First post, but it's not quite your usual "i want system 80 so why can't i have it"
Ok, so, i've just taken in a few System 80 memory boards to preserve for a friend. Namely, Frog Hop (or FrogIt as the roms put it), RoadRunner and another whose name escapes me at the minute (Win something?).
Anyway, one of the roms on the Frog hop has two broken legs so i had to use a pair of safety pins to read the roms in my programmer, and i thought wouldn't it be nice if i could load these images up into an emulator to confirm i have read them correctly.
Which brings me here. Sadly i discover Sys 80 is not emulated (this is my era too!), but i am a coder by trade, so i wander!...
First of all, is there an active project to emulate the Sys 80 / TMS9960 based machines? (That processor number may be wrong, it's not clear on the chip i have in front of me as i write and the other two memory boards are now back with their owner). If there is all i need is the owners permission (not hard) and i could submit these romsets to the cause.
If there isn't, how well are existing emulators documented, and is the source available? I understand how mame (plain old video mame) works to a degree, enough to write machine drivers, and would be happy to investigate if help were available with the core.
I would at least be willing to look into it and bail out if it was obvious it was above my head (rather than stringing people along for ages)!
Let me know if:
a) Anyone's interested
There's a better place for me to air this.Incidentally, me mate has the actual machines at his house and they're in lovely condition. I didn't venture out to play them as it's too damn cold here at the minute (they're in his garage), but the Frog Hop was in my house for a while a few months back (non-working then) and boy is it nice
Anyway, i'm rambling now!
Martin.
