MAME: Archimedes
MAME: Archimedes
It's time to give the Archimedes some attention in MAME, and as I've not really used one there'll be lots of questions.
At the moment the Archimedes emulation is okay'ish, but there's lots of improvements to be made, especially with hard drives and expansion podules.
I'm currently looking at the A4, which has a 5th column extension ROM to handle battery management. I see the ROM recognised with *podules but no sign of the Battery Manager in *modules, I also don't see !BatMgr in Applications. I know the BMU is on the I2C bus but am not seeing any I2C data directed at anything but the PCF8583.
Anyone know how to activate the Battery Manager? Is there maybe a register somewhere that tells RISCOS that a battery is fitted?
At the moment the Archimedes emulation is okay'ish, but there's lots of improvements to be made, especially with hard drives and expansion podules.
I'm currently looking at the A4, which has a 5th column extension ROM to handle battery management. I see the ROM recognised with *podules but no sign of the Battery Manager in *modules, I also don't see !BatMgr in Applications. I know the BMU is on the I2C bus but am not seeing any I2C data directed at anything but the PCF8583.
Anyone know how to activate the Battery Manager? Is there maybe a register somewhere that tells RISCOS that a battery is fitted?
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
I'll try to pick up my A4 from my storage place today and look for it.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
Ok, I found my A4 at the storage place, which is quite a remarkable achievement
The !BatMgr app is on the Apps icon on the left of the icon bar.
It does add a battery percentage bar on the right of the icon bar. Mine shows a question mark as I removed the battery for safety concerns.
The app icon itself contains a !sprites file and a !run file with the following content:
I assume the referenced BatMgr module should be contained in the extra rom of the A4.
The icon appears at boot, so I don't know why it's not getting activated on your end.
Please tell me if you need me to do more tests.
Cheers,
Rob
Edit:
I found this interesting text on the extra rom:
The !BatMgr app is on the Apps icon on the left of the icon bar.
It does add a battery percentage bar on the right of the icon bar. Mine shows a question mark as I removed the battery for safety concerns.
The app icon itself contains a !sprites file and a !run file with the following content:
Code: Select all
RMEnsure BatMgr 0.00 Error 0 BatMgr module not loaded
BatMgr_AddIcon
I assume the referenced BatMgr module should be contained in the extra rom of the A4.
The icon appears at boot, so I don't know why it's not getting activated on your end.
Please tell me if you need me to do more tests.
Cheers,
Rob
Edit:
I found this interesting text on the extra rom:
Re: MAME: Archimedes
Thanks, I can only assume it's disabling itself due to not finding the battery management unit (BMU).
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
The Archimedes expansion bus has peripheral select lines 4, 6, 7. I believe the majority of expansion podules respond to peripheral select 4 (Ps<4>), correct?
Are there any known podules that are enabled by Ps<6> and Ps<7>?
Are there any known podules that are enabled by Ps<6> and Ps<7>?
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
Here's a simple question ... if I reset the CMOS how many floppy drives does RISC OS default to? Does it detect the number of floppy drives connected, or always default to 2?
If it does set floppies to the correct number then what is it actually checking?
If it does set floppies to the correct number then what is it actually checking?
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
- IanJeffray
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
For machines which have the high density 71x controllers (rather than 1770) it will do a drive detect and show zero if it doesn't find a drive. I'm not sure if it'll ever automatically show more than 1 in such cases - such machines would be quite rare though, so I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't.
For 1770-controller machines (Axxx and A3000), it always defaults to 1 and doesn't (can't?) do detection.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
It does show >1 if connected. I have two internal 3.5” and one external 5.25” on my A5000 and all three are auto-detected. If I unplug the external drive from the cable, only two drives appear on startup. I think the detection at startup is by RISC OS moving each drive head independently out one track then back to track 0 - the detection of the drive by opening/closing the track 0 signal? Can’t see why this wouldn’t work with the 1772, but Acorn only implemented the startup check in the 71x driver…IanJeffray wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 8:29 pmFor machines which have the high density 71x controllers (rather than 1770) it will do a drive detect and show zero if it doesn't find a drive. I'm not sure if it'll ever automatically show more than 1 in such cases - such machines would be quite rare though, so I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't.
