[Coco] Raspberry Pi and RS-232 ports

[Ron Klein]

Hello all.

How many folks here have Raspberry Pi 3's? I plan to bring a handful of
16GB SD cards to CocoFEST next week with a preliminary Coco emulation
distribution it (see below). For those who can't attend, I'm looking for a
place to host an image file. I still need to type up some documentation,
but plan to demo it at the show.

Thanks

-Ron




On Sat, Apr 1, 2017 at 11:30 AM, Ron Klein <ron at kdomain.org> wrote:


> I've been working on getting an initial Raspberry Pi 3 Coco emulator
> distribution set up for those who might be interested to try for
> themselves.  It's being set up the why I like it, but could certainly be
> taken in any direction from the community as I plan to share an SD image
> soon.
>
> This is what I have so far:
>
> Raspberry Pi 3
>
> Latest Raspbian distribution
>
> Some RPi3 performance tweaks to allocate memory for programs and video.
>
> Restrict video mode to 640 x 480 (rather than the 1920 x 1080).
>
> A very slight CPU over clock and force all cores to be active all the
> time.
>
> Latest MAME (0.184) compiled with SDL2 (and video hardware acceleration).
> It runs from the console, no X involved.  I'm working on just compiling a
> version to support only the Coco / Dragon targets, but not a priority just
> yet.  For those interested, ChoccyHobNob provides precompiled, current
> versions of MAME for the RPi3:
>
> http://choccyhobnob.com/mame-0-184-for-raspberry-pi-macos/
>
> ... great site and information.
>
> Latest XRoar for those who prefer that emulator for Coco 2 / Dragon
> emulation.  It can be run from console or X, though the X version is very
> nice with the added benefit of menus, etc..
>
> Drivewire 4 configured to host/serve DSK images to the local instance of
> MAME (or XRoar) running on the RPi3.  If you use a USB to serial adapter or
> one of the serial interfaces to connect to the GPIO header, you can host
> files for a real Coco as well.
>
> Some scripts to start a Coco 2, Coco 3, MC-10 from MAME.  For the Coco 3,
> I have it configured with 2MB of RAM.  Great for NitrOS9 and Fuzix.  Any of
> these could be added to the /etc/rc.local file to boot directly into.
>
> I've also added am EMCEE server to host files for a real MC-10.
>
> Samba server and client packages.  You can transfer and DSK images, roms,
> etc., to the RPi3 from another workstation on your network or you can
> connect to other file server on your network from the RPi3.  Either way
> works and is available.
>
> Added a bunch of Coco development tools the distribution including
> everything needed to compile MAME and XRoar, lwtools, Toolshed, etc..
>
> Added William Astle's excellent lwwire application (with modifications
> from Brett) to allow Fuzix (running on a Coco 3) access to the Internet.
> This can include an emulator running on the RPi3 or a real Coco 3 connected
> to the RPi3 through the USB or GPIO serial port.
>
> I connect my RPi3 to a LCD monitor that happens to have both a HDMI and
> VGA connections.  I have not tested the RPi3's composite video output on
> the GPIO header, but will get to that at some point.
>
> I use a basic USB mouse and keyboard.  I came across a great deal on a
> Nintendo Wii U Pro Controller which works perfectly with the RPi3 as it
> already has built-in Bluetooth support.  Raspbian recognized the device
> with no issues.  I was playing Pop Star Pilot just yesterday using it.
> Very nice.  Nice thing is that controller has analog and digital control
> support.  Perfect the Coco!
>
> I know there's been much talk about booting into a Coco instantly at
> power-up.  I have not attempted to do that, but the boot process is very
> quick now (under 15 seconds).  I'm OK with that, but I'm sure there may be
> other things to do to improve it more.  Unless you create an emulator that
> doesn't require the Linux OS and talks directly to the hardware, not sure
> if there will ever be a way to achieve instant-on access to a Coco.
>
> The last part of my RPi3 testing is connecting a real Coco 3 keyboard to
> the RPi3.  I'm using information provided by Chris Hawks who really
> pioneered the early Coco emulation for the RPi.  I have the extra keyboard
> and Coco 3 case, so I may be able to build my own CocoPi, just like Chris
> did a while back.  With things like the USB to Coco joystick adapters, it
> might even be possible to use real Coco joysticks with the RPi while it's
> in a Coco case (using the factory holes on the case).  The RPi3 composite
> video and analog audio port could be run to the factory location on the
> case, too.  These types of things would require some sort of basic
> backplane to mount the 6 pin joystick DIN connectors and the composite
> video and audio connectors.
>
> Anyway, getting a bit closer each day.  I would like to share something
> soon, but need to find a way to limit the size the SD card image and find a
> place to host it.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Ron
>
>