Booting the Dragon 32 in lr-mess without a disk drive

[JimmyFromTheBay]

The lr-mess fork for the Dragon 32 will only load tape games (the format almost all the machine's games come in) if you switch the disk drive off in Slot Devices in the MESS menu (ie set -ext to -----). Otherwise they load but then don't work.

However, unlike most MESS settings this one isn't saved on exit and I can't find the commandline option for it in the MESS docs to set it manually in EMULATORS.CFG. (I tried -ext none and -ext null.) Anyone?

[Folly]

@jimmyfromthebay

Here is the output from mame of the slot-devices (system => dragon32) :

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listslots dragon32
SYSTEM           SLOT NAME        SLOT OPTIONS     SLOT DEVICE NAME
---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------------------
dragon32         ext              ccpsg            CoCo PSG
                                  claw             The Dragon's Claw
                                  dragon_fdc       Dragon FDC
                                  gmc              CoCo Games Master Cartridge
                                  jcbsnd           Dragon Sound Extension Module
                                  jcbspch          Dragon Speech Synthesis Module
                                  max              CoCo Max HI-RES input module
                                  midi             Dragon MIDI PAK
                                  msx2             Dragon MSX 2+
                                  multi            Dragon Multi-Pak Interface
                                  orch90           CoCo Orch-90 PAK
                                  pak              CoCo Program PAK
                                  premier_fdc      Premier FDC
                                  ram              Disto 1024K RAM Cartridge
                                  sdtandy_fdc      SDTANDY FDC
                                  serial           Dragon Peaksoft Prestel Module
                                  sprites          Dragon Sprites
                                  ssc              CoCo S/SC PAK
                                  stecomp          Speech Systems Stereo Composer
                                  sym12            Speech Systems Symphony Twelve
                                  wpk2p            CoCo WordPak 2+

                 ext:dragon_fdc:wd2797:0 qd               5.25" quad density floppy drive

                 ext:dragon_fdc:wd2797:1 qd               5.25" quad density floppy drive

                 ext:dragon_fdc:wd2797:2 qd               5.25" quad density floppy drive

                 ext:dragon_fdc:wd2797:3 qd               5.25" quad density floppy drive

So if you want to add a floppy drive you normally use option :
-ext:dragon_fdc:wd2797:0 qd
Indeed, with mame I can't set it to empty, perhaps you can experiment with above line.

If you use for example, this option :
-ext gmc
Then it seems there is no dragon_fdc loaded.
I think, you can use this for a solution.
You have to look in the -listslots output for something to load and use that.
I think this will work for you.

Edit :
Like mentioned in post 3 I added "dragon32 -ext ram" to my front-end module-script in add-mamedev-systems-test8.sh :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-and-mame-standalone

[JimmyFromTheBay]

@folly Cheers, but setting it to "ram" seems to have worked.

[Folly]

@jimmyfromthebay said in Booting the Dragon 32 in lr-mess without a disk drive:

@folly Cheers, but setting it to "ram" seems to have worked.

Indeed, there are more options.
Glad to hear that this has worked.

I think you used my script to install dragon32.
You should mention that so people are not getting confused.

Just curious, how are you going to summarize all your findings now scattered all over multiple threads ?

[JimmyFromTheBay]

@folly said in Booting the Dragon 32 in lr-mess without a disk drive:

Just curious, how are you going to summarize all your findings now scattered all over multiple threads ?

Thinking of doing a website thing. Still configuring millions of Dragon 32 and Atom games using your brilliant per-game-configs mod atm.

[Folly]

@jimmyfromthebay

Good idea.

I am now busy with making it possible to install systems with additional things, like slot-devices, into my scripts.
It's already functional but I still have to tweak some things.

I think I will add this "dragon32 with ram and cassette only support" too in the list of the front-end.

Edit :
I has been added !

Would you like to test the latest add-mamedev-systems-test8.sh for me from :
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/main/00-workdir-00/add-mamedev-systems-test8.sh

[JimmyFromTheBay]

@folly Right! Sorry this took so long, but I had an unfortunate incident with a rat chewing through my Ethernet cable and it took a while to get a replacement :D

Have tried the new version and it seems to work a treat - all the "game-specific" options appear in the Runcommand menu, and so does the special Dragon -ext -ram version. Everything is running as it should atm, will let you know if I encounter any problems.

[Folly]

@jimmyfromthebay

Haha, a rat, that's bad.

Thanks for testing.
In time, I will add some more systems with slot-devices when we discover more.

[JimmyFromTheBay]

@folly In fairness it was one of MY rats, not a wild one :D

[Folly]

@jimmyfromthebay

They say that rats are intelligent.
So you have to train them, not to bite the cables.;-)