How to install TI-99/4A (TI-99/SIM) on RetroPie v3.6 (Raspberry Pi2 or Pi3)

[Sid1968]

1 hour ago, arcadeshopper said:

<path>/media/usbstick/roms/ti99sim</path>

 

try putting the roms there?

Thx, but no success. Something with the path must be wrong.

[Sid1968]

Finally i got it run. 😅

 

Had to copy "TI-994A.ctg" and "/opt/ti99sim/roms/spchrom.bin" to "/opt/ti99sim/console/".

 

New Questions:

 

1. I have a picture, but its veeeery tiny.

 

Normally the option -f should lead to fullscreen, but wether this

 

  <system>
   <name>ti99</name>
   <fullname>TI-99/4A</fullname>
   <path>/media/usbstick/roms/ti99sim</path>
   <extension>.ctg</extension>
   <command>/opt/ti99sim/bin/ti99sim-sdl -f %ROM%</command>
   <platform>ti99</platform>
   <theme>ti99</theme>
   <directlaunch/>
 </system>

 

nor --fullscreen=1280x1024 leads to success...

 

 

  <system>
   <name>ti99</name>
   <fullname>TI-99/4A</fullname>
   <path>/media/usbstick/roms/ti99sim</path>
   <extension>.ctg</extension>
   <command>/opt/ti99sim/bin/ti99sim-sdl --fullscreen=1280x1024 %ROM%</command>
   <platform>ti99</platform>
   <theme>ti99</theme>
   <directlaunch/>
 </system>

 

The picture stays unchainged very small.

 

 

2. Is it possible to configure the joystick?

Where is the firebutton on the keyboard?

 

Cheers

Sid

Edited October 26, 2019 by Sid1968

[Sid1968]

19 hours ago, Sid1968 said:

Finally i got it run. 😅

 

Had to copy "TI-994A.ctg" and "/opt/ti99sim/roms/spchrom.bin" to "/opt/ti99sim/console/".

 

New Questions:

 

1. I have a picture, but its veeeery tiny.

 

Normally the option -f should lead to fullscreen, but wether this

 

  <system>
   <name>ti99</name>
   <fullname>TI-99/4A</fullname>
   <path>/media/usbstick/roms/ti99sim</path>
   <extension>.ctg</extension>
   <command>/opt/ti99sim/bin/ti99sim-sdl -f %ROM%</command>
   <platform>ti99</platform>
   <theme>ti99</theme>
   <directlaunch/>
 </system>

 

nor --fullscreen=1280x1024 leads to success...

 

 

  <system>
   <name>ti99</name>
   <fullname>TI-99/4A</fullname>
   <path>/media/usbstick/roms/ti99sim</path>
   <extension>.ctg</extension>
   <command>/opt/ti99sim/bin/ti99sim-sdl --fullscreen=1280x1024 %ROM%</command>
   <platform>ti99</platform>
   <theme>ti99</theme>
   <directlaunch/>
 </system>

 

The picture stays unchainged very small.

 

 

2. Is it possible to configure the joystick?

Where is the firebutton on the keyboard?

 

Cheers

Sid

 

Maybe this error has its cause in the new VC-Screenmode of the Raspberry Pi4.

Commenting "dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d" in the config.txt out results in an errormessage.

 

Any Ideas how to solve that?

 

This is the part of the config.txt

 

[pi4]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2

[all]
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
gpu_mem=512

Edited October 27, 2019 by Sid1968

[Sid1968]

This is how TI99sim looks on my Raspberry Pi 4 with RetroPie 4.5.2 installed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this small Window the games are unplayable.

Is there anyone who installed TI99sim successfully on the Raspberry Pi 4?

 

Cheers

Sid

 

 

PS.: This is my es_systems.cfg

es_systems.cfg

Edited November 8, 2019 by Sid1968

[globeron]

Hi Sid,
I did the earlier ones,but have not have a RPI4 myself. That will be later, but in the midst of moving back to Asia and need some time to pick up the TI hobby again.

It are probably some settings in the config files of RPI, like HDMI settings, but also check options in TISim to go for full screen


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[globeron]

Hi Sid,
I did the earlier ones,but have not have a RPI4 myself. That will be later, but in the midst of moving back to Asia and need some time to pick up the TI hobby again.

