Computer Cores

[waxen brook]

I should mention it's specifically the TIE Fighter CD-ROM version that has the hi-res mode. don't want you to go through the trouble of installing the disk version to find its just the 320x200 version

[waxen brook]

Anyone still using the Top 300 pack, these are the games that are marked as not working, and seeing as the pack doesn't seem to be getting updates anymore you can free up a lot of space (12GB+) by removing the CD games:

--CD
Constructor
Death Rally
Discworld 2  (dw2)
Flight Unlimited
Gobliiins  (gob1)
Gobliins 2  (gob2)
Heroes of Might & Magic 2
Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny  (LLGD)
Mortal Kombat Trilogy  (Del other Mortal Kombats also- handled better by other cores)
NASCAR Racing 2
Oddworld
Pro Pinball - Big Race USA  (PPBigRac)
Rayman
Rayman Forever
Scorched Planet  (ScoPlan)
Star Trek Judgement Rites Collectors Edition  (stjudgec)
The Incredible Machine 2  (TIncM2)
WipEout


--Disk
King's Quest 2 Fan Remake
Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
Shadowgate
Troddlers
The Chessmaster 3000
The Oregon Trail Deluxe
Ultima 2
Wizardry 6
Wizardry 7```

I've been in dire need of space on my SD card for a while and wish I would have removed these long ago. Disk games not so important since they're relatively pretty small, and are just on the VHD anyways. If you want to clear up some room on the VHD for custom game additions it could be helpful to remove some of the larger ones though

[void belfry]

WipeOut also needs FPU apparently 🙂 It "runs" with Q87, but yeah, same as Quake not playable

without it, yes, it craps with artifacts and some loong error (probably stating the missing coprocessor)

[void belfry]

What's the issue with Heroes 2 ? I don't use Top 300, but my setups are inspired from it and it works just fine

[waxen brook]

I don't know. it was just marked as not working. i didnt test them

[void belfry]

Think Goblins work too if i am not mistaken. tried only briefly a while ago. Cannot vouch as for Heroes 2 lol 🙂 L.E: They (Gob 1/2) doesn't seem to work indeed, my bad, probably I mistook for Amiga maybe

[fast kraken]

i kinda made it so top300 is cool if you only want to load some of the cd-images

if it goes to use one and its missing you'll get a graceful error

also you can convert them to CHD if you want to save even more space, top300 will work with them no changes needed

[waxen brook]

Good to know! I'll keep that in mind when I eventually go on my CHD-the-world rampage. Can definitely use the extra space! At this point it will probably make more sense to just get all that done when I upgrade to a 1TB SD card.

[void belfry]

Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny (LLGD) - also "works" with Q87 but only with EMM386 (not with QEMM). At high resolution it crawls, at low res is playable I'd say, but sadly it would also artifact A LOT of the images, so again not much of a solution:

[void belfry]

On the same note as Quake/Tomb Raider/WipeOut, so is Abe's Oddworld. Apparently also needs FPU but it would be unplayable (1-2 frames) with the use of Q87

[burnt timber]

Found it

[steep nest]

Nice

[severe hull]

This is some amazing work! I had no idea there was a DOS FPU emulator

[void belfry]

There are several, but this QuickWare Q876 seems to be the best of them

[void belfry]

I wish this (abandonware imho) software could be acquired free/small fee whatever. Else it is up to each one to either patch it themselves (3-4 mins at most) or get onto shady distros/sites/whatever

And I do know how hypocritical it sounds, especially that I never bought software back then in the 90's 😄 Except for some CDs I won as prizes on various contests, mostly crap (except a BSD release and some Win NT stuff, can't quite recall)

Admittedly, Q87 only helps on a single game (FX Fighter), but it shines on fractal generation, AutoCAD stuff and gives a nice boost on MS-DOS graphic browsing with Arachne. So far as I tested in a nutshell, but also helped identifying games in need of FPU (without the obvious Quake).

[torn arch]

FPU Emulator for AO486?

[void belfry]

yup

[void belfry]

simple enough, eh ? 😄

[woven lava]

does anybody know a good way to create floppy disk images in Mac System 6 or 7?
I have a few floppies I want to convert to disk images to use on MiSTer and emulators;
I can just copy things into folders into 1 hard drive image, but a dedicated program would be faster

[void belfry]

FLAC decoding works also nice (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,123374.0.html) , decoded 2 Nine Inch Nails FLACs into WAVs and played afterwards in XTC-Player without issues. Again, with Q87's help

[fast kraken]

ha thats funny

the core can play flacs but not actual cds 😄

oh i misread, conversion not playback

[void belfry]

neah, it is too much (with Q87) for ao846 to reasonably play mp3s, let alone flac

[burnt timber]

You do the craziest things with that FPU emu

[void belfry]

Also "working" a.k.a crawling is the PC Atari 2600 Emulator 😄

[burnt timber]

Nesticle you did already I bet

[void belfry]

yes, that works actually ok but doesn't need FPU. Neither ZSNES

[burnt timber]

Interesting

[burnt timber]

Those GUIs are a blast from the past

I remember when roms were being hacked, like MMC5 Castlevania 3 just to work with Nesticle

[void belfry]

hah, think I accidentally found another program which runs with FPU emulator: XTC-Play (for all kinds of MODs, WAV and even MP3, though on this core it won't load what I have at hand). Used it A LOT on my real DX4

Need to double check this, but pretty sure it doesn't work without.

Hah !!! indeed it doesn't work without FPU (makes sense for mpeg decoding). Another win for Q87 😄

[burnt timber]

Important research

[void belfry]

haha, my notes files are getting bigger and bigger 😄

[burnt timber]

ooh

[void belfry]

I distinctly remember XTC-Play, as my 100MHz DX4 didn't cope too well with winamp (well, not at full at least), so this DOS player fit perfectly

i have to dig after my very first mp3 rips (on the same DX4). either by reconnecting that old hdd or for sure I have it archived somewhere lol

[void belfry]

and because I got bored a bit, why not some MathCAD under Win NT 4? 😄

[waxen brook]

Quest for Glory II, full playthrough on the AO486 core:
https://youtu.be/ydh3TCJR5Eg

Timestamps are a work-in-progress, only got about halfway with them so far.
EDIT: completed. Timestamps galore 😅

[burnt timber]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QvcJj4Uh18

[torn arch]

Is it possible to change the CD-ROM driver to a less generic one in AO486? The current method does not support long filenames in Win9x so more than half of the game's won't install. DOS and Win3x is fine. The problem is something like this cause it doesn't find certain files on discs during installation in 9x.

[storm maple]

have had that happen in 3x as well didn't realize it was a long filename thing

[torn arch]

I tried installing like 100 games in win9x and like half of them (or more) would not install and just gives an error. I think File Not Found or something like that. I did some research and it appears the problem is the generic driver we are using

A handful of the games I was able to find alternate revisions or versions of the games that ended up working, but most of the time they don't.

we just need a better CD-ROM driver

[fast kraken]

for windows98?

you can change it in dos i know that, i'm not sure how that interacts with windows though

[torn arch]

95 and 98

many games wont install

DOS doesnt have the issue

I think all of the DOS stuff has short filenames on discs

[burnt timber]

I was never able to get Direct X installed on 95 in ao486 to run Road Rash

[torn arch]

which directx?

[burnt timber]

It was the one on the Road Rash ISO

[torn arch]

you can install up to 7 or something

[burnt timber]

I cant remember which

[torn arch]

higher than that wont

98 comes with 6.1a or something.... but it seems 6.1 is the best cause diablo runs like crap on 6.1a... anything higher doesnt install

[burnt timber]

Is there any big performance drop in the core using 98 over 95

[torn arch]

ive only used 98lite

it was pretty good but you cant reliably downgrade the directx it comes with

it causes issues when you do

so I think 95 is the best route

also there are cd-rom issues with 98Lite

on mister

you cant explore the cd-rom drive in my computer

so to injstall things you need to know the exe to run manually

[burnt timber]

Hm. Thats with the regular core CDROM option? Maybe a 9x drive emulator would solve that

[torn arch]

yea maybe.

98Lite Sleak runs just as good as 95

just Diablo and maybe a handful of other games run better on DirectX 6.1 instead of 6.1a

We really need a new CD-Rom driver first

I cant find directx requirement for Road Rash, but it does require Pentium so it probably won't run good either way

[burnt timber]

Ah okay

[torn arch]

at least we got the PSX version, and Saturn.... and maybe one day 3DO

3DO is where I use to play it back then

[burnt timber]

3DO and Win95 are the only ones with the cockpit mode but realistically the Win95 version looks nicest

[torn arch]

nice... yea I imagine the PC is the best

3DO would need an overclock Turbo

[burnt timber]

I think the framerate is a lot lower on the 3DO original

[torn arch]

most framerates are too low on 3DO

thats really the main problem with the system

[burnt timber]

I should compare Starblade between 3DO and PSX sometime

[torn arch]

is that an FMV game?

didnt know it had an arcade version

[burnt timber]

It's a simple looking 3D space shooter kind of game

[ancient hazel]

Starblade is FMV with untextured polygonal enemies, on the 3do

Still a fun game. Namco just wasn't interested in putting much effort into that game when porting it to the home consoles

[torn arch]

oh I forgot, not only do we really need a new/better CD-ROM driver on AO486 but also need cd audio support

[lunar trellis]

I do find it odd nobody has tried to add Redbook audio into the 486 core yet

Maybe there is something I am missing though

[surreal marsh]

Isn't Amiga also missing CD audio?

[thick pendant]

yes, but it was not commonly used at least...

[surreal marsh]

Even in cd32?

[thick pendant]

I think most of the adventure games (talkies) stored the audio as digital. you just could not fit much audio otherwise.

[surreal marsh]

The cd32 problem is what I was thinking of... whether it os Redbook or something else.

[lunar trellis]

CDTV and CD32 need other work done to the Amiga core to get support, it is more complex than just adding CD and audio support to the core sadly. Some people were looking at adding it but looks like parts of the core would need refactored in addition to adding the missing parts.

[thick pendant]

most of the good CD32 games have been converted to whdload

[surreal marsh]

I play mostly RPGs, don't think the cd32 had many..
I did play a few gold box games on an Amiga emulator though.

Well, RPGs and RPG adjacent games like Zelda.

[lunar trellis]

CDTV and CD32 support will be nice for console gamers, essentially consolising the Amiga core so people can download a couple of packs of CD images and load them from the OSD. Easy peasy Amiga gaming. 🙂

[thick pendant]

I've been able to get those 333 & 444 CD32 packs to run on minimig core just by transferring the contents via "copy all" to a VHD, but a true a real CD32 core would be better...

