On 20 January 2013 06:41, Wolfgang Lenerz <w...@scp-paulet-lenerz.com>wrote: > Hi all, > > SMSQmulator, the SMSQ/E machine emulator under Java is now out. > > You can find it at : > > www.wlenerz.com/SMSQmulator. > > (Please note that, the site running under linux, this address is case > dependent - grrrr!). > > Have fun with it. > > Wolfgang I'm a bit late to join the party but I downloaded SMSQmulator (what a name?!, see below) on day one of its public release and gave it an immediate try on our family notebook (vintage 2006 DELL Inspiron 1300 with single core Intel Celeron M 1500Mhz CPU running under Windows 7 32-bit and Java 6). It ran first hand and the only troublesome points I've found are 1) that sometimes not all key presses come through (dir win1_ can become dr wi1_) and 2) that it eats 100% CPU on a single core even if there's only SBASIC "running" and waiting for a key press (I call this "idle", see below). None the less I must say:
CONGRATULATION FOR YOUR GREAT WORK, WOLFGANG! This will bring the "QL" forward! The other day I gave it a try on my son's notebook (2011 Samsung with Intel multi core i7-2670QM CPU running under Windows 7 64-bit and Java 6). Windows Taskmanager shows that it generates about 13% CPU load with somehow balancing the load between the 4 cores. I must say that I've banned Java from my own PCs for ages but "thanks" to SMSQmulator I've installed Java 6 on my workhorse (a 2007 Lenovo X61s with dual core Intel Core2Duo L7500 1600Mhz CPU running under Windows Vista Business 32-bit). What followed was evening after evening playing with SMSQmulator and various QXL.WIN files on those 3 PC's. In a nutshell: All worked as it should work. And, the execution speed is good enough for QL related work. But I would not really use it on vintage PCs (single cores) like our family notebook. But if you have anything mainstream bought in the last 4 to 5 years, go for it. What really should be improved by Wolfgang is that the CPU load of the host system (PC) should be throttled if SMSQE is "idle" (scheduler running and jobs waiting for input). Otherwise SMSQmulator is not healthy for many PCs (stressing the CPU and its cooling installations) and making it almost impossible to use it on the notebook's battery. Final words: To let SMSQmulator have an impact outside the core QL community (ql-users, QUANTA, QL Today, qlforum) I would change its name to something not sounding like an emulator of something unknown to most people. In fact SMSQmulator is not emulating SMSQ or the QL, it's emulating a MC68000 CPU based computer/machine with a QL compatible graphics card and running SMSQ/E on that virtual machine (in a virtual machine called Java). I had a brainstorm and this came up: Qoffee (Java is also a coffee bean, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(disambiguation)), Qup (a cup of QL coffee), Qmachine (for quick machine, a ready to go environment for quick developments/tinkering), Qanywhere, Qware or the same four with SMSQ (SMSQup, SMSQmachine, SMSQanywhere, SMSQware). Or what about just Q (related to Q of the James Bond movies), Que or Q4U? Anyone? Cheers, Urs ----------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.youtube.com/QLvsJaguar Sinclair, QL, ATARI, JAGUAR, NUON, APPLE & more... _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
