Hi, just acquired a Risc PC 600

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 1:13 am

Hello.

I'm Tim, a developer of games for PC and Android under the name of Squaregames. My first release is up on Google Play Store - https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... gadventure and my portfolio can be found at https://thowdlesmith.wixsite.com/blog (edited: sorry about the broken URL before)

Since I was a child of 6 (when my father brought home an Acorn Electron) I've been following Acorn Machines. In 1999 I finished a game called Starhawk on an A610. It didn't have so many levels but was pretty nice. Then, unfortunately I bought a PC which I wanted for the superior games - forgot about RISC OS and ARM completely. I learnt a game development language and now I am a game designer/developer, though yesterday I have bought an A600 on eBay because I wish to revisit ARM desktops and RISC OS.

I prefer the Acorn Community as the feeling is mostly politeness and intelligence. The only drawback is most of us are English, which is not a problem (being English myself) but the community is inevitably smaller. Does anyone see advantages in this?

I now have a mission. I want to code my platformer on my A600. Target platform is Acorn/RaspberryPi and anything else I can possibly port it to. Already I have the graphics in 8-bit colour PNG. If anyone is interested in the past version, I've ported it to Nintendo Wii https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raL61UcWRLk

I mean to recode - with a new level editor, maybe some more graphics - not make a conversion as such.

I'd like your opinions about said project, any guidance would be welcome in terms of requirements or how to code efficiently using an Acorn.

Thanks,
Square Mezzmer

FourthStone · Post by **FourthStone** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 2:53 am

Welcome to this amazing forum! I like the fact that's the community is small as it's a tighter knit group of great contributors.

Looking forward to following your project

Regards,
Fourthstone

Multiwizard · Post by **Multiwizard** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:02 am

Hi Tim,

welcome to this great Forum...

Greetings from my little Dutch Acorn Attic, Wim...

flaxcottage · Post by **flaxcottage** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:56 am

Welcome.

daveejhitchins · Post by **daveejhitchins** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:13 am

Welcome to the Forum, Square Mezzmer . . . Enjoy . . .

Looking forward to your conversions. I'm sure you'll get lots of assistance, if needed!

Dave H

p.s. The link to your portfolio seems to be broken.

RobC · Post by **RobC** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:35 am

Welcome.

Your game looks really good - which language are you writing it in?

Best wishes,

Rob

davidb · Post by **davidb** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:27 pm

Welcome!

Do you mean a Risc PC 600 or have I missed something?

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:02 am

@Multiwizard Haha, thanks. Hello Indeed!

@Rob I'm writing it in a mix of Acorn BASIC and some bits of machine code (hopefully). I'm more scripty as I'm a Game Designer more than a Game Programmer if you get me. I've gotten the hang of scripting the code in a C based Game Dev language, having written Hero: The Realm twice in my lifetime so I know the ultimate shape of it.

I'm glad to have so many responses to my first thread here!

CMcDougall · Post by **CMcDougall** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:36 am

welcome Tim

now to get your games onto your electron!

tricky · Post by **tricky** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 11:21 am

Welcome,
I lik the cheering spectators and the way the snakes look shocked that you are going to turn them into prizes.

I don't know about English helping, English people are in the minority in my department, but we still all speak English, so I doubt it makes much difference.

Being a small community, makes me feel more a part of it and it makes meetups more cosy

I have joined a few other forums where there are many more regular users and only got one welcome from one and none in the other, so I think it also makes it feel more welcoming

helpful · Post by **helpful** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:43 pm

Welcome!

If you're writing games in BASIC then have a look at the AMCOG Development Kit - http://www.amcog-games.co.uk/kit.htm

It also includes RDSP which makes sound generation much easier - http://www.amcog-games.co.uk/rdsp.htm

Bryan.

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 10:54 pm

It arrived. I spent some time cleaning everything, the old guy had let it all get a bit dirty - to my shock!

I now need a monitor switch of some kind to get my main monitor to change from RISC PC to my Windows Machine. Also I need a serial port adapter so I can load data via an SDCard.

I don't know RISCPC 600 maximum drive size via the serial port. I am about to search for a compatible serial port - sdcard loader online!

It's all very exciting.