[void belfry]

https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=6639 - "summarized" a bit my exp with FPU emulator for ao486, sry for long post 😄

[lunar trellis]

Sorry, I am not the most technically savvy, how did you run the FPU emulator on the core? Is it something that you run within DOS then launch games and the two run concurrently, or is this something that you made the core run on the ARM side?

[void belfry]

I ran it under DOS, yes. As mentioned, you would also need EMM386 or QEMM

after running it, I would just launch the game/app and it would work

The emulator will reside in the expanded memory (hence the need of those memory managers)

[void belfry]

That's why I mentioned Top 300 pack, it already has EMM386/QEMM profiles and if my memory doesn't fail me (can't check now) it also contains the Q87 emulator shareware version (think in UTILS or smth like that). It failed, it was on a completely different one, maybe Shareware, can't really recall

[copper slate]

This is me texting my British friend this morning

[void belfry]

😉

[copper slate]

lol

[void belfry]

pretty much like that i pronounce it lol

[void belfry]

hah, ChatGPT hits one right (after some trials and errors :D) Privateer 2: The Darkening do needs FPU. So far the videos and first area seem to work (I don't know the game at all). EMM386+Q87 seems to be the winner combo, trying to figure the game out lol

Just made it to some space flight, dunno how to control it but at some level it is functional (my personal opinion ofc)

[fast kraken]

i love that game for some reason

one day i'll actually figure it out enough to finish it

[void belfry]

well, now you have the chance to do it on ao486 :)) Before definitely adding it to the list, will give it myself some more testing if I can over the weekend

[pearl tree]

I'm gonna test conquest of the new world Deluxe edition with the ao486 running at 100mhz as well as Versailles witht the Q87, I'll report in this weekend, or before if I can. I expect great things!

:p

[woven lava]

new toy... my PCXT game selection works great with it

I didn't get the 8087 expansion as (accordiing to the manual) it is quite power hungry

[stiff steeple]

that cga is painful

[woven lava]

I"d have preferred Tandy or even EGA, and better AR. But its fun to use as a portable machine

[copper slate]

CGA has cool 1980s colors don’t hate

[burnt timber]

Composite CGA is interesting in how it works, manipulating NTSC encoding to get more colors. Too bad its still composite.

[stiff steeple]

and cga

[burnt timber]

Any thoughts on Tandy Kitrinx?

TGA rather

[woven lava]

CGA monochrome sometimes looks much better than color mode

[stiff steeple]

vga is pretty much my cutoff for acceptable

I can tolerate some systems that do like 64 ish colors

but mono and 16 color is rough

[burnt timber]

Even EGA huh

Technically that means you accept MCGA though

[pallid cradle]

EGA is cool, and can look great with a CRT monitor. See: Monkey Island 1

[thick pendant]

Its ok... the color palette is kinda limited... Like there is no color close to a skin tone

[woven lava]

Tandy is better than EGA in that respect

but EGA won

[copper slate]

You haven’t lived until you’ve played Rocky’s boots in CGA

[woven lava]

loved that game, but had it for Apple II

I still have the box somewhere

[copper slate]

@woven lava that’s awesome!

[gritty sun]

Guys i updated the ao486 exo top 300 pack and for some reason phantasmagoria is no longer in the game list… was this a game that wasn’t compatible? It worked before i updated it… any way to get it back besides deleting everything an re installing it?

[thick pendant]

Phantasmagoria is one that I think really runs better under ScummVM anyway...

[gritty sun]

hmmm thanks, i'll look into getting that working i guess

[gleaming aurora]

Hello, all. Total newbie here. I am just learning to program FPGAs and wanted to be useful and try to fix a few of the bugs in the Amiga minimig core. Is this a good place to ask about how to go about that? I have the core and Quartus Prime. Takes 30 minute to compile and get ready to push to the nano board. Would it be useful to write a testbench just for the particular circuit I am looking to fix? (I am looking at the audio bug for speedball in particular https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Minimig-AGA_MiSTer/issues/152
Does it make any sense to write a testbench and try to expose and fix the bug before committing to a 30 minute compile to test on the actual hardware? What do ya'll think?

[woven lava]

#dev-talk might be a better place to ask that

[thick pendant]

Also maybe ask in the forum in the Minimig core section... Definitely fixes and such will be greatly appreciated...

[woven lava]

a test bench may help you understand the core better at least

[gleaming aurora]

@woven lava thank you!

[tulip atlas]

I wonder could the Top300 pack be improved by activating smartdrv? Or is it already active?!?

[tulip atlas]

I just tried it and it seems to make no difference, maybe worse.

[thick pendant]

Just a guess, but smartdrv is designed to address seek time latency in the old spinning platters MFM, RLL, IDE, etc. But ao486 has much better seek times so the TSR is just another layer of overhead.

Maybe you could put your VHD on a old slow drive, then smartdrv would help...

Smartdrv was a substantial improvement back in the day...

[waxen brook]

https://zak.stunts.hu/

Huh, theres still an active community for the DOS game "Stunts", with monthly track time challenges and everything..

[cedar isle]

I'm definitely going to sink some time into this one.

[copper slate]

Where’s the Big Red Racing community? 😢

[waxen brook]

runs great on the AO486 core. I got it working with wheel and pedals yesterday:
https://youtu.be/ypIOaISmLBo

going to run some tests later on this week to see if full speed in the core is putting the game speed much faster than it should be, as it seems a bit too quick, though I'm using a particular version of the game that is known to be a bit faster also, after comparing all three releases. I think I only owned the initial 1.0 release back in the day, and had no idea about the differences in later releases until now.

FM towns version is pretty interesting too. I wonder what kind of control options it supports

interestingly the AO486 core has an issue with the MT-32 soundtrack that was also observed in Dosbox more than 10 years ago. I figured it was a MUNT issue at first, but don't really know what's causing it. Shrill high pitched tone when the game starts with MT-32 sound selected

found mention of it in an old thread, by NewRisingSun of course 😅

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=241890#p241890

[thick pendant]

If I remember I'll try it with my MT-32 Rev0

I remember liking this game back in the day...

[waxen brook]

It's a great game, but the various versions are a minefield of odd issues. Best version seems to be the Broderbund 1.1 release, though MT-32 sound is broken in that version. If it's important to you, use the Broderbund 1.0 or Mindscape 1.1 release for working MT-32 music.

all versions have the problem with the high pitched tone when launched with MT-32

I'll list the version differences I found in the description of an eventual video for it. Still in the planning stages for that one, but should be soon

[thick pendant]

will be able to hear the high pitched sound? I can't hear CRTs whine anymore...

[waxen brook]

maybe not on an actual MT-32 actually,

seems to only effect DosBox/MiSTer/MUNT but I don't know which one causes it

im guessing MUNT since it happens in both dosbox and MiSTer with it, but who knows, maybe part of the 486 core borrows from dosbox in ways and has a similar issue?

[wintry forge]

i have physical mt32/sc55-mk2 modules. since i don't own the intelligent midi module (and it's ridiculously expensive) would softmpu here fill in the gaps?

[thick pendant]

You mean for a real PC I assume? Some gaps.. The PC must be 386 or better and the game you are tying to run needs to not use 386 protected mode extenders.

[wintry forge]

yea, i suppose it wouldn't work for amiga/sharp x68000 😦

probably should just put together a mt32-pi

[thick pendant]

I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to do... to use a mt32-pi with a real PC you'll still need a mpu-401 or SoftMPU. To use your MT-32 and SC-55 with your MiSTer, you simply need a USB MIDI adapter...

To use a MT-32 with a real Amiga you need a serial to MIDI adapter for the Amiga.

[wintry forge]

still new to mister. hooked up the mt32/sc55 and most stuff works, some things wont tho like the 7th guest on the ao486 core (sbmidi works fine tho)

[thick pendant]

I thought I ran 7th guest with MIDI on MiSTer with MIDI, but it might have been under ScummVM. Anyway, its not on the SoftMPU compatibility list, so maybe its a 32bit extended game...

I remember 7th guest was the first game on CD I bought for my new CD ROM drive...

[wintry forge]

i was looking at the autoexec.bat for this image and it looks like softmpu is REM'd on all the configs. im not even sure its loaded. hmm.

im running the exodos 300 collection

[waxen brook]

Stunts/4D Driving on MiSTer's 486 core, played with wheel and pedals:
https://youtu.be/GRop6sOiQ4o

@severe hull I got the idea to try this from the list you shared of games to try with wheel before, but this one doesn't specifically support wheel. It works well enough via the generic analog joystick support, but only in version 1.1 released by Broderbund. There's more info on this in the video description.

Going to try another of the games you mentioned soon, probably Nascar. The hardware toggle for my pedals I mentioned before turned out to not be a "split axis" option, but is instead an axis inversion option, so it wasn't helpful here. Only way to split the axis is through the windows drivers unfortunately. In Stunts it worked very well with a single pedal though, as you drive more efficiently by going directly from gas to brake by letting off the pedal, and the brake isn't analog in this game anyways.

[cedar isle]

Great video. I need to do the same. Hopefully I can get the family to sleep and let me have some me time on a saturday night

[waxen brook]

Thanks! It's pretty crazy how well this game holds up for a 1990 DOS racer. I just submitted a time on the raceforkicks site I linked in the description also. The custom tracks they run are really fun, and they provide/require some new cars to race with that are awesome also. Currently in 7th place on that one 🙂

Give those challenge sites a try if you get into it, lots of fans for this one still!

I'll probably run a custom track for a #game-challenge here at some point.

[woven lava]

I had this drive... it was so sloooow

[thick pendant]

You are right... It was slow and definitely not worth the money. Should have waited...

Although kinda strange, I did like the top-loader design though...

[severe hull]

Thanks for the update. That's unfortunate that split axis only works in windows. Great video and really helpfil description! A custom track for the game challenge would be awesome!

[waxen brook]

It's all good. Split axis pedals also have an issue of cancelling each other out, which would be the likely result on MiSTer also if it used the same axis split. That would be pretty annoying

[vestal goblet]

scummvm finally merged my old patch that allows per-resource palettes. In QFG1, KQ4, and SQ3, just making the “ego” (player character) resources use the Amiga palette instead of EGA palette is simply amazing. it’s only an additional 4-5 colors on screen at once, but it solves legs disappearing and other issues of limited palette

[waxen brook]

Neat! I've found in prefer the EGA palette for sierra adventures for the most part, particularly because of how skin tones seem a bit more red on Amiga and already are a bit too reddish in EGA.

