jzIntv: Intellivision for Linux, Unix, Windows and MacOS!

This page documents my efforts to build my own Intellivision Emulator under Linux. I had no idea how far I'd get with the idea when I started, but I made good enough progress that now I have the makings of an Intellivision Emulator which I'm sharing with the world. :-) In fact, its gotten to the point where the world is sharing back now!

BTW, these pictures are the some screen shots that I've produced with jzIntv that I thought were interesting enough to share. I'm getting further...

Featured Links

• jzIntv Work-In Progress Release 2005-12-04
  Includes binaries for Windows, MacOS X, Linux x86 and Linux x86-64.
  
  
• SDK-1600 Software Development Kit
  Use this to write your own games! Release 3 is greatly expanded, including 19 different example programs and over 2 dozen library functions.
  
  
• DOOM for Intellivision!
  You just gotta see it! (Lirpa 1 Compliant!)
  
  
• Chad Schell's Intellicart
  Play Old and New Games on a Real Intellivision!.
  
  
  
• 4-Tris and Pong for Intellivision!
  These were my contest entries in Mike Hayes' Summer Development Contest.
  
  
• PhillyClassic Special Edition 4-Tris for Intellivision!
  I am making a limited run of Special Edition 4-Tris cartridges for 4-Tris' cartridge debut at PhillyClassic 2001.
  
  
• Intellivision Tech Info!
  Far from complete, this is a partial brain dump of what I know about Intellivision.
  
  
• Other Intellivision Emulators: IntvDOS / IntvWIN, Nostalgia and Bliss
  These emulators are by John Dullea, Joe Fisher, and Kyle Davis, respectively.
  
  
• Good Deal Games
  All sorts of neat stuff, including an interview of me! *blush*
  They also have an Intellivision Crossword!

Directory

• Links!
  Links to related sites.
  
  
• Info!
  Information about Intellivision and jzIntv.
  
  
• Download!
  Download jzIntv and other Intellivision related stuff.
  
  
• News!
  News about jzIntv. For more general Intellivision news, check out Mike Hayes' Intellivision Library Gossip Column.
  
  

About jzIntv

jzIntv is my attempt to write a complete Intellivision emulator from scratch. I've always wanted to write an emulator from scratch, and Intellivision seemed like a perfect choice: I enjoyed the Intellivision immensely while growing up, there are few Intellivision emulators around (and no GPL'd ones), and legitimate ROM images are available.

All of my code is being released under GPL.

The emulator's basic functions are mostly complete. CPU emulation is essentially 100% complete, Sound is about 99.44% complete, controller input is about 80% complete, and Graphics is about 50% complete. To be playable, I need to complete the graphics emulation.

My goal is to produce the most accurate possible emulation of the Intellivision system, including all widely available (and some not-so-widely available) peripherals. This includes items such as the ECS, Intellivoice, and so on. I'd also like my emulator to be as portable as possible. I've already built versions under x86 Linux, Sparc Solaris, and even DOS! (SDL will also let me target Windows and soon MacOS...) We'll see what happens.

At any rate, I'm far from being alone in this. I'd like to extend my thanks to a ton of people . . . .

MANY MANY THANKS...

. . .to the following wonderful people who have made this project even possible!

• Carl Mueller, Jr, who has written the Intellivision Emulator that will be the standard by which all other Intellivision Emulators will be judged.
  
  
• Scott Nudds, whose work has provided the world with countless Intellivision ROM images for use to work with. (Namely, he designed the cartridge interface which produced most of the ROM images that are on the Intellivision Lives! CD-ROM.)
  
  
• William Moeller, who has egged me on into continuing this project, and who's also contributed many extremely useful bits of documentation, notably the Dev Kit and De Re Intellivision.
  
  
• Frank Palazzolo, who has provided countless megabytes of extremely useful PDF and JPG scans of General Instruments documentation, as well as textual elaborations of some of the knottier bits.
  
  
• Mike Hayes, whose Intellivision Library serves as a springboard and gossip line to so many interesting Intellivision tidbits.
  
  
• The Blue Sky Rangers, for providing all sorts of anecdotal and interesting historical tidbits, as well as for rekindling the Intellivision Fire within me, and charging me for the privilege of playing Intellivision games once again. ;-)
  
  (Seriously, I'm happy to pay a nominal fee to have legit access to classic games. I think it's fun. I'm not big on the idea of pirating ROMs.)
  
  
• Sam Lantinga for providing support with his SDL library.
  
  
• Many other people that I'm sure I've forgotten, or who indirectly contributed without me knowing directly.

Let me say this loud and clear -- it's nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the contributions these people and others have made in order to make jzIntv even dare to be a reality. Even the people mentioned above have contributed far more than a single quick summary can do justice to. If you feel I've left you out of my list or have been inadequately thanked above, please EMAIL ME! and let me know! :-)

Contact Info

I can be contacted at im14u2c AT primenet DOT com .

Miscellaneous

The closing screen from the simulator provides the following "license" for their software:

This program may be freely distributed under the following conditions:

• All accompanying files are distributed with main file
• Files and programs are not modified
• Free distributions only -- program may not be sold
• Permission must be obtained before posting to the net/web or including on a disk collection.

Since I don't have any of the actual Intellivision simulator files online, I don't believe I'm violating this license. I'm merely documenting the internals of a freely available program. This is a private web page. Please do not distribute the information you find on this site.

All source code and documentation contained on this site is Copyright © 1998-1999, Joe Zbiciak, except as noted.

Intellivision Simulator Credits

These are the credits from  Intellivision for PC  Volume 1. I include these here because, in many ways, these people have indirectly helped me as well, at the very least with enjoying the Intellivision once again. :-)

CREDITS

Programming
Carl Mueller, Jr.

Binaries / Technical Assistance
William Moeller and Scott Nudds

Instruction Illustrations
Thomas Settle

Instruction Transcription
Greg Chance
Carl Mueller, Jr.
Nancy Mueller

Opening and Closing Screens
Carl Mueller, Jr.
Thomas Settle

Thanks
John Bindel
Ian Farquhar
Sean Kelly
Tim Smith
The Blue Sky Rangers

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