Old Computer Appreciation Thread

mitu

Checking this note :
NOTE: The standalone emulator (Quasi88) expects the BIOS filenames to be uppercase, while lr-quasi88 accepts both uppercase and lowercase variants.
Checked all variants for lr-quasi88 :

Discoveries while checking :

!The name JYSIO.ROM in doc is wrong and should be JISYO.ROM (checked in runcommand.log)

Yes, this is a typo.

! Lowercase disk.rom is not recognized

No, it's recognized.

If disk.rom is used, the MSX /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/DISK.ROM is loaded wich will not work. (checked in runcommand.log)

Yes, I could add a note about it.

n88sub.rom should be used instead of disk.rom

not checked the font rom files because I don't have them and they don't seem necessary

they could be added to the list of optional BIOS roms but we don't have sha1sums available (perhaps a future task)

Since they're optional and I couldn't find any info on what they're using, I chose not to list them. The original emulator says about FONT.ROM:

Normally, this file is unnecessary because the font is automatically generated from the Kanji ROM (1st level). Please prepare this file if you want to use the original font. (However, semi-graphic characters cannot be changed.)

So it looks like having one of the other font ROMs makes them un-necessary.

Quasi88 BIOS roms sha1sums : same as my setup, 1 is different
(the sha1sum of my N88JISHO.ROM is different, the doc version should also work, so we stick with the doc version)

I'll re-check again the N88JISHO.ROM, there must be some DAT file to list it correctly.

if we want to shorten the doc, we can choose to use the same 'Normal (UC)' names as used for Quasi88, mentioning them only once

I added the alternate names mainly because they're also listed in the libretro core documentation. I don't want to confuse users which compare the info from the 2 pages and think that one of them is wrong.

Thanks for the feedback.

Folly

@mitu

Rechecked the disk.rom part again.
You are correct it is recognised if I remove the MSX DISK.ROM.

Zering

You guys are awesome.
I'll try this soon, I've been wanting to try Refight for a while.

mitu

@folly I added the modifications.
I've checked with mame for the correct file checksum on N88JISHO.ROM and it appears they might be different, depending on the machine from where the BIOS file was dumped.

mame -listroms pc8801mc shows identical checksums with the doc
mame -listroms pc8801ma2 shows another checksum. I added it to the list.

Folly

@mitu

Great !
I will have a look at it soon.

Folly

@zering

While testing pc88 games I rediscovered that most games need changing some core options and that's quite a hassle.

Naturally we know we can create game specific core options in the retroarch menu that will create .opt files in /home/pi/.config/retroarch/config/QUASI88/ .
I was thinking we would be able to share those .opt files.
So we don't have to do this work over and over again.

Only trouble is, how do we share these .opt files when the filenames can differ.
My idea is to add a game checksum to the .opt file. Then we could test roms against the checksum and rename the .opt files on the fly.

So perhaps I will take a look at this solution.

Zering

@folly Good idea, or we could simply base ourselves off the most common rom set, which I'm pretty certain we all have anyway.

Folly

@zering

Just added a few, creating the basic structure.

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/tree/main/00-retroarch-00/config/QUASI88

mitu

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

I'll try this soon, I've been wanting to try Refight for a while.

A source update for lr-quasi88 should be enough now. The small change from my branch is now included upstream.

Folly

@AdamBeGood @Zering

The pc88 docs are in implemented now.
So have a look.

@mitu
Thank you for the work.
We have made a pretty good doc now !

AdamBeGood

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood @Zering

The pc88 docs are in implemented now.
So have a look.

@mitu
Thank you for the work.
We have made a pretty good doc now !

This looks really good now, well done to all of you! So much detail in there, I'd hope someone coming to this fresh wouldn't have any of the problems we've had.

ReFight does work for me now on the libretto core, great stuff.

Edit: Just on a separate note, finding you guys and going through all these random systems was an absolute joy. There were so many games that I didn't know existed. Thanks so much!

A Former User

This post is deleted!

Zering

@adambegood The joy is mutual. But I don't know why you've said this in the past tense when there's still so many games to discover! ^^

Folly

@Zering @AdamBeGood
I have done some experimenting with the bbc micro emulator b-em.
I have it somewhat running on the pico and I am able to run the same sort of build to run on the RPI.
I have made an experimental port for it.
(don't expect miracles, but it's quite cool)
Are you both interested.

@Zering
BTW.
Have you already tried Refight with the new source ?

AdamBeGood

@folly I'm interested. I used to play a game called Hi Bouncer so was thinking about trying that out the other day on BBC!

Folly

@adambegood said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly I'm interested. I used to play a game called Hi Bouncer so was thinking about trying that out the other day on BBC!

You should run Hi Bouncer with lr-mess or mame if this works.

My port is limited to the discs that are implemented.
I made it just for fun and to see if I could get it working.
There are options to add other discs in different way's,
but I haven't implemented this in the module script.
Perhaps I can/will in the future.

I tested this morning on a different sd-card of mine the module script worked.
Although it seemed it was stuck this morning, it worked though.
So, be patient if doesn't do something for a while.

The module script creates working binary's called xbeeb and xmaster and have both multiple discs in them.
The boot scripts come in ports.
They should work directly, no bios work is needed.
It will have some demo's and the 2048 game that is created by Eben Upton.
Hotkeys :
F11 is the kilograham/pico menu
Shift + F12 boots the disc.
F12 reset
EXIT with mouse closing window

Let me know what you think of it.

The script is my repository, you know what to do 😊 :
00-scriptmodules-00/ports/b-em-pico_pi.sh

Folly

@adambegood

The game HiBouncer seems to work with lr-mess.
Beats me what I have to do, though.
Can start with space and go left and right with z and x.

Zering

@folly I haven't tried Refight yet, the only thing I've done recently is update redream, but I'll get around to it!

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly I haven't tried Refight yet, the only thing I've done recently is update redream, but I'll get around to it!

Well, indeed that winCE thing on redream is very nice.
I have to try it some time too.

AdamBeGood

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood

The game HiBouncer seems to work with lr-mess.
Beats me what I have to do, though.
Can start with space and go left and right with z and x.

It does! Amazing! My next door neighbour had this game and I hadn't played it since I was about 7!

You have to get the candy on the floor. In the next level you have to jump on the trampoline, and then you have to get the vinyl record. I don't know about the fourth level yet.

I got Geordie Racer working as well - it's an educational game by the BBC and not very good, but we used to be able to play it in school when we were lucky. There was only one BBC for the school so you didn't get much time! The nostalgia is strong!