BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu

Lister of Smeg

@folly
Thanks for the offer - themes are getting tricky with so many new systems being added
which brings me nicely to - the acorn atom. Hoglet released a version of atomulator called Optima for the pi.
I couldn't get it to compile but there was a release binary V4 that just works (it does include some software on an emulated eMMC so i'm not sure about posting a link? - but it is from the usual acorn forum)
I'll try to spend some time playing over the next couple of days to see if it's worth bothering with

Folly

@lister-of-smeg

Well perhaps I can compile.
Will have a look this week.

Edit :

It's possible to compile !
Download the source from and extract :
https://github.com/hoglet67

Go into the src directory of the Atomulator source.
Do :

make -f Makefile.linux

The binary will be placed next to the windows exe binary.
( 1 directory up )

Lister of Smeg

@folly
got it compiled! - - ?why don't they put a Makefile.linux in the linux versions?
this is not an easy machine to use :( - it's not bad with the emmc just some of the keymappings seem off

at best I could see this as a 'curiosity' maybe in retropie's ports section - i'm guessing the user would have to find the eMMC files for themselves

certainly a 'niche' machine
here is the precompiled version I found in the forum - i've removed the software from the mmc folder but recommend you find Atom Software Archive V11 and add it back in - this gives a more 'out of the box' experience
then again, as a system, maybe it's just not meant for retropie?
https://www37.zippyshare.com/v/bKj7nOKo/file.html

Folly

@lister-of-smeg said in BBC Micro / Acorn Electron Emu:

@folly
got it compiled! - - ?why don't they put a Makefile.linux in the linux versions?

Compiled ! That's nice !
Don't know.

this is not an easy machine to use :( - it's not bad with the emmc just some of the keymappings seem off

Indeed, never grew up with Acorn machines.
New for me too.
This one seems quite odd when having the first look at it.

at best I could see this as a 'curiosity' maybe in retropie's ports section - i'm guessing the user would have to find the eMMC files for themselves

I don't think it belongs in a port section.
It's just a regular emulator.

certainly a 'niche' machine
here is the precompiled version I found in the forum - i've removed the software from the mmc folder but recommend you find Atom Software Archive V11 and add it back in - this gives a more 'out of the box' experience
then again, as a system, maybe it's just not meant for retropie?
https://www37.zippyshare.com/v/bKj7nOKo/file.html

I think the binary is now obsolete.
Is there any difference with the compiled file ?
You can compare with sums, for example :
sha1sum <file>
If the sums for both files are the same then there is no difference.

Will try to find the software.
Hope I can load some but I am not so sure yet ;-)

Lister of Smeg

@folly
the file sizes are different
'Atom Software Archive V11' should get you all you need
shift + f12 to load the menu
< & > to navigate

the binary is not without issues - launching from terminal gives
'pi@retropie:~$ /home/pi/Programs/atomulator/Atomulator
Atomulator: /home/pi/allegro-5.1.8/addons/font/text.c:298: al_get_font_line_height: Assertion `f' failed.
Aborted'
yet double clicking on the binary launches straight into full screen

a private message function would be useful for the forum

Folly

@lister-of-smeg

Ok, thanks.

Found it :
First game on the Atom :

Lister of Smeg

@folly
:D
surreal to think that the basic for the atom was written by Sophie Wilson who went on to design the first arm processor
It's a bit like the pi is having it's great grandparents round to visit

Folly

@lister-of-smeg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Wilson
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/08/sophie-wilson-arm-and-how-making-things-simpler-made-them-faster-more-efficient/

I did know some stuff but learned some history too !

Lister of Smeg

@folly
don't know if you've seen this, but it outlines acorn's history and rivalry with Sinclair in an entertaining docu-drama

btw
i'm currently trying to get arculator (acorn archimedes) to compile
https://github.com/sarah-walker-pcem/arculator
I think it should work but I keep getting errors (currently reinstalling wxWidgets to see if that fixes it)
nope - building still fails

wx-hd_new.cc:82:17: error: 'uint8_t' was not declared in this scope
                 uint8_t sector_buf[512];
                 ^
wx-hd_new.cc:82:25: error: expected ';' before 'sector_buf'
                 uint8_t sector_buf[512];
                         ^
wx-hd_new.cc:84:24: error: 'sector_buf' was not declared in this scope
                 memset(sector_buf, 0, 512);
                        ^
Makefile:1395: recipe for target 'arculator-wx-hd_new.o' failed
make[1]: *** [arculator-wx-hd_new.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/pi/Desktop/arculator-master/src'
Makefile:398: recipe for target 'all-recursive' failed
make: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

i'll try again later with a 'fresh head'

Folly

@lister-of-smeg

I installed wxWidgets with :

sudo apt install libwxgtk3.0-dev

It doesn't complain about wx but it does complain about undefined reference to.
So I can't compile right now.

Edit :
In the stardot thread "Arculator v2.0 released!" they refer to an other fork, as sarah didn't update some things :
https://github.com/pdjstone/arculator

I compiled succesfully !

