Lazarus 2.0 is out!

[Howard_Casto]

In case anyone missed the post in the news on the main page Lazaurs 2.0 and the skinner app 1.0 are now available.  

There are all kinds of new features but I'm guessing the most popular one will be the fact that the command prompt won't pop up when you launch mame anymore.  

go check it out at the usual place...
www.oscarcontrols.com/lazarus/

until our next exciting adventure.... same Lazarus time, same Lazarus channel.
(do de do do do de do de dum dum)

[jaquer]

Cool, this new release rocks. I don't know if it's my imagination, but it seems faster. And thanks for fixing the skinner app. My dream arcade FE is closer and closer.

Now, you're gonna hate me for this one, but I can't get the screen saver to work. As soon as it starts I get the error:

Runtime error '-2147352567 (80020009)':

Automation error
Exception ocurred

Mmmm... Windows XP, Latest Media Player 8.00.00.4477. Need any more info?

Here's the playlist I'm using:

http://izaram.net/pages/misc/default.m3u (right-click, save-as)

TIA again Howard.

[SirPoonga]

as usual, my screensaver doesn't show pics unless I have a m3udefines.  maybe I will make a blank mp3.

[Howard_Casto]

The screensaver will be scrapped next release.  It's the only remaining original raging dragon code and is in great need of an overhaul.  Next release I'll allow you to point to an external scr file  so you can use anything as a scr.... I will also fix the old screensaver and port it to a scr executable.  

[SirPoonga]

Cool

[jkw]

Not to be picky or anything, but on your webpage you state in the July news:

"Welcome to the official homepage of the first completely universal, multi emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind."

That is a completely untrue statement.  I know for a fact that emuwizard was around before lazarus.  It is definately a "universal, multi-emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind".  And there are probably others (gamelauncher?) before emuwizard.

[)p(]

Not to be picky or anything, but on your webpage you state in the July news:

"Welcome to the official homepage of the first completely universal, multi emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind."

That is a completely untrue statement.  I know for a fact that emuwizard was around before lazarus.  It is definately a "universal, multi-emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind".  And there are probably others (gamelauncher?) before emuwizard.

Yeah there are more that fit the description...like mine...but knowing Howard you must not take that statement to seriously   And there is some reason behind this claim it is the first universal fe because with the uiniversal wrappers it can launch any emulator even those non-commandline emulators that have not been created yet!  

Peter

[SirPoonga]

"completely universal, multi emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind."

"universal, multi-emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind".

You purposely left out the "completely" part, why?
That's what HC is claiming.  With his wrappers you can run practically any emu.

Plus what )p( said, you can't take HC seriously all the time.

[Howard_Casto]

Not to be picky or anything, but on your webpage you state in the July news:

"Welcome to the official homepage of the first completely universal, multi emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind."

That is a completely untrue statement.  I know for a fact that emuwizard was around before lazarus.  It is definately a "universal, multi-emulator front end with the mame-cab builder in mind".  And there are probably others (gamelauncher?) before emuwizard.

It's what the others said.  My fe is the only one that can, in theory at least, launch ANYTHING.  You can launch anything from  a mame game to a mp3 file and anything inbetween. Your only limited by the amount of time you have, your creativity and your system's resources.

The good news is now almost every fe can have the same functionality due to the fact that the wrappers are external.  They work particularly well with game launcher and emulaxian from what I've been told.  

I appreciate your defense of the other fe's by the way and please realize that I hold them all in the highest respect.  I've become somewhat of an unofficial embassador for all of the front-ends so I'm aware of all of their good points.  That's why I'm always trying to add interesting features, because I'm also well aware of all the others' limitations.    

[jkw]

I don't believe there is an emulator or application that emuwizard can't launch.  It is completely configurable to launch any executable.

I have not yet looked at these wrappers, so perhaps they do more than it seems.

[Howard_Casto]

First off I'm not knocking emuwizard or anything so don't take this as an attack I'm just trying to inform the public here.  

Emuwizard does, in fact, use a rudimentary simulated keypress system. However, it's very cumbersome and I've yet to find a person that can actually get it to work quite right.  Also the major drawback is you have to configure every single game manually which to many people (including myself is completely unacceptable.)  

Also I used simulated keypresses on raging dragon long before emuizard was out.  That's a little off-topic but you seem to be suggesting that I stole my idea from someone else and are trying to steal the credit for myself.  I assure you that is not the case.  I always give credit where credit is due.  And although I could be considered a pompus ass by many, I am a truthful pompus ass.    I wouldn't dream of making a claim that I couldn't back up.  

[SirPoonga]

What HC's wrappers do is somthing like this.  Say you run zinc.  To execute a game in zinc you have to type "zinc 6" where the number is the number of the game you want to play.  In this case Street Fighter EX Plus 2, sfexp2.  With his commandline wrapper which is alread setup for zinc (whew) you just have to run "zinc-wrapper sfexp2" to execute the game.  He stores the game to number relationship in the wrapper.

Then's there' impact.  though outdated by zinc has qualities zinc doesn;t.  BUT it is gui only.  Again, with HC's Impact wrapper all you need to do is execute "impact-wrapper sfexp2" and it will tab through the drop down list for you.  You don't have to set that up.

Just a very nice convenience.  Actually, he made the wrapper as exe so other FEs can use them.  SO you could use them with emuwizard if you wanted to...

[Rod1968]

Great Front End
I'd like to use in my cabinet
is there any chance to get
support for vertical monitors?

Thx
Rodney

[jaquer]

Sorry man, Howard mentioned from the get-go that he could not support rotated screens. He did mention this program, which might rotate your screen:

http://us.portrait.com/products/pivotpro.htm

I've never used it meself, but it may work for ya. (That's me Irish accent, you know?).

[Rod1968]

Yep I tried it but it puts the game in window for some
reason.  Lazarus must be forcing the resolution or something because I can get mame32 and mamew to work
fine with pivotpro lazarus just puts it in a full screen window

I guess I will have to play with it some more to see if I
can get it to work

Thx
Rodney

[Howard_Casto]

Portrait seems to work better than pivot pro.  Also realize that these screen rotation programs only rotate windows apps.  (Even though Lazarus doesn't look it, it is merely a standard Windoze window.)  What this means is when you launch the game, you generally have to rotate the emulator too, using it's rotate switch.  And yes Lazarus does force the resolution, but if you go into the settings you'll notice you can set the resolution to anything you want, that includes changing the aspect ratio.  You'll probably need to make your own skin though, as stock one's are going to be distorted.  

I've tried to make Lazarus more compatable with vertical displays, but quite frankly I don't have a vertical monitor and I haven't found anyone with one that's willing to beta test for me on an extened basis.  If I did then I could make it run better with portrait, pivot pro and the lot.