Old Computer Appreciation Thread

AdamBeGood

I've got it working! It was a BIOS issue, I used the MAME .224 BIOS and now all good.

I already had loads of games working on virtualjaguar, but it's good to have the ones that didn't work so well on that working with MESS. Thanks so much, @Folly !

My next job is BBC Micro but when I try to generate that, I get a message saying no system of that name. I am trying with "bbcmicro".

Edit: oh, and .j64 files don't need to be zipped.

Folly

@adambegood said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

I've got it working! It was a BIOS issue, I used the MAME .224 BIOS and now all good.

I already had loads of games working on virtualjaguar, but it's good to have the ones that didn't work so well on that working with MESS. Thanks so much, @Folly !

My next job is BBC Micro but when I try to generate that, I get a message saying no system of that name. I am trying with "bbcmicro".

Good job.
Could be an issue in the script. I filtered non usable media out. but if the are on the first line you can't generate for that system. Will have a look at that.
(edit: no issue)(edit1:can't install rom1 for bbc micro , will add it to my script)

Advise, read my post again. I added a better solution for the themes.
For the future I hope that I can match the names to RetroPie ones.
So a solution like that is not needed anymore.
In my test script I have worked out some of these issues, but it's not perfect yet.

EDIT : you have to know the system name you want to install, "bbcmicro" does not exist. Use "bbca" or "bbcb" etc. that should work !

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listdevices | grep Driver | grep "BBC Micro"
Driver bbca (BBC Micro Model A):
Driver bbcb (BBC Micro Model B):
Driver bbcb_de (BBC Micro Model B (German)):
Driver bbcb_us (BBC Micro Model B (US)):
Driver bbcbp (BBC Micro Model B+ 64K):
Driver bbcbp128 (BBC Micro Model B+ 128K):

You can also look here, click all systems ( tip from @Zering ) :
http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/

I am going to install :
~~bbcbp128~~ I have no good bios
bbcb boots ( possible : see next post )
bbcb boots ( added rom1 to my script, now also installable, up til now can't boot rom files )

AdamBeGood

@folly I think all my games so far are .ssd floppies. I can get BBC Basic to load but I can't get a game to load yet. I'm using -flop1

Edit: I've found some talk around using

CHAIN "floppy.type"

Where floppy.type is the disk image you are trying to run. But I can't even get full stop to work on my keyboard yet!

Further Edit: Got it working. I have Repton and Geordie Racer.

I renamed Repton to repton.ssd and then

CHAIN "repton"

works!

Further Further Edit: Geordie Racer is Acorn BBC Micro so that is another system I guess.... I used to play that in Primary School as it was slightly educational so would be fun to see it.

Folly

@adambegood

I booted cas files !
Found this on a website :

The vast majority of images within the archive contain a BASIC loader file, so the following should suffice:

*TAPE
PAGE=&E00
CHAIN ""
However, if the first file in an image is machine code (indicated by a _RUN in the long filename e.g. Islandia_RUN_B.uef) then you will need to enter this instead:

*TAPE
*RUN
There may be one or two exceptions to the above, for example, some very early software required you to issue a *LOAD followed by OLD:RUN or a CALL statement. However, I don't think this applies to any images in the archive at present.

Now controls ? cursors worked, but the rest ?

AdamBeGood

@folly Mine was just keyboard controls. Weird ones, Z and X for left and right. Well done on cassettes!

Folly

@adambegood said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Mine was just keyboard controls. Weird ones, Z and X for left and right. Well done on cassettes!

I will try.

Well, we are up and running a bit :-)
Edit: runs really good !

Edit :
Discovered a really fast way of booting a disk the shift+break way (bbc micro (bbcb)) :
In the emulator use :
shift + F12
(booting automatically starts)

Already playable (bbc micro (bbcb)) (Blagger an Guardian (Alligata)):

AdamBeGood

@folly Nice! I was trying to think Shift + Break! Thought I tried most keys.

Folly

@adambegood said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Nice! I was trying to think Shift + Break! Thought I tried most keys.

Was there also a similar way for cassettes ?
Do you know that ?

