How to install ContrAlto emulator?
In this tutorial, we will see how to install ContrAlto emulator. It is an emulator of Xerox Alto computers made by Living Computers Museum + Labs.
Installing
Linux
You can download a zip file containing the emulator from its GitHub release section:
Make sure to download the mono release, and not the windows one.
Extract the zip file and move all the files inside it to the folder where you are storing other files related to the VirtualHub tutorial.
Before we can run the emulator, we need to install some dependencies. On Ubuntu/Debian based distros, run the following command:
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libpcap-dev mono-complete
On Fedora and related distros, run:
sudo dnf install SDL2-devel libpcap-devel mono-devel
On openSUSE and related distros, run:
sudo zypper in SDL2-devel libpcap-devel mono-devel
On Arch based distros, run:
sudo pacman -S sdl2 libpcap mono
If you use another distro, install SDL2, pcap and mono on it.
After installing the dependencies, you can open a terminal in the folder where you have stored ContrAlto files, and run mono Contralto.exe to start the emulator:
To close the emulator, click on the close button on the emulation window. Now you can follow the VirtualHub tutorial which required this emulator.
Windows
You can download a zip file containing the emulator from its GitHub release section:
Make sure to download the windows release, and not the mono one.
Extract the zip file. Inside, you will find a .msi file. Double click on it to start installing it.
Click on Next.
Click on "I accept the terms in the License Agreement" and then click on Next.
If you want, you can change the location of the installation, otherwise click on Next.
Click on Install. If asked for granting Admin rights, click on Yes.
After installation is done click on Finish. Now you can start the ContrAlto emulator from Start Menu.
To close the emulator, click on the close button on the emulation window. Now you can follow the VirtualHub tutorial which required this emulator.
Documentation
There isn't much documentation available.
Credits
Video tutorial
Do you want to follow the tutorial by watching a video? We will post a video on our youtube channel soon.
Archives of this tutorial are available on Wayback Machine.
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