tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post543431564126941868..comments2024-03-28T13:39:27.601-07:00Comments on DSHR's Blog: Follow-up to the Emulation ReportDavid.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-6225542552337126262017-10-29T11:30:03.604-07:002017-10-29T11:30:03.604-07:00Some idea of the scale of the retro-gaming industr...Some idea of the scale of the retro-gaming industry can be gathered from Sam Machkovech's report on the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/portland-retro-gaming-expo-delivers-the-industrys-rarest-weirdest-stuff/" rel="nofollow">Portland Retro Gaming Expo</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-25717885802693358322016-03-20T16:30:27.134-07:002016-03-20T16:30:27.134-07:00Kyle Orland at Ars Technica has a report on Frank ...Kyle Orland at <i>Ars Technica</i> has a report on <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/how-the-demonization-of-emulation-devalues-gamings-heritage/" rel="nofollow">Frank Cifaldi's presentation to the Game Developer's Conference</a>. My report refers to his company, Digital Eclipse:<br /><br />"These movies have always been in print," Cifaldi said. "Games could have been the same way, except we demonized emulation, and devalued our heritage. We've relegated a majority of our past to piracy."<br /><br />The whole post is worth a read.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-86428526771854493792016-02-29T06:29:56.668-08:002016-02-29T06:29:56.668-08:00Warren Toomey is working on a really challenging e...Warren Toomey is working on a really challenging emu8lation project, <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/29/githubber_wants_to_revive_the_first_unix_in_a_pdp7_emulator/" rel="nofollow">reviving PDP-7 Unix</a>, the starting point for much of today's computing infrastructure including Linux, Android and iOS.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-25317527342274634622016-02-21T07:40:11.193-08:002016-02-21T07:40:11.193-08:00Those of us who grew up using Control Data systems...Those of us who grew up using Control Data systems now have an <a href="http://members.iinet.net.au/~tom-hunter/" rel="nofollow">emulator for the CDC6400</a> and much of the Cyber series (which was after my time with CDC machines).David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-52469622644835016582016-01-15T09:27:05.807-08:002016-01-15T09:27:05.807-08:00Shira Ovide's Smartphones Aren't PC's ...Shira Ovide's <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-01-14/microsoft-and-intel-join-smartphones-in-helping-to-kill-the-pc" rel="nofollow"><i>Smartphones Aren't PC's Only Nemesis</i></a> is an interesting take on the now four-year-long collapse in sales of PCs:<br /><br />"Microsoft is trying to change its business model so it can in theory make money even if no one ever buys a new PC again. Meanwhile, Intel and the PC makers still generate sales from each new PC sold and therefore want personal computers to fly off the shelves. And all of the PC companies are trying everything they can to get out of the PC business -- or at least become less dependent on selling computers."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-4489325017304664942016-01-08T08:35:08.148-08:002016-01-08T08:35:08.148-08:00The report concludes that widespread use of emulat...The report concludes that widespread use of emulation depends on a solution to the obstacles posed by copyright. Anyone in doubt about how hard this will be should read Zachary Crockett's <a href="http://priceonomics.com/how-mickey-mouse-evades-the-public-domain/" rel="nofollow"><i>How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public Domain</i></a> at <i>Priceonomics</i>:<br /><br />"Disney has done everything in its power to make sure it retains the copyright on Mickey -- even if that means changing federal statutes. Every time Mickey’s copyright is about to expire, Disney spends millions lobbying Congress for extensions, and trading campaign contributions for legislative support. With crushing legal force, they’ve squelched anyone who attempts to disagree with them."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-49044049319211956662015-12-29T11:03:27.907-08:002015-12-29T11:03:27.907-08:00With a little work you can emulate old games on an...With a little work you can <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/12/using-the-new-apple-tv-to-emulate-classic-game-consoles/" rel="nofollow">emulate old games on an Apple TV</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-37172028076839017822015-12-14T11:44:08.757-08:002015-12-14T11:44:08.757-08:00Oya Rieger et al from Cornell have just released a...Oya Rieger <i>et al</i> from Cornell have just released a report entitled <a href="https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/41368" rel="nofollow"><i>Preserving and Emulating Digital Art Objects</i></a> which looks very interesting. I will write more once I've had a chance to study it.