote:

Well first of Demos aren't a part of my collection and there is no custom diskloader that can't be cracked or hasn't been cracked to run from the MMC64

And with a 1541ultimate you don't even need to modify or crack the loader, the software actually works directly ;)

Quote:

I can assure you I haven't come across a single C64 Disk Image file that I can't run from the MMC64, obviously you don't know too much about the MMC64 or the C64...

I can provide you with a huge load of diskimages that won't work with the MMC64. Being an active C64-developer and actually having owned an MMC64 (and the MMC-Replay), I really do know what I'm talking about, and know why they're in my opinion crap. The fact that the 1541ultimate runs more software than the MMC64 (with and without modification) makes it the superior device in my book.

Quote:

As I have said I don't consider demos to be part of my collection only commercial games & utility software and some PD/ Shareware releases.

So, you in fact don't have an "SD Card which hold every C64 Games/ Programmes ever written..." ;) Not even close...

Quote:

So get back to me when you can actually say something factual and accurate instead of "guessing" what you think is right, cos you haven't got a clue about anything your saying or rather guessing about here so far...

I don't need to guess, I know for a fact that someone who claims he's got a "complete" collection of c64-software never has one ;) And the fact that you claim to run everything off of an MMC64 is also a dead giveaway.

But hey, you seem to like the MMC64, and that's ok with me. I wasn't able to enjoy it as it flat out couldn't run all the software I wanted to run, since it couldn't emulate a diskdrive. But for someone who just plays games it's probably an okayish device, even though I do prefer a device that is more compatible ;)