Source code for Defender (Arcade 1981) released: PPC Mac version?

[TheShortTimer]

Click here for the GitHub page.

https://shmup.fandom.com/wiki/Defender

From the GitHub page...

This is the source code for the Williams arcade game Defender.


The source code can be assembled into an executable that you can then run in Windows or Linux.

Typically, macOS isn't even considered as an option.

Anyhow, I'm curious as to whether it would be possible to assemble this to run on a PPC Mac. Running it through MAME is probably far easier but I'm just wondering what would be the feasibility.

 

[casperes1996]

These are assembly files for Motorola 6809 chips. This won’t run natively on either x86 or PPC regardless. When they talk about running it on Windows or Linux, also without MAME, that’s emulated as well

 

[TheShortTimer]

These are assembly files for Motorola 6809 chips. This won’t run natively on either x86 or PPC regardless. When they talk about running it on Windows or Linux, also without MAME, that’s emulated as well

If I've understood this correctly, they're assuming that you'd have some means of emulating the environment if you're not using MAME?

 

[eyoungren]

Click here for the GitHub page.

https://shmup.fandom.com/wiki/Defender

From the GitHub page...



Typically, macOS isn't even considered as an option.

Anyhow, I'm curious as to whether it would be possible to assemble this to run on a PPC Mac. Running it through MAME is probably far easier but I'm just wondering what would be the feasibility.

Ahhhh, bit disappointed. I thought you meant…

Still cool though!

 

[casperes1996]

If I've understood this correctly, they're assuming that you'd have some means of emulating the environment if you're not using MAME?

At least a way of interpreting the instruction stream, yeah. I didn’t try running it but from what I could tell looking over the source files and the makefile the RedLabel make file sets up a series of ROMs, each corresponding to one integrated circuit chip on the old arcade boxes. Apparently MAME can read those.
The make target that makes an exe just takes makes a single, complete ROM and embeds it inside an exe. But it’s still 68K instructions in there

 

[TheShortTimer]

Ahhhh, bit disappointed. I thought you meant…

Fixed!

Ah, that was a very cool Cinemaware title that for some reason I never got round to playing on my Commodore Amiga. I should remedy that at some point because it's still commercially available.

Still cool though!

Yeah, I was lucky enough to encounter an official cabinet in the 90s. The artwork and the control layout remains amazing all these decades on.

At least a way of interpreting the instruction stream, yeah. I didn’t try running it but from what I could tell looking over the source files and the makefile the RedLabel make file sets up a series of ROMs, each corresponding to one integrated circuit chip on the old arcade boxes. Apparently MAME can read those.
The make target that makes an exe just takes makes a single, complete ROM and embeds it inside an exe. But it’s still 68K instructions in there

Thanks for the low-down. I'll stick with MAME instead which already supports it.

 

[eyoungren]

Fixed!

Ah, that was a very cool Cinemaware title that for some reason I never got round to playing on my Commodore Amiga. I should remedy that at some point because it's still commercially available.

The first time I saw the game was inside a Federated store. But I had a C64 at the time and there was no way my dad was buying an Amiga for a 14-15 year old.

The next time I saw it was when our AD&D group met at a friend's house. He had an Amiga 1000. It was just so cool!

I ended up buying the system off him when he went off to the Naval academy to become a boomer (ballistic submarines).

Unfortunately, there was a small slice of time in 2002-2003 that I was an idiot and the entire Amiga, disks, etc went to the Goodwill. Someone got a fantastic deal.

 

[DouglasCarroll]

"Unfortunately, there was a small slice of time in 2002-2003 that I was an idiot and the entire Amiga, disks, etc went to the Goodwill. Someone got a fantastic deal."


I think that everyone in this forum went through a "small slice of time when I was an idiot".

Things that I gave away/threw away/recycled during various "I was an idiot" times that I totally regret today and wish I had to at least sell for a massive profit....

