[Coco] CocoPi3 Update

Ron ron at kdomain.org
Wed May 3 09:54:37 EDT 2017


Wow, sorry for my grammar and typo's in this response...  Fingers and 
brain are not working 100% today.


On 05/03/2017 08:51 AM, Ron wrote:
> Hi Tim,
>
> I just realized I did not respond to all your comments.
>
> The CocoPi3 project (well, perhaps not big enough to call a project) 
> is a Raspberry Pi 3 running the latest version of Raspbian.  I've 
> added the most current version of MAME and XRoar to provide Coco (and 
> MC-10) emulation.  There's a bit more to it than that as I've made it 
> a sort of mini Raspberry Pi 3 distribution.  There are many 
> performance tweaks as well as development tools, utilities, etc., to 
> allow for more than just Coco emulation.  In addition, it runs 
> DriveWire to host files for emulated Coco's or real Coco's provided 
> you have a Drivewire cable and USB to serial adapter).  Emceed has 
> also been added to host files for a real MC-10 (it uses the same 
> Drivewire cable and USB to serial adapter).  In addition, you would 
> need Darren's excellent MCX-128 cartridge.  This has MCX-128 basic 
> (with 128K of additional RAM) and has commands access files on a Emcee 
> server. Ed Snider may still be selling these, but you would need to 
> check with him.
>
> Since the RPi3 has Bluetooth, I use a Nintendo WiiU Pro Controller 
> (fully supported) and it works great for Coco games.  The controller 
> has analog and digital controls, so you get everything you need in a 
> single controller.  Many other Bluetooth controllers should work as 
> well.  Heck, you could even go wireless for your keyboard, mouse or 
> speakers if you wanted to.  I've tested some of this as well.
>
> Wifi is also built-in to the RPi3.  Very easy to copy games, ROM 
> images, manage DriveWire, etc., all from another workstation on the 
> same network.  You can even compile your own version of MAME, XRoar, 
> etc., since all the compilers and tools required are installed.  You 
> can run MAME's debugger on it as well.
>
> Modern video options (i.e. HDMI or composite video on the RPi3 GPIO 
> pin header) make this easy to hook up to a variety of display 
> devices.  Digital and analog sound output.
>
> There's a bunch more to it than this, you this gives you a bit more 
> info about.
>
> Even though I'm a big advocate for this platform, I still prefer my 
> real Coco hardware, but the RPi3 and emulation really makes thing easy 
> and provide a (relatively) lower cost solution for having the Coco 
> experience if you don't have any of the original hardware.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> On 05/03/2017 08:34 AM, Ron wrote:
>> Hi Tim,
>>
>> I was at CocoFEST and had a Raspberry Pi 3 running all weekend at the 
>> table right across from Allen.  Brett Gordon was at an adjacent table 
>> running Fuzix.  Brendan Donahe had his Coco 2 and VGA adapter at a 
>> table on the other side of mine .  William Astle was behind me.  In 
>> fact, I was handing out free 8GB SD cards with the CocoPi3 
>> distribution on it.  I only brought about 8 cards, but wanted to help 
>> get it into the hands of whoever might want it and didn't have an SD 
>> card there for me to copy it to.
>>
>> I did not have a sign or banner at my table.  Perhaps a bit more 
>> marketing for next year's CocoFEST?  :)
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>> On 05/03/2017 08:20 AM, tim franklinlabs.com wrote:
>>>     OK, I'm a little confused here (normal for me). I know Allen had 
>>> Roger
>>>     Taylor's DE0 FPGA at his table. I never saw any Raspberry Pi. 
>>> Not to
>>>     say it wasn't there but the only Raspberry CoCo I saw was at Chris
>>>     Hawks table. Am I mistaken??? Is a "CoCoPi 3" a CoCo running on a
>>>     Raspberry Pi or is it something else???
>>>
>>>       On May 3, 2017 at 8:01 AM Ron <ron at kdomain.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>       Hi Ron,
>>>
>>>       Allen Huffman brought one of those to CocoFEST. It's a really 
>>> neat
>>>       little device!
>>>
>>>       We both talked about it and actually tried to get CocoPi3 up and
>>>       running
>>>       on it. The built-in display did not support a resolution of 640 x
>>>       480
>>>       (at least not that we could see). If it weren't for that, I 
>>> bet it
>>>       would have been fine.
>>>
>>>       The CocoPi3 distribution forces a 640 x 480 resolution in 
>>> order to
>>>       maintain a decent level of emulation performance. For the 
>>> Coco, 640
>>>       x
>>>       480 is actually more than adequate.
>>>
>>>       I may try to test 1920 x 1080 again at some point as I do have 
>>> other
>>>       tweaks to help performance.
