More seamless e-uae integration with Linux

[gdanko]

My goal was to be able to play my old games pretty seamlessly without having to mess with .uaerc, GUI configs, etc. I wanted to be able to doubleclick on an .adf image and start playing my game.  Using OS4 would require an expensive investment in hardware and software. MorphOS is not ready for day to day use and I can't justify 150 EU for it.

This is what I've gotten so far.

I created a custom build of uae, both 32 and 64 bit,  that does not include the GUI. What I noticed is that if I close the UAE window when I am finished with the game the GUI would pop up. I don't want this.

I configured Gnome to open .adf files with /usr/local/e-uae/scripts/launch.sh. The name of the adf is passed to the shell script. The shell script then looks at the filename and maps it to df0. It looks for any other disks of the same name (Disk 1, Disk 2, etc) and maps them to df1, df2, etc.

Common configuration options (cpu, memory, etc) are set as variables in the script.

Your game is launched with all of the drives mounted and you can play away. When you're finished with your game you close the UAE window and you're all finished.

Would anybody be interested in testing this? For now you have to manually do the mapping of the .adf file type to the launch.sh script. I am going to find out how to do this and make it automatic.

[gdanko]

You bet we we would be interested. This sounds awesome. Great work!

Thanks, koshman. Once I am confident the multi disk thing is working correctly I will create an install script and make both versions available. I will have a shell script installer so I don't have to maintain packages for every distro out there.

I think it's basically how AROS and MorphOS handle it. I am told you have to install e-uae on MorphOS to be able to play the old games. This is kind of silly. I had been led to believe the support existed and all you had to do was 2x click the game's binary.

Send me a PM if interested in getting a copy.

[gdanko]

You can easily configure E-UAE so that doubleclicking the adf launches the game.

Wait, doesn't that sound exactly like what you're doing for linux here? How silly!

I tried that, it did not work. I was told by a MorphOS developer that you have to do a few things in order for this work. Even moreso than simply associated .adf files with e-uae. Also, how do I suppress the GUI? How do I get e-uae to mount all the other disks? I am open to your suggestions as it would seem you one up on all of us here.

[gdanko]

At this point everything is working. If I doubleclick on, say, "Pirates! Gold (Disk 1 of 2).adf", the script goes and finds all of the other disks and adds them to the list of disks to open. The game fires up and all the disks are there.

I am having one small hurdle that I would appreciate input on. Some games are using WB 1.3 so KS 3.1 will not work. I could assume AGA globally and it should be able to play ECS games (or can it?). In a MorphOS or even OS 4.1 scenario, how do you accommodate the myriad of combinations?

Perhaps I can have something like launch13.pl and launch31.pl. Both could be associated with type .adf and you could choose the one you think you need? Hmmm...

[gdanko]

Well I don't want to have a menu but I suppose I could. Maybe the options could be:
1) A2000 68030 KS 1.3 ECS
2) A4000 68040 KS 3.2 AGA

Global options could be kept in /usr/local/e-uae/var/uaerc and platform-specific options would be appended to the command string, based on your selection.

[gdanko]

@AmigaHeretic
I have down a way to select the disks I want to use. So now if you doubleclick on any of the three disks from a set, they're all mounted with disk 1 going in df0.

[gdanko]

Sounds great. I'd definitively like to test this.

I'll implement the menu runequester suggested, iron out a couple kinks, and post both 32 and 64 bit versions.

[gdanko]

I'll implement the menu runequester suggested, iron out a couple kinks, and post both 32 and 64 bit versions.

There is some weird bug in Ubuntu Lucid that will not let me run:
gnome-terminal -x "/path/to/my/script.pl"

I will not keep fighting this. For now I will create launch_a2000.pl and launch_a4000.pl. You right click and select the one you want.

Once Ubuntu gets their act together I will create a menu.

[gdanko]

What do you need gnome-terminal for?

To launch a menu, the action for .adf files would be:

gnome-terminal -t "E-UAE Launcher" -x "/usr/local/e-uae/scripts/launch.pl"

You have to tell Gnome to launch the terminal, otherwise you'd never see any of the output of the script.

[gdanko]

Almost ready!  I have both 2000 and 4000 launch scripts. I test "UFO - Enemy Unknown" which is a four disk AGA game. I right clicked on disk 3 and UAE was launched with all 4 disks mounted in order. The game came up perfectly.

Last things I want to do:
* Clean up the method of scanning for all disks.
* Create an install script.
* Optimize uae command line switches.

I will be ready to send this out to folks. If interested, tell me if you want 32 or 64 bit.

[gdanko]

64 bit build + install script is ready. This is a test version but so far works okay.

[gdanko]

Im on 64 bit ubuntu Lucid, and I am dying to give this a swirl

It's a 3.3m tgz. I will try to send it.
Be aware you still need to manually map .adf files to the scripts. You can right click, get properties, and click open with. Add both uae_A2000.pl and uae_4000.pl.

[gdanko]

Ugh I cannot send a file. PM me your email address and I will email it.

[gdanko]

The scripts are now in Perl because of some bash limitations. Here are my two biggest issues.
1) Some games have > 4 disks so my goal of dumping the GUI completely may be compromised since uae only allows you to mount 4 drives. I am guessing the Amigas only allowed df0-df3. This is particularly frustrating to me because when you close a game, even with the gui disabled in uaerc, the GUI still comes up. Is there a way to suppress the GUI from coming up after closing the game's windows?

2) I unpacked all my TOSEC stuff to start testing, but their naming conventions don't make sense to me. For example, Silent Service II is two disks but on TOSEC I see this:

Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)(Disk 1 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)(Disk 2 of 2).adf
(original uncracked game?)

Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[a](Disk 1 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[a](Disk 2 of 2).adf
(what is [a]?)

Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr Paxnt Box].adf
(no idea what this means)

Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR](Disk 1 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR](Disk 1 of 2)[a].adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR](Disk 1 of 2)[m TSB].adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR](Disk 2 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR][a2](Disk 1 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR][a2](Disk 2 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR][a](Disk 1 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR][a](Disk 2 of 2).adf
Silent Service II (1990)(MicroProse)[cr SKR][h LGD].adf

(what is all the SKR stuff???)

If I can better understand what all of this means I can make the routines to find the necessary disks a little more sane.

Any ideas?

[gdanko]

I am going to adhere to the TOSEC naming convention and leave it up to the user to properly organize things. I will search for (Disk x of x).adf at the end of the filename. If that exists, the rest will be the basis for which I will add disks.

It's a pain to try and cover every possible scenario. Perhaps I can modify the uae source and have it NOT call up the configurator when the game window closes.

Hmmmmm