Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color
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@meneer-jansen said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
There is something very, very strange going on w/ Retropie, SDL, dispmanx, framebuffer and 256 colors.
From what I keep hearing, the problems likely boils down to SDL in some way. I keep reading post after post that updates usually break just as many things as they fix.
RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive
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Did a little experiment to see if dispmanx and SDL get confused by (re)setting a framebuffer. They (or one of them) do.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ fbset --verbose Linux Frame Buffer Device Configuration Version 2.1 (23/06/1999) (C) Copyright 1995-1999 by Geert Uytterhoeven Opening frame buffer device `/dev/fb0' Using current video mode from `/dev/fb0' mode "616x456" geometry 616 456 616 456 32 timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 rgba 8/16,8/8,8/0,8/24 endmode pi@raspberrypi:~ $ fbset -depth 8 pi@raspberrypi:~ $ fbset --verbose Linux Frame Buffer Device Configuration Version 2.1 (23/06/1999) (C) Copyright 1995-1999 by Geert Uytterhoeven Opening frame buffer device `/dev/fb0' Using current video mode from `/dev/fb0' mode "616x456" geometry 616 456 616 456 8 timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 rgba 8/0,8/0,8/0,0/0 endmodeAfter setting the framebuffer to 8 bit I can get it back the way it was: the command
fbset -depth 32will do the trick. However, pcsx-rearmed (the PSX emulator) still wont start in Emulationstation (Mame does) and pressing F4 to escape to the command line leaves me w/ a black non-respensive TV. Only thing I can do is reboot the Pi via ssh.We really need help on this from somebody who knows everything about graphics on computers.
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@mediamogul said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
@meneer-jansen said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
There is something very, very strange going on w/ Retropie, SDL, dispmanx, framebuffer and 256 colors.
From what I keep hearing, the problems likely boil down to SDL in some way. I keep reading post after post that updates usually break just as many things as they fix.
That's why I live by the saying "If it ain't broken don't try to fix it". So many, many, many, many times I've been left w/ a system that does not work after an "update" that I hate updating anything with a passion! I'm afraid that after "updating" Retropie I'm, again, left w/ some non-working emulators. What a mess!
P.S. SDL2 does not seem to work w/ framebuffer, SDL1 does. Maybe I've somehow gotten sdl version 1 because I'm on a Pi 1 B+?
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@meneer-jansen said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
P.S. SDL2 does not seem to work w/ framebuffer, SDL1 does. Maybe I've somehow gotten sdl version 1 because I'm on a Pi 1 B+?
That's not really accurate, ES is SDL2 regardless of the PI system used and it works fine. So is RetroArch.
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@mitu said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
@meneer-jansen said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
P.S. SDL2 does not seem to work w/ framebuffer, SDL1 does. Maybe I've somehow gotten sdl version 1 because I'm on a Pi 1 B+?
That's not really accurate, ES is SDL2 regardless of the PI system used and it works fine. So is RetroArch.
Okay. Thank you for that info. So the fact that I have a Pi 1 is not the reason that it (sometimes) works on my system.
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@mitu so my issue i believe comes down to dispmanx isnt working at all on basilisk. I can never get 256 color to work because of this. With dispmanx turned on i can get 32 bit mode to boot which it shouldnt which tells me the dispmanx isnt working. Do you know how i can reinstall the dispmanx?
Edit: i used to have it working and never updated anything other than retropie setup
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@People having trouble starting BasiliskII in 256 color mode: try starting BII without the config file from Retropie. I.e. delete the following line from /opt/retropie/configs/macintosh/emulators.cfg:
--config /opt/retropie/configs/macintosh/basiliskii.cfgI can start BII in 256 mode from a terminal in a graphical user interface (a GUI called "Pixel") on my Raspberry Pi. I installed Raspbian first and Retropie afterwards: you guys might not have a GUI installed. But I experience terrible crashes (segfaults) when I use Retropie's config file.
You can install the Pixel desktop enviroment (formerly LXDE) w/ the RaspberryPie setup script (
sudo RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh) and then choosing: Configuration / Tools >> Raspbiantools >> Install Pixel Desktop Environment . You can exit Emulationstation with F4 and then start a GUI with the commandstartx.Strange thing is that I cannot find anything in the BII config file regarding graphics mode...
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@meneer-jansen said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
I can start BII in 256 mode from a terminal in a graphical user interface
This jibes with everything I've been reading. There are quite a few threads outside of this forum where people just can't get 8-bit color working on the Pi without the Pixel desktop environment. I think this is a situation where we had a hacky workaround that was on borrowed time. I've tried quite a few things and can only get 8-bit colors without crashing maybe one out of twenty times. Personally, I'm not too keen on having a full desktop environment on my setup just to service the few games I'm interested in that would need it, so I'll probably just make do with titles using a higher color pallet.
