Enterprise 128 emulator on Retropie

shift

Has anyone tried installing the Enterprise 128 emulator (ep128emu)? I tried to install the one for mame/mess (ep128) but unfortunately it doesn't have the ability to launch disks, which are actually the majority of available roms.

Folly

@shift said in Enterprise 128 emulator on Retropie:

I tried to install the one for mame/mess (ep128) but unfortunately it doesn't have the ability to launch disks, which are actually the majority of available roms.

Can you explain how you installed it with mame/mess, did you use my script ?

shift

@Folly Your script works perfectly, the problem is the mame which uses some rather strange formats:

pi@retropie:~ $ /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listmedia ep128
SYSTEM           MEDIA NAME       (brief)    IMAGE FILE EXTENSIONS SUPPORTED
---------------- --------------------------- -------------------------------
ep128            printout         (prin)     .prn
ep128            cassette1        (cass1)    .wav  .flac
ep128            cassette2        (cass2)    .wav  .flac
ep128            cartridge        (cart)     .bin  .rom

Instead of these most used formats: .com .tap .img .dtf

I saw you covered the issue here: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/30867/the-bewildering-case-of-the-enterprise-64

I then tried to understand how to create an ad-hoc script starting from here: https://github.com/istvan-v/ep128emu, but there are some dependencies and commands to launch that I don't know how to implement in the script.

Folly

@shift

Let's split up the topic first and talk about mame/mess first, agree ?

I have an option beneath installing DEFAULT systems which is called systems with EXTRAS.
Here you can find the line to install ep128 with basic21 and exdos + floppy drive.

You can manually check how mame will react listing the media in the command :

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listmedia ep128 -exp exdos

You will see that when adding -exdos a floppy drive is added.

Make sure you add the proper bios files to you folders and it should do what you want.

shift

@Folly Thank you! Floppies work now! Out of curiosity, I saw that there are some games that require ISDOS, I loaded them but when I launched them (I used the load filename.com command), I got the "invalid file header" error, do you know if there is a solution to the error? Thanks again for your help.

Folly

@shift

Can you paste the whole runcommand that is not working for you ?

shift

@Folly I explained myself badly, the script works perfectly and the rom is loaded, however for roms that do not have the automatic loader (e.g. "Zork 1 - The Great Underground Empire (1984)(Infocom)[req isdos].IMG" ) the machine prompt is opened directly, expecting a command, and I give it:
:load ork1.com
I write ork1.com and not zork1.com because if I execute the :dir command I get these 3 lines:
ORK1.COM
ZORK1.DAT
ZORK1.TXT

Folly

@shift

Ok, so summarised it means that when a disk doesn't contain any autoloader you load it manually and that works for you too, correct ?

shift

@Folly said in Enterprise 128 emulator on Retropie:

Ok, so summarised it means that when a disk doesn't contain any autoloader you load it manually and that works for you too, correct ?

Yes, that's correct, I have to load it manually, but even though the command seems correct, it gives me this error: "invalid file header"

Folly

@shift

The file says you need "is-dos" running on the ep128.
is-dos is explained on the internet as cp/m compatible os.
Look here :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_(computer)

Edit :
I am trying to get it working but can take a while

Folly

@shift

I just had ZORK1 working.

My plain test mame command was :

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame\;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -v -c -ui_active ep128 -exp exdos isdos

isdos is part if the softlist in ep64_flop and is the one to be loaded.
Then you have to switch the floppy from within mame UI to ZORK1.

Isdos works just like ms-dos you load zork1 just using the name, as you said ork1 :

A>ork1

That should work.

I will experiment if I can add a second drive so I can make a line that will start with isdos adding the game in the second drive.

Folly

@shift

It's possible to load all in one command adding an extra floppydrive :
(used hash-names for softloading)

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame\;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -v -c -ui_active ep128 -exp exdos -exp:exdos:u1:1 35dd isdos -flop2 zork1

or :

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame\;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -v -c -ui_active ep128 -exp exdos -exp:exdos:u1:1 35dd -flop1 isdos -flop2 zork1

Would be nice if I could make a runcommand that is versatile so all software can be loaded with the same runcommand so it can be implemented in the script when installing the ep64/ep128 from the default.
Will have a look at that.

shift

@Folly Great! I used your command to add 2 new lines:

lr-mess-ep128-basic21_exdos-isdos-flop = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch --config /opt/retropie/configs/ep128/retroarch.cfg --appendconfig /opt/retropie/configs/ep128/retroarch.cfg.add -S /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -s /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -v -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mess/mamemess_libretro.so 'ep128 basic21 -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128/ -cfg_directory /opt/retropie/configs/ep128/lr-mess -c -ui_active -exp exdos -exp:exdos:u1:1 35dd -flop1 isdos -flop2 %ROM%'"
lr-mess-ep128-basic21_exdos-isdos-flop-autoframeskip = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch --config /opt/retropie/configs/ep128/retroarch.cfg --appendconfig /opt/retropie/configs/ep128/retroarch.cfg.add -S /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -s /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128 -v -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mess/mamemess_libretro.so 'ep128 basic21 -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ep128/ -cfg_directory /opt/retropie/configs/ep128/lr-mess -c -ui_active -autoframeskip -exp exdos -exp:exdos:u1:1 35dd -flop1 isdos -flop2 %ROM%'"

Once the isdos was loaded (automatically) I changed the drive with the "b:" command, to be careful I executed the "dir" command and simply launched the "ork1.com" command without using the "load" and it worked! Thank you!

Folly

@shift

I updated my script to 265.21 and added code that will install the extras when installing from the DEFAULT.
Can you test it for me ?

(My advise is to backup your emulators.cfg first)

shift

@Folly Good job! I tested it and it works perfectly.

Folly

@shift

Thanks, good to hear.
I am playing with it a bit and I could add it for more drivers this way from EXTRAS.
I will see how it evolves.