[thick pendant]

so it should be in branch-2-7 now?

[woven lava]

try Tandy graphics with Sierra games; the skin tone is even better (IMHO)

[vestal goblet]

oh yea, the merges were completed 3 years ago. The PR from the FreeSCI branch was closed as not merged, but it was because they did it piecemeal as direct commits per the comments here: https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm/pull/1087

In there the SQ3 screenshots are ones I took literally 20 years ago. The background palette is dimmed by 25% (same RGB distance from EGA light colors to dark colors), ego uses Amiga palette (hence better skin tone), and the relevant item in the scene is +25% EGA

what got me started on the work was that it annoyed me that Roger’s legs and torso disappear into the floor in this opening scene

there was also a similar patch I did to Sarien (Sierra AGI project that was absorbed into scummvm), but it looks like that hasn’t been re-proposed

there’s the fan AGI256 standard for homebrew games, so maybe folks just use that standard

[waxen brook]

never tried tandy graphics, i'll give that a go

[worthy zealot]

This is very interesting 🙂 But... L3 cache? Did anyone try adding L3 cache to the core and see if maybe that would help performance as well?

[granite umbra]

I'm not sure if anybody tried to implement L3

[thick pendant]

@void belfry did you see this? https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/26/23773756/wingpt-chat-gpt-app-windows-3-1

[void belfry]

lol :)) no, I didn't see it yet :D)) For sure will test it out

[torn arch]

neat

[sacred musk]

I ahve a problem saving in the C64 core with .crt files.. they just refuse to save any data.. even highscores. See an example here: https://youtu.be/GWkXcMHiq7s?t=835

I set a new highscore, fill in my name, and it doesnt show up in the scores.

but I had the same problem with muddy racers and a pig quest

anyone knows how to fix it? (maybe felix jr?)

[gloomy bolt]

Robin's latest video is pretty fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHLzzfEmj3I

[tulip atlas]

This is a known issue, not yet implemented. https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/C64_MiSTer/issues/137

[sacred musk]

Cool thanks for the info. Bummer it’s not implemented yet though, but I’ll have to make do another way.

[pallid raven]

Hey, I was looking into trying out the Top 300 pack but I'm curious about how large the VHD is in total?

Just need to know if I can put it on my sd card or my external HD?

[vestal ginkgo]

with CD images it's around 90GB's. The shareware pack is much smaller if you are just "trying it out"

[opal void]

https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_BasiliskII

anyone tried that? how good is it?

@thick pendant cute cat btw! 😄

is it even considered a "core"?

looks like it just runs Basilisk on the ARM CPU

I could be wrong

do I have to download the whole repo?

[pearl tree]

it's not a core but it still awesome and I would recommand using the overclock script for CPU and ram to run this kind of arm running projects, since those emulators should definitely see a tangible improvement with OC. Does someone has compiled new build for Dosbox on the Mister by the way? My only problem with these are usualy the absence of filters which annoys me, as well as vsync off on the sierra game emulator. I don't know if it's still the case or not but anyway. Bbond007 does great things!

[opal void]

do I have to bump up the fan speed for that? 😄

[pearl tree]

not really, extensive texting showed minimal temp difference ( 2 degrees tops at 1.2ghz) for the arm

You need a fan though

I wouldn't do it without it

and there is a fan warning when you start the script. 🙂

here is the link to the thread regarding the OC: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=4320&hilit=overclock

there is some lottery it seems for a full stable OC 1ghz seems stable for everyone, 1.1ghz is also stable, 1.2ghz has been stable for me for months (but some reported crashes at this speed) and you get extra speed for core loading and zip decompression. It feels pretty snappy compare to the 0.8ghz default.

[opal void]

yes I got one 🙂

[opal void]

interesting, I'll give it a shot

thanks!

emulating Mac inside the Amiga core is also mind blowing

[woven lava]

it works surprisingly well

I still need to figure out how to transfer files nto it though (I only have a prebuilt image)

(Shapeshifter on Amiga)

[thick pendant]

There should be a icon for "MAC handler" once you click on that (and if Shapeshifter is running) you can copy stuff to volume MAC:

make sure you don't make the mistake of naming another partition or something MAC:

you'll need to transfer over .sit or other compressed format files and MAC has that whole resource and data fork thing.

[woven lava]

I see...so I can't just extract a disk image to manipulate on a Mac emulator

[thick pendant]

I suppose you could deal with the two forks manually but I'd not suggest it

BasiliskII and ShapeShifter offer similar compatibility because they are both written by the same person. On MiSTer, BasiliskII is probably twice as fast (040 speed with FPU) not even considering the overclock factor.

Both my usints operate just fine at 1.0, but not 1.2

[opal void]

do I have to clone the whole git repo and then run the install script?

[thick pendant]

Download the install script. Run it. Just like it says in the Readme.

It will download and unpack all dependencies.

So you must have internet

[opal void]

got it, many thanks! 🙂

[woven lava]

Im fixing up a Mac LC III, will see if I can make a Shapeshifter setup that is about the same

that is "just" a 68030 at 25Mhz so maybe the Minimig core is fast enough

I guess the core can only go up to 68020 though

[thick pendant]

020 vs 030 is like 286 vs 386sx, so like a 20mhz 286 could beat a 386sx 16mhz. Same with MiSTer 020, it's more like 50mhz. So it will be more like a 45mhz 030 speed wise.

vmac running on the HPS is the most compatible and offers 030 level performance

[opal void]

what's HPS?

[thick pendant]

ARM

[opal void]

hmm interesting

[woven lava]

in that case using Shapeshifter ought to be enough

for my use case

[thick pendant]

Regardless, I'd suggest the LCIII.ROM for SS & BLII

[thick pendant]

Both SS and BLII are great for apps such as andcient PhotoShop and such, but game compatibility better with VMAC compiled for MAC-II spec.

VMAC is kinda interesting as it has no real runtime configuration. You compile it for MAC or MAC-II and then have different builds for various resolutions and screen depths

But it it use a subset of the libs from BLII so I never did a seperate installer for it

[thick pendant]

@woven lava have you run 8088 MPH or Area 5150 demos on that Book8088?

[woven lava]

I ran a demo that came with it, will check which one it was

[waxen nymph]

I think i fixed the Apple II disk problems by porting Gyurco's changes

[woven lava]

@thick pendant 8088MPH runs... it does complain it's 20% not cycle accurate though

but that might be expected given there's a V20 CPU in this thing

composite colors does not work obviously - but we see those images in B&W

mmh... but it got stuck after the first demo effect (music and effect keeps going but the scene never ends)

but Area5150 works fine

[granite umbra]

thank you @waxen nymph we can launch now Exodus Ulitma III

[undone anvil]

is the mockingboard implemented in the apple2 core?

[safe quest]

Nox Archaist floppy version seems to be working in that Apple II test build.

[safe quest]

Yes. I think it's assigned to slot 4.

[undone anvil]

Ah sweet! thanks!

[waxen nymph]

I added the prodos clock. I see it in a2desktop 1.3

[thick pendant]

Cool. they are difficult to run

[formal whale]

Is that a software emulator running on fpga? or how does that work?

[opal void]

It's a software emulator running on the arm cpu

[formal whale]

Interesting... especially since everyone at first was so adamant that mister wasn't emulation... so is this a first?

[opal void]

It's not running on the FPGA core, it's running on the ARM CPU

[safe quest]

I think someone made a similar build of SCUMMVM a while ago. It's not very common for people to port software to MiSTer like this because the CPU isn't very powerful, so results with FPGA cores are generally better.

[formal whale]

Has anyone written any articles about that? I'm curious...

Because that sounds like it would be a way to do a Pico8 port... 😬

[safe quest]

I think that's been brought up in the forums before, but I don't remember anyone actually doing it.

[opal void]

It was also mentioned once by Lu mister updates, although he claimed that it's a "hybrid" core...

[opal void]

Running something on an FPGA core is more like a simulation of the real deal, IMHO

[formal whale]

Of course, I just didn't know that there was a whole other CPU you could run stuff on that board. 😅

[opal void]

That's how the bare bones Linux system mister uses get to run

[formal whale]

Right, so I didn't think the cores had access to anything outside of the fpga on a mister, but apparently basilisk does, or isn't it a core per se?

[opal void]

Basilisk isn't a core, it's a classic mac emulator

You can even run it on a Windows PC if I'm not mistaken

[formal whale]

I know, used it... what 20 years ago? Just fascinated what other developments things like this might open up.

[void belfry]

Speaking of, this is a nice one too: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=2501

[thick pendant]

As far as I know, Pico-8 is not open source, so whoever controls the source would need to do the MiSTer port.

[opal void]

What's pico 8

[thick pendant]

Fantasy computer thing.

[formal whale]

Oh, it's not? I thought it was because it ran on the Linux based PocketChip...

[opal void]

Can't it get reverse engineered?

[tall grotto]

Most cores have their meat in the FPGA. There are a few exclusions that have been made over the years, like the MiSTer not having a big enough FPGA, or there not being enough documentation to replicate the hardware into FPGA form easily.

If we don't have access to documentation of the hardware, making a port to FPGA is most likely not going to happen. The software emulation route was taken most likely for this reason. FPGA hardware-simulation is the MiSTer's bread and butter, so that's what every core project aims to achieve. Some of the computer cores on the MiSTer offload a few mundane tasks to the ARM CPU to assist with performance I believe, but the largest parts are handled by the FPGA.

[tall grotto]

Running software on linux doesn't guarantee it's open source. You can have closed source software on Linux. Closed source software and drivers are used with Desktop Linux distros every single day by thousands and thousands of people.

Nvidia drivers to name one

As long as the package decides it doesn't adhere to the GPL, and doesn't depend on GPL-based dependencies, it's completely allowed

Nvidia drivers are self-contained so they're legal by the GPL's standards

[formal whale]

Yeah, I'm watching the Nvk efforts... about to make Linux as my daily driver on a laptop very, very soon!

[thick pendant]

Looks like lexaloffle figured there was enough interest in the PocketChip thing to do a build for the device. So maybe the community interested in it simply needs to express that interest to them directly - as well as a willingness to pay the $15

The other alternative is the TIC80 which I guess is a clone or something...

[surreal marsh]

At one point I wondered about an easyrpg port on the ARM. It seems nobody has done one, but it's probably possible if my 3DS can run it.

[thick pendant]

I've never looked at it until now, but SDL2 requirement might be the deal breaker.