>>>
>>>       Thanks
>>>
>>>       On 05/03/2017 07:46 AM, Rob Rosenbrock wrote:
>>>
>>>       It would be tempting to do this with pi-top...
>>>
>>>       Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>       On May 3, 2017, at 7:52 AM, Ron <ron at kdomain.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>       Hi Dave,
>>>
>>>       If it's a Raspberry Pi 3, yes. You would power it off, pull 
>>> out the
>>>       RetroPie SD card, replace it with this distribution (on 
>>> another SD
>>>       card) and then power it back up.
>>>
>>>       It would be up to you to determine if you could merge the two 
>>> into
>>>       one. I've added programs and libraries from alternate repo's, 
>>> so my
>>>       guess is it would not work. RetroPie does have an older 
>>> version of
>>>       XRoar available and they do offer MAME, but no idea on what 
>>> version
>>>       and if it would have all the tweaks I've added.
>>>
>>>       I encourage anyone to experiment -- lot's of talented people here
>>>       with great ideas.
>>>
>>>       Thanks
>>>
>>>       -Ron
>>>
>>>       On 05/03/2017 01:05 AM, Dave Regan wrote:
>>>       Thanks Ron. Would it be able to be run from the same Raspberry Pi
>>>       that has retropie and all my other emulators installed?
>>>
>>>       Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
>>>
>>>       ________________________________
>>>       From: Coco <coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com> on behalf of Ron
>>>       <ron at kdomain.org>
>>>       Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 4:16:21 PM
>>>       To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>>       Subject: Re: [Coco] CocoPi3 Update
>>>
>>>       Hi Dave,
>>>
>>>       This is a complete ready-to-run distribution based on Raspbian 
>>> as a
>>>       base
>>>       OS. Not RetroPie.
>>>
>>>       Other than just adding the Coco ROMs, this is ready to go. You 
>>> would
>>>       copy the SD card image on to a micro SD card (8GB or higher). 
>>> Class
>>>       10
>>>       recommended (for speed). It should boot right up.
>>>
>>>       On 05/02/2017 06:05 PM, Dave Regan wrote:
>>>       I'm getting a RP 3 to take with me when I travel so I can play a
>>>       little in
>>>       the hotel. Sorry for the newbie type question though, but is this
>>>       something
>>>       that works similar to RetroPie that you simply load onto the 
>>> Pi and
>>>       then
>>>       load the dsk images into a particular subfolder and you're 
>>> ready to
>>>       go?
>>>
>>>       On Tue, May 2, 2017 at 3:41 PM, Rietveld Rietveld
>>>       <rietveldh at hotmail.com>
>>>       wrote:
>>>
>>>       Thanks. Right now I am running VCC using a little ATOM powered 
>>> PC on
>>>       a
>>>       stick. It's pretty nice as its only a little bigger than a card
>>>       reader but
>>>       it is no where as cool as using the Pi.
>>>
>>>       ,
>>>       Original Message
>>>       From: Ron
>>>       Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 6:35 PM
>>>       To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>>       Reply To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>>       Subject: Re: [Coco] CocoPi3 Update
>>>
>>>       I still need to check with Rick Adams, but would like to 
>>> continue to
>>>       have him host a copy of the SD card image as well as Simon 
>>> Jonassen.
>>>
>>>       The current links (for the old image and documentation) are:
>>>
>>>       [1]http://rickadams.org/ronklein/
>>>       [2]http://www.roust-it.dk/coco/ronklein/
>>>
>>>       I will also need to update the documentation to reflect all the
>>>       changes.
>>>
>>>       Thanks
>>>
>>>       On 05/02/2017 05:27 PM, Rietveld Rietveld wrote:
>>>       This looks incredible. How can I get a copy for my rasp pi?
>>>
>>>       ,
>>>       Original Message
>>>       From: Michael Brant
>>>       Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2017 6:19 PM
>>>       To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>>       Reply To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
>>>       Subject: Re: [Coco] CocoPi3 Update
>>>
>>>       Cool making me really want a rasp pi 3.
>>>
>>>       On May 2, 2017 4:34 PM, "Glen Hewlett" 
>>> <glen.hewlett at sympatico.ca>
>>>       wrote:
>>>
>>>       Hi Ron,
>>>
>>>       That's a lot of cool updates. I do appreciate all the effort 
>>> you are
>>>       putting into this SDimage. I think it will be very useful for 
>>> anyone
>>>       who
>>>       wants to learn about the CoCo or someone who remembers playing 
>>> with
>>>       the
>>>       CoCo many years ago and wants to give it a try again. The RPi3 is
>>>       cheap
>>>       and connects to any recent monitor/TV all you need is keyboard 
>>> and
>>>       your
>>>       good to go in CoCo world. :)
>>>
>>>       Personally using emulators is what got me back into the CoCo,
>>>       luckily I
>>>       still had some of my old CoCo hardware and I'm having a blast 
>>> with
>>>       it
>>>       again.