Lister of Smeg

@folly
same here :D - I tried again with the buster image I was testing b-em with and used the source at https://github.com/pdjstone/arculator
./configure --enable-release-build
make

then ./arculator to run.

added the 3.1.1 roms and It lives! . . . but only at 60% speed on pi3b+

not sure how to run floppies yet - but progress is progress (the windows version has a gui for this)
i'm tired
** 'The menu is a pop-up menu in the Linux port. Right-click on the main window when mouse is not
captured.' 'readme-linux was a big hint
OK - very nice emulator - just slow on a pi3b+
from the forum it appears there is currently no way to launch a config and game via commands, but if you are happy to run from desktop and have a pi4 - could be good

*not related in any way but RPCEmu compiles easily and runs riscos 3.7 well enough (not compatible with archimedes software)
source, extras and instructions on this site http://www.marutan.net/rpcemu/index.php#downloads

retrofan

Nice progress guys, well done!
I just installed this b-em allegro4 version with Folly's script and it works fine through ES, but I have no sound.
I tried to uninstall / reinstall but still no sound.
Pi 3+, latest fresh retropie installation, log file doesnt show anything wrong.
Btw, is there a way to start this emulator directly from the command line, without using ES, since it has its own internal menu and file browser?
In the meantime i try to compile this b-em v2.2 under standard latest Raspbian Buster distro and everything works fine, including sound.
Or maybe theres possibilities to run under faster GL driver ?
It seems that some of demanding Master games, like Prince of Persia or SCR, have some stuttering in sound playback, without frame skipping.
For now, i am struggling to get sound in both ways with retropie... Any hint, maybe ?

Folly

@retrofan

No sound, problematic.
Do you have no sound on both HDMI and AV-jack with b-em ?
Do you have sound in emulationstation and on what port ?

As I run RetroPie on top of a Desktop-enviroment I switch my output in the Desktop.
Then both work in the Desktop or when I boot emulationstation from the cli (booted into cli).
If I try to change my audio device from within emulationstation then it will not work.
So it can have something to do with this setting, but really not sure.

See what happens if you use raspi-config for selecting the audio port, this works for me too.

sudo raspi-config

Lister of Smeg

@folly @retrofan
hi,
I have both a working and non-working image which i'm trying to compare with each other (pi3b+ same kernels - both uptodate)
config.txt is the same - any ideas where other audio settings are stored so I can have a look at those and maybe get to the bottom of this?

Folly

@lister-of-smeg

When I use raspi-config the settings are changed in the file :
/home/pi/.config/pulse/XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink
Containing :

alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.analog-stereo

or :

alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.digital-stereo

The audio icon in the Desktop writes and reads from the same file.
So this is presumably pulseaudio.

When I peek into /usr/bin/raspi-config the alsa audio configs, if using alsa, are presumably stored in :
/home/pi/.asoundrc
But I don't have that file on my OS.

Here are my outputs of some commands to detect audio setting or hardware (I extracted these commands from raspi-config)

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ pacmd list-sinks | grep -e index -e alsa.name
  * index: 0
		alsa.name = "bcm2835 HDMI 1"
    index: 1
		alsa.name = "bcm2835 Headphones"

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: b1 [bcm2835 HDMI 1], device 0: bcm2835 HDMI 1 [bcm2835 HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
card 1: Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones], device 0: bcm2835 Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones]
  Subdevices: 4/4
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3

I checked also in the RetroPie-Setup :

Configuration / tools
- audiosettings

Then I can see that the default for me is on ALSA which is wrong I think.
You can enable pulseaudio also in there, but this doesn't seem to work.
After setting pulseaudio it keeps saying ALSA as default and the settings don't seem to change.

Lister of Smeg

@folly
thanks for looking
my non working install was missing 'alsa_output.platform-bcm2835_audio.digital-stereo' from /home/pi/.config/pulse/XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink
(just a blank file)
added the line and rebooted but still no audio

the commands on the non working install give the same results as you have listed
tried setting pulse audio to default, but still no sound

went to RetroPie-Setup Configuration / tools
audiosettings mixer - pressed 'M' so that '00' was displayed at the bottom of the volume bar and that seems to get sound working (still have the 'failed to find mixer...' message)
@retrofan could you have a look at your setup and see if any of the above helps?
(i've previously tried unmuting that volume bar so perhaps it was the missing line in /home/pi/.config/pulse/XXXXXXXXXXXX-default-sink
that was preventing sound from working on my setup at least)
thanks again folly - I was ready to start again with a fresh install on that sd card

retrofan

@Folly @lister-of-smeg

I checked the audio settings in raspi-config, everything looks normal, HDMI 1 is set as the default, but I don't have a pulse folder in "/home/pi/.config/" at all !?
Sound effects in the ES menus are present, but no sound in the emulator.
Also, I tried my retropie image with b-em pico version and worknig sound, but again there is no sound with this allegro4 version.
Very strange, at first glance everything looks fine, I literally just added Folly's script to scriptmodules/emulators and successfully installed, didn't change anything else.

Folly

@lister-of-smeg

Nice to hear my information helped you to get the sound.

audiosettings mixer - pressed 'M' so that '00

Btw. If you use this command it will do the same :

alsamixer

@retrofan
Which retropie image are you using ?

Perhaps we can find a solution in this thread :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/26628/audio-issues-after-latest-raspbian-updates-june-2020

Lister of Smeg

@retrofan
it's certainly a weird issue - folly's script is absolutely fine
what I don't understand are the differences seen with the pulse audio and missing files
my 'newest' image was downloaded and updated only a week ago - b-em-allegro4 just worked
have you tried updating via command line with sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade ?

retrofan

My retropie image is 8 weeks old, latest version for sure.
I will try to update retropie and use tips from link that Folly posted...