[woven lava]

Pico8 may call itself a fantasy console but it's really a software game development framework. There are other similar things (with less good press) such as BennuGD which was big in the DC and GP2X homebrew scenes

so what would be needed is FPGA support for their APIs. Its quite a big project (needing brand new hardware design) but would enjoy from lots of existing content

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BennuGD

[formal whale]

Pico8 has some amazing content.

[woven lava]

sure but I won't hold my breath for an FPGA core. We'd be more likely to have a Flash core (playing games from swf) since at least there is a version of it in open source already

[waxen nymph]

I put some timing fixes into the Apple II core -- if you have any games that are wonky, try it on the new version in test builds. This comes from gyurco to fix one of the crazy demos: http://www.deater.net/weave/vmwprod/megademo/

I see Gyruco changed around the YM chip in the mockingboard too..

[thick pendant]

I always appreciate you giving attention to the computer cores.

[opal void]

same! thank you so much!

computer cores need more attention 🙂

[burnt timber]

Still holding out hope for more improvements to the X68000 core

[safe quest]

I haven't really been following X68000, but it's such a cool little niche of gaming/computing history. Did things eventually get merged somewhere "authoritative" or is it still a mess of test builds and downloading .qar files from a blog?

[burnt timber]

Kitrinx took one of puu's builds and improved it immensely last year or so, and its pretty good.. but Akumajo Dracula is still buggy

[safe quest]

Last time I tried to dig in to X68000, it seemed like it was fairly well-documented overall, but ~all of the good documentation is in Japanese. Makes me wonder if machine translation would be better now.

[burnt timber]

AI aided translation might be the long term solution for development on Japanese PC cores

[safe quest]

Or maybe the answer is that somebody just has to spend a lot of quality time with SignalTap and a disassembler. 😅

[burnt timber]

I have access to a XVI Compact that I could get in the hands of a western developer, but I don't think there will be any takers (none so far at least)

[safe quest]

I think jotego expressed interest in doing an X68000 core at one point, but I haven't seen anything about it lately. I could probably be convinced to put some effort into improving it (although Apple IIgs would take precedence), but I don't have the kind of lab setup needed to really take advantage of original hardware.

[opal void]

https://tenor.com/view/pray-praying-prayer-anxious-sad-gif-4981228

[burnt timber]

I know more than a few people would appreciate any time you could put into it, just getting Akumajo Dracula/Castlevania running without bugs would be a pretty huge improvement in and of itself as its kind of the flagship game of the platform.

My understanding is that the core is locked to 800x600 in the scaler which is why a lot of the video options won't work on it

[safe quest]

I seem to remember that puu originally wrote it on a different board (DE0-CV?) with no HDMI scaler, and sort of hardcoded the output to work on VGA instead of putting out original timings, which is why there's so much weirdness around video modes and scaling.

[burnt timber]

Im guessing that would not be easy to fix then, requiring a bunch of rewritten code

[thick pendant]

Apple IIgs is something I've always wanted

[burnt timber]

I still have one sitting in my closet. I like the sound/music from that model.

[thick pendant]

Sound chip was from the same engineer as the C=64 SID

[burnt timber]

Cool, I didnt know that.

[thick pendant]

Bob Yanes unless I'm mistaken

[safe quest]

And a much more clean/efficient design, as I understand it. I read an interview with him years ago where he talked about essentially copy/pasting multiples of a whole synthesizer for SID to deal with manufacturing and schedule constraints.

[thick pendant]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Yannes

[safe quest]

ES5503 has some quirks and flaws, but it's a very regular architecture overall. Maybe a strained analogy but it's like SID is CISC and ES5503 is RISC.

[thick pendant]

I also had an Ensoniq Soundscape 2000 card for my PC. Loved it

Before that I had the Gravis Ultrasound and liked the Soundsape much more

[safe quest]

I had an Ensoniq (maybe after Creative Labs bought them) AudioPCI card years ago. Solid product on the merits, but I think my motherboard chipset might have hated it. Hard to nail down what causes a hard lockup of a system, but it was apparently a known incompatibility. 😢

[waxen nymph]

I started working on this. Ocr is pretty bad.

https://github.com/alanswx/chat_translate

[burnt timber]

Ah, interesting.. thank you for very much for working on this

[safe quest]

I do wonder how jargon plays into it. I at least learned a Japanese word by trying to figure out Gradius/Nemesis schematics a few years ago. Turns out where the English metaphor is "scrolling" the Japanese one (at least for Konami engineers in the mid-1980s) is "slipping".

[waxen nymph]

chat GPT is amazing at the jargon, and if i turn tables into markdown tables it does well with one character/word translations - it understands the concept of a table

the problem really is the formatting -- how do you take the OCR turn it into word?!?! and then translate it, and dump word or something back out so you keep the tables and images with text on top.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f6NuANw-iYXYIWedIsQJKbBX7U2ZXQ4V?usp=sharing

not sure if i have any translated ones up there right now

[woven lava]

I wonder if we could use AI for translation romhacks

not just the language but figuring out where the text is, encryptions etc

[void belfry]

yeah, X68000 is indeed a nice computer 🙂

Checked up a bit what puu-san is doing, he's concentrating on FM TOWNS as per his blog: http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/article/498502300.html and http://fpga8801.seesaa.net/article/498419020.html

[wheat folio]

Can Ao486 "dial" an ip address for serial/modem connections?

[void belfry]

in same subnet, for sure yes : https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?p=58518#p58518 as @tulip atlas discovered for these two games

I would expect to happen the same with Warcraft 2/other games

[thick pendant]

Tyrian works

[void belfry]

now, if it comes to external ones... i would just guess as you that would involve some port forwarding on each party member router side (which might work on some/not work on others)

depends on each one's ISP

[thick pendant]

when using modem TCP, you really only need to forward the for the party receiving the "call"

[void belfry]

right, I was thinking more on BBSes that could theoretically been held on some MiSTer's cores

and again, thinking on tcp/ip :D)))

[wheat folio]

I've not used Ao486, but I know my wifimodem lets me do like ATDT127.0.0.1 to "dial" a certain IP address which allows programs that expect a modem to work.

I thinker with my PC so much I should really tinker with Ao486 as well.

[void belfry]

if both wifimodem on PC and MiSTer are connected to same LAN, you should be able to see each other easy

[void belfry]

hehe, you should 🙂 it has nice surprises, depends on what you're looking for 🙂 For me it was the ability to finish Fallout 1 *on way better conditions than on my original DX/4

[thick pendant]

MiSTer TCP modem works exactly the same, or it ATDT[IP or hostname]:port

if port is omitted then it assumes 23

[wheat folio]

Sweet

[tulip atlas]

When you use ethernet with two MiSTers at home, be careful to give one of them a different Mac Address (there's a script for that I think). If you use WiFi, there are no such problems since each WiFi dongle comes with a different Mac address already.

[thick pendant]

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Scripts_MiSTer/blob/master/mac_address_change.sh

[wheat folio]

Why should I change my MAC address?

He’s the one that sucks

[void belfry]

another reason to brush off my Amiga setup 😄 gonna test it after work, for sure I have to update AmiSSL https://github.com/sacredbanana/AmigaGPT

[thick pendant]

Strange that it requires 3.2

[burnt timber]

Made some bootable HDFs for X68000 to play MDX music with

[sterile ether]

please can you share your hdfs for noob like me 😉 ?

[torn arch]

Can someone add a Windows 95 CD-Rom Driver to AO486, so that discs with long filenames will install without giving an error of File Not Found? Half of the games you try won't install.

The current CD-Rom Driver is really only good for DOS and Win 3.1

https://www.amigaforever.com/kb/14-105

maybe this could fix it... editing autoexec and config.sys

[granite umbra]

What is the dos you use to try install or use WIn95 ?

[torn arch]

I think it comes in the bios and you just edit the autoexec. you dont actually install anything

oh you mean DOS version?

I think 6.1

the one before win98 dos version

but I have tried both

95 and 98... they both have the cd-rom issue

the cd-rom driver we have is very generic and basic it needs a better one as far as I can tell

I dont know if a real PC would have the same issue, but MiSTer does

[granite umbra]

You need to use version 7.x of DOS to be able to use long filenames
if you want to install windows 95 you have floppy disk to boot dedicated for Win95 and Win98 installation

[void belfry]

The MSCDEX (Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions) system was introduced to support CD-ROMs under MS-DOS. This system is also referred to as "Real-Mode Drivers". These drivers are usually provided by manufacturers of CD-ROM drives, and involve entries in the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files. MSCDEX only supports short file names ("8.3"), whereas modern software applications need to use file and directory names longer than 8 characters.

[granite umbra]

and for drivers of cd rom you could use shsucdx

[void belfry]

i dunno is shsucdx supports long filenames..

[granite umbra]

https://sta.c64.org/lfnemu.html

[void belfry]

hmm, that could work 🙂

[granite umbra]

i use the same driver for Dos 6.22 or for my previous tests Win95 and Win98 but the core is too slow for those system so I stick on dos 6.22 and win 3.11

[void belfry]

thanks for the tip, works like a charm on DOS 7.1 🙂

[torn arch]

so using DOSFLN and SHSUCDX, games with long filenames on CD will install on Win9x?

[torn arch]

yea but Win98 comes with that and it still didnt work

the same issues exist on 95 and 98 regardless of DOS version

but to be clear im not talking about installing DOS games.... just windows 9x exclusives. There are a lot that run good as long as they dont require pentium+

some pentium requirement games are ok, like Diablo 1... although it wont run good on DirectX 6.1a that comes with 98, so that one you need win95 as downgrading directx in 98 causes other issues. Another one that runs ok on 6.1 but unplayable on 6.1a is monkey island 3. Something about dx 6.1a over 6.1 makes games extremely choppy and skippy. So for this alone Win95 is what I would call the limit on MiSTer. Even though 98Lite Sleek runs just as good as 95, there is the DX problem and a bug where you cant explore CD-Rom drive.

basically anything requiring dx 6.1a or higher wont be playable

well you ant even install a higher version

6.1 and below is fine

[void belfry]

sadly no, just tested. Windoz doesn't work with DOSLFN, it actually prevents seeing anything on the CDROM

you may wanna try on NT though...

[undone anvil]

diablo and mm6 work on NT?

[void belfry]

MM6 doesn't work, was justa fun teest at some point

[undone anvil]

haha I see

I have had NT on ao486 for a while.. is 95 just as stable in terms of crashes and BSODs?

on ao486 specifically

95 seems to have a better video driver than NT

[void belfry]

OSR2 is okish.. allowed me to fully play Fallout 1

[undone anvil]

moo2 by any chance?

