Adding pdp-1 Support to play the first computer game written: Spacewar

[Warpshock]

I was able to play Spacewar, a game written in 1962, on original pdp-1 equipment at the Computer History Museum. It was a fun piece of computer history. I was able to get spacewar to run under Retropie. It would be nice to add this functionality into Retropie so that others could enjoy. Here's how I did it.

First install the MESS package from the Retropie installer script. Then place an unzipped RIM file of Spacewar or any other pdp1 program in the: roms/pdp1 folder.

In es_systems.cfg add:
<system>
<name>pdp1</name>
<fullname>PDP-1</fullname>
<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pdp1</path>
<extension>.rim .RIM </extension>
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS pdp1 %ROM%</command>
</system>

The emulators.cfg for the pdp1 should contain:
lr-mess="/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch --config /opt/retropie/configs/pdp1/retroarch.cfg -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mess/mess_libretro.so 'pdp1 -ptap1 %ROM%'"
default="lr-mess"

Notes on usages (Taken from: http://archive.org/details/pdp1_spacewar)

This is a rather unusual machine, and the commands to use it are non-intuitive. Press the LEFT CONTROL key AND the ENTER key at the same time to load the Spacewar! tape. The machine will blink many lights and the game will come up on the "screen" portion of the emulator in the upper left corner.

There are two ships, the "wedge" and the needle. Two players are required to play. To control the "Wedge" ship, use the A and S keys to turn, the D key to thrust, and the F key to fire - and the Z key to go into "hyperspace", where you might not return. To control the "Needle" ship, the keys are left and right arrow to turn, up arrow to thrust, down arrow to fire, and the / (slash) key for hyperspace. The game simulates gravity and the players should avoid being pulled into the star in the center of the screen.

Spacewar (stylized "Spacewar!") is one of the earliest digital computer games. It is a two-player game, with each player taking control of a starship and attempting to destroy the other. A star in the center of the screen pulls on both ships and requires maneuvering to avoid falling into it. In an emergency, a player can enter hyperspace to return at a random location on the screen, but only at the risk of exploding if it is used too often.

[Cole_48]

I saw that on crash coarse games a few weeks ago! Pretty cool to see it on Retropie!