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ROM Set for TI99Sim?


Willsy

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Greets all!

 

I'm looking for a set of ROMS (TI-99/4A, Disk Controller, and hopefully speech synth) for TI99Sim running under Linux.

 

Anyone got a set?

 

I'm running 100% Linux these days and I'm hoping to get a 99 simulator running on my machine.

 

Thanks

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I gave up running MESS with MAME on Windows 10.

Forced to install all kinds of system sapping packages and unsecured packages.

 

Bad enough Windows 10 sucks and will not load a USB drive driver or asks to reformat a drive I have used for years on Windows 95 to Windows 7???

 

But the sheer agony of trying to fix MESS on windows is a daunting task I just had to give up.

 

Besides every time someone offers help they send me Linux fixes and I am not running Linux.

 

This really has to hurt the number of users of MESS as I am very impressed with it when run on my Mac Pro, but now I am on a Windows machine.

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Perhaps you need to give Linux a try? It's not as hard as people think, and Google is your friend when stuck. I've got on very well with it, including installing a LAMP stack, my own VPN, and I'm also running a cloud based virtual machine running Ubuntu.

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Perhaps you need to give Linux a try? It's not as hard as people think, and Google is your friend when stuck. I've got on very well with it, including installing a LAMP stack, my own VPN, and I'm also running a cloud based virtual machine running Ubuntu.

I do have Windows 10, Windows 7, OS X and Linux Ubuntu on my Mac Pro.

 

The only Text Based OS I like is TI99/4A, all the others suck and are to much work.

 

I mean millions of commands to memorize on Linux or Unix vs TI with only like 100 to remember.

 

Currently I am exclusively on my HP Desktop as the Mac Pro can not run any current games as the Video card is topped out and slow.

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I gave up running MESS with MAME on Windows 10.

Forced to install all kinds of system sapping packages and unsecured packages.

 

In Windows 10? Installing additional packages for MAME? Now that really surprises me. Or did you mean the ROM dumps?

 

Anyway, I'm going through the installation procedure with Willsy now.

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In Windows 10? Installing additional packages for MAME? Now that really surprises me. Or did you mean the ROM dumps?

 

Anyway, I'm going through the installation procedure with Willsy now.

Cool I really loved MESS overall but hate the text based controls to get stuff to work.

It was like running a Steampunk version of a PC, you know opening and closing valves and hand cranking stuff to just get to where I started...

 

(Unlike a PC just point mouse and click icon)

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I am getting along with linux OK for the most part, with one noticeable exception: hardware support.

As i stand now, running my terribly outdated ubuntu from 2011, i have full support for my laptops ATI graphics.

ATI themselves have deemed the card "legacy", and even the latest linux legacy driver does not support my card.

There is a older version of the ATI legacy driver, that can be made to work with most newer linux setups, but it involves downgrading X.org, which is just begging for its own set of problems later down the road.

 

So, my choices are either A. stay out date and try to compile from source when ever possible the software that i want (not having to good of success with that anymore these days) and still have full hardware support, or B. run my old outdated linux along side the current ubuntu release on 2nd partition and enjoy updated programs all the time, with crappy hardware performance.

 

Oh, and for what ever reason, linux (all distros i have tried on this machine) is insisting that i have a joystick plugged in, even when i do not. Turns out linux is picking up my hard drive accelerometer as /dev/input/js0, and i have to blacklist it if i want to use a real joystick, otherwise the real joystick is picked up as /dev/input/js1.

 

As of right now, my machine is quad booted, with ubuntu 11.04 x86, ubuntu 16.04 x64, windows 7 x64, and windows xp x32 bit.

Edited by jrhodes
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Willsy,

Recently I purchased a Raspberry PI, and I wanted to see how pc99 ran on it. It worked with Dosbox, but was a bit slow. I decided to try TI-99/sim since it had a native ARM implementation.

I took me about three hours to get things up and going or wondering around. I've included my notes to self here. It also includes the links I used to pull carts and roms. So if nothing else, that might be of assistance.

 

Raspberry TI PI Observations.

Install Stretch - the lite seems like a good ideal, but you be looking up how to install a lot of stuff by hand.

Install DOSBOX
mkdir d/cadd/{dsk, modules, pc99, romgrom}
copy over needful files.
pminfo reports a speed of about 11 - ~the same speed as a 4a.
-- At this point, I'm not really sure, who provides the translator between the arm and 8086 instruction set.



RetroPie:
Setup Manually https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Manual-Installation
Good Docs, but the thing it's missing is

1) you don't want to run the install as root.
2) you don't want to run the install with a full qualified path.
3) you want to copy the install files to /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup
4) cd /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup and then ./retropie_setup.sh
manual packages>exp>149 (at this time) ti99sim - it will mark it with ti99sim (Installed) if it's installed.