>>>       Cheers,
>>>       Glen
>>>
>>>       On May 2, 2017, at 3:37 PM, Ron <ron at kdomain.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>       CocoPi3 - ChangeLog - May 2017
>>>
>>>       CocoFEST 2017 was a trial run for the CocoPi3 distribution. I 
>>> took
>>>       some
>>>       time to observe how others looked at it, used it, etc., and made
>>>       some
>>>       enhancements. Some are minor others are more significant. I've 
>>> been
>>>       learning quite a bit with this little project, but the best 
>>> part has
>>>       been
>>>       some of the folks I've met and worked with along the way.
>>>       * Quick refresh of some Raspbian packages (i.e. sudo apt-get 
>>> update;
>>>         sudo apt-get upgrade)
>>>       * Updated GCC 6 (as part of Debian's bleeding edge "stretch" 
>>> repo).
>>>         GCC
>>>         6 is required to compile MAME.
>>>       * Pierre Sarrazin resolved an issue with the cmoc compiler for
>>>         Raspbian. Fix already included with this update.
>>>       * Updated MAME to the latest version (0.185)
>>>       * Updated the Main Menu and included many new entries as well as
>>>         updated
>>>         existing ones (over double the options)!
>>>       * Typing 'menu' from any prompt will return to main menu screen
>>>       * Some menu options include additional informational 
>>> screens/prompts
>>>       * Option for booting Coco 3 with VCCEmuDisk hard drive image.
>>>         Includes
>>>         NitrOS9 & 255 virtual DECB disks with programs
>>>       * Option for booting Coco 3 (2MB RAM) directly into NitrOS9 using
>>>         latest
>>>         image from [3]http://nitros9.sourceforge.net/snapshot/
>>>       * Option for booting Coco 3 (2MB RAM) directly into Fuzix (via
>>>         YA-DOS).
>>>         Internet access provided via 'lwwire' daemon
>>>       * Options still available for Coco 2 (MAME & XRoar) both with
>>>         Drivewire
>>>         support as well as booting into MC-10
>>>       * Updated the scripts to start and stop the DriveWire, lwwire and
>>>         emceed
>>>         daemons from main menu
>>>       * Edit Wifi configuration from main menu
>>>       * Adjust RPi3 system volume from main menu (for HDMI and analog
>>>         ports)
>>>       * Run 'raspi-config' from main menu (resize file system, other
>>>         administrative options)
>>>       * Backup existing RPi3 installation to alternate SD card (i.e. 
>>> clone
>>>         entire SD card) from main menu
>>>       * Reboot or shutdown RPi3 (safely) from main menu
>>>       * IP address(es) on main menu screen. Includes for both WiFi 
>>> and CAT6
>>>       * System uptime information on main menu screen
>>>       * Daemon status (DriveWire, lwwire and emceed) on main menu 
>>> screen
>>>       * Emceed server for hosting files to a real MC-10. Requires 
>>> MCX-128
>>>         expansion cartridge & serial to USB adapter
>>>       * DriveWire can still be configured to host files for real 
>>> Coco's as
>>>         well. Same serial to USB adapter would be required
>>>       * Added additional documentation in Samba share 'doc' folder
>>>         (/media/share1/docs). This includes help with Bluetooth 
>>> controllers
>>>         Unfortunately, there's too many changes to just provide updated
>>>         files
>>>         for. As such, it will require downloading a new image. Going
>>>         forward,
>>>         I
>>>         am working on a way to package updates (perhaps via a 
>>> CocoPi3 repo
>>>         for
>>>         use
>>>         with apt-get) to save time.
>>>         I plan on recording a video demo of this new version soon 
>>> and will
>>>         send
>>>         it off to Steve Strowbridge to add to his YouTube channel. I 
>>> also
>>>         need
>>>         to
>>>         work with Rick Adams and Simon Jonassen to see about 
>>> replacing the
>>>         older SD
>>>         card image with this new one.
>>>         Thanks!
>>>
>>>       --
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>>>
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>>>
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>>>
>>> References
>>>
>>>     1. http://rickadams.org/ronklein/
>>>     2. http://www.roust-it.dk/coco/ronklein/
>>>     3. http://nitros9.sourceforge.net/snapshot/
>>>     4. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>     5. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>     6. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>     7. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>     8. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>     9. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>    10. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>    11. https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>>
>>
>



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