Web Links Page

[PeterJ]

Hi,

I was wondering if there is any interest in us maintaining a list of links to latest versions of Emulators and tools as well as websites of interest.

This could either be a forum post that gets updated (like the new games 2020 thread), or a separate page off the main site.

It would need community involvement though to check for dead links regularly, and updated or new versions of software if the link changes.

Thoughts please.

[Lethargeek]

a separate page with its own linked forum thread for suggestions

[Juan F. Ramirez]

A page inside a Spectrum Computing section with the updated links of main emulators for any OS. That's a thing I suggested some time ago.

But it can be a link or the own SC hosting the emulator files.

[Einar Saukas]

What about improving the page that already exists?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=91

[akeley]

I voted for a thread because I usually only check the forums. But a page within SC would be ok too I guess.

[PeterJ]

What about improving the page that already exists?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=91

Depends if you want to start adding general website links [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention]. Was trying to not involve ZXDB to avoid extra work for you. However, if you are up for it we can certainly discuss.

Will be interesting to see the poll results (You can tell I work with data and reporting), and we can take it from there.

[PeterJ]

I voted for a thread because I usually only check the forums. But a page within SC would be ok too I guess.

Hi, would you mind me asking why you don't use the main site so much. Do you have any issues with it? Cheers.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

What about improving the page that already exists?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=91

That's my idea. Current and old emulators for any OS or console (not only for PC/Windows). A sort of emulators 'museum'. It can include images, for example. But it's enough for me.

By the way, I didn't know that page exists!

[akeley]

Hi, would you mind me asking why you don't use the main site so much. Do you have any issues with it? Cheers.

No, no issues at all. It's just that I'm mainly interested in forum interaction, and the main page is mostly about ZXDB. I should probably have a look at the RELEASES tab more often, though its info is also served in forum threads.

Actually, I had some comments regarding ZXDB functionality, from trying it not long ago - I remember that some things present in zxinfo.dk could be perhaps useful here too (I ended up using their site eventually, when searching zxdb). But I'd have to replicate this, and it's probably a matter for another thread.

Anyway, thanks for asking, nice to see a site owner actively caring about feedback

[Einar Saukas]

What about improving the page that already exists?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=91

That's my idea. Current and old emulators for any OS or console (not only for PC/Windows).

This part of ZXDB was created to store all kinds of cross platform utilities (not just emulators) for any system. We just need help to finish populating it.

And perhaps the way it's shown at SC could be improved, with some selection filters at the top of the page?

[PeterJ]

OK, so I have created a simple GitHub page. GitHub now allows unlimited contributors even on free accounts:

https://github.com/spectrumcomputing/SC ... /README.md

Let me know if you want to help. Either PM my your GitHub email address or add links below. Please include the category, website address and a brief description. If you can also include if the emulator or software tool is still being updated. Make sure that you include a link if you are provide a software or emulator links. I would also welcome edits to the current links (especially the explanatory text)

If we can eventually get these into ZXDB [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention] then excellent. Let's start by getting an updated list together which will be useful whichever road we go down.

Categories I'm thinking are emulators / software tools / Websites / Commercial

[Einar Saukas]

What about improving the page that already exists?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=91

Depends if you want to start adding general website links @Einar Saukas. Was trying to not involve ZXDB to avoid extra work for you. However, if you are up for it we can certainly discuss.

I'm considering that links to external sites could be just a static page at SC. And all information about cross platform emulators and other tools could use the already existing page rendered from ZXDB.

[PeterJ]

Excellent. That goes with my thoughts too Are you open to adding extra columns such as platforms supported and description fields? Assuming these don't already exist (Sorry, not looked at the table lately)

Many of the older tools and emulators don't have websites anymore, so part of the work would be making sure we have the latest versions available. Some will be be in WoS archive, but others may not be.

[PeterJ]

I would welcome any contributions, otherwise I'm afraid it will encounter a rather early exit and I will move onto something else. I may have over-estimated the demand for such a list. No worries though.

[PeterJ]

As there isn't a huge amount of interest in this, it won't be continuing. As a small team its important that we stick with things which are most important to users and the site in general.

This applies to the website link list I mentioned, rather than anything in ZXDB. There is as [mention]Einar Saukas[/mention] as mentioned an outdated list of emulators within ZXDB.

[1024MAK]

In reality you really need all of these:

• A forum thread where people who don’t have rights/access to update a database (or who don’t want to) can post links to useful sites and useful software, and just as importantly, can post notices saying if a link is broken, or to post a new link to replace a broken link.
• A web site with pages preferably based on a database for users to search and browse so that they have easy access to the links,
• Not all software will have a website that hosts the software, so we need to think about how users can access this software, for example should it be hosted and by who/where?
• Where the Internet Archive (or other archive or similar) has a archive/backup/snapshot of the software or web site, links to this should also be considered to be included.

And yes, emulators, tools, etc that run on systems other than just Windows should be included. For example there is a ZX81 emulator that is available as an iOS app, so links like this https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zx81/id1180117434 to the Apple App Store and similar should also be considered.

Mark

[PeterJ]

Agreed, but as there was little interest expressed, I don't think it's worth the time sadly.