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
I think it ignores, but I could be wrong. Will check and report back at the weekend.IanJeffray wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:28 pmDoes it auto-update the configure setting, then? Does it just IGNORE the configure setting? I kind of expected to have to configure >= the number of drives, then let RISC OS go "nup" and hide the missing ones. Interesting.
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
Interesting. Floppies are always a pain point for me. I never did get this funky chicken working... I think it's essentially just two independent floppy mech's bolted together bahind a single faceplate. Primary input connector is ye olde 5.25" style edge connector. Never got any Acorn machine to even activate either part.
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
Wow . . . That's an interesting drive - not seen one before - who's the maker and model number?IanJeffray wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:06 am Interesting. Floppies are always a pain point for me. I never did get this funky chicken working...
I think it's essentially just two independent floppy mech's bolted together behind a single faceplate. Primary input connector is ye olde 5.25" style edge connector. Never got any Acorn machine to even activate either part.
Dave H.
Available: ARA II : ARA III-JR/PR : ABR : AP5 : AP6 : ABE : ATI : MGC : Plus 1 Support ROM : Plus 3 2nd DA : Prime's Plus 3 ROM/RAM : Pegasus 400 : Prime's MRB : ARCIN32 : Cross-32
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
It's a TEAC FD-155GF.daveejhitchins wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:14 am Wow . . . That's an interesting drive - not seen one before - who's the maker and model number?
EDIT: That model number is probably just the 5.25" part. The whole assembly may be known as the TEAC FD-505. There are very few markings on it.
- daveejhitchins
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
Thanks, Ian . . . I'll have a look around.IanJeffray wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:37 amIt's a TEAC FD-155GF.daveejhitchins wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:14 am Wow . . . That's an interesting drive - not seen one before - who's the maker and model number?
EDIT: That model number is probably just the 5.25" part. The whole assembly may be known as the TEAC FD-505. There are very few markings on it.
Dave H.
Available: ARA II : ARA III-JR/PR : ABR : AP5 : AP6 : ABE : ATI : MGC : Plus 1 Support ROM : Plus 3 2nd DA : Prime's Plus 3 ROM/RAM : Pegasus 400 : Prime's MRB : ARCIN32 : Cross-32
Re: MAME: Archimedes
I don't have any floppy drives, but I do now have !BatMgr:
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
This may be a wild idea ...
There's lots of Archimedes software out there that's archived as .arc files, ie. needs extracting with ArcFS or whatever. This is especially common for podule drivers, where the .arc is the contents of the accompanying floppy. Getting these .arc files into MAME is a bit of a problem as there's no easy way of transferring the file to the emulated machine, whereas in Arculator you can access them through hostfs. At the moment I'm having to transfer the files in Arculator from hostfs to a hard drive image .hdf, which I can then mount in MAME.
So I'm thinking why not mount an .arc file as a floppy image by reconstructing an 800K adf containing the single .arc file. We have Disk Image Manager and Beeb Image that already implement the same principal, so why not make .arc files easier to access in MAME by being able to mount them as a floppy.
Good idea, useful ,any potential issues?
There's lots of Archimedes software out there that's archived as .arc files, ie. needs extracting with ArcFS or whatever. This is especially common for podule drivers, where the .arc is the contents of the accompanying floppy. Getting these .arc files into MAME is a bit of a problem as there's no easy way of transferring the file to the emulated machine, whereas in Arculator you can access them through hostfs. At the moment I'm having to transfer the files in Arculator from hostfs to a hard drive image .hdf, which I can then mount in MAME.
So I'm thinking why not mount an .arc file as a floppy image by reconstructing an 800K adf containing the single .arc file. We have Disk Image Manager and Beeb Image that already implement the same principal, so why not make .arc files easier to access in MAME by being able to mount them as a floppy.
Good idea, useful ,any potential issues?
