BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Can you tell me, is your speed setting of the good b-em on 100% or is it on 500% ?

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
yes - the 100% option is ticked in the menu
The emulator doesn't seem to be too resource hungry - iirc there was only the tiniest amount of slow down when I ran it on my original pi3 - the 3b+ has the occasional sound stutter (start up tune for Arcadians) but everything else seems perfect
(I never run overclocks btw - pi speeds are stock)

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Too bad, we don't know the exact source.
Did try to compile that old source of 2012 from http://b-em.bbcmicro.com but could not get it to compile.

Btw, I can't extract your .rar file.

Did you compile that binary yourself on that "strech" ?

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
try this
https://www104.zippyshare.com/v/QoyhNZAp/file.html
just need to change permissions on the configure file to executable (probably need to delete the already compiled b-em - or just make executable then run) then ./configure && make - takes ~ 20 mins

yes - I've just compiled the zip folder with stretch to test & it works

from memory all that was needed dependency wise was
sudo apt-get install automake liballegro4-dev zlib1g-dev libalut-dev libopenal-dev aclocal
but you should already have that from your electron compiling

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Just ran it, indeed works perfect here on rpi3 with buster.
The menu looks totally different than the latest b-em version 2.2.
Your files are from march 2019.

Perhaps we can go back to that time on the github page and try to compile that version.
For example this one :
https://github.com/stardot/b-em/tree/9c586716c6936581b23da4b7b5da365cdf8a47ea

Tried it, it works but has the same speed issues as the latest and it looks the same as the latest.

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
i'm just compiling the version from https://github.com/SteveFosdick/b-em (stevefosdick rings a bell)

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

No, but indeed we can try.

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
ok - not quite the same version but seems to work
need to change permissions of autogen.sh and /utils/b-em-version-str.sh
then
./autogen.sh && ./configure && make

just tested first level of repton3 - works with no slow down :)

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

I am compiling now.

It wasn't working with downloading the source.
I now use :

git clone https://github.com/SteveFosdick/b-em.git
cd b-em
./autogen.sh
./configure
make

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
I think this version is as close as we will get - maybe mine was a few commits earlier
I have the master version of elite running and the cpu is only hitting 30%
Sound may be a little bit more 'glitchy' but not a deal breaker

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Cool, it works
I tried some bitshifters-demos.
It works reasonably good but it has some hiccups.
But it seems we are on the right track.;-)
I will look at it again tomorrow.

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
after much searching and testing I found this version https://github.com/hoglet67/b-em/tree/263d2d44e53e593d1f51c0be9b9f404447fb33a3 to be the best overall (speech in repton3 as good as the beeb got and the arcadians tune as good as my original upload here)
here is the precompiled binary https://www104.zippyshare.com/v/QoyhNZAp/file.html

given the number of forks and commits available, I see no hope of finding the exact files I had

• after a bit more testing i'm starting to think this version is a little better than the one I was originally using

have a play and see what you think is for the best :)

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Nice, I will have a look later this day.

The hoglet67 fork if the same as this tree from the original master branch :
( Edit : tested : quite good :-) )
https://github.com/stardot/b-em/tree/263d2d44e53e593d1f51c0be9b9f404447fb33a3

I think this is a nice starting point.
I think we should take it from the master branch.

I think this is the last one of the latest with allegro4, we should try this one too :
( Edit : tested : not so good :-( )
https://github.com/stardot/b-em/tree/fc8f15f42f134cb35591587b7aafda9fcebffed8

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
hi,
just tried the last allegro 4 version and the audio is not right (startup beeps stutter / speech synthesis is off)
good call on taking from the master branch - have a play with the last one I suggested, I think it might just hit the sweet spot for speed and sound

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg said in BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu:

@folly
hi,
just tried the last allegro 4 version and the audio is not right (startup beeps stutter / speech synthesis is off)
good call on taking from the master branch - have a play with the last one I suggested, I think it might just hit the sweet spot for speed and sound

I think so too, had the same experience as you.

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
slightly off topic but I just found out that the Archimedes emulator 'Arculator' has been given a linux port (haven't tried it yet - I think i'll need buster) the windows version is nice tho
https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18223
I'm liking the idea of bringing all the acorns back to pi :p

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Nice !

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

I have a working module-script, basically.
I have to tweak this to get it better and pre-setting stuff in b-em.cfg.

Video modes in combination with not setting borders is still somewhat an issue.

And do we want to use more machines and make separate module-scripts for them?
Then I should give each machine it's own emulator directory an it's b-em.cfg.
( I have to think about that )

Basically, it works pretty good on the RPI3 !

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
'And do we want to use more machines and make separate module-scripts for them?'
good question
99% of games will run with the 'BBC B w/8271 FDC' model
with only 1% of games needing the 'Master 128', personally i'm ok with just changing the model in the f11 gui as and when required (on my pi whichever model was used last is the one that opens next time) then <shift-break(f12)> to boot the discs
however,
I grew up with acorn machines and know the commands to change to tape/disc/rom as needed
Personally I would just start with a single config and see what the feedback is from users not familiar with the hardware?

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Come to think of it.

I can do the machine setting into the command-line.
So we can choose 'BBC B w/8271 FDC' or 'Master 128'.
Then we can add more in the future if needed.
With this "solution" , they will use the same b-em.cfg !

I will experiment with it a bit.