[void belfry]

moo2 ?

[undone anvil]

master of orion

[void belfry]

hmm, no idea. is a windoz or DOS ?

[undone anvil]

windoz

also is osr2 preferable over osr2.5 on ao486?

[void belfry]

i don't think they behave differently

no sound though, but it's been a loong time since i mess with Diablo on NT 🙂 sound wworks too

[granite umbra]

Is it slow because on win98 it is the case ?

[void belfry]

i didn't try it under w98

[undone anvil]

how's the framerate? is it overall a better experience than on the psx core?

[void belfry]

i didn't try it on PSX either :)) but probably it's a better experience on PSX. On ao486 is playable, but yeah.. no full speed 🙂

[torn arch]

its faster on PSX than 95..... 98 is unplayable due to DirectX 6.1a

on PSX you got overclock too

I guess I gotta add the cd-rom driver issue on github

[thick pendant]

Can you use a mouse on the PSX Diablo? Diablo without a mouse would be no good.

[formal whale]

That's fantastic!

[torn arch]

I think you can

[thick pendant]

But is not PSX kinda low-rez for Diablo?

320x240p?

I mean the dos one was 640x480

[undone anvil]

The Diablo sourcecode has been re-engineered based on a file that was included in the PSX version. It would be nice if there were a FastDiablo port, but it's probably not going to happen

[copper slate]

Nope

it controls fine though, they added shortcuts to the shoulder buttons

Diablo PS1 has two player local co-op which is awesome

[thick pendant]

yikes... diablo without a mouse... just can't do it:)

[copper slate]

yah, it’s definitely not as good as the PC version

It’s also starting to get pricey, it’s routinely selling for $110+ now

[torn arch]

oh I thought you could use the mouse.... but yea the resolution is low on PSX

seems playable on win95 though

maybe borderline playable

as long as you have dx 6.1 or below instead of 6.1a or above

actually you cant even install directx over version 7, if you can even install 7 I dont recall

6.1 seems to be the limit.... 6.1a is (win98) is fine for most games but some make them run worse (Diablo, Monkey Island 3, and something else I saw)

you can downgrade 98 from 6.1a to 6.1 but it causes random BSODs

[thick pendant]

As far as MiSTer, I think I'd rather just run that DevilutionX port than a borderline playable Windows version...

[torn arch]

oh yea, for sure

source ports are always better, at least most of the time

like that new Rise of the Triad

better than playing on DOS at 30 FPS

but still cool to have it on mister

[fast kraken]

my favorite doom is still ... well basically doom, technically its FastDoom

you can get a pretty solid 35fps with it on mister and it sorts out the mouselook without having to do weird tricks

[plain delta]

Hey speaking of FastDoom, I've been trying to boot that up today on a fresh install of the Top300 pack, and only the middle sound option (SoundBlaster) is working for me. Should the other options (VBD w/ SoundBlaster, and Sound Canvas) also be working? The first just crashes back to the menu, and the last hangs on a black screen. Was hoping there was a way to get to work with the MT32-pi so I could switch soundfonts, but yeah, hasn't been going well so far.

[fast kraken]

if its a really freh install of top300, run the updater

there's so many fixes in that i forget but dooms probably one of them

[thick pendant]

There is a Rise of the Triad port to MiSTer HPS? I was actually taking about this --> https://github.com/raetro-archives/MiSTer_DeViL

[plain delta]

Oh sorry, I have run the updater as well. I think that's what added Fast Doom in there.

[torn arch]

no I was referring to PC, but wow I didnt know that DeViL was on MiSTer

[burnt timber]

👌 😩

[torn arch]

what is that? sounds amazing

[burnt timber]

Gradius 2 X68000, FM + MT32

[torn arch]

fire

[burnt timber]

https://tenor.com/view/chiquichico-gif-26004262

So glad I finally got MT32pi

X68000 seems to have a fair amount of games that use FM like normal but just use the MT32 to enhance areas of the song selectively which makes for some nice results

[torn arch]

I really want one

probably gonna wait for the MiSTer Express case

[burnt timber]

Its worth it

I havent even loaded up a0486 or minimig yet to enjoy the MT32 offerings there

[torn arch]

yea its worth it 100%

id also like to get a big LED marquee for TTYLOD or whatever

i havent really looked into it but i love that

[burnt timber]

I wish there was a way to interface with a PC somehow, to show which game was being played like maybe a little overlay in OBS for streaming

[torn arch]

did you check those custom scripts? I forget who made them

Wizzo

maybe he can make one

there is a script that shows a controller image for streaming and what buttons you are pressing so its possible

if i recall correctly

[burnt timber]

Thats pretty cool 🙂

@empty jewel what do you think?

[torn arch]

you just want an overlay on stream with an image for the game?

[burnt timber]

Just text showing the file name, which I think would be easier

[empty jewel]

sure

[torn arch]

couldnt you just type it when you load it

[empty jewel]

there's stuff there already to monitor and trigger something off the current game. but i haven't ever looked into how to integrate with obs

[burnt timber]

I think people would appreciate it, honestly

People are always asking "What game is this?" Because they werent sitting there when I was going through the menus on stream

[torn arch]

would be cool to have actual logo images instead of just text

you would just need to have the logos

like you load Contra and it puts this image you have

and if you dont have the image it displays text

like the text would be a fallback

although you would have to configure where it puts the image/text, what size, etc

that logo was suppose to be transparent but you get the idea

[empty jewel]

https://github.com/christopher-roelofs/GameEventHub

maybe this is helpful

i don't know how it works

but @summer dragon uses it

[burnt timber]

Hmm

[empty jewel]

it looked pretty complicated to me but like

it exists

[burnt timber]

Well, it seems like it might work

But yeah this is not very.. user friendly I guess?

[burnt timber]

@empty jewel Thank you very much. 🙂

[summer dragon]

@burnt timber If you need help just let me know! It wasn’t really tooo difficult

[burnt timber]

Thank you!

[summer dragon]

@burnt timber I use it with both MiSTer and Retroarch for my streams. It’s compatible with Steam too, but I haven’t tried that. I also use it in combination with a script called Kruiz Control and that lets me resize my capture window based on the core that’s loaded

actually, I think GameEventHub by itself can change source properties on its own

[burnt timber]

:3

[summer dragon]

GameEventHub can do that for sure, but yeah you have to have your images stored locally. Also, while there is a database that helps with matching images to rom filenames, there are a fair amount of cases where you might have to rename an image to match the rom filename (or vice versa) for it to properly match

[granite umbra]

Trying the new test build of Apple II
I mounted two nib disks one for ultima 1 (drive 1) and one I will to save player disk (drive 2)
I created my player and I don't know which option to choose at that screen any hints ?

[waxen nymph]

Slot 6 is floppy

Should be slot 6 drive 1 and slot 6 drive 2 I believe

[waxen nymph]

Slot 6

[granite umbra]

Thank you Alanswx I will test 🙂

I have this error during the process to erase player disk (format)

[waxen nymph]

I am not sure the emulation lets you format disks for some reason

[granite umbra]

ok I will try to find a nib blank disk or produce one with another emulator

[granite umbra]

I generated my player disk with Mame and I'm able to use it on the core I will see If I can save during game let you know

Save and load are working

[earnest ridge]

Cool tune. I'm intrigued how I can also make my religion -AXE- 🤔

[burnt timber]

Study religion under Yngwie Malmsteen perhaps

[woven lava]

I could format disks for Adventure construction set, at least. But Ultima may have its own quirks

I can save and load in Muryaden 2

[granite umbra]

@woven lava have you manage to launch some Wizardry ?

[woven lava]

didnt try it yet

not with this build at least

I tried it a while back in an earlier prototype build

so yes I played it wirh the core at least

[granite umbra]

I try different dsk (convert nib) it seems hangs at some point and I couldn't manage to go in game just show title screens

what set of DSK do you use for your previous test ?

[woven lava]

let me check. I definitely got ingame and the dungeon

[woven lava]

this early version is a bit of a pain; if you accidentally reboot your characters will be "OUT" and you need to use the Utilities to recover them

and I wish it supported 2 drives to avoid swapping disks

but it does work... I used the "patched 40 column" version I found online

some of these games are finicky and you have to find the right one... I'd suggest trying in an emulator first to confirm the disks are good

looks like the 80 column versions won't load (tried San inc and the "Original" disks on Asimov) - but the 40 column does

[woven lava]

@granite umbra the latest recompiled v3 works fine btw: https://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/proving-grounds-v3/index.html

but make sure to reformat a scenario disk before playing; using an older version will not work (freeze on loading it)

I think the other versions hang because its trying to check if the disk is write-protected (not supported by core)

[granite umbra]

Thank you I will check all those inputs 🙂

[wintry crypt]

Hey, you know how the Amiga core has that cool little launcher you can get for it with the best games organized all neatly? is there anything like the for Commodore 64? That massive library intimidates my born-in-97 ass.

[raven stratus]

Not that I've found. There is the OneLaunch64 collection that converts a bunch of C64 files to *.CRT but I couldn't really tell ya the benefit to that over the other formats myself

That aside, nothing I've seen that rivals the AO486 Top-300 launcher or AmigaVision's launcher

[wintry crypt]

Ah dang, I really liked those two launchers yeah, but I'll definitely check out those cartridge conversions

[undone anvil]

you could download the roms folder of C64 Dreams, since those games are well curated

you can also get the manuals too

no fancy menu other than the OSD though

[wintry crypt]

definitely check it out. The full romset for c64 is just insane so a bit of curration should go a long way.

[copper slate]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[undone anvil]

No problem 👍

There should be notes included in each game folder if you're not sure which controller port to use or what the controls are mapped to

Not all game developers followed the standards 😄

[woven lava]

sadly no, best approximation would be a list of disks/prgs organized in folders

I have lists of games that I curate for XT PC DOS and AppleII if you want some names

I dont think I got to c64 yet though (even as a top 10...)

but happy to recommend if you need inspiration

[burnt timber]

Id be interested in your XT PC DOS list

Ive been wanting to find a good hard drive image for the XT core too

[woven lava]

yep I got just the thing, will ping you later after Im done with work today

I have a curate XT list I ise with both the MiSTer core and the Book8088 (XT CGA machine)

[burnt timber]

Thank you! I've been meaning to get more into that core, some of my first gaming was on an XT clone.

[undone anvil]

a curated list for XT PC DOS games? Yes I'm very much interested!

[lunar trellis]

Are the BIOS files needed for the PC XT core grabbed in the BIOD DB grabbed by update all?