The run able file is located in:
/opt/retropie/emulators/ti99sim/ ti99sim-sdl

(Ok, let's take a deep breath. If everything worked, your about 1/3 of the way done)....

Right.. haven't these people heard of a double click, install?

Things won't run with out the OS.
Download the OS from here: http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/gp2x.cgi?......%20%3C/td%3E%3C/tr%3E%3Ctr%3E%3Ctd%3E%C2%A0%3C/td%3E%3C/tr%3E%3Ctr%3E%3Ctd%3E%3Cb%3EDate%20d,1,0,0,72,2798
You get: Downloading gp2xti99-v1.1.0-bin.zip (1.16 MB)
Unzip it, correct the case and copy to:
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/TI-994A.ctg

OS is covered, what about modules?
http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/public/wiz/wizti99/cartridges.zip
unzip and copy cartridges to:
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ti99/
advture.ctg cartridges.zip espial.ctg lasso.ctg othello.ctg slymoid.ctg topper.ctg
alpiner.ctg carwars.ctg et.ctg lobster.ctg pacman.ctg slymoids.ctg treasr.ctg
Amazeing.ctg Carwars.ctg facemkr.ctg mashgam.ctg parsec.ctg sneggit.ctg treasurebeta.ctg
amazing.ctg casi

to run a specific module,
/opt/retropie/emulators/ti99sim/ti99sim-sdl /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ti99/moonpat.ctg
easy pezy...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ok.. the emulator itself is up and running. But.. Wait, you got none of the freaking tools.
Isn't that special.
Go Here: http://www.mrousseau.org/programs/ti99sim/archives/
Copy the latest armhf files and unzip.
It includes prebuilt binaries, which is good, but our old linux friend,
different version of SO lives (see some fixes below).



----
libssl (specific version) needed by catalog.

mkdir special_installs - need to make pre-configure utils run.
wget http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/pool/main/o/openssl/libssl1.0.0_1.0.2l-1~bpo8+1_armhf.deb
sudo dpkg -i libssl1.0.0_1.0.2l-1~bpo8+1_armhf.deb

libboost_regex needed by mkcart
so... looking for 1.55 - but not handy..
apt install libboost-regex-dev
then root@raspberrypi:/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf# ln -s libboost_regex.so libboost_regex.so.1.55.0
Protip: ldd (binary package)

================================================================================
The most helpful setup doc, I found was here:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/250767-how-to-install-ti-994a-ti-99sim-on-retropie-v36-raspberry-pi2-or-pi3/
(It includes links for where to go and download this stuff).

The REALDOC for ti99sim can be found here:
http://www.mrousseau.org/programs/ti99sim/README.html


Dan

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Perhaps you need to give Linux a try? It's not as hard as people think, and Google is your friend when stuck. I've got on very well with it, including installing a LAMP stack, my own VPN, and I'm also running a cloud based virtual machine running Ubuntu.

 

Hey Willsy,

 

Have you tried Classic99 under WINE? Is WINE still a thing on Linux?

 

B

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WINE is working well; I even got a free Window Bluray player running on it (Leawo).

 

BTW, we got MAME running, not surprisingly in fact. But maybe someone with a bit of bash script experience could finally write a cross-distro installer. My working queue is still too long.

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Yea this exactly why you see so few Windows users using MESS overall.

 

Requires a ton of scripts and knowing exactly how to use them, the exact opposite of easy to use or set up.

 

PC99 died of the same fate...to many freaking scripts and way too much work to make it fun.

 

And I would prefer MESS to my current IBM 360 running PC99 instead, but at least it does work without a hitch.

 

Also I could put MESS on my PC and dump the IBM 360 and put it back in storage.

Edited by RXB
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Funny, I have had 5 different versions of MAME on my Windows 10 machine and never once have I had a problem with it. I wrote a very simple DOS batch file that sets up the environment the way I want (32K RAM, speech, disk drive controller for all but the 99/2 and 99/8, hexbus controller for the 99/8) and it prompts me when I run the batch file to pick the system I want and launches it. The only thing it doesn't do that I have to use the MAME UI for is to change cartridges and mount disks. Everyone is different, but it works pretty good for me.

 

For anyone interested, here's my batch file for running MAME. It assumes you've started it from the directory mame64.exe is in. When you exit MAME, the menu is redisplayed.

@ECHO OFF
CLS
:MENU
ECHO Please select which system to start.
ECHO.
ECHO 1 = TI 99/4
ECHO 2 = TI 99/4A
ECHO 3 = TI 99/4A V2.2
ECHO 4 = TI 99/8
ECHO 5 = TI 99/2 24K
ECHO 6 = TI 99/2 32K
ECHO 7 = EXIT
ECHO.
CHOICE /C:1234567
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET M=1
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 SET M=2
IF ERRORLEVEL 3 SET M=3
IF ERRORLEVEL 4 SET M=4
IF ERRORLEVEL 5 SET M=5
IF ERRORLEVEL 6 SET M=6
IF ERRORLEVEL 7 SET M=7
IF %M%==1 GOTO 994
IF %M%==2 GOTO 994A
IF %M%==3 GOTO 994AV22
IF %M%==4 GOTO 998
IF %M%==5 GOTO 99224
IF %M%==6 GOTO 99232
IF %M%==7 GOTO EOF
:994
mame64.exe ti99_4 -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 32kmem -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -ioport:peb:slot8 tifdc
GOTO MENU
:994A
mame64.exe ti99_4a -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 32kmem -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -ioport:peb:slot8 tifdc
GOTO MENU
:994AV22
mame64.exe ti99_4qi -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 32kmem -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -ioport:peb:slot8 tifdc
GOTO MENU
:998
mame64.exe ti99_8 -hexbus hx5102
GOTO MENU
:99224
mame64.exe ti99_224
GOTO MENU
:99232
mame64.exe ti99_232
GOTO MENU
:EOF

Edited by Casey
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Nice, what extra files did you load into Windows 10 to make it work.

I got notice I needed to load a bunch of C packages including Notepad++ which I loath.

(If I needed 8000 features I would never ever use I would use it.)

Also it screwed up a bunch of Source Files I was using, and all I need it just plain old Notepad.

 

I did not need anything extra to load Classic99 or V9T9, now that is easy to load and set up.

 

So is there a easy to use set up for Windows 10 for MAME and MESS?

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I think I just downloaded the most recent binary, and extracted it to c:\mame64. I don't recall it making me install anything else. I definitely don't have Notepad++ on this computer.

 

I got it from here: http://mamedev.org/release.html

 

Then I just made a disks directory under the directory structure, copied the ROM zip files for the various TI 99s into the roms directory, and it just seemed to work. The command line switches to get the peripherals you want are fairly straightforward (you can see what I did up above - I think any of the other supported slot devices work pretty much the same way.)

 

Since I use a laptop primarily, I just had to reconfigure the keyboard shortcut to bring up the UI within mame because I think it defaults to scroll lock which I don't have on my laptop keyboard and that was a little tricky. Once I got that set to a key combination I could type easily, I haven't had any issues really.

 

I'm definitely willing to help in more detail if you want to try it again. I have 2 Windows 10 machines and they are both running MAME with no problems. I use it sort of interchangeably with Classic99 (each one has its place).

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Ok got Mame64 loaded on C:\mame64

went to the MESS set up and got ROMS and CARTRIDGES loaded into ROMS but now what ?

 

Mame has no devices or memory just Console and Carts, of course no RXB in the Cart list, but Version 100 and 2.5 are there?

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Ok got Mame64 loaded on C:\mame64

went to the MESS set up and got ROMS and CARTRIDGES loaded into ROMS but now what ?

 

Mame has no devices or memory just Console and Carts, of course no RXB in the Cart list, but Version 100 and 2.5 are there

 

In your MAME folder (at the same level as the carts, disk, roms folders) create a folder called rpk

 

Copy your RXB rpk into that folder.

 

Start MAME with something like:

 

mame64 ti99_4ev -cart rpk/rxb.rpk -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 samsmem -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -ioport:peb:slot7 evpc -ioport:peb:slot8 hfdc -flop1 disks/somedisk.dsk -flop2 disks/someotherdisk.dsk $*

 

Put the above in a batch file, save it in the MAME folder (same level as roms, disks etc) and run the batch file.

 

This loads a cart called rxb.rpk (which you may have to create) from the rpk folder. (This is how I'm doing it for TurboForth), an 80-column-capable 4A, sams memory, speech, hfdc, evpc and two floppy disks.

 

They all have to point to valid paths. Once you have the batch file correctly starting MAME you're off. You just the batch file each time, and create a new batch file for each different configuration that you want.

 

I now have TurboForth running in 80 column mode in MAME on my Linux laptop. Runs like a champ. Really smooth. I just wish the bloody keyboard would map to the PC keys!

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Rich, you can use RXB as an RPK. RXB is not contained in the software list, neither is Turboforth or other current software.

Ok how do you create a RPK?

 

And put that batch copy in a text file, do I make it a short cut? (did not work)

 

mame64 ti99_4ev -cart rpk/rxb.rpk -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 samsmem -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -ioport:peb:slot7 evpc -ioport:peb:slot8 hfdc -flop1 disks/somedisk.dsk -flop2 disks/someotherdisk.dsk $*

 

(This is why I hate text stuff)

Edited by RXB
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