(·· AMIGA · ARENA ··) .----------------------------------. | I · N · T · E · R ·V · I · E · W | `----------------------------------' ø==========================================ø | | | Developer: Álmos Rajnai | | | | Software: Petunia - 68k emulator | | | | Homepage: HTTP://amigos.amiga.hu/rachy | | | | Email: racs@fs2.bdtf.hu | | | `==========================================' *Please introduce yourself to the readers!* I am a programmer and teacher in a college in western part of Hungary. I started my coder-carrier when I was about 8-9 years old, first on a Commodore Plus/4. Now, after almost 20 years of coding I work on mostly web-based and multimedia applications in my full time job, and teach multimedia programming to the students. Amiga programming is only my hobby, I really love this computer, unfortunately I have not enough time for coding. My dream was becoming to a great Amiga coder, to do something important for the Amiga community, hopefully now I will success this dream... :) I am mostly interested in low level coding, in assembly and in C, especially the emulators. *When did you start working with the Amiga?* It was about 10 years ago, around 1992. For a long time I was "only" a demo coder, but after a few years of passive working I found out that I prefer application and tool development rather than effect coding. *Which Amiga model do you own* I have an Amiga 1200 in a huge (and hacky) server case, with BlizzardPPC 603e-160/680LC40-25, 64 megs of Fast Ram, Mediator PCI board with a Voodoo3-2000. (And of course the rest, like hard disk, monitor, etc. :) *Which version of the operating system is running on your computer?* AmigaOS3.1 *Which software are you developing?* It is a Just In Time compiling based Motorola 68040 emulator for the PowerPC processors (codename: Petunia). *Can you tell us what your software is about?* It will be used in AmigaOS4 for emulating the 68k processor for the legacy applications, tools, system parts and drivers on an acceptable speed. *What has created the idea in you to continue developing your software?* As I mentioned I really intend to the emulators. After creation of my Commodore Plus/4 emulator I started to think on the possibility of implementing modern technologies in a 68k emulator. I saw 68k emulators in MorphOS and MacOS and I was quite disappointed of the performance. I could not believe that this is all what a PowerPC can do. So, after a long time of thinking and planning I started an experimental project. After 3 months of working it seemed that the JIT technology fulfill my expectations, and the emulator started working. I just couldn't stop coding since then... ;) *How long has the development taken so far?* I started the project on 27 December 2000. It is not yet finished, but the final version is close. *Which software are you using for developing?* I use pasm from Frank Wille, and the VBCC package for C codes. (95% of the code is PowerPC assembly because of speed. I love optimizing my code by hand, I don't thrust in compilers' optimalization methods.) *For which system (AmigaOS, AmigaDE, MorphOS) are you developing?* AmigaOS only, I don't plan to support MorphOS. AmigaDE is a bit far from my profile, maybe once in my full time job... *Which OS will you support in the future?* AmigaOS only, as it is the only one official way to go on the Amiga. *What can we expect of future versions?* It is hard to forecast, the recent version has no MMU support, I plan to implement once. And I want more specific optimalizations for the different PowerPC versions, eg. by using AltiVec on G4 PPCs. *Don't you lose the fun and the interest in programming if you see the small amount of feedback you get from the small Amiga market?* No. It is true, that I can count all the feedbacks on my ten fingers (okay, maybe I have to drop down my shoes too ;), but I created most of my software for myself, just to have fun with them. There is a huge advantage in own software development: you can implement whatever you figure out, so you don't have to wait for somebody... :) *Do you receive enough feedback for your software?* Actually yes. Petunia is not ready, so I did not count on any feedback, the only public information is on my web page. Some of my friends tried the betas, they are always asking about newer versions. Last summer on a great meeting (Fyanica) here, in Hungary I presented Petunia to the public (around 500 Amigans), after this "showcase" I got enough feedback to keep me pushing on the way. *When did you last use your Amiga?* I use it right now, of course... :) (What a question... Let's say 0.1 secs ago, I can type quite fast... ;) *Which software did you last buy for your Amiga?* Phew! That was a bit long ago, an Aminet-set. I got a few software for my work on the Amiga (eg. I did some translation projects for ATO). *Which software do you still use?* I use free softwares mostly. As a coder, the most used program on my Amiga is the VBCC package. *Which hard/software are you planning to buy?* Hardware: AmigaOne developer board. Software: hmm... I don' know, maybe a good browser once. *Do you believe in a comeback of Amiga?* Definitely. :) I feel that after a long and painful silence Amiga is alive again. *Your final words for the readers?* Please don't lose your faith in Amiga, keep on supporting the developers! A small feedback, only an e-mail about the program you like, not to mention shareware fees, encourage developers a lot. (And don't destroy the rain forests... :) .... __ -- © Amiga Arena 03/2002 -- __ .... aMIGA aRENA - fEEL tHE fIRE!