(Soon to be) New RISC OS Pi user with many questions

[jpolo]

First: I know there are pretty specific questions here that may not exactly be best answered on this forum, I’m crossposting this on three different sites (ROOL, RPI RISC Forum, JASPP) to get a general consensus. If you want to share your expertise then by all means do so but I’m not expecting answers to every question

JASPP note: Is this in the right place? I couldn't find a questions/support/noob board. Sorry if this doesn't belong here.

I’m about to be a new user of RISC OS, I have a RBP coming tomorrow that I bought specifically to run it, mainly because I know it can run (a very few) Archimedes games natively. The ADFFS project looks very interesting to me because I’m from the US and never got a chance to experience Archimedes gaming. I understand that it’s in it’s early stages and I’m not going to be able to play the vast majority of games natively right away, but from what I gather the Archimedes emulator on RISC OS Pi is much better than it is on non-ARM systems, and with the two combined I can play a good portion of the library. I just have a few questions about what I’m getting into:

1. Will there be any problems running ADFFS/ArcEm under R11, or do I need to upgrade to R12?

2. Is there any USB gamepad support on RISC OS Pi?

3. Aemulator seems like a more elegant solution than ArcEm, combined with ADFFS to load .adf images will it load the 26-bit games that ADFFS will not on it’s own? Is Aemulator even designed to run games or is it more about getting older apps to run?

4. Is there a good F/OSS IRC client for RISC OS Pi? I know Grapevine exists, but can’t really spend the money at the moment.

5. I prefer using CRT monitors, will I have a problem using an HDMI→VGA converter (specifically this one: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1151 ) with RISC OS Pi? 4:3 resolutions OK?

6. Is sound supported and does it come from HDMI, stereo speaker connection or both?

7. I have a PS/2 3 button mouse I’d like to use, because middle clicking with the scroll wheel is kind of annoying. Is PS/2→USB converter OK with RISC OS?

8. What are the benefits of upgrading to R12 and is there a reason it is available for purchase but not as a downloadable image? Does it contain proprietary code?

9. Are there any general roadblocks someone with my interests should know about?

10. The RISC/Archimedes community seems very touchy about “abandonware” compared to, say, the Amiga community. Can someone explain this? I’m not knocking it, just trying to figure out the etiquette and the reasons/history behind it.

[JonAbbott]

JASPP note: Is this in the right place? I couldn't find a questions/support/noob board. Sorry if this doesn't belong here.

You want General/General, this ones for general Development questions but it doesn't really matter. I can move the thread later.

1. Will there be any problems running ADFFS/ArcEm under R11, or do I need to upgrade to R12?

It will run on any version of RISCOS, from RO3.11 right up to the latest alphas of RO5

2. Is there any USB gamepad support on RISC OS Pi?

Not that I'm aware of

3. Aemulator seems like a more elegant solution than ArcEm, combined with ADFFS to load .adf images will it load the 26-bit games that ADFFS will not on it’s own? Is Aemulator even designed to run games or is it more about getting older apps to run?

As far as I'm aware, Aemulor Pro has extensions to run games that need the original Arc chipset, Aemulor is a cut down version that doesn't emulate quite so much of the chipset.
ArmEm is an emulator and will run just about anything, Aemulor is a JIT and will run some games but it's primarily aimed at getting 26bit WIMP applications running. As you're new to all this, you wont have the slightest idea of what I'm talking about! In short, the ARM chip used to use 26bit addressing, when it went to 32bit addressing a most software stopped working.
With ArcEm, you need to run ADFFS inside the emulator. With Aemulor, ADFFS runs on the RO5 desktop.

5. I prefer using CRT monitors, will I have a problem using an HDMI→VGA converter (specifically this one: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1151 ) with RISC OS Pi? 4:3 resolutions OK?

You shouldn't have a problem, I've done it previously.

6. Is sound supported and does it come from HDMI, stereo speaker connection or both?

It's configurable. If you look at config.txt which sits on the DOS partition, you can output audio via HDMI or the headphone socket. I think by default its out of the headphones.

7. I have a PS/2 3 button mouse I’d like to use, because middle clicking with the scroll wheel is kind of annoying. Is PS/2→USB converter OK with RISC OS?

