Editing Talk:PC Emulator Comparisons

=MIDI, soundfonts and software synth solutions in [[PC_Emulator_Comparisons#Sound_Cards|Sound Cards]] section?=
Lots of projects there for this job either via software implementation or [[FPGA|FPGA]] solutions (similar to [[FPGA]]-based emulators, this also needs to be mentioned in that page *[[FPGA]]), any volunteer?

Here's why using soundfonts and MIDI is beneficial for emulators like DOSBox-Pure;
*https://youtu.be/LRy8brZ7DVc?t=1727
*https://youtu.be/zbeatn3BVJw

useful resources;
*https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=52977
*https://www.philscomputerlab.com/roland-midi-emulator-project-20.html
*https://sourceforge.net/projects/munt/
*https://github.com/skjelten/emusc
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Z5y2otJqY SC-55mkII emulation WIP]
*FluidSynth with MT-32 ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbeatn3BVJw demonstration])
*[https://archive.org/details/SC55EmperorGrieferus Roland SC-55 Soundfont by EmperorGrieferus] (useful for DOSBox forks)
*[https://www.philscomputerlab.com/general-midi-and-soundfonts.html PhilsComputerLab: General MIDI and Soundfonts] (useful for DOSBox forks)
*PC emulators built-in solutions etc...

[[User:Ahayri|Ahayri]] ([[User talk:Ahayri|talk]]) 15:47, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

== CD/DVD copy protection emulation ==
<s>
As i mentioned earlier in [[Talk:Main_Page#New_page_for_CD.2FDVD_copy_protection_emulation]] section, i think it's worth to mention this kind of software in here. [[User:Ahayri|Ahayri]] ([[User talk:Ahayri|talk]]) 16:21, 15 March 2024 (UTC)
</s>
[[Talk:Main_Page#New_page_for_.22Disc_check_emulation.22|Done]]

== Suggestion: Move rest of x86 emulator section here ==

This page has everything except the list of emulators. It's odd that IBM PC emulators don't have a page of their own, and that x86 stuff takes up so much of a page with "Pong Consoles" in its name [[User:Phredreeke|Phredreeke]] ([[User talk:Phredreeke|talk]]) 18:34, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

== Suggestion: remove Gravis Gamepad ==

There's nothing particularly special about the Gravis GamePad that an emulator would require specific support for it; it's a standard game port peripheral with two axes and four buttons. The entire listed row of emulators should support it.
Perhaps an 'Input Methods' category would be better suited, and Game Port could be added as one of the categories.

== PCBox ==

PCBox is a fork of 86box that continually merges all upstream commits. Therefore it should really mirror the 86box categories in the case where anything is marked 'unknown'

== UTM? ==

Perhaps [https://mac.getutm.app/ this] should be added to the list? It uses QEMU and runs Windows XP and onwards on Macs

+ What about the 3D acceleration capabilities of UTM, is it good? According to their website UTM currently lacks 3D acceleration for Windows due to no GPU emulation/virtualization support (like OpenGL or DirectX). So, software rendering seems like the only option. [https://youtu.be/O19dNVTBCAs] [[User:Ahayri|Ahayri]] ([[User talk:Ahayri|talk]]) 23:48, 25 June 2024 (UTC)
: - I don't have a Mac so I can't test it. I think it technically qualifies but it's not developed for games [[User:Phredreeke|Phredreeke]] ([[User talk:Phredreeke|talk]]) 11:35, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:: + I previously added UTM to the [[Hypervisors]] page because of its virtualization capabilities. However, I don't think UTM emulator belongs to this page '''at this moment'''. Perhaps we should wait for further development or news about the project before adding it here.  [[User:Ahayri|Ahayri]] ([[User talk:Ahayri|talk]]) 11:40, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
::: - Agree. UTM is kinda in a unique position in that it does both emulation and virtualization. And from my understanding if you want to use VirGL (which is Linux only) you have to run the guest in the emulation backend as it's not supported on the virtualization backend. [[User:Phredreeke|Phredreeke]] ([[User talk:Phredreeke|talk]]) 11:49, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:::: + [[Emulation_accuracy|Virtualization techniques are popular among emulators]], but yeah UTM certainly stands out in its approach.  Regarding VirGL, since we already mentioned that project in the [[Windows 2000/XP/Vista emulators#Type 1 Hypervisors]] section, it might be best to add UTM there as well for consistency? [[User:Ahayri|Ahayri]] ([[User talk:Ahayri|talk]]) 12:45, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

== Operating system support column ==

I could see two ways to go with this column. Either go with a Windows centered approach (since this is what would most likely be used) and list a range of Windows versions supported, ie Windows 1.0-Windows 98. Alternatively list every family of OS that is supported on the emulator (possibly with Win9x and Win NT as separate entries). However I think other OSes (such as OS/2, Linux and BSDs) are so niche that it would be better served with just a separate section at the bottom of the page. [[User:Phredreeke|Phredreeke]] ([[User talk:Phredreeke|talk]]) 11:44, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
:+ Well, there's already a [[PC Emulator Comparisons#Operating systems]] section that covers your suggestions. I think we just need to incorporate a concise summary of that information in the "Operating system support" column, but I'm unsure of the best way to achieve that. [[User:Ahayri|Ahayri]] ([[User talk:Ahayri|talk]]) 12:37, 26 June 2024 (UTC)