So is Boxtron / Roberta supposed to autodetect MIDI devices? Doesn't seem to be working, had to manually set up the system's DOSBox, and still can't seem to get MIDI output for any of the ScummVM based games.

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So far that I tested, it does not automatically pick the Roland UM-ONE interface. Also for some reason my MT-32 was really quiet (still played, but it seems to want to auto-set the volume to around 50-60 for each instrument.) Haven't tested it with the SC 88 Pro yet.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: Dunc*And I really need to get around to helping him with some sort of backup solution, because he's still running it off my old 2.5" hard drive from 20 years ago. Yes, I know, believe me. It gives me nightmares.

As slaapliedje suggested, SD or micro SD card readers for vintage computers are a godsend. I have a SD card reader for my C64 and it rocks ! The only downside is it doesn't work with custom fastloaders from recent demos but it is a c64 specific issue and i bought a cheaper model.

In theory, compact Flash are a bit better in the long run since they are created more along the lines of legitimate hard drives, but SD/MicroSDs have improved enough over the years to withstand more read/writes.

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Quoting: DesumWhich reminds me, what's the status of Xoreos?

Just checked their site, I knew they were covering NWN1, maybe NWN2, but I'd never heard of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, and wasn't aware they were going as far as Dragon Age games.

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Quoting: Patola

Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: Marc Di Luzio

Quoting: slaapliedjeNeeds moar buttons!! If you can afford it, go for the Logitech (or Saitek, but avoid Mad Catz brand) x52 (or thr Pro version). It is the model for the controller in game. The thrust portion for some reason looks like the Thrustmaster, but the flight stick is almost exactly like the x52. Plus Linux has tools for it if you feel like messing with the MFD. But it otherwise works out of the box.

https://github.com/nirenjan/x52pro-linux [External Link] for the x52 Pro MFD user space driver!

It's also already packaged in Debian.

apt search x52    
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
libx52pro-dev/stable,unstable 0.1.1-2.3+b1 amd64
  MFD and LED library for Saitek X52pro joysticks - dev files

libx52pro0/stable,unstable 0.1.1-2.3+b1 amd64
  MFD and LED library for  Saitek x52pro joysticks

It's packaged in Ubuntu too and I had a lot of fun with x52output changing the display, but have you guys ever played a game which supported the display, like, sending messages to it or changing the leds?

Of course it is, Ubuntu is just a fork of Debian :p
I haven't seen any actual games support the x52output program for updating the display. There isn't anything in the repositories that suggests/depends on the package as far as I can see.

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Quoting: dreamer_

Quoting: HadBabitsI'm no expert in old point-and-click adventures, but I'm guessing the name's a cute reference [External Link] :)

:)

Quoting: eldakingI think it is really crazy that the Steam client can now support "compatibility tools" in general. Sure, Proton is the biggest and most important... but we can also have DOSBox and ScummVM, apparently. What next?

Luxtorpeda [External Link], for native Linux ports of games :) It's in a pre-release state, but you can already test it.

Quoting: eldakingEmulators for old-ish consoles?

I think RetroArch will take care of that, once it will be released on Steam in few months or so…

Quoting: eldakingSome Android compatibility layer to play mobile games?

I don't know if there are any games on Steam that could use such kind of emulation. If you know any, please list them on https://github.com/dreamer/luxtorpeda/wiki/Game-engines [External Link]

Quoting: eldakingWSL2 so we can run Linux games on Windows? :P

Compatibility tools are Linux-only thing now. In this way, Linux as a gaming platform is already better than Windows or OSX ;).

Quoting: slaapliedjeI highly recommend one, though I think I like the SC88-pro better. Also works with DosBox, though I haven't tried that many through Boxtron, I will say Doom + MIDI sounds AMAZING!

Boxtron caters to this use-case by automatically detecting hardware configuration (so you don't need to manually edit DOSBox config to update Alsa sequencer port number), pre-configurig known games to use MIDI instead of SoundBlaster emulation (so there's no need to hunt programs like SETSOUND.EXE) and running software MIDI synthesiser if there's no hardware option. Hopefully, HW auto-detection will work for your MIDI setup - but if it won't, then ping me!

Will do, if I can ever get away from work this weekend, I'll do some testing!

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Quoting: Dunc

Quoting: slaapliedjeJust as an aside to this, I've been working on seeing how many things I can pipe through my Roland SC-88 Pro or Roland MT-32 (I have the older model that lacks headphone jacks). ScummVM sounds wonderful using them (depending of course if the game supports MIDI output).

I highly recommend one, though I think I like the SC88-pro better. Also works with DosBox, though I haven't tried that many through Boxtron, I will say Doom + MIDI sounds AMAZING!

I don't have anything like that myself, but my brother has a collection of hardware synths (which he normally sequences on an Amiga 1200, believe it or not*), and I've often been tempted to try out some DOS games with it. With some tweaking of patches and routing through his effects boxes, it could probably sound absolutely insane.

*And I really need to get around to helping him with some sort of backup solution, because he's still running it off my old 2.5" hard drive from 20 years ago. Yes, I know, believe me. It gives me nightmares.

Ha, friend of mine was saying he just got a ide->microSD adapter for his A1200. Was going to help him out with it one of these weekends, as his previous hard drive died and I have all the things for my A4000 / A500+ with Vampire.

I started getting some MIDI recording devices, but haven't gotten everything yet. I will say if you're going to hook it up to a modern computer, get a Roland brand USB->MIDI. I got some clone, and it caused all sorts of weird noise on my USB bus.

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Quoting: eldakingI think it is really crazy that the Steam client can now support "compatibility tools" in general. Sure, Proton is the biggest and most important... but we can also have DOSBox and ScummVM, apparently. What next? Emulators for old-ish consoles? Some Android compatibility layer to play mobile games? WSL2 so we can run Linux games on Windows? :P

If GOG Galaxy 2 makes any progress on their proposal of interoperability between launchers/stores/platforms and Steam goes far enough in this, plus Microsoft bringing their stuff to other stores and Sony being more open to non-exclusives and also platforms like Lutris ever improving... we could be looking at some really exciting developments for gaming. Going on the opposite direction from "streaming" and exclusivity and other restrictive policies that prevent people from running software as they want.

What I think would be interesting, if we had the sort of idea to going old-school again in the way games were launched. If you think about from the 8bit computers up to before hard drives were common, we didn't need to bother with the OS at all, and just put in a floppy/cartridge, and the game launched. Let's say we did the same thing with VMs (basically how ScummVM works, it's a native interpreter for the engine, sort of like how java is a virtual machine for executing code.) If a game were just a VM, you could have a universal binary of sorts (most hypervisor tech at this point has some sort of compatibility between them). Granted this would eliminate macOS because Apple still hasn't made available to end users their virtualization bits.

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Just as an aside to this, I've been working on seeing how many things I can pipe through my Roland SC-88 Pro or Roland MT-32 (I have the older model that lacks headphone jacks). ScummVM sounds wonderful using them (depending of course if the game supports MIDI output).

I highly recommend one, though I think I like the SC88-pro better. Also works with DosBox, though I haven't tried that many through Boxtron, I will say Doom + MIDI sounds AMAZING!

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Quoting: SirLootALotI don't get Linux consoles. They have none of the benefits of consoles (exclusives), none of the benefits of PCs (modularity) and none of the benefits of Linux (openness). Just as bad of an Idea as the Atari VCS.

It'd still have the openness of Linux, since it seems you can install whatever OS you want? Well maybe on the Smach Z.

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