Fairchild Channel F

OneSwitch · 13 Sept 2016, 19:08

I followed your advice point by point, but still no luck. Thanks for info on the bios. Can I just clarify with you please...

I don't need to install MESS from the optional/experimental packages area.
I don't need to place Channel F system roms anywhere (beyond the folder copying that you specified), as they'll be in the folders copied from the "ultimate console" download.
This should work with RetroPie 3.8.
It will be possible to start, play and exit the Channel F games using the joypad alone (once set-up).

Thanks again for trying. When I get time, unless nothing new surfaces, I'll try again.

edmaul69 · 11 Mar 2017, 00:13

@OneSwitch as long as you copied the folders
/opt/retropie/configs/channelf/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
And gave full permissions to all files and folders in
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/image/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/roms/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
It will work.

OneSwitch · 16 Sept 2016, 20:46

I'm pretty sure I did, but when I have time I'll try again. Thanks again for trying to help. I'd still love a nice very easy to install version. One day hopefully.

edmaul69 · 16 Sept 2016, 21:11

@OneSwitch its better than the lr-mess. I cannot get that working on any systems and a libretro version should be easy. If i can get that figured out i will definitely let you know.

OneSwitch · 17 Sept 2016, 08:06

:) Nice one. Thanks again. I will get onto this again. Just no time at the minute.

Pyjamarama · 17 Sept 2016, 12:28

Tried it but no luck. Cursor blinks and returns to emulationstation

I did everything except the copy to opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin because I am already using adv-mame1.4

edmaul69 · 17 Sept 2016, 18:28

@Pyjamarama just add the advmess file. the files that advmame uses in bin works with advmess.

Pyjamarama · 17 Sept 2016, 20:15

@edmaul69 Will they affect the AdvMame 1.4 emuator? I run all my MAME vector game throught it. Thank you

edmaul69 · 17 Sept 2016, 21:52

@Pyjamarama as long as you dont overwrite any of the files already on there then no. Overwriting them im not sure.

TPR · 11 Mar 2017, 00:13

@edmaul69 said in Fairchild Channel F:

@OneSwitch as long as you copied the folders
/opt/retropie/configs/channelf/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
And gave full permissions to all files and folders in
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/image/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/roms/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
It will work.

So this does not seem to work anymore with the most recent version of RetroPie (I'm using 4.1) It did get me very CLOSE but it took some tweaking. For the longest time I couldn't get it to work like others had stated. Everything was in the correct folders, es_config was properly edited, all files had correct permissions.

There was an update to retropie setup that when it did the update, it mentioned changes to advmame. At that point I could get the system to work, but I couldn't get specific roms to work (the system comes pre-loaded with a couple of games.)

I replaced the newer version of advmess with the older version in this folder: /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin and all of a sudden it worked.

Unfortunately, I did not document everything I did, but it would seem that RetroPie needed to make some sort of an update, but the new executable of advmess wasn't compatible with Channel F, but the old version was.

End of the day, those instructions didn't work with 4.1 but it got me to the point of being close enough to where a few tweaks made it work.

edmaul69 · 11 Mar 2017, 00:45

@TPR the advmame shouldnt affect advmess. Advmess isnt even available through the retropie setup. I have updated to 4.1.18 and all is working fine for me. Not sure what happened in your case. Are you by chance tpr from atariage?

herb_fargus · 11 Mar 2017, 00:57

@edmaul69 AdvMESS is now part of advmame 3.0 as far as I understand it.

edmaul69 · 11 Mar 2017, 01:14

@herb_fargus alrighty. So @tpr @herb_fargus in my case it did not delete the old advmess or the emulators.cfg files for each seperate system using advmess. Absolutely no system works with the new advmame 3.1 advmess

edmaul69 · 3 Nov 2017, 01:40

@herb_fargus @tpr so i figured out the issue. the emulators.cfg file for each individual system needs the correct config. so astrocade would need this:

advmame-3.1 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/3.1/bin/advmess astrocde -cart %BASENAME%"

and the channel f emulators.cfg would need this:

advmame-3.1 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/3.1/bin/advmess channelf -cart %BASENAME%"

you would have to have these for each specific system that advmess plays as they do not work without specifying the correct system that matches the roms. also the -cart needs to be set in it as i have done. Then you need to change the default emulator to advmame-3.1

herb_fargus · 11 Mar 2017, 02:10

@edmaul69 mess is... A mess :p we may eventually get to including the configs in a module. Down the road...

It's the longest standing issue on the issue tracker.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/210

edmaul69 · 11 Mar 2017, 03:00

@herb_fargus i would like to see it set up at least for astrocade and channel f as those are systems that only work in advmess at the moment. I would like to know which all systems advmess 3.1 actually supports as i cant find any info on it. I assume it is nowhere as many as standard mame/mess

herb_fargus · 11 Mar 2017, 03:03

@edmaul69 I'd imagine it's actually pretty close to parity with mame/mess

This is the list I found of some stuff.

http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/sysset.php

Don't know til you try I guess

edmaul69 · 11 Mar 2017, 04:12

@herb_fargus i have had a 50% fail rate so far. Using the correct mess rom files and images i have gotten atari 7800, channel f, and astrocade working, but i have failed trying to get all apple ii systems to work. A couple others as well but i dont remember which ones.

TPR · 11 Mar 2017, 07:24

@edmaul69 I am TPR from AtariAge. Like I said, I did get it all working again, but with some trial and error (kicking myself for not writing it all down!) All I know is that the old setup didn't work with the newer version of RetroPie until I updated the Retropie setup scripts. Then the "system" would work, but not the ROMs. So I copied over the old version of Advmess into the directory and it worked.

mediamogul · 11 Mar 2017, 14:19

@edmaul69

I got Channel F working last night as well and was surprised to find that there's a theme for it in Carbon. Very keen!