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-13097965072793834542015-12-07T04:10:58.666-08:002015-12-07T04:10:58.666-08:00Ilya's system for viewing the Web through old ...Ilya's system for <a href="http://blog.dshr.org/2015/11/follow-up-to-emulation-report.html?showComment=1447178559879#c339731036233436633" rel="nofollow">viewing the Web through old browsers</a> is up at <a href="http://oldweb.today/" rel="nofollow">oldweb.today</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-78694555033450747752015-12-03T23:33:26.728-08:002015-12-03T23:33:26.728-08:00Love Hultén has a KickStarter for a handmade game ...Love Hultén has a KickStarter for a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1836573872/pixel-vision-the-handmade-portable-game-system" rel="nofollow">handmade game emulation system</a> in a walnut case that can store and emulate 10,000 games.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-48075212658370809172015-11-25T13:06:11.197-08:002015-11-25T13:06:11.197-08:00The Software Freedom Conservancy, of which QEMU is...The Software Freedom Conservancy, of which QEMU is a member, supported <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/05/vmware_sued_for_gpl_violation_by_linux_kernel_developer/" rel="nofollow">Christopher Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware for GPL violations</a>. As a result is apparently seeing <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/25/software_conservancy_funding_drive/" rel="nofollow">corporate support evaporate</a>, placing its finances in jeopardy. An illustration of the difficulties even apparently well-funded open-source efforts can encounter.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-65053663576782026862015-11-25T07:18:20.380-08:002015-11-25T07:18:20.380-08:00Zerodium has published a list of prices at which i...Zerodium has published a list of <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/exploit-vendor-publishes-price-list-ios-valued-above-android-496449.shtml" rel="nofollow">prices at which it will buy zero-day exploits</a>. Up to $500K for iOS.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-6920566670549890572015-11-23T15:53:58.393-08:002015-11-23T15:53:58.393-08:00Via Rob Beschizza's report on running the orig...Via Rob Beschizza's report on <a href="https://boingboing.net/2015/11/23/use-the-original-ibm-pc-and-p.html" rel="nofollow">running the original IBM5150 PC and Adventure in his browser</a>, I found the <a href="http://www.pcjs.org/" rel="nofollow">PCjs project</a>:<br /><br />"The goals of the <a href="http://www.pcjs.org/docs/about/" rel="nofollow">JavaScript Machines</a> project are to create fast, full-featured simulations of classic computer hardware, help people understand how these early machines worked, make it easy to experiment with different machine configurations, and provide a platform for running and analyzing old computer software."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-52055337628232421172015-11-20T06:40:01.651-08:002015-11-20T06:40:01.651-08:00Sebastian Anthony at Ars Technica reports that Son...Sebastian Anthony at <i>Ars Technica</i> reports that Sony has stealthily released a <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/11/the-ps4-can-now-emulate-playstation-2-games/" rel="nofollow">PS2 emulator for the PS4</a>. According to a Sony spokesperson:<br /><br />"We are working on utilising PS2 emulation technology to bring PS2 games forward to the current generation. We have nothing further to comment at this point in time."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-60991216134709096932015-11-16T06:18:24.849-08:002015-11-16T06:18:24.849-08:00The report discusses the problems GPUs pose for em...The report discusses the problems GPUs pose for emulation (Section 3.2.1) and the efforts to provide paravirtualized GPU support in QEMU (Section 4.2.1). This limited but valuable support is now <a href="https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=VirtIO-VirGL-3D-In-Mesa" rel="nofollow">mainstreamed in the Linux 4.4 kernel</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-42774458309548633292015-11-14T07:38:26.565-08:002015-11-14T07:38:26.565-08:00The report points out that the persistence of malw...The report points out that the persistence of malware in the Internet is a significant problem for the use of emulation in preservation. It uses 2008's Conficker worm as an illustration. Today, we get a reminder that these threats never go away. Conficker was just discovered in brand-new <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/14/remember_conficker_its_back_and_its_infecting_police_body_cams/" rel="nofollow">factory shipments of police body cameras</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-53459998630236167152015-11-13T15:35:42.942-08:002015-11-13T15:35:42.942-08:00Apple is pushing the idea that their new iPad Pro ...Apple is pushing the idea that their new <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/11984806/Apples-Tim-Cook-declares-the-end-of-the-PC-and-hints-at-new-medical-product.html" rel="nofollow">iPad Pro will kill off the PC</a>:<br /><br />“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?”, asks Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive,David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-35332342359777313642015-11-11T07:26:13.764-08:002015-11-11T07:26:13.764-08:00David,
Your report is excellent, thank you!
I ...David,<br /><br />Your report is excellent, thank you! <br /> <br />I do have one piece of feedback. One thing you seem to have missed in both of your blog posts and in the report is and how the use case you mentioned us having at Yale relates to the cost calculations related to using emulation long term and at a large scale. <br /> <br />One of my ongoing concerns is the problem of <a href="http://digitalcontinuity.org/post/125850578993/software-dependent-content" rel="nofollow">software dependent content</a>. Which I consider to be extremely prevalent and problematic. For this reason and due to cost considerations outlined below, we are exploring at Yale the option of using emulation for enabling interaction with <i>every</i> "born" digital object in our archive (and potentially everything digital) using software that is contemporaneous to the objects. On first hearing, this can sound daunting and expensive. Fortunately much of this can be achieved quite inexpensively as a huge number of our files can best be interacted with using a relatively small set of environments. For example, if we set up each version of Microsoft office and/or WordPerfect office on one disk image each and made them available via Emulation as a Service for use with our content, we would be able to enable interaction with many millions of files. The per-file cost for enabling this would be minimal. Furthermore the cost could mostly be born at the point of access, i.e. just in time rather than just in case (which I'd consider applies to migrating everything - it is a relatively large and recurring expense "just in case" the content ever gets used). <br /> <br />The <a href="http://eaas.uni-freiburg.de" rel="nofollow">team in Freiburg</a> have also made great progress with implementing something similar to the approach used in the <a href="http://emuframework.sourceforge.net/" rel="nofollow">KEEP project</a> to enable the above use case in an even more automated and therefore cost-effective way. They have mapped PRONOM IDs to a number of preconfigured environments so that individual files to be accessed can be analyzed and a set of environments automatically identified that can interact with the files. Under their current implementation a default environment is automatically selected and booted but users can optionally choose another "compatible" environment. <br /> <br />Overall this use case is quite different to the e.g. CD-ROM use case as there is minimal initial effort and therefore cost per item to be preserved. Due to its "just in time" rather than "just in case" nature I think it makes it quite attractive as an option over the long term. Especially compared with the just in case migration alternative. <br /><br />One other update, my student workers in the Library at Yale are currently processing about 500 CD-ROMs and floppy disks from our general collections per week. We have around 8000, probably 5-6000 of which will eventually go into the EaaS framework. These will take some effort to process (unlike the use case I described above). But I'm hoping the characterization service the bwFLA team have implemented may help with that. <br /> <br />Again, the report is excellent, thank you!<br /><br /><a href="https://www.twitter.com/euanc" rel="nofollow">Euan Cochrane</a>euanchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15144686780661663450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-3397310362334366332015-11-10T10:02:39.879-08:002015-11-10T10:02:39.879-08:00Hi David,
I would like to add that I am continuin...Hi David,<br /><br />I would like to add that I am continuing work on Netcapsule (https://github.com/ikreymer/netcapsule), I think a next step in the ''Internet Emulator' effort. It is a fully open source Docker-based system, currently supporting 13 browsers, each running in its own Docker container on-demand, and allowing browsing across 10+ Memento-enabled archives.<br /><br />IlyaIlyaKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02933341660452391494noreply@blogger.com