Some relevant info since 86Box is a fork of PCem; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22859695
Myself, I've been using 86box since almost the beginning in large part because of the ui. To me, it's always been more pleasant to work with.
If anyone has questions I'd say rather than listing to 2017-era gossips they should instead download both, spend the time playing with them and seeing which they prefer. It's not like the mid-nineties where trying things required a $50-$150 investment of cash.
86Box has done a lot of improvements on the codebase over the last 5 years and has developed its' own community; meanwhile pcem got bogged down in drama and stagnated.
I followed pcem and saw enough toxicity there that I am unsurprised by how things have played out.
But 86box has earned it's current place by putting in the time, works, research into it's development as well as continually working on being a less toxic (this is the internet -it's all toxic) environment.
The software is what it is, and for anyone who considers it to simply be a means to an end, it’s a fine tool to use. I just personally found that incident (among other examples of extraordinarily toxic, childish behaviour from other contributors) to be sufficiently distasteful that I’d rather just not use the software at all.
This is are quite old sentiments on my part, and I expect things will probably have got a great deal better now, given how many years it’s been - it’s certainly not something that warrants calling for some kind of mob-facilitated cancellation of the project, which is, I must stress, a perfectly adequate PCem replacement under these circumstances.
Strictly just a case of me as an individual wishing that interactions had been less toxic prior to the parent project’s discontinuation. I won’t use it because of those memories, having known one of the people concerned at the time. I don’t really think it’s something that should affect anyone else’s decision to use the program at all - it’s very much an individual distaste for it on my part.
I've been following this for 9 years now and this is the first I've heard of this. Literally.
In short, I literally don't believe you -and considering that there was at least one hanger-on who used to kick up dust between the two projects in the name of "defending" 86box (but in reality was just acting out their own behavioral issues) I'd advise everyone to blow off personality-based issues like this.
> I don’t really think it’s something that should affect anyone else’s decision to use the program at all - it’s very much an individual distaste for it on my part.
Obviously you do think it is or you would not have posted a huge long allegations-filled screed (filled with dubious allegations of a sexual affair) on the subject.
The 86Box lead has expressed regret for his early behavoirs many, many times but sadly the emulator scene attracts a lot of drama and worse people who thrive off of drama.
The 86Box project itself, however, is one of the better handled non-professional (meaning not run by a corporation) that I'm aware of. And the software itself has gotten better and better over the years.
I'd strongly advise everyone reading about 86box just in general to be particularly aware that just because you read a claim on the internet doesn't make it the lords' gospel truth.