[Coco] Best emulator for Windows nowadays?

[Steve Strowbridge]

Currently, there are three ways to emulate the CoCo;

1. VCC - Windows Only - emulates CoCo 1/2/3
2. MAME (MESS is now included as part of MAME) - cross platform, emulates
CoCo 1/2/3/Dragon/MC-10, et. al,
3 XROAR - cross platform - emulates CoCo 1/2/Dragon

VCC is by far the simplest, and is a self-contained .EXE file that is
pretty much plug and play, that last version of VCC is 2.something the 1.x
series is out dated.  VCC is simple to use, but has not actually been
updated in roughly a year, and there are some known emulation compatibility
issues with is, as well as a few random Windows/PC issues on occasion with
permissions, video driver compatibility with Windows, 10, etc.

XRoar is the 2nd easiest to use, the only "techie" thing you need to do is
to drag ROM files into the directory for the system you wish to emulate,
and in the Case of the CoCo, you'd need the BASIC, Extended BASIC, and Disk
BASIC ROMS to run everything, similar with Dragon ROMS.

The only "issues" I've found with XROAR are running cartridges, and some
very random compatibility issues with some CoCo games, and occasional sound
"glitches" where data coming through the 6-bit DAC continue to produce
"buzzing" noises, this is not 100% consistent with all programs, but it has
occurred.  Xroar is actively updated by it's author, and member of this
list, Ciaran Anscomb, so questions/issues/bugs can be reported and are
addressed.  Xroar also has some of the best artifact color emulation at
this point.

Last but not least, we have MAME/MESS, the current version is somewhere
around .187 or .188 and if you're running anything older, you really should
update.

MAME, being the large beast that it is, is designed to emulate literally
every arcade system on the planet, and MESS, being now part of the project,
is designed to emulate every home computer and video game console on the
planet, and the project is handled by a team of (hundreds? dozens?) of
people around the world, and has a regular update/release cycle of
(monthly?) versions.

The good:  MAME is probably the single best across the board solid emulator
with some of the highest level of emulation compatibility across the entire
CoCo line from the CoCo 1/2/2b/3/3h, etc.  The artifact colors are pretty
darn good, but Ciaran upped the ante with Xroar recently.  I've yet to
experience any of the DAC/Joystick/Sound issues, and, things like the
Speech and Sound Cartridge emulation have been added recently, which no
other emulators currently support.

The bad;  setup is less than plug and play, ROM files need to be dragged
into the ROM directory, user settings require some tweaking, and the
built-in UI is, to be fair, as well as an under statement, less than
elegant.  This UI can be augmented, on Windows, at least with a tool called
MESS UI that gives you a menu bar and some more direct access to mount
floppies, etc.

Like many other projects and topics in the CoCo community, there is
fragmentation in the adoption/support/awareness and fairness about "the
truths" of these products.  From my own experience I have spent a lot of
time using, researching and learning about all of them, and currently my
favorites are both MAME and XROAR, I lean a little more towards MAME at the
moment for both the Speech and Sound Pack emulation, and the slightly
cleaner sound, but I'll still run XROAR quite a bit for CoCo 1/2 stuff.

I have links to the various emulators and ROMS on my web site
http://imacoconut.com and I have over 200 videos I've been doing on YouTube
for the past 2 years, all of which started on VCC, because I didn't even
have a real CoCo when I started, and over time, I've transitioned away from
VCC, initially because of the very harsh way it emulated the artifact
colors, but also due to the fact that certain things didn't run well.

On my YouTube channel, there are videos showing how to set up and use VCC
and Xroar, and on some of our most recent CoCOTALK! shows, we've shown how
to set up MAME, how to utilize the Speech and Sound Pack emulation, and how
to use MESS UI to simplify MAME, and even how to use MAME for development
purposes to take advantage of it's debugger.

Feel free to check out some of those videos at
http://youtube.com/ogsteviestrow and have some current facts and examples
to make an informed decision on which emulator would work best for you, and
feel free to hit me up with any additional questions.



Steve Strowbridge, aka
The Original Gamer Stevie Strow
ogStevieStrow at gmail.com

Website:  http://ogsteviestrow.com
Merchandise:  http://8bit256.com
All things CoCo:  http://imacoconut.com
CoCoTALK!  http://cocotalk.live



On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 5:01 PM, Salvador Garcia via Coco <
coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:

> The two "main", but definitely not the only emulators around, are VCC and
> MAME. If I were to recommend anything, I would say get them both and be
> happy :-).
>
> VCC is simpler to get running while MAME needs a little work to get it
> going. On the flip side, MAME has been favorably criticized for its great
> debugging capabilities.
>
> To start with I got VCC and have been happy with it. Once I needs more
> debugging capabilities I will get MAME.
>
> Salvador
>
> On Thursday, August 24, 2017, 3:24:30 PM CDT, John Guin <
> johnguin at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Say gang,
>
> I've lost track of emulators and now that I have my laptop working again,
> would love to get one installed.
>
> The last I used MESS - two/three years ago?- it had earned its name,
> IMHO.  But is that really all there is at this point?
>
> Or has there been a better update or new client that is worth using?
>
> Thanks all!
> John
>
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