Best IIgs emulator for Windows 10?

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

Being new to Windows as my main work machine (I've always run some version,
but formerly just to run PC only software), I thought I'd seek the group's
advice as to the best IIgs emulator under Windows 10 in 2018.

Googling reveals a bunch of choices, but most seem to not have been updated
recently. Which of course doesn't necessarily mean they're a bad choice.
But I'm always a bit wary of investing time in an abandoned or neglected
project that has issues not immediately obvious.

TIA :-)


--
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
that it has never tried to contact us." - Calvin and Hobbes (Bill
Watterson)

[David Schmidt]

On 2/26/2018 9:01 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
> Being new to Windows as my main work machine (I've always run some version,
> but formerly just to run PC only software), I thought I'd seek the group's
> advice as to the best IIgs emulator under Windows 10 in 2018.

Define "best" for us, would you please? What are your goals? What are
your desires with respect to usability, polish, fit/finish, particular
functions, I-don't-know-what-else? There are several, most are
descendants of KEGS in one form or another (with the exception of MESS),
and so on. Offshoots sprung up to plug particular holes or add
particular hardware functionality. No one does everything.

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

Stability, accurate emulation of the base IIgs machine, reasonable ease of
use and accessible configuration, and a well written help file covering
anything not intuitively obvious.

Bonus points for keyboard layout editing, save states, a variety of display
emulation and settings for both pleasingly retro looks or pure
functionality as desired, and support for printing to PDF or something
reasonably useful at getting me a look at what I'd have output from a
printer of the era.

[David Schmidt]

On 2/26/2018 11:28 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
> David Schmidt <schm...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>> On 2/26/2018 9:01 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
>>> Being new to Windows as my main work machine (I've always run some version,
>>> but formerly just to run PC only software), I thought I'd seek the group's
>>> advice as to the best IIgs emulator under Windows 10 in 2018.
>>

>> Define "best" for us, would you please? [...]

>
> Stability, accurate emulation of the base IIgs machine, reasonable ease of
> use and accessible configuration, and a well written help file covering
> anything not intuitively obvious.
>
> Bonus points for keyboard layout editing, save states, a variety of display
> emulation and settings for both pleasingly retro looks or pure
> functionality as desired, and support for printing to PDF or something
> reasonably useful at getting me a look at what I'd have output from a
> printer of the era.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. You'll need all of them to cover all those
features. Try each and see what suits you is my best advice. Everyone
has their favorites for their own reasons; they may or may not match yours.

[Jamie Kahn Genet]

That being the case, what is the most popular IIgs emulator within the past
couple years?

And regardless, which is your current favourite? :-)

Cheers,
Jamie Kahn Genet

[James Davis]

Apple IIGS Emulators: GSplus, GSport, KEGS, & MAME.

All of these seem to be popular.

[David Schmidt]

On 2/26/2018 2:47 PM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
> David Schmidt <schm...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>> On 2/26/2018 11:28 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
>>> David Schmidt <schm...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2/26/2018 9:01 AM, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote:
>>>>> Being new to Windows as my main work machine (I've always run some version,
>>>>> but formerly just to run PC only software), I thought I'd seek the group's
>>>>> advice as to the best IIgs emulator under Windows 10 in 2018.
>>>>
>>>> Define "best" for us, would you please? [...]
>>>
>>> Stability, accurate emulation of the base IIgs machine, reasonable ease of
>>> use and accessible configuration, and a well written help file covering
>>> anything not intuitively obvious.
>>>
>>> Bonus points for keyboard layout editing, save states, a variety of display
>>> emulation and settings for both pleasingly retro looks or pure
>>> functionality as desired, and support for printing to PDF or something
>>> reasonably useful at getting me a look at what I'd have output from a
>>> printer of the era.
>>
>> Yeah, I was afraid of that. You'll need all of them to cover all those
>> features. Try each and see what suits you is my best advice. Everyone
>> has their favorites for their own reasons; they may or may not match yours.
>>
>
> That being the case, what is the most popular IIgs emulator within the past
> couple years?

I have no way of knowing, sorry to say.

> And regardless, which is your current favourite? :-)

I shepherd the GSport project, so I'm partial to it. It's got some
changes that need to see the light of day in the form of a packaged
release as I've been negligent in my duties of late, but it has some
fantastic features that I like. It's got super flexible printing,
AppleTalk, Ethernet, Serial, and some silly creature comforts I use a
lot like automounting a disk image wherever it makes sense to mount it,
and text clipboard paste. It scores poorly on the "ease of use" scale,
though. If you're not scared of textual configuration - it's right up
your alley. If you like pretty pictures to click on - keep looking.