It are probably some settings in the config files of RPI, like HDMI settings, but also check options in TISim to go for full screen


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Sid1968]

Thanx for that advice, Buddie.

 

I guess thats a problem with sdl2 and the 4K resolution the RPi 4 uses. Maybe a later RetroPie Version that official supports the RPi 4 will solve that.

Edited December 25, 2019 by Sid1968

[Sid1968]

Good news buddies,

after i installed the newest RetroPie Image from this side https://files.retropie.org.uk/images/weekly/

i could install ti99sim via RetroPieSetup. Now the ti99sim emulator runs with fullscreen. :-)))

 

One problem remains... the joystick. To fire i can use any button, that works. But i cannot move anything

with the joystick, e.g. in Parsec i cannot move the spaceship. How do i configure ti99sim?

 

Cheers

Sid

 

 

The colors are much more intensive than on this picture.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Sid1968

[Sid1968]

I found here the options: https://www.mrousseau.org/programs/ti99sim/README.html

 

I got it run with a joystick. But i had to use another.. my VS-7000 with an adapter and added  --joystick1=1

to the startoptions in the file /opt/retropie/configs/ti99/emulators.cfg

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Sid1968

[Sid1968]

The adapter i use with the joystick is called RetroFun! that can be bought here: http://electronica4u.com/

With that adapter you can use your DB9 Joystick at USB.

[globeron]

The joysticks i normally configure it via the Retropie menu. Controller input. To assign the movements and button. For the DB9 joystick with USB i have tested with 1, let me try tonight with 2x joysticks. I use the othet controllers to move through menus etc. 

 

 

 

[globeron]

In RetroPie it is possible to have a preview in picture or video format (see the sample with Alpiner).

 

 

[globeron]

Only did the setup in Retropie config and not in TI99SIM to get 2x DB9 joysticks to work. 

 

(you can use also a normal keyboard to assign buttons/directions with the arrow keys).

 

https://youtu.be/Xu4RFNluTBg

Edited February 18, 2020 by globeron

[globeron]

 

Preview the video of Modules/Games:

 

 

[Sid1968]

4 hours ago, globeron said:

 

Preview the video of Modules/Games:

 

Very nice. For those who dont know how... RetroPie has a "Scraper" Function which searches for Images/Videos and Gamedescription in Online-Databases. The 4:3 Theme i use in the pictures above is my favorite Theme, but it supports only Gamepictures and no Gamemovies.

[globeron]

4 hours ago, Sid1968 said:

Very nice. For those who dont know how... RetroPie has a "Scraper" Function which searches for Images/Videos and Gamedescription in Online-Databases. The 4:3 Theme i use in the pictures above is my favorite Theme, but it supports only Gamepictures and no Gamemovies.

For the scraper I have not investigated how to get the pictures in the GameDB online (which most of the pictures of the manual / box the TI modules came with), but let me clean-up a bit on the images / videos and then package it, then it will be very easy to install on the RetroPie and refresh the Emulstation.

 

Videos had to be converted to a special format for .mp4 took a while to sort it out

and I had to script the conversion with HandbrakeCLI

(also for the other systems, as I did not want to do it 1 by 1 for 300+ titles and to match the naming)

 

[Sid1968]

28 minutes ago, globeron said:

For the scraper I have not investigated how to get the pictures in the GameDB online (which most of the pictures of the manual / box the TI modules came with), but let me clean-up a bit on the images / videos and then package it, then it will be very easy to install on the RetroPie and refresh the Emulstation.

 

Videos had to be converted to a special format for .mp4 took a while to sort it out

and I had to script the conversion with HandbrakeCLI

(also for the other systems, as I did not want to do it 1 by 1 for 300+ titles and to match the naming)

 

If you want make here a download file for the mp4`s.

After that please tell us in what folder you copied the mp4`s.

 

The downloaded images are normally in the folder:     /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/downloaded_images/ti99

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Sid1968

[+RXB]

10 hours ago, globeron said:

 

Preview the video of Modules/Games:

 

 

Well TI99Sim is useless for anyone writing programs, as it can not do XB or EA or anything like real TI99/4A.

Why I was interested in using Rasberry PI 4 for installing MESS on it and running it.

[Sid1968]

 

20 minutes ago, RXB said:

Well TI99Sim is useless for anyone writing programs, as it can not do XB or EA or anything like real TI99/4A.

Why I was interested in using Rasberry PI 4 for installing MESS on it and running it.