@tricky Thanks for the compliments, I like that effect too.
@Bryan/helpful: Cheers for the links!

Post by **danielj** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:26 pm

best way to get things on and off an RPC600 is via Ethernet - check if it has a card! Otherwise, it will happily read/write PC format discs

e.g. http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/micros/indiv ... AR-2TNICSH

I'm not finding much cheaper at the moment

d.

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:03 am

Thanks. That's great, but how will I know if I have an ethernet card?

Temporary solution would be a USB external floppy disk drive. I hope I can get that and blank discs at Maplins tomorrow.

Additional: The RISC PC started fouling up on video, so I turned off and left it for a while. Next time I tried this 2010(?) widescreen monitor, it didn't detect the signal(!) I'll keep you posted if my RISC PC is okay, I found a simple flatscreen monitor to use in the meantime but no suitable monitor cable available.

Post by **danielj** » Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:31 am

It'll have an ethernet port on the back if you do. Usually both 10baseT and 10base2 but could just be one or the other.

Have you checked the battery situation in it? The riscpc has a varta that can puke all over the motherboard and destroy it

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:23 am

Usual methods won't work but if I format a disk at the command line with Windows 10 and a cheap external usb floppy drive - I can load files to the RISC PC.

This was simple with a tutorial on Windows FORMAT command. If you have typical problems formatting an Archimedes compatible 1.44M DOS disk you can go to Command Prompt and type:

Code: Select all

FORMAT A: /FS:FAT /T:80 /N:18

I was given instructions for a 720K type format but I just doubled the amount of sectors (N) from 9 to 18 and rather luckily (but logically) it worked.

Now I can finally load things to my RISC PC. I didn't have a CD/DVD-ROM in my Windows desktop or an internal floppy drive so under a tight budget this is like a breakthrough for me.

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:59 pm

danielj wrote:best way to get things on and off an RPC600 is via Ethernet - check if it has a card! Otherwise, it will happily read/write PC format discs

e.g. http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/micros/indiv ... AR-2TNICSH

I'm not finding much cheaper at the moment

d.

Daniel J. I'm confused to what this actually is. Will it provide me an ethernet slot or wifi? Otherwise I'd best get an sdcard solution as I'm thinking down those lines.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14807

Post by **danielj** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:44 pm

That will give you ethernet.

I've found cheaper! http://www.riscos.com/shop/products/109/index.php

Once that's on there you can use !FTPc to move files across: http://www.riscos.info/index.php/FTPc

If you want to use something a bit memorysticky, as I said it'll read PC format discs, but you can go the Gotek-Flashfloppy route for a second floppy drive?
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki

d.

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:21 pm

danielj wrote:That will give you ethernet.

I've found cheaper! http://www.riscos.com/shop/products/109/index.php

Once that's on there you can use !FTPc to move files across: http://www.riscos.info/index.php/FTPc

If you want to use something a bit memorysticky, as I said it'll read PC format discs, but you can go the Gotek-Flashfloppy route for a second floppy drive?
https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki

d.

Ah now, I just purchased RISC OS 5 rom. Once this is fitted (I've been warned) some networking may be unavailable. As long as I can connect to my Windows 10 PC I'd be happy. Do you happen to know if I've scuppered myself? (I think the main networking is different in RISC OS 5).

Post by **danielj** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 9:27 pm

Dare I ask who suggested using RiscOS 5 on a RiscPC?

If you want to use it, you should use it on a Raspberry Pi. RiscPC keep as 3.7 or, at a push, 4?

d.

Square Mezzmer · Post by **Square Mezzmer** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:37 am

Ah. I did receive the RISC OS 5 roms. I was thinking they would "better" my system or environment somehow but now I'm aware even using a StrongARM may give me software compatibility problems. Hmph.

Now I have a StrongARM and now a RISC OS 5 romset to put onto ebay.

Thinking of getting a Raspberry Pi for other things but may stick with my new solution 3.5 RISC OS machine for development. At least it runs everything and no problems so far (apart from sorting the hard disc problems).

Also received the ethernet adaptor so will try and get a connection going in a moment with FTPc.

@danielj: Thanks very much for your support!

stardot.org.uk

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