[bug#40033] Add "Vice" commodore emulator

[bug#40033] Add "Vice" commodore emulator

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Here's a patch to add the "vice" commodore emulator.  It builds and
works, but has some vices of its own (har har).

 - It ships with the original Kernal/Basic from the c64 (and other
   systems), including the payload for the original Microsoft Basic.
   That's... probably not ok for Guix.

 - One solution is coming out of the Mega65 project (a damn cool project
   in general):
     https://github.com/MEGA65/open-roms
   (Just look how cool the Mega65 hardware is, btw!)
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEhZfkQ3bAk

 - It really stutters a lot for me.  I don't know why.  I tried turning
   off all the graphical extras and turning on the fastsid audio system
   in the config system and it's still slow.  I can't even run
   robotfindskitten at full speed:
     https://pezi-pink.itch.io/c64-robotfindskitten
   (good FOSS test program, btw.)

Oh well.  What should be done now?  Not sure, and thoughts welcome.

 - Chris

PS: learning 6502 assembly is really fun!  Here's a good resource:
  https://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/

[bug#40033] Vice emulator, now with patch

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

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Oops, patch below:


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From 3377e3b59203502c065d7c86cbb5e0f5e246862f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2020 22:04:53 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] gnu: Add vice.

* gnu/packages/emulators.scm (vice): New variable.
---
 gnu/packages/emulators.scm | 58 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 58 insertions(+)

diff --git a/gnu/packages/emulators.scm b/gnu/packages/emulators.scm
index 7e4c98fbc7..40f81d1cc7 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/emulators.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/emulators.scm
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 ;;; Copyright © 2019 Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz>
 ;;; Copyright © 2019 David Wilson <david@daviwil.com>
 ;;; Copyright © 2020 Jakub Kądziołka <kuba@kadziolka.net>
+;;; Copyright © 2020 Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -41,12 +42,14 @@
   #:use-module (gnu packages audio)
   #:use-module (gnu packages autotools)
   #:use-module (gnu packages base)
+  #:use-module (gnu packages bison)
   #:use-module (gnu packages boost)
   #:use-module (gnu packages backup)
   #:use-module (gnu packages cdrom)
   #:use-module (gnu packages compression)
   #:use-module (gnu packages curl)
   #:use-module (gnu packages elf)
+  #:use-module (gnu packages flex)
   #:use-module (gnu packages fonts)
   #:use-module (gnu packages fontutils)
   #:use-module (gnu packages freedesktop)
@@ -1628,3 +1631,58 @@ derived from Gens.  Project goals include clean source code, combined features
 from various forks of Gens, and improved platform portability.")
     (supported-systems '("i686-linux" "x86_64-linux"))
     (license license:gpl2+)))
+
+(define-public vice
+  (package
+    (name "vice")
+    (version "3.4")
+    (source (origin
+              (method url-fetch)
+              (uri (string-append "https://sourceforge.net/projects"
+                                  "/vice-emu/files/releases/vice-"
+                                  version ".tar.gz/download"))
+              (sha256
+               (base32
+                "1svsw3z18nsj3vmpxdp456y79xsj9f1k405r07zd336kccf0rl2b"))))
+    (build-system gnu-build-system)
+    (arguments
+     '(#:phases
+       (modify-phases %standard-phases
+         (add-before 'configure 'fix-sh
+           (lambda _
+             (substitute* (find-files "." "configure")
+               (("-/bin/sh") (string-append "-" (which "sh")))
+               (("= /bin/sh") (string-append "= " (which "sh"))))))
+         (replace 'configure
+           (lambda* (#:key outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+             (let ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out")))
+               ;; The 'configure' script is a wrapper for Waf and
+               ;; doesn't recognize things like '--enable-fast-install'.
+               (invoke "./configure"
+                       (string-append "--prefix=" out))))))))
+    (native-inputs
+     `(("autoconf" ,autoconf)
+       ("automake" ,automake)
+       ("bison" ,bison)
+       ("texinfo" ,texinfo)))
+    (inputs
+     `(("flex" ,flex)
+       ("xa" ,xa)
+       ("sdl2" ,sdl2)
+       ("libpng" ,libpng)
+       ("libjpeg" ,libjpeg-turbo)
+       ("ffmpeg" ,ffmpeg)
+       ("giflib" ,giflib)
+       ("zlib" ,zlib)
+       ("alsa-lib" ,alsa-lib)
+       ("pulseaudio" ,pulseaudio)
+       ("portaudio" ,portaudio)
+       ("mesa" ,mesa)
+       ("glu" ,glu)))
+    (home-page "http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/")
+    (synopsis "Versatile Commodore emulator")
+    (description
+     "VICE emulates the C64, the C64DTV, the C128, the VIC20, practically
+all PET models, the PLUS4 and the CBM-II (aka C610/C510).  An extra
+emulator is provided for C64 expanded with the CMD SuperCPU.")
+    (license license:gpl2+)))
-- 
2.25.1

[bug#40033] Add "Vice" commodore emulator

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Chris!

Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> skribis:

> Here's a patch to add the "vice" commodore emulator.  It builds and
> works, but has some vices of its own (har har).
>
>  - It ships with the original Kernal/Basic from the c64 (and other
>    systems), including the payload for the original Microsoft Basic.
>    That's... probably not ok for Guix.

You mean it ships the ROM as a pre-built proprietary binary?
That wouldn’t be OK.  :-/

>  - One solution is coming out of the Mega65 project (a damn cool project
>    in general):
>      https://github.com/MEGA65/open-roms

Do you know if that could actually work?  That would be perfect.

>    (Just look how cool the Mega65 hardware is, btw!)
>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEhZfkQ3bAk

Woow, fun!  :-)

Thanks!
Ludo’.

[bug#40033] Add "Vice" commodore emulator

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Ludovic Courtès writes:

> Hi Chris!
>
> Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> skribis:
>
>> Here's a patch to add the "vice" commodore emulator.  It builds and
>> works, but has some vices of its own (har har).
>>
>>  - It ships with the original Kernal/Basic from the c64 (and other
>>    systems), including the payload for the original Microsoft Basic.
>>    That's... probably not ok for Guix.
>
> You mean it ships the ROM as a pre-built proprietary binary?
> That wouldn’t be OK.  :-/

Yes, they are the original binary ROMs shipped on the C64.

The funny thing is it's in the data/ directory.  Lispers love to say
that "code and data and data is code"; in this case, at least data/ has
object code. ;)

I agree that it isn't acceptable for Guix.

>>  - One solution is coming out of the Mega65 project (a damn cool project
>>    in general):
>>      https://github.com/MEGA65/open-roms
>
> Do you know if that could actually work?  That would be perfect.

I think they don't work perfectly, but can work for some things.  It
would be nice to support it.

I don't have time, but I invite someone else to give a try at building
the mega65 open-roms package and linking it in.  So I may have to leave
this at a "passing this along to a future community member" stage of
packaging.

If someone else can try packaging the mega65 ROMs (honestly don't know
how hard it is to do), I can at least help playtest.  It would be really
good for computing history purposes to free one of the blobs holding us
back from exploring past computing systems!

>>    (Just look how cool the Mega65 hardware is, btw!)
>>      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEhZfkQ3bAk
>
> Woow, fun!  :-)
>
> Thanks!
> Ludo’.

bug#40033: Add "Vice" commodore emulator

[zimoun]

Hi,

On Tue, 17 Mar 2020 at 17:17, Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> wrote:
> Ludovic Courtès writes:

>> You mean it ships the ROM as a pre-built proprietary binary?
>> That wouldn’t be OK.  :-/
>
> Yes, they are the original binary ROMs shipped on the C64.
>
> The funny thing is it's in the data/ directory.  Lispers love to say
> that "code and data and data is code"; in this case, at least data/ has
> object code. ;)
>
> I agree that it isn't acceptable for Guix.

Therefore, it is tempting to close it. :-)


>>>  - One solution is coming out of the Mega65 project (a damn cool project
>>>    in general):
>>>      https://github.com/MEGA65/open-roms
>>
>> Do you know if that could actually work?  That would be perfect.
>
> I think they don't work perfectly, but can work for some things.  It
> would be nice to support it.
>
> I don't have time, but I invite someone else to give a try at building
> the mega65 open-roms package and linking it in.  So I may have to leave
> this at a "passing this along to a future community member" stage of
> packaging.
>
> If someone else can try packaging the mega65 ROMs (honestly don't know
> how hard it is to do), I can at least help playtest.  It would be really
> good for computing history purposes to free one of the blobs holding us
> back from exploring past computing systems!

Well, after more than 2 years without any interaction, I am not
convinced it is worth to keep this open.  Therefore, I am closing.

If I miss a point and you think it is worth to keep it open for
«"passing this along to a future community member" stage of packaging»,
feel free to reopen.


Cheers,
simon

[bug#40033] Add "Vice" commodore emulator

[Christine Lemmer-Webber]

zimoun <zimon.toutoune@gmail.com> writes:

>>>>  - One solution is coming out of the Mega65 project (a damn cool project
>>>>    in general):
>>>>      https://github.com/MEGA65/open-roms
>>>
>>> Do you know if that could actually work?  That would be perfect.
>>
>> I think they don't work perfectly, but can work for some things.  It
>> would be nice to support it.
>>
>> I don't have time, but I invite someone else to give a try at building
>> the mega65 open-roms package and linking it in.  So I may have to leave
>> this at a "passing this along to a future community member" stage of
>> packaging.
>>
>> If someone else can try packaging the mega65 ROMs (honestly don't know
>> how hard it is to do), I can at least help playtest.  It would be really
>> good for computing history purposes to free one of the blobs holding us
>> back from exploring past computing systems!
>
> Well, after more than 2 years without any interaction, I am not
> convinced it is worth to keep this open.  Therefore, I am closing.
>
> If I miss a point and you think it is worth to keep it open for
> «"passing this along to a future community member" stage of packaging»,
> feel free to reopen.
>
>
> Cheers,
> simon

I think that's fair to close it.  But fwiw, if any community member does
want to pick this up, they have my blessing.