Commander X16 emulator Install Script

JimmyDansbo

@fadingrose We were talking on the Commander X16 discord and it seems that there is consensus to let the emulator handle ALT+F4.
On normal use, that key combination will never reach the emulator, but when running under emulation station, that combination will reach the emulator and I have created a new branch that handles that.

I am not sure how familiar you are with git, but you just do

git clone https://github.com/JimmyDansbo/x16-emulator.git
git checkout alt_f4

fadingrose

@JimmyDansbo I have used git briefly for adding minetest maps i created but need to familiarize myself properly with it. Been a bit busy and hectic here so on the weekend i will get back to this and can focus and test.

That's good though and hopefully if ALT+ F4 are using that will be great for Retropie as users can just exit the emulator with that unless i map the keys to pad buttons and get Retropie to use this.

ExarKunIv

@fadingrose

if memory serves me right all you need to do is change the repo line to this

rp_module_repo="git https://github.com/X16Community/x16-emulator.git alt_f4"

i will have to double check that im still half asleep

JimmyDansbo

@ExarKunIv
I just tried it on the command line and I think that just clones the repository into a different directory name.
The command line is: git clone -b alt_f4 https://github.com/jimmydansbo/x16-emulator.git

I am not sure how to add that -b option to the repo line.

@fadingrose do let me know how you get along during the weekend. If it works with ALT+F4, I will do the pull request against the official emulator and hopefully the rest of the gang will accept it.

mitu

@JimmyDansbo said in Commander X16 emulator Install Script:

I just tried it on the command line and I think that just clones the repository into a different directory name.

That's ok, but if you put it in the rp_module_repo variable in the scriptmodule, RetroPie will do the right thing (and not literally execute the contents as a command) and clone from the repo then switch to the branch provided in the last parameter. You can even add a 4th parameter to indicate the commit from which the source is built.

fadingrose

@JimmyDansbo Been rather busy but i had chance to test it. I gave it a test on my Raspberry Pi model 4 and sadly it doesn't do anything under Retropie. I am in the process of re installing and will test again. I did go to test under my proxmox VM but i couldn't figure out how to get Proxmox to let me use alt & f4 to test so i just switched straight to my Pi.

Once it finishes i'll re install and do another test

fadingrose

@JimmyDansbo A re install and tested and ALT + F4 takes me straight back to the Retropie menu so that works like a charm cheers. Hopefully it will make it into the emulator permanent if the X16 team agree but we can at least know it worked.

I'll get working on some documentation soon so anyone using the script will know how to install, run and even use the emulator.

fadingrose

I have updated the description and the script after some testing, it will need further testing by other people and hopefully someone with a Pi5 can give it a test and report back on performance. I will do some further testing on the PI4 using the official Retropie image instead of Retropie through the Debian OS desktop which i'm sure the desktop will take some performance away and see if there is any tricks or anything to squeeze some extra performance.

So far though it seems to run ok even if a little sluggish but it's perfectly usable and there isn't any show stopping issues that would consider it broken or anything.

JimmyDansbo

@fadingrose In my point of view, Commander X16 on Raspberry Pi 4 and 400 is more or less unusable.
A lot of games a depending on the exact speed of the Commander X16 and when it is only running at something lik 60-70% of correct speed, things just don't work as expected, even sound will likely be weird :(
Hopefully some performance can be found so we can get closer to 95-100% even on pi4/400.

JimmyDansbo

I am happy to report that my PR to add handling ALT+F4 to the emulator has just been merged into the official repository.

fadingrose

@JimmyDansbo After testing with the official repo i updated the script to point to it and it exits the emulator fine with ALT + F4 so that's perfect. Just need to work out how to squeeze better performance out of the Pi as i only tested a handful of games getting them in game and then closing the emulator.

I would say it's on par so far with the Sega Dreamcast, Sega Saturn which means it can be used but it's certainly not ideal and it also depends on a per game basis. I ran a text based adventure on the Pi and it ran ok and completely usable but one of the space games it was sluggish both in game play and sound and was a little distracting from the enjoyment.

I'm wracking my brain to figure out what could be done to squeeze a little more performance out of i, even if we got 5/10% extra it would be something although ideal if we can get closer to 95-100%. I'll report back when i find a solution or something.