 

Hello Rich my old friend, nice to read from you.

You are absolutely right. Unfortunately TI99Sim is the only Emulator for the TI-99/4A supported by RetroPie. 😞

 

I talked about my frustrations about that in this thread. Maybe you can talk there about your experienes with mame,

or if you dont have any experiences till now, what you would expect from mame or like on mame. Do mame have

the same abilities that tursi is speaking of from classic99?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Sid1968

[+RXB]

1 hour ago, Sid1968 said:

 

 

Hello Rich my old friend, nice to read from you.

You are absolutely right. Unfortunately TI99Sim is the only Emulator for the TI-99/4A supported by RetroPie. 😞

 

I talked about my frustrations about that in this thread. Maybe you can talk there about your experienes with mame,

or if you dont have any experiences till now, what you would expect from mame or like on mame. Do mame have

the same abilities that tursi is speaking of from classic99?

 

 

I think MESS does run from a Raspberry PI 4 but just will not work in a Raspberry PI 3, am I wrong in thinking you can load a Linux Distro into a Raspberry PI 4?

As for Classic99 I use it mostly on Windows 10, but would like MESS to work, and it does well under Unix or Linux but I do not have a Mac Pro anymore it died.

Thus I was hoping to use my Birthday Present Rasberry PI 4 instead.

 

 

 

[Sid1968]

Happy Birthday afterwards, Rich!

 

Yes you can install an image of raspbian buster from here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

Then you can install the mame ti99 version for raspbian from here: https://ftp.whtech.com/emulators/MAME/ti99/raspbian/

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Sid1968

[+RXB]

5 hours ago, Sid1968 said:

Happy Birthday afterwards, Rich!

 

Yes you can install an image of raspbian buster from here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

Then you can install the mame ti99 version for raspbian from here: https://ftp.whtech.com/emulators/MAME/ti99/raspbian/

 

Hate this Raspberry PI 4 networking sucks, have to shut down routers and restart each time I turn it on, crappy network software in Raspberry Pi 4.

Then again Windows 10 does same thing often, you would think they could make a decent networking package after 50 years!

[Tursi]

8 hours ago, Sid1968 said:

Do mame have the same abilities that tursi is speaking of from classic99?

Everyone tells me that MAME is /even better/ than Classic99.

[+RXB]

22 minutes ago, Tursi said:

Everyone tells me that MAME is /even better/ than Classic99.

Worked with both, MAME / MESS is more like the TI99/4A and takes longer to do anything.

Classic99 is faster to get things done. 

So for producing something Classic99 faster to use and produce, MAME / MESS more like real iron and you get the slow production rate.

[Sid1968]

9 hours ago, RXB said:

Hate this Raspberry PI 4 networking sucks, have to shut down routers and restart each time I turn it on, crappy network software in Raspberry Pi 4.

Then again Windows 10 does same thing often, you would think they could make a decent networking package after 50 years!

I never ever had network issues with Raspberry Pi`s.

 

Here some things that can help you. Do it at your own risk...

 

Default username and password for Raspbian is :
Username : pi
Password : raspberry

 

Update/Upgrade everything with:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y && sudo apt full-upgrade -y && sudo apt autoremove && sudo apt autoclean

 

Update Firmware if you want. (NEVER TURN RASPBERRY PI OFF WHILE UPDATING FIRMWARE!)

sudo rpi-update

 

New Firmwarereleases are announced here:

https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-firmware/commits/master

 

Update Bootloader if you want:

sudo rpi-eeprom-update -a

 

 

Do the configurations of raspbian with this command:

sudo raspi-config

Here you can configure network settings too.

Activate ssh for using putty which you get here: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

 

For access via ftp to the Raspberry Pi i install a ftp-server:

sudo apt install vsftpd

 

Now the ftp-server needs to be configured:

This opens the configfile with nano-editor: sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

 

This must be set:

    anonymous_enable=NO
    local_enable=YES
    write_enable=YES

    

   This must be added:

    download_enable=YES

 

After that save the config file with STRG+O and leave the editor with STRG+X

 

Then give your Raspberry Pi a: sudo reboot

 

 

If you have after that still network problems look in your dsl-router and give the Pi a fixed IP.

 

This works fine for me. If someone knows more oder has better ideas... let us know.

 

Cheers

Sid

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Sid1968