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Post by spannernick on Dec 9, 2020 14:54:43 GMT
I have some ideas, maybe we could use chroot and make a vicefs.img file with everything it needs to run VICE or RetroArch, lib files, bin files and so on then mount the vicefs.img file mount -o rw /mnt/vicefs.img /mnt/chrootand overmount the libs in the firmware with mount --blind /mnt/chroot/lib /lib and all the other files it needs to run, making a little OS it can run it from like how THEC64 X Windows Mod works..? I really don't want to run it in the firmware, if I don't need too. We could make a script for each emulator so if you run x64.sh it runs x64 emulator or x128.sh to run the x128 emulator in VICE, so only runs that emulator inside the vicefs.img file. What you think..? All ideas are welcome, you might have a better way of doing it then me..  |
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Post by oocozyoo on Dec 10, 2020 21:43:18 GMT
If this works does this mean we could get the mega-cart.rom in the vic20 vice working....Also I`ve got The C64 and The vic20, could I make them both run like separate machines,when i power them up they act like real c64 and he vic20.
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Post by spannernick on Dec 11, 2020 11:46:32 GMT
I think we might have a problem with its ram, I just tested emulation station that works on the OrangePIPCH3 and that has 1GB ram, THEC64 Maxi/VIC20 has 256 Ram and emulation station don't boot, I try first loading the x64 emulator but nothing, it reading all the files it need otherwise it would complain that a lib file was missing and its not, it did but sorted that now.
So how much ram does VICE need to run..?
You can see it trying to run Retro Orange PI cause you see its screen come up for a second then closes then Carousel restarts.
Why would they put 256 ram in it, that smaller than theC64 mini's ram, probably cost or to stop other emulators been run on there devices, it depends on who put the 256 mb on the boards design, RGL or Koch Media.
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Post by spannernick on Dec 11, 2020 15:43:26 GMT
With emulation station its a ram problem..
[ 28.029471] Out of memory: Kill process 249 (emulationstatio) score 689 or sacrifice child
[ 28.038706] Killed process 249 (emulationstatio) total-vm:130776kB, anon-rss:75316kB, file-rss:0kB
Now to test VICE... Couldn't get it to run but that's maybe because it part of RetroArch. But got Retroarch to work, its screen is up.. but controllers are not working so don't know why that is, I think it has a problem with dev input and can't see them cause the keyboard on THEVIC20 don't work to, but at leased we know RetroArch will work on it. RedQuark
redquarktwo login: Mounting sda2 to tmp/chroot
[ 27.544725] EXT4-fs (sda2): couldn't mount as ext3 due to feature incompatibilities
[ 27.601398] EXT4-fs (sda2): couldn't mount as ext2 due to feature incompatibilities
Starting RetroArch
libudev: udev_has_devtmpfs: name_to_handle_at on /dev: Function not implemented
libudev: udev_has_devtmpfs: name_to_handle_at on /dev: Function not implemented
ALSA lib conf.c:1028:(parse_value) pcm is not a string
ALSA lib conf.c:1697:(snd_config_load1) _toplevel_:18:5:Unexpected char
ALSA lib conf.c:3417:(config_file_open) /home/pi/.asoundrc may be old or corrupted: consider to remove or fix it
ALSA lib conf.c:3339:(snd_config_hooks_call) function snd_config_hook_load returned error: Invalid argument
ALSA lib conf.c:3788:(snd_config_update_r) hooks failed, removing configuration
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Post by spannernick on Dec 11, 2020 17:31:24 GMT
could we add a swap file too give thC64 Maxi/Vic20 more memory and use the USB Stick or sd card for swap file...? Something like... sudo dd bs=1024 count=524288 if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile && sudo chmod 600 /swapfile && sudo mkswap /swapfile && sudo swapon /swapfile
adopt it from github.com/retr0rangepi/RetrOrangePi/tree/mainline/SwapSource Code for ROPI... github.com/retr0rangepi/RetrOrangePiCan't get VICE to run, probably it cause it part of RetroArch, I need to test VICE 2.4 in it, just need to find one that already compiled. |
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Post by jj0 on Dec 11, 2020 18:25:30 GMT
could we add a swap file too give thC64 Maxi/Vic20 more memory and use the USB Stick or sd card for swap file...? Something like... sudo dd bs=1024 count=524288 if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile && sudo chmod 600 /swapfile && sudo mkswap /swapfile && sudo swapon /swapfile
adopt it from github.com/retr0rangepi/RetrOrangePi/tree/mainline/SwapSource Code for ROPI... github.com/retr0rangepi/RetrOrangePiCan't get VICE to run, probably it cause it part of RetroArch, I need to test VICE 2.4 in it, just need to find one that already compiled. Not on / but with mounted USB you could use /mnt/swapfile |
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Post by jj0 on Dec 11, 2020 20:43:42 GMT
I think we might have a problem with its ram, I just tested emulation station that works on the OrangePIPCH3 and that has 1GB ram, THEC64 Maxi/VIC20 has 256 Ram and emulation station don't boot, I try first loading the x64 emulator but nothing, it reading all the files it need otherwise it would complain that a lib file was missing and its not, it did but sorted that now. So how much ram does VICE need to run..? You can see it trying to run Retro Orange PI cause you see its screen come up for a second then closes then Carousel restarts. Why would they put 256 ram in it, that smaller than theC64 mini's ram, probably cost or to stop other emulators been run on there devices, it depends on who put the 256 mb on the boards design, RGL or Koch Media. AFAIK both the Mini and the Maxi have 256MB RAM. It's more than enough for the purposes of running the RGL Carousel and Vice, which is what they intended. You can't expect them to add more RAM just for us, we have to do that ourselves ;-) |
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Post by spannernick on Dec 12, 2020 11:33:52 GMT
You will have a problem with running on RetroArch on THEC64 Mini/Maxi, cause its kernel is not compatible with libudev, RA needs it to see what controllers you have plugged into it, it not RA you would need but a old version libudev and maybe it would work but it will not work will all emulator cause of its memory, I see now why users are putting a RPI3 or 4 inside it, the board is to low spec for it to do anything else, that why no has hacked it with other emulators, its not worth it.
