Appalm ][ (formerly PalmApple)

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: Appalm-0.7.4

Notes: Welcome to the Apple //e emulator for Palm PDAs. Web Site : http://sf.net/projects/palmapple Public Forum : http://sf.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=88936 Preface: -------- PalmApple is an open source Apple //e emulator for PalmOS PDAs. Its optimized to run on the Motorola 68000 DragonBall CPU. Initial Version is ported by Hilary Cheng. PalmApple was re-implemented as Appalm ][ by David Schmenk. We welcome anyone to join this project. You can contact us by email or post a request in the forum. Because most 68000 based Palm devices are barely faster than the Apple ][, emulation performance may be less than stellar. An overclocking utility will go a long way to make the emulator more usable on anything less than a 66Mhz Clie 665C. Authors: ------- David Schmenk Hilary Cheng : hilarycheng@yahoo.com License: -------- PalmApple License is GNU GPL. Please go to the Web Site link for more details. PalmApple is based on YAE so that we can port to PalmOS Platform. PalmApple cannot be used for sale or any redistribution unless there is an agreement with the authors. Please contact the author before any sale or any redistribution. PalmApple is open source software. Anyone is free to modify the source code and contribute to it. All the users are free to use this software. But the authors are not responsible for any damage by THIS SOFTWARE. Please try it at Your Risk! Introduction: ------------- What would be better than being able to take your beloved Apple //e with you, including most of the software you had for it- all in your pocket? Here is your chance. The Appalm ][ emulator brings a 64K Apple //e, 80 column card on HiRes devices, 2 disk drives, and a joystick to your Palm OS based PDA. Disk images can be uploaded into the internal Palm memory or copied from a memory card (think how many 140K floppies fit on a 128 MB memory card :-) ) Joystick/Paddle emulation is provided using the hard keys available on most Palm PDAs and the JogDial on many Sony Clie models. Sony and OS5 HiRes screens are supported (in color!) - and looks great too. The Sony Game Controller works very well. Highly recommended. Installation: ------------- Delete any previous version before installing the new version. You need to install the emulator, appalm.prc, plus the ROM files apple2e.rom and slot6.rom. Pick a disk image (currently must be .DSK format) and use the DSK2PDB utility to create a PalmOS DB of the disk image. A '-r' flag can be passed to DSK2PDB to create a nibblized disk image which can load faster on the Palm but takes up 220K vs 140K for the raw data. Dsk images must reside in internal memory to be loaded into a disk drive. A Dsk Image Manager will become available to easily move images between internal memory and an external memory card. Some games require the Dsk image to be write-protected. Wizardry I and II, Ultima 1-3 are known to require write-protection on the program boot disks. You will need to use the Dsk Image Manager or a 3rd party file manager to set the read-only attribute on these databases. Features: --------- The basic features of the emulator are available through the menu. Special keys and joystick options are settable there. You can return to the Palm Launcher and run other applications. When you come back to Appalm, it is in the same state as when you left it. Some of the Palm buttons have been hijacked to provide useful features for the emulator. They are: Calculator - ESC key Find - CTRL-C Appointment - Joystick button (1 or 2) Memo - Joystick button (1 or 2) Phone/ToDo - Joystick X axis or Left/Right arrows PgUp/PgDn - Joystick Y axis or Up/Down arrows Joystick emulation can be disabled and the hard keys used for the cursor arrow keys instead. A type-ahead buffer is implemented for use with an external keyboard. You can keep typing without losing characters. The buffer can be flushed from the menu or with a Command-F. ESC and CTRL-C automatically flush the buffer. Disk image loading can be selected through the menu, /1, /2 or by tapping on the drive control on the HiRes screen. The Disk Load Dialog has two options when loading an image. Write Enable allows data to be saved to the disk image. Not checking this option is like having the write protect tab on the floppy disk. Note that the read-only flag is not overridden with this option. You cannot write to a read-only disk image regardless of the checkbox. Reset After Load will reset the emulator just as if you pressed the reset button on the Apple. Because the PalmOS runs on such diverse hardware, some features may not be available on your PDA or work slightly differently. The biggest difference in the PalmOS licencee platforms is the screen pixel resolution. Originally, 160x160 monochrome was the only graphics mode supported. After the release of PalmOs v 3.0, 2 BPP greyscale and color became available but still at the 160x160 resolution. Sony came out with HiRes models running PalmOS v 4.0 supporting 320x320 and 320x480 resolutions. With PalmOS v 5.0, almost all the licensee hardware supports 320x320. Appalm ][ is capable of image generation of the text and hires mode graphics using the standard resolution of 160x160 in both 2 BPP greyscale and 8 BPP color. Lores mode graphics are not supported at the 160x160 resolution. Appalm ][ is also capable of generating all the standard text and graphics modes on the 320x320 HiRes devices as well as 80 column text mode and lores graphics mode. Joystick emulation is handled through the hard keys below the screen. Each game uses the joystick slightly differently. Different readout routines will read the emulated joystick and return different ranges of values. To overcome these differences, the joystick control panel will allow you to set the joystick values such that each game will work OK. At the top of the control panel are two check boxes. One is to auto-center the joystick and one is to swap the buttons. If you feel the buttons are out-of-order for the game you are playing, swapping them may provide a more logical configuration. Many of the old Apple joysticks had springs that would automatically center the joystick if you let go of it. The Auto-Center checkbox will center the emulated joystick values to the values shown on the bottom half of the control panel. When you release the hard key, the joystick will auto-center that axis. Adjust the center values until the game stops moving the character/ship/whatever. The joystick move rate changes how fast the joystick values increase or decrease. Lower values result in a smoother ramp of values. The maximum value will rail the joystick value in the direction pressed. Some games want to see a precise value to place an object. Others just want to see a direction. Playing around with the control panel will create the optimum settings for game play. Often, the optimum setting is much more playable than the actual Apple joystick. On Sony Clie devices, the JogDial is available as a paddle controller. Pressing the JogDial emulates the paddle button. If you Clie has a back button, a 'P' character will be entered as if you pressed the 'P' key. Many games require a keypress to restart the game, or 'P' to select paddle control. Sony also has a game controller available for many of their models. This is highly recommended, as most Clies have hard to press keys and buttons. The game controller needs to be set up so the four directional button map to the PgUp/PgDn and Phone/ToDo buttons. The A and B buttons should map to Appointment and Memo. There are two more buttons, X and Y. Map these to Game1 and Game2. These will emulate the left and right arrow keys which is different from previous versions. Flight Simulator II uses the joystick for the flight controls and the arrow keys for throttle control. I like FS2, so I changed it. Caveat Emptor: -------------- This is a prelminary version and will probably crash your PDA at least once. BACK UP YOUR DATA! Conclusion: ----------- Have fun reliving the good-old-days. You will realize just how good many of the Apple ][ games really are.