BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Wilson
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/08/sophie-wilson-arm-and-how-making-things-simpler-made-them-faster-more-efficient/

I did know some stuff but learned some history too !

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
don't know if you've seen this, but it outlines acorn's history and rivalry with Sinclair in an entertaining docu-drama

btw
i'm currently trying to get arculator (acorn archimedes) to compile
https://github.com/sarah-walker-pcem/arculator
I think it should work but I keep getting errors (currently reinstalling wxWidgets to see if that fixes it)
nope - building still fails

wx-hd_new.cc:82:17: error: 'uint8_t' was not declared in this scope
                 uint8_t sector_buf[512];
                 ^
wx-hd_new.cc:82:25: error: expected ';' before 'sector_buf'
                 uint8_t sector_buf[512];
                         ^
wx-hd_new.cc:84:24: error: 'sector_buf' was not declared in this scope
                 memset(sector_buf, 0, 512);
                        ^
Makefile:1395: recipe for target 'arculator-wx-hd_new.o' failed
make[1]: *** [arculator-wx-hd_new.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/pi/Desktop/arculator-master/src'
Makefile:398: recipe for target 'all-recursive' failed
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

i'll try again later with a 'fresh head'

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

I installed wxWidgets with :

sudo apt install libwxgtk3.0-dev

It doesn't complain about wx but it does complain about undefined reference to.
So I can't compile right now.

Edit :
In the stardot thread "Arculator v2.0 released!" they refer to an other fork, as sarah didn't update some things :
https://github.com/pdjstone/arculator

I compiled succesfully !

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
same here :D - I tried again with the buster image I was testing b-em with and used the source at https://github.com/pdjstone/arculator
./configure --enable-release-build
make

then ./arculator to run.

added the 3.1.1 roms and It lives! . . . but only at 60% speed on pi3b+

not sure how to run floppies yet - but progress is progress (the windows version has a gui for this)
i'm tired
** 'The menu is a pop-up menu in the Linux port. Right-click on the main window when mouse is not
captured.' 'readme-linux was a big hint
OK - very nice emulator - just slow on a pi3b+
from the forum it appears there is currently no way to launch a config and game via commands, but if you are happy to run from desktop and have a pi4 - could be good

*not related in any way but RPCEmu compiles easily and runs riscos 3.7 well enough (not compatible with archimedes software)
source, extras and instructions on this site http://www.marutan.net/rpcemu/index.php#downloads

[retrofan]

Nice progress guys, well done!
I just installed this b-em allegro4 version with Folly's script and it works fine through ES, but I have no sound.
I tried to uninstall / reinstall but still no sound.
Pi 3+, latest fresh retropie installation, log file doesnt show anything wrong.
Btw, is there a way to start this emulator directly from the command line, without using ES, since it has its own internal menu and file browser?
In the meantime i try to compile this b-em v2.2 under standard latest Raspbian Buster distro and everything works fine, including sound.
Or maybe theres possibilities to run under faster GL driver ?
It seems that some of demanding Master games, like Prince of Persia or SCR, have some stuttering in sound playback, without frame skipping.
For now, i am struggling to get sound in both ways with retropie... Any hint, maybe ?

[Folly]

@retrofan

No sound, problematic.
Do you have no sound on both HDMI and AV-jack with b-em ?
Do you have sound in emulationstation and on what port ?

As I run RetroPie on top of a Desktop-enviroment I switch my output in the Desktop.
Then both work in the Desktop or when I boot emulationstation from the cli (booted into cli).
If I try to change my audio device from within emulationstation then it will not work.
So it can have something to do with this setting, but really not sure.

See what happens if you use raspi-config for selecting the audio port, this works for me too.

sudo raspi-config

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly @retrofan
hi,
I have both a working and non-working image which i'm trying to compare with each other (pi3b+ same kernels - both uptodate)
config.txt is the same - any ideas where other audio settings are stored so I can have a look at those and maybe get to the bottom of this?

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

When I use raspi-config the settings are changed in the file :
/home/pi/.config/pulse/XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink
Containing :

alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.analog-stereo

or :

alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.digital-stereo

The audio icon in the Desktop writes and reads from the same file.
So this is presumably pulseaudio.

When I peek into /usr/bin/raspi-config the alsa audio configs, if using alsa, are presumably stored in :
/home/pi/.asoundrc
But I don't have that file on my OS.

Here are my outputs of some commands to detect audio setting or hardware (I extracted these commands from raspi-config)

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ pacmd list-sinks | grep -e index -e alsa.name
  * index: 0
		alsa.name = "bcm2835 HDMI 1"
    index: 1
		alsa.name = "bcm2835 Headphones"

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: b1 [bcm2835 HDMI 1], device 0: bcm2835 HDMI 1 [bcm2835 HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
card 1: Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones], device 0: bcm2835 Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3

I checked also in the RetroPie-Setup :

• Configuration / tools
  • audiosettings

Then I can see that the default for me is on ALSA which is wrong I think.
You can enable pulseaudio also in there, but this doesn't seem to work.
After setting pulseaudio it keeps saying ALSA as default and the settings don't seem to change.

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
thanks for looking
my non working install was missing 'alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.digital-stereo' from /home/pi/.config/pulse/XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink
(just a blank file)
added the line and rebooted but still no audio

the commands on the non working install give the same results as you have listed
tried setting pulse audio to default, but still no sound

went to RetroPie-Setup Configuration / tools
audiosettings mixer - pressed 'M' so that '00' was displayed at the bottom of the volume bar and that seems to get sound working (still have the 'failed to find mixer...' message)
@retrofan could you have a look at your setup and see if any of the above helps?
(i've previously tried unmuting that volume bar so perhaps it was the missing line in /home/pi/.config/pulse/XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink
that was preventing sound from working on my setup at least)
thanks again folly - I was ready to start again with a fresh install on that sd card

[retrofan]

@Folly @lister-of-smeg

I checked the audio settings in raspi-config, everything looks normal, HDMI 1 is set as the default, but I don't have a pulse folder in "/home/pi/.config/" at all !?
Sound effects in the ES menus are present, but no sound in the emulator.
Also, I tried my retropie image with b-em pico version and worknig sound, but again there is no sound with this allegro4 version.
Very strange, at first glance everything looks fine, I literally just added Folly's script to scriptmodules/emulators and successfully installed, didn't change anything else.

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

Nice to hear my information helped you to get the sound.

audiosettings mixer - pressed 'M' so that '00

Btw. If you use this command it will do the same :

alsamixer

@retrofan
Which retropie image are you using ?

Perhaps we can find a solution in this thread :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/26628/audio-issues-after-latest-raspbian-updates-june-2020

[Lister of Smeg]

@retrofan
it's certainly a weird issue - folly's script is absolutely fine
what I don't understand are the differences seen with the pulse audio and missing files
my 'newest' image was downloaded and updated only a week ago - b-em-allegro4 just worked
have you tried updating via command line with sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade ?

[retrofan]

My retropie image is 8 weeks old, latest version for sure.
I will try to update retropie and use tips from link that Folly posted...

[Folly]

@retrofan

The command :

aplay -L

It seems to give quite some useful information.
With that you can see what it uses by default.

[retrofan]

@folly

That command gives me the same output as in the picture you posted before.
Raspbian Update / Upgrade didn't help at all, now it's even worse the emulator doesn't work at all, even after reinstallation.
It's time to leave everything for another day. ;)

[Folly]

@retrofan said in BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu:

@folly

That command gives me the same output as in the picture you posted before.

It should give you something different.
-l, --list-devices list all soundcards and digital audio devices
-L, --list-pcms list device names

I was curious what your default is, mine says :

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ aplay -L
default
    Playback/recording through the PulseAudio sound server
.
.

Raspbian Update / Upgrade didn't help at all, now it's even worse the emulator doesn't work at all, even after reinstallation.
It's time to leave everything for another day. ;)

We will have a try, later again.
Hopefully we get it working.

[Folly]

@retrofan said in BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu:

My retropie image is 8 weeks old, latest version for sure.
I will try to update retropie and use tips from link that Folly posted...

Well I had a look in what's the latest image.
Both rpi-imager and the downloads section of RetroPie give :

• 4.7.1 from november 2020

I can't find any image of 8 weeks old.

I think that is why you are experiencing audio issues as in that time debian converted from alsa to pulseaudio.

What's the version number of your RetroPie_Setup ?

We are already on 4.7.15

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
I decided to wipe my sd card and start again, card imaged and updated via retropie-setup
installed b-em-allegro4 from script - no audio
Pulse folder not present in '/home/pi/.config/'
Installed desktop & rebooted
Pulse folder now present but 'XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink' had no entries - added 'alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.digital-stereo' - rebooted
went to RetroPie-Setup Configuration / tools / audiosettings / mixer - changed from Master to HDMI
still no audio
loaded desktop and ran alsamixer from command - changed from Master to HDMI
rebooted and now the audio works???
At a guess b-em relies on the same audio settings as the desktop (runs with xinit) and it is a case of getting these settings in sync with the rest of retropie?

I did try to install elkulator via script however from a default installation runcommand gives this output

Parameters: 
Executing: xinit /dev/shm/retropie_xinitrc -- vt1 -keeptty


X.Org X Server 1.20.4
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 5.10.17-v8+ aarch64 Raspbian
Current Operating System: Linux retropie 5.10.17-v7+ #1421 SMP Thu May 27 13:59:01 BST 2021 armv7l
Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_compat_alsa=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=1 bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=1824 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=984 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 vc_mem.mem_base=0x3ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x40000000  console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=bb27b9fd-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait loglevel=3 consoleblank=0 plymouth.enable=0
Build Date: 19 April 2021  03:23:36PM
xorg-server 2:1.20.4-1+rpt3+deb10u3 (https://www.debian.org/support) 
Current version of pixman: 0.36.0
	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/home/pi/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Jul 12 10:45:34 2021
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
xrandr: cannot find mode 1920x1080
Set mode 1920x1080@60Hz on default

Executing (via xinit): /opt/retropie/emulators/elkulator/elkulator-multiload.sh /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/electron/Arcadians_E.uef

sed: can't read /opt/retropie/configs/electron/elk.cfg: No such file or directory
Shutting down Allegro due to signal #11
xinit: connection to X server lost

waiting for X server to shut down wm_set_cursor_visibility: hidden using XCreatePixmapCursor
(II) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.

[Folly]

@lister-of-smeg

About the sound, that is something good you found !!!

For the elkulator part.
I think this comes from the fact that there isn't yet an elk.cfg created in the first run.
That is why sed is giving an error.

Try a second time, is the error still there ?

[Lister of Smeg]

@folly
just tried again - still getting
'sed: can't read /opt/retropie/configs/electron/elk.cfg: No such file or directory
Shutting down Allegro due to signal #11
xinit: connection to X server lost'

(if I manually copy and rename elk.cfg.bak to the config folder everything works)