[woven lava]

not sure, but the core has a couple of Python files you can run on MiSTer to generate the bios files

(it can run anywhere but if you don't have Python installed, MiSTer has it out of the box)

[lunar trellis]

Are these standard files everyone needs? I.e. could the output of the script just be added to the BIOS DB so this step is removed as a barrier to entry for using the core?

[woven lava]

probably but I dont maintain that script

[woven lava]

this is the list file I use with that menu on PCXT - should get you started

I've been posting some more details on the DOS section of the classic gaming discord; but feel free to ping me if you want help to setup a menu like that

so at least I'm not the only crazy person compiling XT stuff 😄

note: I haven't tested all games - so the list is a WIP

[cedar isle]

Thank you

[cloud anchor]

Does anyone know why my PS2 mouse stops working on AO486 games, such as Doom and Doom II?

It's fine for the first minute, then it start failing until it's completely unresponsive

[thick pendant]

I think there still exists a bug where the mouse just goes batshit crazy

it seems to start moving really fast, which kinda translates into random motion as its looping like pacman

like some sort of overflow

[undone anvil]

yikes, that sucks

[void belfry]

does it happen when using particular memory managers ? I ask because I only encountered this bug a while ago mostly on QEMM setups (and the game I think was C&C)

the symptoms were exactly what BinaryBond007 described

[waxen brook]

It can happen with other memory management also. I had it occur when recording my quest for glory 2 video recently, while using HIRam

Some games it will crash when this occurs otherwise mouse just like flies off the screen and is unusable. You can try moving it and see some jitters but it doesn't return to truly usable state until you reboot the core or OS

Rare occurrence and annoying. Have to save more often to minimize risk of losing progress because it seems just entirely random

[thick pendant]

It would happen to me inside the Turbo Pascal IDE all the time, and that is not even using 386 protected mode...

[median carbon]

Hi guys - not sure if this is the right section, but how can I get AO486 working with VGA working on a PC CRT with Native 1600x1200? Would it be a custom modeline?

[undone anvil]

as far as I know, ao486 doesn't support higher than 1280x1024

[forest musk]

Hi guys, I don't have the credentials to post in the test-builds section, so I post it in here. I am helping transferring some of the recent changes from the Amstrad MiST core to the Amstrad MiSTer core. If some of you could have a look and do some testing especially wrt CRTC behaviour that would be great! (and support a merge by Sorgelig). The list of changes are here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Amstrad_MiSTer/pull/23. My access to the MiSTer Forum doesn't work at the moment (don't know why?). If someone could relay this post in the Amstrad section, this would be really appreciated. Thanks!

[waxen nymph]

Do you have a list of software or demos to test?

[forest musk]

According to the description of changes, the demos S&KOH from the Logon System and the “Flying chip" scene in Batman Forever should be used at least. Other than that, any other demos or programs that could possibly make use of these tricky CRTC optimisations

[tacit loom]

You would set the mister to output 1600x1200 but the core would scale to that resolution, not native.

It's why you wouldn't see a little 320x240 window in DOS. 5x scale of 240 is 1200

[wheat folio]

VGA 320x200/240 are actually pixel doubled 640x400/480.

VGA was weird

The video card itself did the pixel pixel doubling so I assume emulators output the “real” resolution of 200/240

[thick pendant]

double-scan doubling was pretty common for most computers that used NTSC

[modern urchin]

BTW is there a database somewhere listing the known Sord M5 software, both tape and cartridge?

Also was any Sord M5 software released in QD disk format?

I recently noticed some just-finished auctions in Japan for Sord M5 BASIC-G tape games I never heard of before

For instance https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/japan/en/auction/yahoo/input/m1099730247/ https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/japan/en/auction/yahoo/input/j1099748101/ https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/japan/en/auction/yahoo/input/c1099736121/

"Solar System Forces Series" 1-2-3

I hope whoever won those considers preservation

[uneven cliff]

can I load up my own games through the Amiga Vision interface?

[coral coral]

Not very easily. MegaAGS is constructed to bake everything out from a configuration database at build time.

But you can put stuff in there if you really want. I would recommend using the favorites folder for it.

[narrow tundra]

look http://www.dlabi.cz, http://m5.arigato.cz Czech community websites

[modern urchin]

Thank you! I ripped a couple Japanese M5 tapes I have and failed to find the same ones archived. Do you know of any preservation effort for this software? I have WAV and CAS versions of Rainbow Block, Reflection, Snakey, and Barrier Attack. All are Japanese versions with mostly Kana on the loading screens, and a Japanese voice recording in between the two copies of each game on each side of the tape. They were distributed as two games per tape, one on each side.

[lunar trellis]

Oh, if you have unpreserved Japanese computer tapes then maybe @lethal condor from Gaming Alexandria would be interested in helping preserve and promote

[lethal condor]

Oh yeah would love to get those out there

[tiny radish]

Hi, try archive.org there is TOSEC initiative which is what you are looking for. I could not send direct link so you must search yourself.

Or directly www.tosecdev.org

[modern urchin]

Okay to DM you to get more info on Sord m5 Japanese tape preservation?

[lethal condor]

I'd say upload them to the Internet Archive with maybe directions on how to load them. I can tweet that out to spread the word.

[muted elk]

Has anyone tried Ultima 6 on the ao486 core?

I am using the Top 300 pack and want to use mt-32 sound. When I play it, the midi music sounds off.

Not my video, but I get the same sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAqOpSohf7s
I tried mt32-pi and UDP to make sure it's not a mt32-pi problem.

Real MT-32 sounds like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bElNUSvoXxE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI_I913Kr7k

When I test the game on PC (from GOG) and set it up with munt, I get good sound like the real MT-32

Is this a configuration problem on my end? Or is it just a compatibility issue with mister right now?

[wheat folio]

Sounds like it’s getting the wrong instruments

Ultima VI requires an intelligent mode UART so maybe softmpu needs configured?

[muted elk]

I tried loading softmpu.exe /mpu:330 /irq:5 and running the game afterwards, but it's still the same sound (granted I am not that familiar with softmpu and its configuration)

[thick pendant]

That is pretty weird. I'm pretty sure Ultima VI uses default MT-32 soundbank unaltered....

[thick pendant]

This is my video (from 4 years ago) of the intro working on MiSTer with UM-ONE and MT-32 Rev0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZs6KVA4zvU

that was probably before the MP-401 UART so using SoftMPU for sure.

I say U6 uses default MT-32 soundbank, because it seems to sound pretty similar with the MT-32 emulation om my SC-55 MK2.

[muted elk]

I just tested it on SC55mkii running on mt32 mode and it also has the wrong instruments

could be a configuration in the top 300 pack?

[wheat folio]

Looks like there are alternate sound drivers for Ultima vi floating around. Maybe the GOG release has those already?

[thick pendant]

I think I got the one I was testing in my vid (from random abandonware site) long before 300 pack existed..

[muted elk]

I just tested copying the game from exodos as well as my GOG installation. Exodos had the same sound issue, but interestingly the GOG one plays the right midi

I ran exodos's version on PC and it also seems to have the problem.
So yeah, it's not a mister problem. It seems like something in exodos's end, which I'm assuming is what was used in the top 300 pack

[muted elk]

ok so the exact reason there is a difference was because of the midi.dat file. the one that comes with exodos seems to be a modified one, replacing it with the gog/original file seems to work

https://github.com/exoscoriae/eXoDOS/issues/2779

[stiff steeple]

Ultima 6 uses mt32 intellegent mode

afaik it uses the default instrument mapping though

I guess people said all that already

[thick pendant]

Thanks for the info, that is good to know. I think I'll buy the GOG one...

[stiff steeple]

I use the one off my old ultima 1-6 cd

1-7?

I have a couple of old ultima collection discs

the one that looks like the silver serpent emblem

[copper slate]

Ultima worth playing for someone who’s never touched those games?

[stiff steeple]

7 and 7 part 2 might be

before 7 is hard to play

and after 7 kinda sucks

7 was probably the best in the whole series if you ask me

it's kind of mind blowing for a game if you consider when it was made

[copper slate]

All of them or 7?

[stiff steeple]

7

but they were all pretty ground breaking

until EA

EA bought it after 7

8 was a huge departure from the series and had frustrating controls and a weird story

9 was dissasterrific

[copper slate]

I met Richard Gariott and we chatted a fair bit. I think I was the first person he talked to that never played Ultima lol.

thanks for your opinions @stiff steeple I’ll check 7 out

[muted elk]

if you have exodos/top-300 pack, you can just change the midi.dat file to the original one. the github page I linked has files needed for the fix as well

[stiff steeple]

why does it not use the real one anyway

some hack to make it work in dosbox

?

[muted elk]

apparently they tried to modify the midi.dat to add a Sound Canvas mode

[stiff steeple]

that seems terrible

[muted elk]

but they forgot to back up the original file which should be used when using the mt-32 mode

[stiff steeple]

I guess it could technically work in sc-55's compatibility mode

but ick

[muted elk]

the original mapping actually sounds good with the sc-55's mt32 mode since it uses the default instruments. the modified one sounds very bad in this mode.
it seems to be for general midi/sound canvas without the compatibility mode

[compact comet]

Robby you might want to check out Spoony’s videos on youtube for Ultima, he covers the whole series pretty decently for those of us that have never played like me. I would love to try 7 myself though. 8 looks horrible.

[copper slate]

thank you for the recommendation!

[tall grotto]

check out Cho Ren Sha. You won't be disappointed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGZ9TAoB_Vs&t=263s

[undone anvil]

The old ultimas, you kinda treat like D&D, where each tile is like a bland D&D miniature that serves as a placeholder for your imagination. With that approach one could get really immersed, and it'll look as good as you can allow it to.

[stiff steeple]

6 was okay but still text driven mostly

with a tiny visual interface

[undone anvil]

6 is when it really started to feel like a fantasy world simulator to me

[stiff steeple]

6 had some great story though

it really depends if you can handle text based or not

6 would have done really well with a remake with a more modern engine

fantastic game but hard to play in a modern context

[undone anvil]

There's the Exult remaster right?

[stiff steeple]

for 6? they did that?

I thought exult was just 7

[undone anvil]

https://www.ultima6.realmofultima.com

[stiff steeple]

wow that's awesome

exult is kinda flakey but worth it for that probably

[undone anvil]

I'm not a fan of how small the play area is and the night time effect on the Ultima 6 engine, so the exult mod seemed like an awesome project from the day I first heard about it.

