Emulators better than the real thing?

[guru-666]

emulation better? hands down, no.  no way!  can you run the toaster? no.  UAE is cool but not as cool as a real amiga.

[Amiduffer]

I've heard praise from others that using Imagine3D and ImageFX on WinUAE really makes using them worthwhile (blazing fast).

[koaftder]

I like having a real Amiga. UAE is pretty nice too. Having both is best for sure. On many games, UAE provides better performance for sure, especially on disc access. You can save money with UAE for sure, hardware these days is expensive.

[wlemonds]

One of my projects is making a P4 3GHz Shuttle mini-PC an emulated Amiga using WinUAE. I hope to get a Catweasel sometime soon.

The problem I've run into is that I can't seem to get WinUAE to use a partition of the HD for Workbench. It's an 80GB HD with XP on 40GB and a .hdf on the 40GB. The box can only fit one HD. I could use a Firewire or USB HD but I'd rather not.

Anyway, atm I'm using an Interact ProPad hooked up to a SB Live! card and I've got the Total Chaos AGA CD32 up and running. I haven't had any joystick lag. The game runs pretty smooth. Video card is a ATI 9800 AGP PRO.

[stopthegop]

I would run an emulated Amiga with the same enthusiasm as I'd have driving an emulated Porsche.  

[DonnyEMU]

I personally love the fact that on my PC which is a dual core amd64 x2 processor (4200+) 2 gigs of ram, Nvidia 8500GS, Vista Ultimate x64, I can run WinUAE and WinAROS at the same time. One in emulation, the other in a virtual pc (Virtual PC is now free since Vista's release for download). The exciting thing is I run my machine on a 720p HD monitor, my emulated screen resolution I run in is 1280x768x32bits..

It's soo fast and all of my old 3.x Amiga software (mostly productivity and 3d stuff) opens on the emulated picasso screen soo very nicely. It's extremely fast and gives things like final writer, and Pro Page 4.2 new life..

Also I am getting flawless animation even in Picassomodes for the software that supports it.

Ilwrath wrote:
...
3) Joysticks.  For all their faults, I prefer to play the games on the joysticks of the time.  I haven't found a  solution to use the 9-pin style sticks in a PC that doesn't introduce even more lag than using a PC stick.
...

Have you tried Stelladapter? I use my good old Wico Boss 9-pin joystick, the same one I started using on the VIC back in 1982, in WinUAE today.

No lag here...

[coldfish]

I had an expanded A1200 with whdload, it was ok except when an install would crash because of a corrupt disk.

Now, I prefer to use WinUAE on my HTPC for classic Amiga gaming;
-better compatibility.
-faster.
-more convenient.
-more versatile.
-cheap n cheerful.
-gets better with every WinUAE update.

[mingle]

Hi,

I'd love a Stelladapter - any idea where to get one (The Atari Age website says "out of stock")?

Cheers,

Mike.

>Have you tried Stelladapter? I use my good old Wico Boss >9-pin joystick, the same one I started using on the VIC back >in 1982, in WinUAE today.

[spirantho]

WinUAE better than my Amigas? Not a chance.

For starters the emulation will never be as accurate as the real thing, particularly sound, which still gets choppy sometimes.

But also WinUAE is just nowhere as much fun to tinker with.
I like messing around with obscure hardware, for instance my A500 has a KCS PowerPC board with a 10.7MHz NEC V30 board in it - just for the heck of it. My A1500 currently has a 486SLC2/50 Goldengate bridgeboard and 5 floppy drives of varying sizes attached to it. Do that in WinUAE! Not that you'd want to - but that's the point. WinUAE is a sandpit to mess around in, but if you want the real thing you have to go out into the jungle....

Then again it probably helps that with my PPC/VoodooIII A4000 and A1XE I'm pretty much covered for fast AmigaOS stuff anyway....!

WinUAE better? No way.

[HellCoder]

An emulator can never be better than the real thing. If it emulates something so that the whole system runs faster than the original you're not emulating the original anymore. Look at the definition of emulation.

[uncharted]

As it stands, I'm in the "yes and no" camp.  On the one hand emulation provides power and flexibility that the originals lack, but on the other hand, there are places where it is still needs improving.

[stopthegop]

on the other hand, there are places where it is still needs improving.

For starters, how about sh1tcanning its dependence on windoze?  It takes two operating systems to accomplish what a real Amiga does with one and its resource requirements are obscene.  

[coldfish]

Using UAE4all on my gp2x handheld is more -fun- than sitting at a desk with a real A500 + 1084s + mouse + stick + stack of floppies.

In that sense (imo) emulation is "better", even though its not 100% perfect/accurate.

WinUAE on my HTPC hooked up to a TV is more fun than a "real" A500 or A1200 because theres no floppies and loads of Amiga configs it can emulate.  And when I get bored of Amiga, there's 8->32bit arcade, console and computer emulation for afters.

In that sense (imo) emulation is "better", even though there's no yellowing keyboard on the floor in front of me.

...meh, it's a matter of opinion.

[persia]

Absolutely, UAE is far better than having an old classic hardware Amiga.  UAE is more compatible, faster and cheaper.  Because Amiga hardware changed so much over the years the only way you will be able to run all Amiga software is through UAE.  

[foleyjo]

What about the feel of the buttons
The wirring of the disk drives
The click the drive makes when its not in use
The messing about with hardware and software
and what about the speed for you to be able to start using it
Set up your amiga and your pc and power them on at the same time to load a game of lets say....cannon fodder
By the time you have inserted disk 2 on the Amiga you might have windows loaded and be starting to open uae :lol:

The  AA+CTRL reset much better than F12.

There are some things an emulator just cant emulate. Its like the C64 emulators. Games may load faster but you miss out on the feeling you get when the loading music stops and the picture vanishes and you know in a moment your game is going to load. If you want retro gaming you might as well get the whole experience

Oh and the guy who mentioned the comparisons of Quake. I think the fact you can play Quake on a real amiga in the first place is more impressive than emulating it

also GP2X amiga emulation I like because I cant really take my amiga on a bus with me

  :lol: