Tesla PMD-85 computer in RetroPie?

JimmyFromTheBay

@Folly Bah, doesn't work, even though it works in lr-mame with an identical command line except for the address of the executeable :(

(What's the difference between, say, the "gcc8" and "gcc10" versions?)

Folly

@JimmyFromTheBay

See here the info in my script.

JimmyFromTheBay

@Folly Cheers. I'm puzzled why it doesn't work, then, but it looks like this is the end of the road. Cheers for the assistance with the PMD 85, will be handy with other MESS systems :)

jose1711

Tried this on a PC but pressing Tab does not bring the menu. Tried changing the key bindings but that did not help either. Anyone has an idea?

Folly

@jose1711 said in Tesla PMD-85 computer in RetroPie?:

Tried this on a PC but pressing Tab does not bring the menu. Tried changing the key bindings but that did not help either. Anyone has an idea?

You tried with "lr-mess" right ?
There have been some changes recently.
You need to use retroarch's "game-focus" (default key is ~~Print-Screen~~ Scroll Lock) first in order to use "tab" for the mame UI.
Let me know if that works for you.

jose1711

@Folly Actually I used Mame (0.267) - don't really see lr-mess in packages/AUR so I guess this is a Pi-exclusive thing?

Folly

@jose1711 said in Tesla PMD-85 computer in RetroPie?:

@Folly Actually I used Mame (0.267) - don't really see lr-mess in packages/AUR so I guess this is a Pi-exclusive thing?

lr-mess is not exclusive to the pi only and mame should open up the UI when pressing tab.
You should add more info about your setup and how you installed pdm85.

jose1711

@Folly understood. my target system is x86_64 pc running arch linux (using Xorg). MAME has been installed via pacman. i downloaded pmd851.zip and a bunch of games in .zip format and placed them into /.mame/roms.

when i run mame, i locate PMD-85.1 entry. when i load it a menu is shown, i am able to Tab into context menu there but not at a later time (when I type MGLD 00 for instance).

i am pretty sure i am making a mistake in my workflow, i just don't know where (have very limited knowledge of MAME).

Folly

@jose1711

If you run mame direcly like that you need to add the option -ui_active to the command then you can use the tab key to present the UI.

More info on how to use the command-line options can be found over here.

If you use an arch linux distro you can use ArchyPie instead of RetroPie as RetroPie does not work on an arch linux distro.

My mamedev.sh module-script is adapted to work in ArchyPie.
Only a few parts are missing when running it from ArchyPie.

If you want to discuss this part then go to my topic :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-lr-mame-and-mame-standalone

jose1711

@Folly Thank you, this was extremely useful. This is what I did:

mame -ui_active
find PMD-85.1 and load it
type MGLD 00 inside monitor mode
Tab -> File Manager -> navigate to auto (198x)(-).ptp -> Return to Previous Menu
(still in menu) Tape Control - Play
wait until the game is loaded into machine's memory
exit menu
type JUMP 2000
play the game (Left Shift/V to steer)

Couple observations/questions:

I am unable to use backspace in monitor mode (does nothing) so there is no room for typos
did not find a way to speed up tape loading
multi-game tapes (such as games-1.ptp) are lacking information about the position of the game on the tape - is trial&error the only option?

Thank you again, j

Folly

@jose1711

Good to hear that you got it working.

JimmyFromTheBay

@jose1711 said in Tesla PMD-85 computer in RetroPie?:

multi-game tapes (such as games-1.ptp) are lacking information about the position of the game on the tape - is trial&error the only option

Pretty much, combined with using savestates.

What I do is, if I've got a tape with (say) five games on it, I make five copies of it and give each one the name of a different game.

Then I load the first one, note the tape count, and make a savestate at the start of the game.

Then I go to the second file, start it at the tape count I just noted, load the second game and make a savestate at the start of the game. And so on.

Now I've got five files in the EmulationStation menu called GAME 1, GAME 2 etc (even though they're all technically the same file), and all I have to do is boot them up then load the savestate to play them instantly.