3DO game system
Amiga 1000
Amiga 2000
Amiga 3000
Amiga CDTV
Amiga 1200
Commodore 128D
Atari Jaguar
Atari 7800
Atari 5200
Atari Lynx
Vectrex (seriously...)
Virtual Boy
Mac Color Classic
Game Cube
Dreamcast


...Wow...now I'm just sad....

 

[B S Magnet]

Click here for the GitHub page.

https://shmup.fandom.com/wiki/Defender

From the GitHub page...



Typically, macOS isn't even considered as an option.

Anyhow, I'm curious as to whether it would be possible to assemble this to run on a PPC Mac. Running it through MAME is probably far easier but I'm just wondering what would be the feasibility.

Just seeing the gif here is delightful, even if running that source within a PPC setting might not be feasible. Any of Defender, Stargate, or Robotron 2084 is always a delight to see.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I think that everyone in this forum went through a "small slice of time when I was an idiot".

Conversely, there were opportunities that I had to pick up hardware and other items for an unbelievable pittance (literally giveaways) and failed to do so because I didn't recognise their value, I hesitated too much or I dismissed them as obsolete and worthless. Occasionally I kick myself for it and vow never to repeat these errors.

They include:

An Amiga 1200

An Atari Falcon

A Power Computing Mac Clone

A Betacam tape containing the broadcast footage from a long running UK TV breakfast programme.

A boxed iBook

Plus much, much more.

We're only human - or at least that's my rationalisation.

 

[bradl]

Fixed!

Ah, that was a very cool Cinemaware title that for some reason I never got round to playing on my Commodore Amiga. I should remedy that at some point because it's still commercially available.



Yeah, I was lucky enough to encounter an official cabinet in the 90s. The artwork and the control layout remains amazing all these decades on.

Thanks for the low-down. I'll stick with MAME instead which already supports it.

I spent lost donated a serious amount of quarters to this machine!

I know I still have the old executable for this, Spy Hunter, and Robotron 2084 for my Apple IIe on disk, but I'd have to seriously dig for them.

Regardless, I wonder if they have any chance of releasing the code to some of the other Williams games. Joust, for example.

Additionally, while I know they pulled it from the App store prior to iOS 11 coming out (read: it used 32bit libraries), the Midway Arcade app for iOS actually had a lot of the Williams games that Midway has the rights to from buying Williams. That brought in:

Robotron 2084
Defender
Joust
Wizard of Wor
Arch Rivals

among others. Having the source code for those to roll our own would be cool, especially seeing that they were ported to iOS.

BL.

 

[Project Alice]

These are assembly files for Motorola 6809 chips. This won’t run natively on either x86 or PPC regardless. When they talk about running it on Windows or Linux, also without MAME, that’s emulated as well

This ship might have already sailed but out of curiosity.. Wouldn’t that function on classic Mac OS? I’m not sure what the 68k macs had in common with the older 680x Motorola chips but if they are compatible with each other it should be possible to compile it on say, system 6 or 7 and run it on OS 9 on PPC?

 

[casperes1996]

This ship might have already sailed but out of curiosity.. Wouldn’t that function on classic Mac OS? I’m not sure what the 68k macs had in common with the older 680x Motorola chips but if they are compatible with each other it should be possible to compile it on say, system 6 or 7 and run it on OS 9 on PPC?

Uhm, I'm not sure OS9 had a "Rosetta" for running 68K applications on PPC Macs?
But if there is such a thing, well, sort of possible?

The instructions in there would be comprehensible to a 68K Mac. But where System 7/Mac OS might expect you to make a system call to get a file descriptor to the frame buffer or use a system provided API to call rendering functions, code written for an arcade cabinet will most likely just expect graphics hardware to be mapped at certain addresses and just write to those addresses directly. I don't know much about the architecture of pre-Unix Mac OS so I don't know what the setup was like, but assuming they allowed programs to just write to hardware mapped memory like that, it would also require graphics hardware to actually be mapped at that address.

 

[Amethyst1]

Uhm, I'm not sure OS9 had a "Rosetta" for running 68K applications on PPC Macs

It does have a built-in 68k emulator; this even works in Classic.

