b-em icon indicating copy to clipboard operation
b-em copied to clipboard

Porting b-em to libretro?

Open jeremyrayner opened this issue 4 years ago • 20 comments

Hiya, After seeing kilog have success with stripping down b-em to the essentials for the Raspberry Pi Pico ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFlgZitnUpc ) and the latest Pi Zero 2 W, it shows us that even the most basic handheld/pi could run a version of b-em with excellent results.

With so many 'classic micro' collections being made today, with easy to use menus and many different hardware platforms, the Beeb appears to be left behind for the 'general public (at least those who play emulators)', and at the root of this, I think it might be because no Beeb emulator that I know about has interfaced closely with the 'libretro' APIs that seem to be quite successful out in the wild.

Has anybody looked at already or would be interested in porting a version of b-em over to use the libretro API, which provides a lightweight abstraction of the graphics, audio etc. The details on what changes would be required are here https://docs.libretro.com/development/cores/developing-cores/#libretro-api

It would be so wonderful to have something like this, as it would open up b-em to be able to run within many mainstream emulator collections. Thanks for your time

Cheers Jez (aka j6wbs on stardot)

jeremyrayner avatar Nov 06 '21 19:11 jeremyrayner

The libretro team seem to be engaging with the idea of bringing the Beeb to use libretro and I think they would be responsive if you need to ask any questions about the API at https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/13108

jeremyrayner avatar Nov 06 '21 19:11 jeremyrayner

Anyone had a chance to look at this yet?

SuperBadger77 avatar Nov 23 '21 08:11 SuperBadger77

I really hope something happens with this, I would love to be able play the BBC (well, Acorn Electron really...) games from my childhood via RetroArch.

jhob101 avatar Nov 25 '21 08:11 jhob101

Another raised hand here for a Libretro port :) please and thank you..

Ploggy avatar Nov 28 '21 12:11 Ploggy

Having just used version 8.0 of Recalbox - they now have BeebEm as a core: https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/emulators/computers/bbc-micro/beebem. Would this in any way help with the case for B-em to be used in RetroArch \ Libretro?

One of the contributors on RetroArch \ Libretro has raised concerns about the usage of a BBC Micro emulator due to the licensing - would you be able to give permission to them to use your emulator \ core?

SuperBadger77 avatar Dec 05 '21 20:12 SuperBadger77

Does anyone have links where other emulators have been ported to retroarch, I think it's definitely a little work.

Alternately, can we put together some sort of bounty for the work somehow?

stuaxo avatar May 18 '24 18:05 stuaxo

Does anyone have links where other emulators have been ported to retroarch, I think it's definitely a little work.

Alternately, can we put together some sort of bounty for the work somehow?

There are guides on the retroarch and libretto websites on how to create cores and examples.

I would happily put towards a bounty to get this done. Putting a bounty on it is something I’ve thought about in the past, but had no idea how or where the best place to do it from was. Any ideas?

SuperBadger77 avatar May 18 '24 22:05 SuperBadger77

Does anyone have links where other emulators have been ported to retroarch, I think it's definitely a little work.

Alternately, can we put together some sort of bounty for the work somehow?

https://www.libretro.com/index.php/develop/

https://web.archive.org/web/20160604104308/https://beardypig.github.io/2016/01/22/emulator-build-along-2/

SuperBadger77 avatar May 19 '24 13:05 SuperBadger77

Does anyone have links where other emulators have been ported to retroarch, I think it's definitely a little work.

Alternately, can we put together some sort of bounty for the work somehow?

Just found out they do have a bounty page: https://forums.libretro.com/c/bounty-discussion

I might create one for BBC - interested in contributing?

SuperBadger77 avatar May 30 '24 06:05 SuperBadger77

Sounds good, how does it work (the donation part and also paying out, if for instance multiple people contribute ?

stuaxo avatar Jun 02 '24 16:06 stuaxo

Sounds good, how does it work (the donation part and also paying out, if for instance multiple people contribute ?

Not sure yet. I'll raise it on the Lib Retro forum, but I think you also post the actual bounty on https://bountysource.com/ I'll try to get round to posting it tomorrow and report back - if other people can add to my bounty that would be great. I think there would be 1 or 2 others interested in contributing (maybe). Will keep you posted.

SuperBadger77 avatar Jun 02 '24 20:06 SuperBadger77

Dont use Bounty Source they will likely keep your donations. :/

Ploggy avatar Jun 02 '24 20:06 Ploggy

Added a bounty: https://forums.libretro.com/t/bbc-micro-core-200-or-250/45215

SuperBadger77 avatar Jun 03 '24 15:06 SuperBadger77

Dont use Bounty Source they will likely keep your donations. :/

Oh good to know - the site is down for me anyways at the moment. I'll see if my bounty discussion generates any interest, if it moves forwards will see how to officially set the bounty.

SuperBadger77 avatar Jun 03 '24 15:06 SuperBadger77

Once we work out the details (or if it gets implemented), I can put in £50 - not loads, but something.

stuaxo avatar Jun 03 '24 16:06 stuaxo

I’d pitch in 50 too.

sedgewulf avatar Jun 03 '24 16:06 sedgewulf

Dont use Bounty Source they will likely keep your donations. :/

Oh good to know - the site is down for me anyways at the moment. I'll see if my bounty discussion generates any interest, if it moves forwards will see how to officially set the bounty.

Yea, we setup a $470 Bounty for a WiiU PS1 Dynarec and its gone :(

Ploggy avatar Jun 03 '24 17:06 Ploggy

https://help.nextcloud.com/t/dont-use-bountysource-anymore/84943

Wow, so given the above I saw they have a timeout after which it looks like they just keep the money

If this was more widely known, why would anyone use bountysource.

There are all sorts of bugs that lie open for more than two years.

stuaxo avatar Jun 04 '24 08:06 stuaxo

https://help.nextcloud.com/t/dont-use-bountysource-anymore/84943

Wow, so given the above I saw they have a timeout after which it looks like they just keep the money

If this was more widely known, why would anyone use bountysource.

There are all sorts of bugs that lie open for more than two years.

That’s some shady behaviour. Keeping people’s money after a timeout.

SuperBadger77 avatar Jun 04 '24 08:06 SuperBadger77

We could try polar.sh, it's what SerenityOS uses.

We should read the terms though, I was fairly shocked that bountysource just keeps the money if nothing happens for two years.

https://help.nextcloud.com/t/dont-use-bountysource-anymore/84943

stuaxo avatar Jun 04 '24 10:06 stuaxo