Zering

@folly Very impressive! Are you also aware that the pi is capable of running BBC Micro games through beebem? Although from what I hear and know performance is less than ideal.

Also I can confirm that Planescape on the Pi is a big no. I'm playing the original Windows game on my PC and realising just how badly glitched Planescape is on gemRB. It's missing animations, equipping weapons stops your character from fighting properly, the main PC levels up whenever somebody else is levelling up... it's a shame, but maybe in the future Box86 + Wine might enable us to play the Enhanced Editioms on the pi.

Box86 compiles easily on my pi 4 but the instructions I found don't cover how to actually use the damn thing. Silly.

AdamBeGood

@zering I might buy Planescape on Steam, sounds very good.

Zering

@adambegood You might get it cheaper on GOG. Their enhanced edition comes packaged with the original game too.
It's the Infinity engine game that benefitted the least from the Enhanced Edition treatment but it's still staggeringly beautiful in HD.

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Very impressive! Are you also aware that the pi is capable of running BBC Micro games through beebem? Although from what I hear and know performance is less than ideal.

Yes I know. Never tried it though. Have to do that some time.
I must say video and sound are really good with bbc micro in lr-mess.

Box86 compiles easily on my pi 4 but the instructions I found don't cover how to actually use the damn thing. Silly.

Someone seems to be busy running wine over box86.
Up till now there is nothing shared
Probably we have to wait.

Last year I tried box86. Only thing I could install steam installer.

Seems that you can install a wine (windows binary version) on it. So it could be easy.

Zering

@folly Yeah I've tried compiling Wine too, but I can't find any instructions on how to actually use them.
Anyway I'm falling behind as it is, so this will have to wait a little! But it seems promising.

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Yeah I've tried compiling Wine too, but I can't find any instructions on how to actually use them.

How did you compile ?

You should make or have a windows compatible wine.

Anyway I'm falling behind as it is, so this will have to wait a little! But it seems promising.

How was it on your new job ?

Perhaps this weekend you can try again. ;-)

Zering

@folly I haven't actually started yet, I don't start for at least a week but there's an inane amount of paperwork and e-training ^^

I compiled Box86 following instructions on the github for Box86, and Wine using sudo apt install.

I'm sure if you give it a try you'll crack it in five minutes ^^

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly I haven't actually started yet, I don't start for at least a week but there's an inane amount of paperwork and e-training ^^

I compiled Box86 following instructions on the github for Box86, and Wine using sudo apt install.

I'm sure if you give it a try you'll crack it in five minutes ^^

Perhaps I will try too.

Sudo apt will install on your linux (that doesn't work for Box86).
If you did it on a pi, it works only for ARM cpu, so you can't run x86 cpu software.

No binary found yet.

Zering

@folly Ah that probably explains that.
I'm at a loss and I can't find information that's tailored to someone who has limited knowledge like me.
If you tried could you share the commands you used to get it running?

Edit : 1000+ posts, incredible. I never thought this thread would get so huge.

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Ah that probably explains that.
I'm at a loss and I can't find information that's tailored to someone who has limited knowledge like me.
If you tried could you share the commands you used to get it running?

Edit : 1000+ posts, incredible. I never thought this thread would get so huge.

Yeah , We have to celebrate ^^ Let' s do a beer sometime !

React OS is an opensource windows. I think you can install wine in this Operating system. So if we can find this binary we could try this.

Have to go now,
Bye.

AdamBeGood

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Ah that probably explains that.
I'm at a loss and I can't find information that's tailored to someone who has limited knowledge like me.
If you tried could you share the commands you used to get it running?

Edit : 1000+ posts, incredible. I never thought this thread would get so huge.

Yeah , We have to celebrate ^^ Let' s do a beer sometime !

React OS is an opensource windows. I think you can install wine in this Operating system. So if we can find this binary we could try this.

Have to go now,
Bye.

I'd be up for a Zoom beer at some point, would be strange but interesting!

Folly

@zering @AdamBeGood

I have added a test version 1.3a on github.
It matches mess names to RetroPie ones.
So if you are interested you can have a try.
The first tests are already done.
And some issues are already fixed.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25576/new-scriptmodules-lr-vice-xvic-gsplus-proper-lr-mess-integration/289