 

[m1maverick]

Unfortunately, there was a small slice of time in 2002-2003 that I was an idiot and the entire Amiga, disks, etc went to the Goodwill. Someone got a fantastic deal.

The question is: Are you repeating it with todays things?

 

[eyoungren]

The question is: Are you repeating it with todays things?

No. My problem is now the inverse - getting rid of things.

 

[mmphosis]

Mame runs on macOS, and older versions of Mame run on PowerPC Macs. Mame can not only read the ROMs but run the ROMs. For example, I've played Robotron 2084 on macOS. I've also played the Apple II version of Robotron 2084 in an emulator on a PowerPC Mac.

The ROM source code is for the 6809 8-bit CPU, and a sound chip. The 6809 is not to be confused with the 68000 Series of 32-bit CPUs used in the Lisa and original Macs before the PowerPC. Bring the toolchains to a PowerPC Mac, and the 6809 source can be assembled into the ROM images, but that's pretty boring because you want to run those ROM images!

Emulating the arcade machine(s) would be about as feasible as creating a 6502/65816 machine emulator for PowerPC Mac. There are quite a few of those around: KEGS, Sweet16, and more. A 6809 emulator / arcade machine simulator can be created for PowerPC Mac, and there already is one: Mame.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Mame runs on macOS, and older versions of Mame run on PowerPC Macs. Mame can not only read the ROMs but run the ROMs. For example, I've played Robotron 2084 on macOS.

A 6809 emulator / arcade machine simulator can be created for PowerPC Mac, and there already is one: Mame.

Yes, this was all acknowledged within the posts of this thread: including mine...

 

[TheShortTimer]

Continuing with Defender, I was contemplating tracking down someone who could build a custom joy board specifically for usage with the game under MacMame etc.

However, I found this on eBay:

The buttons are arranged nicely together and in close proximity to the stick and according to this Reddit thread, the underlying hardware (Zero Delay Encoder) is macOS compatible.

If I take the plunge and buy it, I'll provide an overview of its performance in my PPC gaming thread.

 

[Macbookprodude]

"Unfortunately, there was a small slice of time in 2002-2003 that I was an idiot and the entire Amiga, disks, etc went to the Goodwill. Someone got a fantastic deal."


I think that everyone in this forum went through a "small slice of time when I was an idiot".

Things that I gave away/threw away/recycled during various "I was an idiot" times that I totally regret today and wish I had to at least sell for a massive profit....

3DO game system
Amiga 1000
Amiga 2000
Amiga 3000
Amiga CDTV
Amiga 1200
Commodore 128D
Atari Jaguar
Atari 7800
Atari 5200
Atari Lynx
Vectrex (seriously...)
Virtual Boy
Mac Color Classic
Game Cube
Dreamcast


...Wow...now I'm just sad....

Did anyone on here ever own a TI 99 ??? Why so much hatred to this machine ? I have a Ukrainian version of the TI-99 and it still works to this day. built nicely and better than the C64.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Did anyone on here ever own a TI 99 ???

You've posed this question in countless threads.

Why so much hatred to this machine ?

I don't recall anyone on here expressing hatred towards it.

I have a Ukrainian version of the TI-99 and it still works to this day.

Cool, here are some locations where the TI-99/4A is currently discussed and you'll probably find them better suited than repeatedly posing the same questions here and not receiving any replies:

TI-99/4A Computers

Discussion for TI-99/4A Computers

atariage.com

TI USER GROUP (UK) SUPPORTING THE TI-99/4A & TI*MES

TI User Group UK supporting the TI-99/4a Home Computer in the UK, and have been doing so for 30 years. Why not join? We have many TI-99/4a subjects and help

www.ti99ug.co.uk

...better than the C64.

No.

The TI-99/4A is an interesting machine but its audio/visual capabilities are totally outstripped by those of the C64. Just two examples are enough to underscore this: the TMS9918 graphics unit doesn't even have hardware scrolling (which is standard on the C64) and the SN76489 sound generator, whilst respectable - isn't a patch on the 64's SID chip.

Anyhow, hopefully the above the links are helpful to you.