Lego and Linux

I am currently in the process of building some software on Linux for viewing and building Lego projects.
The first program I have been successful with is LDView, a very nice tool to visualize LDraw files.
I have it working on Slackware 13.0, both 32-bits and 64-bits. It is still a bit of a "hacked" installation, as it requires some fiddling with parameters and recompiling packages. But I plan to put a package on my site as soon as it is in a decent state and submit a SlackBuild for those who prefer to build their own version.

Here are two screen shots, one from the included model and another from my Lego Elevator:

New TRS-80 emulator for Linux

Mark Grebe released sdltrs, a new emulator for the TRS-80 Model I/III/4/4p for Macintosh, Windows and Linux. It is based on xtrs, but uses the portable sdl library. It has on-screen options to change disks, cassettes, etc.

Packages for Slackware 13.0 are available on my site:

• sdltrs-1_0_0-i486-2_nhh.tgz (32-bits)
• sdltrs-1_0_0-x86_64-2_nhh.tgz (64-bits)

As always, have fun!

A year of blogging

It has been a year today I started this blog, so I thought it was about time to change the lay-out a bit.
I made it more-or-less like my homepage, so that people feel, well, "at home" :)

GUI for Hercules on Linux

Today Jakob Dekel released the first beta version of Hercules Studio, a GUI front-end for Hercules - the System/370, ESA/390 and z/Architecture emulator.

On his site you can find pre-built packages in RPM and DEB format.
For us Slackware users, I created Slackware packages as well, after getting some extra information from a very friendly Jacob Dekel.

The packages for Slackware, both 32 & 64 bits versions, can be downloaded from my site here.
The stable 3.06 version of Hercules is not prepared for a Linux GUI, so you will need the latest svn snapshot, also available as a Slackware package on the same page.

The result can be seen here:

Slackware packages for Hercules

I have received a few requests for pre-built Slackware packages for the Hercules System/370, ESA/390 and z/Architecture emulator.

I have used Hercules for some time now to run Slack/390 and had already created my own package, but it was not really up to the right standards to be published.

But, with the release of Slackware 13.0 I have reorganized some of my packages and built new ones following the guidelines of SlackBuilds.org.

The result can be downloaded from my site:

• hercules-3.06-i486-1_nhh.tgz (32-bits version)
• hercules-3.06-x86_64-1_nhh.tgz (64-bits version)

xtrs (TRS-80 emulator) on Slackware

My first professional work with computers was done on a Tandy / Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I. I still have that machine but have not powered it up for at least ten years, since I do not have a working monitor anymore.
But thanks to the various emulators that are available, I can still run the old programs whenever I need or want to.

Since my desktop runs Slackware Linux, the emulator I use is xtrs. It is small, fast and emulates the Model I, III, 4 and 4p. I have had all these models and still have a Model 4p in reasonable condition.

As every good Linux program, xtrs is distributed as open source, for the end-user to compile.
This has never been a problem to me, but not every TRS-80 fan might be happy about this.

So, after the newest release of xtrs in June, I put on my to-do list to make a 'Slackware-package', so that at least Slackware users can run xtrs installing a simple package without any compiling.
Since my to-do list is quite extensive, it took some time for this task to arrive at the top, but today I finally managed to get it done.

The result is available on my homepage, in two versions:

• xtrs-4.9d-i486-2_nhh.tgz, the 32-bit version
• xtrs-4.9d-x86_64-2_nhh.tgz, the 64-bit version (for Slackware64)

Both have been tested with Slackware 13.0 but should work fine on 12.x as well, and probably some older versions.

For those who prefer to compile their own software, I submitted a SlackBuild to SlackBuilds.org but it is pending for approval at the moment.

Here is a screenshot of xtrs emulating a Model III running NEWDOS/80:


And this is the Model I running the famous Dancing Demon: