MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Pong emulation with MAME

>How does MAME emulate Pong?

For the analog/discrete audio and also with non-cpu emulation, it is via netlist code that couriersud has been working on since sometime during 2011 iirc.

>I thought by definition and scope it couldn't, and that's why someone invented DICE.

Correct. It was that way when MAME started since begining. Juergen B. did do simulation work with Pong with supporting it in MAME, but the founder Nicola S. chose to remove Juergen's work sometime in early 2000 since it was more of a simulation at the time compared to couriersud's recent work.

When MAME started in 1997, the CPU emulation code portion was what the various supported driver files looked to when games were emulated. It all revolved around if a game used a cpu and what type of cpu was used. And it was probably like that way with many other stand-a-alone emulators back in the days.

Going by memory, the first emulation example was by A. Scotti and his Tickle emulator that was displaying images of Atari Rebound in 2006. And then in 2007, Dan Boris did a more advanced Pong emulation to show examples of Pong running. Adam Bousley's DICE was unexpected because it was posted on MAMEWorld emuchat forum in spring 2009 iirc which most users were not aware.

Juergen B. did a little more work on non-cpu emulation in early 2010 with Atari Space Race, but the work hit a roadblock iirc since Space Race emulation also included a fair amount of analog emulation components such as the credit/start buttons used with Space Race, but Juergen did show image examples of Space Race in action.

From years 2008 through late 2009/early 2010, the source code in MAME had evolved where even a cpu was downsized to a device component on a pcb just as if it were any other device components on a pcb. (video, audio etc.)

After the overhaul work with cpus being treated as a regular component on a pcb, this provided a chance for supporting any hardware that does not use any cpu. This can include games (arcade/console, musical instruments (keyboards) etc.)

This then made it possible for netlist code to be used for emulating hardware that didn't use any cpus. couriersud was doing work in 2011 iirc, but it wasn't apparent until early summer 2012 when Pong was supported once again, but via netlist along with improved ttl support that made it possible to show non-cpu hardware can be emulated within MAME.