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@mediamogul said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
@meneer-jansen said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
I can start BII in 256 mode from a terminal in a graphical user interface
This jibes with everything I've been reading. There are quite a few threads outside of this forum where people just can't get 8-bit color working on the Pi without the Pixel desktop environment. I think this is a situation where we had a hacky workaround that was on borrowed time. I've tried quite a few things and can only get 8-bit colors without crashing maybe one out of twenty times. Personally, I'm not too keen on having a full desktop environment on my setup just to service the few games I'm interested in that would need it, so I'll probably just make do with titles using a higher color pallet.
If you still have some time and energy left then you could try it from within Emulationstation but without the Retropie config file, i.e. delete the following line from /opt/retropie/configs/macintosh/emulators.cfg:
--config /opt/retropie/configs/macintosh/basiliskii.cfgAvid Linux user.
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Sure, it's certainly worth a shot. I'll give it a try this evening.
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Sadly, it was a no-go.
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Holy carp, I think I may have made progress. I've now been able to boot ten times in a row with 8-bit color by adding:
displaycolordepth 8to
/opt/retropie/configs/macintosh/basiliskii.cfgin conjunction with changing the framebuffer color depth using the onstart/onend script method. I don't want to start celebrating just yet, but my success rate has gone from 1/20 to 10/10.From what I'm reading in a few places, there are apparently several undocumented settings that have been added since main BII development ended in 2006. That got me looking for such an addition that might help us out and I ran across this posting. I first tried it without the onstart/onend trick, but it blacked out the screen during startup.
RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive
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@mediamogul ok so just adding this and the runcommand stuff is working? I will definitely try this when i get home.
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It seems to be working at the moment. More testing could shake some bugs loose, but it's looking positive.
RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive
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@mediamogul i will have to check since i cant get it to boot at all in 256 since dispmanx isnt working.
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@mediamogul so because dispmanx doesnt work setting the setting in basiliskii.cfg now i cant get it to work on any image other than one that was made in the vmac for pc that i use for my grayscale image. No boot sequence then crash that i got before. I wish i knew how to fix the dispmanx.
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@mediamogul said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
Holy carp, I think I may have made progress. I've now been able to boot ten times in a row with 8-bit color by adding:
displaycolordepth 8to
/opt/retropie/configs/macintosh/basiliskii.cfgin conjunction with changing the framebuffer color depth using the onstart/onend script method. I don't want to start celebrating just yet, but my success rate has gone from 1/20 to 10/10.From what I'm reading in a few places, there are apparently several undocumented settings that have been added since main BII development ended in 2006. That got me looking for such an addition that might help us out and I ran across this posting. I first tried it without the onstart/onend trick, but it blacked out the screen during startup.
Wow! Pretty good Sherlock Holmes work there. Didn't know that there were undocumented config options for BII.
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@edmaul69 said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
@mediamogul so because dispmanx doesnt work setting the setting in basiliskii.cfg now i cant get it to work on any image other than one that was made in the vmac for pc that i use for my grayscale image. No boot sequence then crash that i got before. I wish i knew how to fix the dispmanx.
How did you deduce know that dispmanx isn't working? If I do not enable dispmanx for pcsx-rearmed, then I cannot play PSX games. So it does seem to work or at least do something...
I have lots of troubles w/ dispmanx too. A few days ago pcsx-rearmed (PSX) emulator wouldn't work w/ HDMI and full screen enabled via /boot/config.txt. Now it won't work at all! What an unpredictable system Retropie is. Or is it SDL? Or is it dispmanx? Some serious research needs to be done by a developer or a tester w/ knowledge of Retropie and video modes and such. :-(
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@meneer-jansen before i couldnt run basilisk in millions of colors with dispmanx on. So to set it up for 256 i had to set it to b&w. Then i turn on dispmanx and then run b&w basilisk and change it to 256 color. If i set any thing in runcommand, in basiliskii.cfg it wont boot at all. If i switch from b&w to 256 it crashes. All these used to work correctly as long as dispmanx was turned on.
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@edmaul69 said in Macintosh (Basilisk II) 8-bit Color:
@meneer-jansen before i couldnt run basilisk in millions of colors with dispmanx on. So to set it up for 256 i had to set it to b&w. Then i turn on dispmanx and then run b&w basilisk and change it to 256 color. If i set any thing in runcommand, in basiliskii.cfg it wont boot at all. If i switch from b&w to 256 it crashes. All these used to work correctly as long as dispmanx was turned on.
Thanks for the info. Indeed, without dispmanx it BasiliskII does not work on my Pi either.
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