The best way would be to bypass the firmware including the Kernel completely and boot a OS or RA from USB Stick so it has it's own Linux kernel then you not limited to what there kernel can only do.
I can see why Swingflip didn't go any further with it.
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Post by spannernick on Dec 12, 2020 12:33:42 GMT
I think we might have a problem with its ram, I just tested emulation station that works on the OrangePIPCH3 and that has 1GB ram, THEC64 Maxi/VIC20 has 256 Ram and emulation station don't boot, I try first loading the x64 emulator but nothing, it reading all the files it need otherwise it would complain that a lib file was missing and its not, it did but sorted that now. So how much ram does VICE need to run..? You can see it trying to run Retro Orange PI cause you see its screen come up for a second then closes then Carousel restarts. Why would they put 256 ram in it, that smaller than theC64 mini's ram, probably cost or to stop other emulators been run on there devices, it depends on who put the 256 mb on the boards design, RGL or Koch Media. AFAIK both the Mini and the Maxi have 256MB RAM. It's more than enough for the purposes of running the RGL Carousel and Vice, which is what they intended. You can't expect them to add more RAM just for us, we have to do that ourselves ;-) Weird, on some sites it say THEC64 Mini has 512mb one said 512kb... so it 256MB RAM, good to know... need to get a photo of the ram chip, I think I have one, I made a fly over video of THEC64 Mini's board. Found it... Part Category: Memory ICs Manufacturer: Nanya Technology Corporation Description: DDR DRAM, 128MX16, 0.225ns, CMOS, PBGA96 Number on the IC.. nt5cb128m16fp-di www.datasheets360.com/part/detail/nt5cb128m16fp-di/7251930131555224175/This video is very handy, I think I do the same thing with THEVIC20 board, cause I am moving the camera across its board, you can see the part numbers on the ICs ok, it harder to see them from a singe photo... |
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Post by grasshopper on Dec 12, 2020 12:53:43 GMT
I have to say, I agree with spannernick. Including only 256MB of RAM just feels like unnecessary penny pinching to me. Even a $5 RPi Zero comes with twice that amount of RAM! Just because you can get away with only 256MB of RAM, doesn't mean you should.
And yes, I suspect they deliberately crippled the device in order to make it less attractive to hackers.
If that's the case, then it's very short sighted of them. If they'd included just 1GB of RAM (which is still not a lot by today's standards) and a working SD card slot, then it would only have added a few pounds to the overall cost, and would have made the device vastly more useful.
They could have marketed the C64 Maxi as being a general purpose Linux PC, in addition to being a replica C64, and significantly increased their potential sales as a consequence.
I just hope they don't make the same mistake with their replica Amiga.
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Post by spannernick on Dec 12, 2020 14:55:15 GMT
Soldering a IC with balls is not that easy... In the video, he is upgrading the memory in his iPhone from Chinese parts so its interesting. I like this guy... I watch him all the time, its fascinating, and its in China.. he lives in Shenzhen. And know that feeling you get when things go right and work... and this inside a Chinse Electronics Factory and PCB factory by PCB way, So in a way explaining how THEC64 Mini/Maxi/VIC20 board was made, RGL/Koch Media sent the design of the board to Rich Co so they can make it. but the machines were made in Hong Kong by Rich Co (Asia)Ltd, Central Hong Kong. Like this post if you found it interesting.. |
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Post by jj0 on Dec 12, 2020 16:38:36 GMT
I don't think they intentionally crippled it, it's normal to optimise a 'single-purpose device'. Why would they add additional memory (and costs) that would never he used by their application?
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Post by spannernick on Dec 12, 2020 18:12:14 GMT
You have to remember as well they make THEC64 Mini/Maxi and THEVIC20 in bulk too so mass production.
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