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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Getting to the CLI for Home Computers using MESS

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    messretropieclihome computers
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    • JonoJ
      Jono
      last edited by

      Hi all,

      I'm using a Raspberry Pi 3B, running RetroPie 4.3 on which I have installed ES and AttractMode, and use an official Raspberry Pi PSU.

      I'm off the age where I like coding on the old home computers, Dragon32, Spectrum etc. to bring back memories of when I young, happy and without the hassle of an ex-wife, kids etc... but to the point... :)

      I would like to have an option somewhere to get to the command line of the Spectrum, Dragon, Commodore and similar emulators so I can code and mess about as though I was a teenager again, but I can't find a simple way of doing this. The emulators work when loading ROMs, but I don't want them to load a ROM, I just want to get to a cursor on the startup screen on the computer.

      I've do this in MESS from my Windows PC, but can't seem to figure out a simple way of doing this in RetroPie.

      What is the best way of doing this? Has anyone done this before?

      Many thanks in advance, Jono

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JonoJ
        Jono
        last edited by

        Well for those that are interested I can start emulators from the command line, a topic that has been discussed here before, and if I leave out the ROM I have success...

        /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ dragon32
        

        Will run the Dragon 32 emulator (Xroar) if installed.

        But if I put that exact line in a shell script;

        #!/bin/bash
        "/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ dragon32"
        

        and run that from Attractmode (I put the script in the Ports folder) it errors saying;

        *** Running: /bin/bash "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/Ports/dragon32.sh"
        /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/Ports/dragon32.sh: line 2: /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ dragon32: No such file or directory
        

        Any ideas would be gratefully received :)

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        • JonoJ
          Jono
          last edited by

          Ok... so if you put the system in quotes, the error changes to

          #!/bin/bash
          /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ "dragon32"
          
          No config found for system dragon32
          

          Does that help anyone to help me?

          mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mituM
            mitu Global Moderator @Jono
            last edited by

            @jono The SYS parameter I think is replaced before the actual command is run, that's why runcommand doesn't know what you mean. What I would do is:

            • run the dragon32 ROM normally, via ES
            • run ps -ef from a SSH session and see the actual command

            You can look at https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/blob/master/scriptmodules/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh#L42 to see how runcommand.sh handles its parameters.

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            • JonoJ
              Jono
              last edited by Jono

              @mitu Thanks for the help, I changed my script to read;

              #!/bin/bash
              "/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh" 0 "/opt/retropie/configs/dragon32/emulators.cfg" "dragon32"
              

              The screen goes blank, and I am back at the CLI within RetroPie.

              I can't find my runcommand.log file, so will work on that, along side using ps -ef tonight.

              But it still confuses me that if I run the command directly from the command line it works, just not in a Bash script :/

              mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • mituM
                mitu Global Moderator @Jono
                last edited by mitu

                @jono said in Getting to the CLI for Home Computers using MESS:

                I can't find my runcommand.log file, so will work on that, along side using ps -ef tonight.

                The log file for runcommand is in /dev/shm/runcommand.log.

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                • JonoJ
                  Jono
                  last edited by

                  @mitu It wasn't there, hence the hunt that will start later today :)

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                  • JonoJ
                    Jono
                    last edited by

                    Success! Or sort of...

                    So I changed the script for dragon32.sh to read;

                    #!/bin/bash
                    /opt/retropie/emulators/xroar/bin/xroar -fs -vo sdl --ccr simple -machine dragon32
                    

                    And, as another example I wrote a spectrum script;

                    #!/bin/bash
                    /opt/retropie/emulators/fuse/bin/fuse --machine 48 --full-screen
                    

                    Both work, and now I will do the other home computers and place them in their own section. Which now means I can code on the old home computers.

                    Many thanks for the pointer @mitu , it helped me focus towards the right solution

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                    • JonoJ
                      Jono
                      last edited by

                      I forgot to say, I found these command lines in the /opt/retropie/configs/emulatorname/emulator.cfg for each emulator and removed the %ROM% parameter.

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