Emulators for BeOS

[Jorpho]

N64 emulation is rather slow on my computer, and it occurred to me recently that I might have better luck if I tried running Mupen64 under BeOS. (BeOS is free and coexists very nicely with Windows; although Be Inc. was bought out a while ago, builds such as the Developer Edition and the MAX Edition have since become available.)

Unfortunately, I am getting nowhere with Mupen64, or even VisualboyAdvance. Trying to run either accomplishes nothing, even after I found the necessary libraries. BeOS is evidently more complex than I thought it was.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

[zektor]

Did you try www.beemulated.net ? Emulation is not as updated (obviously) in BeOS as in Windows, but there are some excellent emulators for the OS. As for N64 emulation, I doubt you'll get better in Be than in Windows. Try Project64 v1.5 . It's the best in my opinion. Works great here on a PIII 1ghz and a TNT2 card.

[Jorpho]

Yes, Project64 is very nice, but I still can't get smooth sound with it.

And unfortunately, while that website does have the required libraries, it offers little documentation on how to get started.

[zektor]

Keep in mind that ALOT of the emulators for BeOS have no GUI and must be run from the terminal. The library files would go in boot->home->config->lib. I highly recommend picking up the BeOS Bible by Scott Hacker if you don't have it. It's a great book that is easy to understand and fun to read. You'll be a master at the OS after reading just a few chapters.

[Jorpho]

BeOS has a terminal? Gee, I do have much to learn...

What is this BeOS Bible? Is it still widely available in bookstores, or is this an online thing? (BeOS never did get into very wide usage.)

[zektor]

BeOS has a terminal? Gee, I do have much to learn...

What is this BeOS Bible? Is it still widely available in bookstores, or is this an online thing? (BeOS never did get into very wide usage.)

The BeOS Bible is an excellent book about the thickness of a phone book! It covers just about everything basic about the Be Op System. Hits and tricks...just tons of stuff. Once you realize how well the filesystem works (64-bit journaled) and how easily you can manuever around the OS (right click ANYWHERE and just keep progressing through files and folders) you will love it. Also, you will NEVER lose a bit of info with the OS, whether it be a power failure or if you just kill the PC's power while playing with the OS. Also, no known viruses exist for BE. The ONLY reason I do not make it my primary OS (although it was my primary for a year or so a few years back) is that the web browser is very outdated and even Mozilla on it is not perfect. I definitely need good web access. There is a new project based on BeOS called Zeta, and while it looks great I just don't have the $99 to spend at the moment.

Ahh, back to the bible. You can get it at any book store, although you may need to order it since I doubt you'll just find it on the shelf. Or you can just try ebay for it. Just do a search for "BeOS Bible". If you decide to try a bookstore, ask them for "BeOS Bible" by "Scot Hacker". I see them on ebay for $10 usually, but at a book store you will pay the $34.99 cover.

Here's some other good links for help and software:

www.bebits.com

(be SURE to get "Beshare". It's a chat/file sharing client that is BeOS exclusive, and VERY cool. LOTS of MP3's, Divx Movies, etc are shared regularly.

http://www.betips.net/

The BeOS Tip Server. If you dont have the book this is a great resource.

http://www.beosbible.com/

The BeOS Bible Homepage.

Ohh, and here's the bible at a NICE price (just found it):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...10357?v=glance



Hope this helps!

[Jorpho]

Interesting, interesting... I wonder if the local computer book liquidators might have that book?

Anyway, everything makes sooo much more sense from the terminal. I still can't get El-Hazard GBA running at more than 55%, but I'm more interested in Mupen64.

Before I go off on a wild goose chase, can you tell me if it would be a lost cause trying to get BeOS to use my Voodoo2 for OpenGL? I know how to do it in Windows (put 3dfxvgl.dll in an application's directory and rename it to Opengl32.dll), but I haven't the foggiest idea how I might do it in BeOS. (I doubt I can find any other video plugins for BeOS Mupen64.)

[zektor]

Interesting, interesting... I wonder if the local computer book liquidators might have that book?

Anyway, everything makes sooo much more sense from the terminal. I still can't get El-Hazard GBA running at more than 55%, but I'm more interested in Mupen64.

Before I go off on a wild goose chase, can you tell me if it would be a lost cause trying to get BeOS to use my Voodoo2 for OpenGL? I know how to do it in Windows (put 3dfxvgl.dll in an application's directory and rename it to Opengl32.dll), but I haven't the foggiest idea how I might do it in BeOS. (I doubt I can find any other video plugins for BeOS Mupen64.)

I really can't tell you if it is supported or not...in the OS or in the Mupen port. Your best bet is to ask in the forums over at beemulated. It may take awhile for a reply, but they're good folks there and will give you the advice you need.

BTW: I just checked beemulated to see the status of Mupen64. It seems all it can do is wireframe in Super Mario 64 at the moment. You may not even want to bother...

[Jorpho]

Actually, that's a bit out of date. Beemulated has screenshots from version 0.0.2, but 0.0.4 is out now.

[zektor]

Also, with all of this talk of BeOS again, I decided to install BeOS Max V3. I'm dual booting with XP after using partition magic to free up 3GB for the OS (which is more than enough) and I'm playing with it once again. Great OS, even still. If you went ahead and installed Beshare and have net access in Be, shoot in every now and again. I'm there often!

[bensenvill]

yes, more BeOS junkies. I have absolutely nothing to say about emulation. I just wanted to chant for a few moments about BeOS. Been a proud user since 98. Truely a peice of software that was way ahead of its time. BeOS is also the only operating system I have ever paid for, lol

~Tj

[Jorpho]

Sadly, the Beemulated forums seem to be rather slow lately.