[stiff steeple]

yeah

there's some other neat mods for that, but for the original games, playing the real thing is better

they never quite nailed all the quirks

the patch that adds frame limiting to U7 is a game changer

[undone anvil]

Oh I'll have to try that. My only gripe with U7 is how messy the inventory system gets

[stiff steeple]

there's a key ring type mod for u7 too with the same patch

it doesnt work with the master key though sadly

[undone anvil]

Yet another game changer 😄

[stiff steeple]

yeah

you know the master key?

it's on a small island near skara brae

it opens any pickable chest or door

[undone anvil]

Whoa! I don't think I knew about that

[stiff steeple]

it looks like the key to the black gate iirc, the funny big gold colored one with the wide complex end

[undone anvil]

There were a lot of things I didn't discover when I last played it, like the flying carpet, and apparently there's another easter egg that was some kind of space shuttle or something

Alright, I've promoted U7 on my bucketlist 😄

[stiff steeple]

the kilrathi ship?

it's in mac's field, part of the Hoe of Destruction questline

[undone anvil]

Yeah that's the one!

[stiff steeple]

it plays wing commander music if you get near it

[burnt timber]

Kitrinx is in the computer cores channel.

Kitrinx dear, the X68000 core needs your attention terribly 🥺

[undone anvil]

Feels like I missed a lot on my first playthrough

[stiff steeple]

I found an X near vesper with a chest on it

the key is in serpent's hold

if you get near it the guardian talks and says some gibberish

I recorded it and reversed it

and it actually says "I am the pagan lord"

[undone anvil]

Damn, this game seems filled with secrets

[burnt timber]

https://tenor.com/view/dang-this-is-what-the-betrayal-feels-like-denim-richards-colby-yellowstone-gif-18142463

[undone anvil]

BETRAYAL!

BETRAYED ME!

[burnt timber]

Spoony flail

[stiff steeple]

all the people in serpent's hold are named after Star Trek TNG characters too

[undone anvil]

Lord British is such a nerd

[burnt timber]

Lord British has a ship named after him in Salamander/Life Force.

The more you know.

[stiff steeple]

if you hit a parrot with a gavel it gives you coordinates to a treasure

[undone anvil]

How are you supposed to figure that out? 😮

[burnt timber]

shunned, leaves with shoulders slumped

[stiff steeple]

there's a table in rudyom house where they set you up

[undone anvil]

Hmm.. that actually doesn't ring a bell. I'm guessing you've played this game recently 😄

Alright, I'm gonna setup a U7 VHD for ao486 when I get back home. The last time I attempted to play the game, I couldn't figure out how to find the coordinates to exit the first town.

[stiff steeple]

you use the cloth map

you can google the copy protect answers now

that was the copy protect

pro tip: the direction you use the orb of the moons in determines where you go

[hollow fog]

Has anyone managed to get the Wing Commander 3 game working? ao486

[stiff steeple]

I must have played 1000 hours of this game when I was little

[thick pendant]

U6 to my ears sound pretty good with the MT-32 compatible mode on my SC-55 MKII

[burnt timber]

https://youtu.be/BIFQSYWWE_k

[hollow fog]

good game

I got the furthest to level 4

[burnt timber]

Ill have to see if its in Amiga Vision

Looks like it could be fun

[thick pendant]

Is that a OCS/ECS game or AGA?

Ah. AGA obviously

That is amazing

[copper slate]

I found it, the greatest game title of all time

[hollow fog]

https://tenor.com/view/yankees-thumbs-down-not-good-gif-13886850

the best Worms 🙂

[hollow fog]

saw the gameplay , there is power 😄

[copper slate]

Logically you’re right but how can you beat a game called “Fat Worm Blows a Sparky” 😂

[hollow fog]

You win 🤣🤣🤣

[burnt timber]

Classy.

[granite umbra]

An interresting shump for DOS

[burnt timber]

I was playing that one a while back, pretty neat. Only issue I had with it was that I couldnt get gamepad/joystick controls working properly. Apparently there are some existing issues with ao486 with that sort of thing on more than one game.

[granite umbra]

Yes I didn't find the way to use joystick.
During the configuration of the joystick only buttons are set but not dpad.
Also ao486 doesn't have cd audio support so we couldn't use this feature on the game.

[opal void]

We need this 🥲

[undone anvil]

Has anyone been able to get the lite-est windows 2k to run on ao486?

I remember a long time ago someone got windows 2k to boot, but it was apparently unbearably slow

[silver hamlet]

Think that’s to much. Windows 3.1x is that was run fine.

[granite umbra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MYw0lLerBA

[burnt timber]

Is there any particular benefit to using original disks?

[coral coral]

If you regard using disks a benefit, then that is the benefit.

[burnt timber]

That is a non answer.

[void belfry]

nerdy and probably easy way to archive personal disks without original HW ? 😄

[coral coral]

I mean, it is what it is. You could run original disks with copy protection, that can not be ripped to ADF, I suppose.

[burnt timber]

That is an answer. Thank you.

[void belfry]

same as ppl connect real 1541 to MiSTer

*sighs... and here I am, still checking for HAM radio enthusiasts around (unless I don't decide to visit a friend in Newfoundland) to connect MiSTer cores (C64/486 for sure) with ISS 😛

[thick pendant]

I never want to go back to floppies

Although it would be interesting to have all my college papers I wrote which were stored on Amiga 720k floppy... if i still had the disk...

[umbral oar]

I like using real floppies with my retro PC, the action of inserting and ejecting them is incredibly nostalgic, as is the noise they make

But yeah as soon as I need to use like a multi-floppy installer or something a USB floppy emulator is so much more convenient

[thick pendant]

don' have fond memories about the abuse those early copy-protected did to your floppy drives... I only remember being pissed with thrashing sounds (and slow loading time) coming from my drives - which I had no $ to replace.

even on a real Amiga, i'd use the Gotek thing

I still have a A1200 with Blizzard 1260. I think the floppy still works, if my red 3.5 disk I stored my papers on ever turns up 🙂

Psygnosis copy protection was the most notorious

[round wave]

One other way to perhaps look at the advantage of being able to use floppies is that it could open up a few more routes to preservation/backups.

[burnt timber]

https://youtu.be/HSuilHEmkAo?t=5

[granite umbra]

https://vxtwitter.com/ThinkPad_R70e/status/1688185596307763200?s=20

[burnt timber]

I feel like this belongs in the intro to a vaporwave track.

[granite umbra]

you have a link with a program to make more if you want !

[burnt timber]

Im not much for making music. It's neat though.

[inner silo]

Hello, does anyone know if there are active development of a core for Thomson MO/TO computers ? These were very important to French people with lots of softwares and nostalgia...

There are amazing emulators (DCMOTO) but on Mister it would be something else!

[lunar trellis]

There is a WIP core

https://github.com/Grabulosaure/MO_MiSTer

You can read more here:

https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=1543

[silver hamlet]

Cool, never heard before

[umbral oar]

mo MiSTer, mo problems

[undone anvil]

Yeah I totally get the nostalgia. But in that case I would prefer a floppy disk that you could put an SD card inside of, and a drive that simply reads that.

Or in some other way fakes out the disk drive to read more advanced storage mediums. Kinda like the way you could use a fancy tape connected to a portable CD player in a tapedeck.

[thick pendant]

I bought a HXC (https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_drive_emulator/) for my Amiga 1200 and never installed it.

[undone anvil]

Heh, I actually keep floppy IMGs on my keychain usb drive. surprisingly enough I use them

whether I transfer a copy to the MiSTer or load it with a virtual machine

[round wave]

I ended up using mine on a FM Towns Marty, as with the ODE installed too it covers any of the games that need boot disks too. But as ever with these projects, I obsess over setting them up, tidying up ISOs etc, then rarely playing anything...

[rocky meadow]

Found this in my parents house. I think someone gave it to me when I was 12 or so. Couldn't make heads or tails of it back then.

[thick pendant]

Gem is truly outrageous...

[stiff steeple]

I understood that reference

[burnt timber]

^

[stiff steeple]

Jem was so 80s

[void belfry]

oopsie 😄

[void belfry]

https://badgerpunch.itch.io/roguecraft

[burnt timber]

D:

[burnt timber]

Did spring cleaning, and have some stuff to sell at some point. 60hz US Amiga 500 with SCSI side caddy and mouse, Apple IIGS with keyboard, and Epson PC Club PC98 286

[burnt timber]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9fd6ANkRKI

[copper slate]

I love that channel.

[burnt timber]

Me too

[waxen nymph]

The iigs is tempting.

(I do realize the Amiga is better, but I never learn)

[burnt timber]

Core developers get free equipment :)

[thick pendant]

I agree (the A500 is a better machine), but I'd also pick the Apple IIGS...

[waxen nymph]

I hated my iigs. I can’t believe I would ask for another one 😜

I was so happy to trade it for some cash I used to by a used Mac SE.

[thick pendant]

I never had one, but used one in high school...

[lunar trellis]

Damn, a PC-98? I hope a Dev takes you up on that one!

[burnt timber]

I already tried before, no one wanted it

Anything puu is involved with is probably considered off limits or not worth the trouble honestly

[lunar trellis]

😦

You know you really want a PC-98 don't you Alan? 😉

[waxen nymph]

We should build a pc-98 core. Maybe @chilly flint needs it.

[burnt timber]

I need it

puu's beta core sucks :(

the core that is

[fast kraken]

are they still working on it? havn't heard much about them for ages

[burnt timber]

Its been months

They moved on to FM Towns

But also nothing there

Japanese PCs need cores more than most other things when one considers the cost of the computer (and shipping) the cost of games, the complexity of doing HDD setups when you do have one, or the scarcity of ODEs or other add ons for them

[waxen nymph]

I agree. I was trying to translate the docs using chatgpt but I got stuck. I should probably offshore some of it.

[fast kraken]

one of the major problems is all the documentation is in japanese? i think i remember kitrinx struggling with it

[waxen nymph]

The ocr -> an editable format wasn’t really good enough.

[burnt timber]

At this point I think paid translations from a fluent speaker that is technically minded would be worth the money. Hit me up if you want to start a patreon or gofundme to get this done.

[lunar trellis]

Has Pierco parked the FM-7 core he was working on?

[fast kraken]

do we really not have a single japanese fluent fanboy with way too much time on their hands to help out?

[stiff steeple]

the documentation is hard to work with in japanese and the code itself is a bit of a spaghetti monster

[waxen nymph]

Thanks. Money isn’t the issue. I just need to figure out the right way to post the job on upwork.

[waxen nymph]

Would love some help

[burnt timber]

My Japanese is kinda bad but @crimson fulcrum maybe could

[fast kraken]

could ask natrox? they lived in japan a few years

[burnt timber]

dp lives there now

[waxen nymph]

I would love to first get a Japanese editable version of a couple of manuals - then we could auto translate or pay someone to translate.