Should be okay, I use a PS/2 mouse all be it through a KVM.

8. What are the benefits of upgrading to R12 and is there a reason it is available for purchase but not as a downloadable image? Does it contain proprietary code?

Download the latest alpha, certainly don't pay for R12. The source is mainly opensource on the ROOL site and is updated more or less daily. Changes were made after R11 for this project, so you'll want either R12 or the alpha. Personally, I stick with the alphas as they're fixing bugs still on the Pi.
Make sure you update your Pi firmware to the latest as well, as various firmware changes have happened that this project requires.

9. Are there any general roadblocks someone with my interests should know about?

There's some, how shall I put it...vocal people in the RISC OS scene that aren't exactly NOOB friendly, so take any abuse with a pinch of salt - they're harmless really.

10. The RISC/Archimedes community seems very touchy about “abandonware” compared to, say, the Amiga community. Can someone explain this? I’m not knocking it, just trying to figure out the etiquette and the reasons/history behind it.

[/quote]
We're law abiding citizens? "abandonware" is not a legal term, so is treated as theft in the RO scene (and legally for that matter). This may stem from the more serious nature of the platform, or may just be down to certain companies preferring to go straight to litigation in the scene.

[richw]

Hi jpolo,

Don't worry about all the detail. Feel free to ask away, whatever you want. A new user? Fantastic - just what we need! I used RISC OS extensively many years ago, and I've had a bit of trouble getting back in the game with the Pi and JASPP.

ArcEm (the Archimedes emulator) does indeed function quite well on a Pi, so you should be able to play just about anything with that. A relatively small number of games are supported natively by ADFFS (and a few are available to download here). Most of your hardware queries should be OK, although I wouldn't expect to get anywhere with joysticks in the short-term: I think there is a lot of work to be done on that front!

I would recommend you start with RC11. I'll gladly explain the steps I used to upgrade an RC11 SD card to the 'latest alpha', which you need to do to use ADFFS. I believe RC12 will appear as an official download image within a few weeks, but I wouldn't worry.


Cheers,
Richard.

[Vanfanel]

ArcEM is not a good solution by any means: games exhibit tearing and erratic frame rates, while you get exact and well synchroniced frame rates using ADFFS.
Acorn Archimedes games are meant to look and feel as they do on ADFFS: do yourself a favor and forget about ArcEM.
Compatibility is growing fast in ADDFS, too! What John Abbott is doing is just incredible.

[jpolo]

Thank you guys for all your help, I have everything set up and working great, I upgraded to the latest alpha/harddisk with no problems it was really very easy. It was a bit unclear at first how to use non-jfd games with ADFFS but I figured out how to use the boot scripts and every single reported working game I've tried (Paradroid 2000, Jet Fighter, Zarch, Jhangir Squash, Mad Prof, Pac Mania, maybe some others) works perfectly with one exception being Xenon 2, no matter how much I try to change the disk I get no luck, see my post in the ADFFS 2.41 thread.

I see that most of my concerns were really no big deal, the PS/2->USB works, sound works, I haven't gotten a VGA adaptor yet but I'm sure that will work too. The lack of joystick support is a real shame as some of these games have truly miserable keyboard layouts that are impossible to change... Jhangir Squash seems like it would be really fun with a stick but the keyboard controls are ridiculous, what were they thinking?!

I haven't messed with emulators yet because so far I'm having fun with the ADFFS games. I never really cared for emulation even under the best circumstances so I may not even bother. I have an Amiga to play Lotus 2 on

[Vanfanel]

I agree with the joystick need. Xenon2 also has VERY bad controls! What were they thinking? Why not arrow keys? The ship (in spanish keyboard layout at least) is impossible to manouver.
But well, I'm sure we will see joystick support at some point.

[JonAbbott]

I agree with the joystick need. Xenon2 also has VERY bad controls! What were they thinking? Why not arrow keys? The ship (in spanish keyboard layout at least) is impossible to manouver.
But well, I'm sure we will see joystick support at some point.

Give !HID a try, see if it detects joysticks on the Pi. I'll try to get my hands on an XB360 controller over the weekend to test.