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
So you're suggesting having something like a blank 800kb (or 1600kb) adf image, and a short script to pop the .arc file of your choosing into the adf image?Pernod wrote: ↑Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:22 pm So I'm thinking why not mount an .arc file as a floppy image by reconstructing an 800K adf containing the single .arc file. We have Disk Image Manager and Beeb Image that already implement the same principal, so why not make .arc files easier to access in MAME by being able to mount them as a floppy.
Good idea, useful ,any potential issues?
Sounds like a great idea for MAME and possibly other emulators. I'm sure this should be straight forward for those with appropriate knowledge of ADFS E/F disc format.
You'd still be limited by the disc image maximum 1600kb, so no chance of squeezing a 2mb .arc file. You'll also need !ArcFS and/or !SparkFS handy on another adf or your MAME HDD image, to open the .arc file. But overall would certainly make life easier getting files into MAME.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
Correct.
Are there many .arc files out there that won't fit on a floppy? How would you get a 2MB .arc file onto real hardware if you can't transfer it via floppy?steve3000 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:19 pm You'd still be limited by the disc image maximum 1600kb, so no chance of squeezing a 2mb .arc file. You'll also need !ArcFS and/or !SparkFS handy on another adf or your MAME HDD image, to open the .arc file. But overall would certainly make life easier getting files into MAME.
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
I use network, ZIP discs and CD-ROMs...In that order.
But it depends on where ''out there" is and it's not just .arc files which this would help... I suspect most casual emulator users would just want games discs and ADFFS from the JASPP site. The .jfd disc images here will all be disc size or smaller, and although most recent zipped versions of ADFFS would need a 1.6m disc image, ADFFS 2.63 fits in less than 800kb.
I guess ideally what would be nice would be a .hdf file browser on the PC side, to allow you to modify a RISC OS HDD image directly.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
You should be able to do that with Disk Image Manager.
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
Re: MAME: Archimedes
Well well...indeed you can! And I installed this ago, but only thought to use it for adf disc images.
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
I've got a wilder one
I don't know much (anything!) about how MAME works, but is there a way you could find the block of memory containing the RAMFS, RAM disk and poke the bytes for the .arc file into the RAM disk?So I'm thinking why not mount an .arc file as a floppy image by reconstructing an 800K adf containing the single .arc file. We have Disk Image Manager and Beeb Image that already implement the same principal, so why not make .arc files easier to access in MAME by being able to mount them as a floppy.
Or create ROM images and emulate the ROM podule?
Steve
Re: MAME: Archimedes
No, that would be far too complex, and would need to assume that a RAM disk is already configured and has sufficient space for the .arc.SteveBagley wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 4:57 pm I don't know much (anything!) about how MAME works, but is there a way you could find the block of memory containing the RAMFS, RAM disk and poke the bytes for the .arc file into the RAM disk?
Not sure what you mean by create ROM images, but the Acorn AKA05 ROM podule is already emulated.
- Nigel
BBC Model B: ATPL Sidewise, Acorn Speech, 2xWatford Floppy Drives, AMX Mouse, Viglen case, BeebZIF, etc.
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
I thought it might be…
The ROM podule supports a ROM file system, so you could create rom images that contain the archive, which might be simpler than building an ADFS disc structure (you'd be limited to 1MB though).Not sure what you mean by create ROM images, but the Acorn AKA05 ROM podule is already emulated.
Steve
- IanJeffray
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Re: MAME: Archimedes
(Weird thread to dig up about this but anyway...)IanJeffray wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:06 am I never did get this funky chicken working...
IMG_E6228.JPG
I think it's essentially just two independent floppy mech's bolted together bahind a single faceplate. Primary input connector is ye olde 5.25" style edge connector. Never got any Acorn machine to even activate either part.
FWIW I did just get both parts of this drive working with an A310
It appears as drives :1 and :2 - which is exactly what its documentation says.
There may be some mis-alignment as the 3.5" didn't want to read back a disc it formatted, but read others perfectly well.
The 5.25" formatted and read a Beeb floppy using !DFS too