I've been building a new MAME front end for MacOS, and it's at the point where I would be grateful if some folks besides me would be willing to try it. I built this for myself after years of using qmc2. (Much respect to René Reucher who I understand passed away in the spring of 2023. R.I.P. (1) ) There's a lot I like about qmc2 but also a lot that I find frustrating. I set out to solve those pain points as well as build something that's fully Mac native.
Worth mentioning:
- It's free.
- The source is closed for now.
- The releases are signed and notarized.
- There are native builds for Apple Silicon and Intel as well as a Universal build.
- MacOS 14 or higher is required.
- It's mostly SwiftUI, with some AppKit when SwiftUI couldn't do what I needed done.
- There are no ROMs/CHDs included and none ever will be.
It was 100% vibe-coded using Claude and some Grok, with me directing and testing on a real machine with a real collection. If you're not comfortable running vibe-coded code, this would be a project to steer clear of.
In 1992, I got myself an AT&T EasyReach 700 number. It was going to be my phone number for life. They killed that a couple years later. Then I got an AT&T True Connections 500 number. It was going to be my phone number for life. That died a few years later too.
In my "instructions for Claude," I have the following:
"I'm not a programmer or software engineer. Don't talk to me like I am. Avoid coder jargon and vernacular. Explain things to me in a clear way, emphasizing a conceptual view that even an inexperienced person can understand. If helpful, use analogies and examples to illustrate and help you communicate."
It just ignores it and spits out drivel that sounds exactly like what you're getting.
I think this was where "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" comes from.
My perpetually-single friend is always complaining that there "aren't any good single women" in his area. When he visits other places, he inevitably reports on how much nicer and prettier the women are there.
I wonder if the author would feel different about a place he was visiting if he stayed there for a few years.
There's also the concept that "familiarity breeds contempt" and there seems to be some evidence to support this.
I found that if I make it tight enough so that things don't loosen easily when there's tension, then it's too tight to adjust easily. Maybe there's a happy medium to be had, but through numerous tries, I never achieved it.
This got me wondering if vibecoding might bring with it a newfound interest in developing apps for vintage computers. Are the LLMs that most people use trained as well on these older coding languages / platforms as they are on modern ones?
LLMs are surprisingly good at dealing with ancient APIs, even terrifying things like VBScript and ActiveX in IE5 (usually with a condescending disclaimer at the end of the response). With a manual on hand to double check it can be helpful sometimes. Gemini (only one I really tried) is very knowledgeable about DirectX 5.
I don't like the idea of vibecoding esoteric stuff though. I feel it kind of ruins the magic of these things when you have Claude bang it out in an afternoon, especially if your project idea is more art than anything. There have been a few vibecoded weird doom ports posted on here before, obviously its just how i feel but it seems like a wasted opportunity.
De La Soul's 12" Single for "Me Myself And I" also has its second side cut with two grooves. The hype sticker says, "3 Sides." Each time you put the needle down you have a 50/50 chance to hear the song you're trying to hear. :-)
Worth mentioning:
- It's free.
- The source is closed for now.
- The releases are signed and notarized.
- There are native builds for Apple Silicon and Intel as well as a Universal build.
- MacOS 14 or higher is required.
- It's mostly SwiftUI, with some AppKit when SwiftUI couldn't do what I needed done.
- There are no ROMs/CHDs included and none ever will be.
It was 100% vibe-coded using Claude and some Grok, with me directing and testing on a real machine with a real collection. If you're not comfortable running vibe-coded code, this would be a project to steer clear of.
Download: https://github.com/DJCJ-website/DJCJArcade
Both bug reports and general feedback are welcome through GitHub Issues or right here in the thread.
God bless. :-)
(1) https://mameonmacs.blogspot.com/2022/04/welcome-back-qmc2.ht...
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