Misterx was going to help but he got busy again. That is why I ended up paused.

[lunar trellis]

We do have a virtual pile of half done Japanese 8-bit machines that need someone to help get them to release stage.

Hitachi Basic Master Jnr - Pierco core boots but needs cassette loading so you can play anything
Sharp X1 - Jason got stuck
SMC-777 - Jason was working on recently but again hit hurdles
PC-6001 and PC-8001 - Jason and others looked at these half done cores but they need more Dev eyes on them

[waxen nymph]

Steven and I are dusting off the iigs again, but I might tackle adding a mouse to the iie first. Seems more manageable.

I have a couple of coco2 bugs I need to squash. The timer doesn’t work - very odd. (Works on coco3)

[stiff steeple]

Jotego claimed 68k anyway, I dont see any reason to look at it further.

[burnt timber]

:(

[stiff steeple]

his people will just create friction if anyone does anyway

[lunar trellis]

He hasn't mentioned that in years, no way that is ever happening

[burnt timber]

the idea of someone claiming something in a supposedly open source developer group is strange to me

[stiff steeple]

if I touched it though he'd mention it

that's how it goes

like if I did some stuff with Jaguar, he'd talk about jaguar again

[burnt timber]

So what you're saying is, you can manipulate interest on his side lol

[lunar trellis]

Hopefully he has learned from the NGPC Afghan trap and sticks with arcades he can release a steady stream off and not get bogged down in a console of computer that is out of his wjeelhouse

[waxen nymph]

We should get the fm-7 docs properly translated first. That is what Pierre wants to work on.

[stiff steeple]

im not getting involved

[waxen nymph]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f6NuANw-iYXYIWedIsQJKbBX7U2ZXQ4V

[stiff steeple]

I dont want anything to do with it

[lunar trellis]

Do you know what the issue is with getting cassette loading added to his Basic Master Jnr core @waxen nymph ?

[waxen nymph]

I haven’t looked at it. Cassette stuff can be hard.

[lunar trellis]

Ah, that's a shame

Would be great to see these 8 bit Japanese machines get over the line and released, would give us great coverage of that era

You still thinking about a Lisa core, Alan?

[waxen nymph]

I think the Japanese cores would be more interesting than Lisa. Not much software for Lisa.

I haven’t really had time to work on much. Hopefully in November I will have some solid time to work on new cores.

[burnt timber]

The shined up PC88 core could use some improvements itself honestly

(as well as the already improved X68k)

[lunar trellis]

Having to load a game on PC-88 then reboot to get it to start isn't a great user experience, that caught me out

[waxen nymph]

Does this core work with audio files through the mister tape adc?

[lunar trellis]

No, I don't think that is in there

I have the rbf in my WIP DB, I can dig out the link...

[waxen nymph]

I see it in the code. We should try it.

[lunar trellis]

https://github.com/ajgowans/wip/blob/main/_Unstable/BasicMasterJr.rbf

[waxen nymph]

https://github.com/pcornier/BasicMasterJr_MiSTer/tree/master/rtl

[lunar trellis]

I know some software for it was typed in by Gaming Alexandria people, will have a look in a bit

I know the Mame version of RX-78 has improvements over the core now, we still need cassette loading on that one. Hubz was offering to loan out his unit to any Dev wanting to work more on it

[waxen nymph]

I need to look at the change log. What did they add?

[copper slate]

Who cares who claims it? You know how I claim things, by DOING IT.

it’s all open source anyways!

[burnt timber]

The thing you should do is develop a more interesting personality. Stop being such a good person jfc

[copper slate]

I didn’t claim to have an interesting personality, that’s my secret!

[burnt timber]

You drive me towards the chaotic evil side of the spectrum more daily

[copper slate]

No seriously, I’m a complete outsider so my perspective lacks insight but I get frustrated seeing people claim something and everyone else is off limits.

If you want to do something then do it. Don’t let randos from across the planet tell you what you can or can’t do. Do whatever the hell you like! Let the best developer win.

And if ANYONE gives anyone here shit because they don’t like them working on their passion project then there will be hell to pay.

Eff this drama BS. Core developers are wonderful people who do stuff because this is a passion project. If you don’t make a core then you have no right to intervene or even give your damn opinion. Just shut up and let the big girls and boys do what they want to do.

which counts me too, so I’ll guess I have to shut up fml

[lunar trellis]

@lethal condor - what features are now in the RX-78 Mame emulator that aren't in the MiSTer core? If I remember cassette loading was added

[waxen nymph]

it looks like there was some fixes to the interrupts and palette

[lethal condor]

I've honestly not kept up with RX-78 emulation and MAME. There was one game that was dumped that I don't think loaded on either yet. Don't think it was a bad dump either since Sean Riddle did it.

[sudden ice]

Indeed, there is no claiming in open source 🙂

I can start develop a psx core if I wanted

It will probably not be accepted into the devel but still

[copper slate]

And let me tell you brother, I will support you.

[burnt timber]

Are there any good games on RX78?

I know its named after the OG Gundam model

[granite umbra]

the burger game is interresting and gundam are both game i like on RX78

[lethal condor]

Not really lol, the games are all pretty bad.

[crimson fulcrum]

I wouldn't mind trying to help on the manual front, but I can't promise much

[modern urchin]

carl-bot doesn't like me posting the link here. can I DM you the link?

or search the archive for "more sord m5 backups"

haven't yet tried those with @narrow tundra 's Sord m5 core but hoping to do so soon

if you go the mame route instead all of them work there except for FALC

FALC works fine in older MESS builds or in the standalone m5 emulator

for cartridges it's mame m5 -cart1 *file*.bin, for cassettes it's mame m5 basici -cass *file*.bin and then type the command indicated in the filename (CHAIN or TAPE) and press return

there are .txt files for some but they are incomplete and in some cases have not-yet-fixed errors, sorry 😦

Most amusing thing I found during backups was that P-Editor has two built-in TMS 9918 Mode 2 demo pictures stored on the tape. Hopefully someone will succeed in displaying these on MiSTer soon 🙂

[junior hemlock]

Maoi Maoi Kyun~

[lethal condor]

@modern urchin Got em thanks!

Will work on getting them added to MAME

[modern urchin]

Thank you so much! Had been meaning for years to preserve my Sord software and glad they turned out to still be readable when I finally figured out how to

[lethal condor]

Thank you for taking the time to dump them.

[modern urchin]

No problem! BTW I also have a number of Sord printed materials I haven't seen online and a (not-very-good) scanner. Any advice on how, where, and whether to scan and upload those?

Also it turns out for JP releases many times a game got two or even three different releases, under Takara branding, old-logo (DEC/PDP-esque boxed letters) Sord branding, and new-logo (plain letters) Sord branding. Also sometimes a cartridge with one branding would have extra stickers added on top of the label to change it to a different one. Sometimes old vs new logo also corresponded to different revisions of the ROM contents

For example one of these Dig Dug carts is actually Takara branding hiding under old-logo Sord stickers

Oh and MAME db lists stepup_eu variant but I found the same bits inside a JP cartridge

Also the same IPL ROM (BIOS) was present in all the JP m5 variants I dumped (3x Sord m5, Sord m5 Pro, Takara Game Pasocom)

Also despite my initial impression every m5 game controller has two action/attack/fire buttons. It's just that in the circle pad versions the two buttons are hiding at each end of a single piece of plastic

[fast kraken]

cd-audio for minimig 😮 @fleet cave you wizard!

[vestal goblet]

Where did we end up with an Internet-connected Mac on Mister working? I remember @waxen nymph was fiddling with PPP etc, but can’t remember the outcome

[waxen nymph]

It should work. I have an image with ppp somewhere.

[sudden ice]

@fleet cave woooooooo🥳

[rough edge]

We got CD32 now?

[vestal goblet]

Nice! Did Netscape 3.0 run?

[lunar trellis]

I don't think so, but this is a pretty huge stepping stone to getting it. CDTV may be close to working now, I can't put unstable Main on tonight to check though. Has anyone tried any CDTV (or CD32, why not) discs and see if they work now?

[fleet cave]

idefix97 has a 'cd32 emulator' and it plays cd32 stuff with cdda audio now

[waxen nymph]

Fetch.

[rough edge]

I tried the ROM but it didn't work

The CD32 rom

Was a pain to even find

816ce6c5077875850c7d43452230a9ba3a2902db

[burnt timber]

Well, it's a start :) Maybe ao486 can get this sometime too

[rough edge]

I'm not even sure if its right, mame for some reason doesn't use it but something else?

[fleet cave]

it will. sorg will probably do it, although I have it kinda working already. but I think the audio needs to go through the sound card side because soundblasters had a mixer function for cdda

[fast kraken]

neat

there's a handful of games that would benefit but a few classics in there

[lunar trellis]

The dream for console gamers is you would be able to just download a pack of CDTV and CD32 CHD files and be able to load them from the Amiga core menu like you can on the console cores. Hopefully we get there one day.

[fleet cave]

I assume the amigavision folks will cover you there

[rough edge]

inb4 someone just gives a hdf that has idefix97 configured right and it does most of the job

[thick pendant]

no way netscape 3.0 is going to run on a 68000

you'll need a 68020 for that

[vestal goblet]

ohhh fair enough

I guess it was Mac II Plus I installed Netscape 3.x on back in 1997

was that the first to have an MMU?

[thick pendant]

The 030 did not have a built-in MMU. That came with the 040

perhaps it had an external one.

[vestal goblet]

gotcha. sometime in 1998 or so I helped out with putting NetBSD on some 040-based Mac, can't remember the exact model

(BSD required an MMU, no way to fully disable VMM)

(at that time)

[thick pendant]

yeah, most 040s had MMUs but then they still had some EC (i think) models without...

[vestal goblet]

sorry for my faulty memory, I had few touchpoints with OG Macs

[thick pendant]

I had the Powerbook duo 230 which was a 030 33mhz with 24MB RAM. That was probably the most slow thing you could run Netscape 3.0 on

Like I think it used over 8MB just to start

so that there rules out the 68000 machines

Most of my mac exprience actually came from running ShapeShifter on the Amiga

[hollow ice]

Pretty sure the 030 did have an mmu?

68EC030 didn’t have the mmu according to wiki

[waxen nymph]

I thought gyurco was going to upgrade it to a Mac ii. But he hasn’t dug into it yet.

[thick pendant]

oh wow... CDDA added to MiniMig core