UBEE512 Launcher

Why?

• ubee512 is an excellent Microbee emulator, covering all models and a wide range of peripherals
  • It has a myriad of options available through the settings files and command line parameters (described in its readme)
  • Due to copyright issues, it doesn't ship with all the required files (ROMS/disks - covered in its readme)
• ubee512launcher checks the files in the uBee512 installation against the selected options in ubee512launcher, and highlights missing files (required files raised as error, optional as warning)
• ubee512Launcher allows inexperienced users (me) to easily view, configure and select the available emulated systems
• And yes, it's also for users (again, me) who are more comfortable with UI than command line

Release v0.5beta

• Big release:
  • Added GPL licenses to uBee512Launcher, LGPL to IM_units.lpk
  • Framework for core functionality now in, and checks/options for Disk based models mostly complete
  • Virtually nothing for ROM based models implemented (and won't until 0.6beta release)
  • Framework shouldn't need much tweaking to accomodate (famous last words)
  • Sigh, actual functionality implies bugs. Keep your eyes open, and please report...
• Framework for Validators added (See section on Validation Rules below)
  • Disk Alias Validator added (finished)
  • Installation Validator added (charrom.bin/rom1.bin checks. Settings & Alias file checks. Not sure what else to check, but this got me thinking about adding Installation Aids)
  • Definition Validator refined (Decent checks on SRAM, Disks, Tapes. NOTHING on ROMs, PAKs, HDDs or IDEs)
  • Microbee Model Validator added (Only checks default boot disks for Disk Models. No checks for boot ROMs for IC models)
  • Settings Validator checks the values currently selected in the UI and the default values from Definitions/Models, and makes sure we'll get a valid result
• Added "Disk Alias" dialog (Add/Delete Alias, Edit Alias name. Assign disk/clear assignment for Alias. Display validator checks)
• Integrate "disks.alias" updates into Disk Explorer (Assign disk to existing Alias, Clear existing Alias)
• Add Display options (monitor, opengl/sdl)
• UI has again been reworked several times.
  • Changed Disk A/B/C selection in main form:
  • Can use dialog to select a file/folder from the filesystem
  • or choose a valid disk alias from the dropdown
  • Issues found by Validators now being displayed in assorted locations across UI
  • Now displaying Issues using HTML

Whats new (Trunk)

Known Issues

• uBee512Launcher Validator gets confused if UI has Disk A populated AND selected definition also has Disk A defined through -a
  • (reproducable with [ciab] definition)
  • [ciab] has a -a disk set (ciab.ss80). This is best resolved with disks.alias.

Notes on implementation

• Only allows bootable DSKs to be loaded in A: (only checks DSKs for bootability)
• Has a "File Preview": for now, either shows contents of text files, or files inside a DSK (you need to load the patched CPMTools using "File" - "Settings" for the DSK listing to work)
• Contents of DSK listed using either original CPMtools or patched CPMTools (allows for Microbee specific formats)
• Parses ubee512rc to build up System Definitions, uses these in Main Form & Definitions Explorer
• I know there looks like a lot of Definitions in ubee512rc sample. Err, I'm currently filtering out about half - the ones I haven't researched
• Signficant testing under macOS/Cocoa. Bugger - Cocoa framework not fully implemented in LCL, so some workarounds for known issues with TComboBox and TListView
• Minor testing under Ubuntu/GTK2. Same lack of full feature for TListView as Cocoa, so workaround there also worked here
• Most dev work & testing done on Windows 11

Implemented Validation Rules

• Results of Validation checks visible several locations around the UI (still to add "Issues" dialog)
• ubee512 Installation checks
  • Does charrom.bin & rom1.bin exist? (Error flag if not)
  • Does "ubee512rc" exist? (Error flag if not)
  • Does "disks.alias" and "roms.alias" exist? (Warning flag if not)
• Settings checks
  • Is a valid microbee Model selected? (Error flag if not)
  • For Disk Models:
  • Following disk checks are done in the following order:
    • Disk defined in Definition?
    • Disk defined in UI?
    • Default boot disk for Microbee Model (ie p64.dsk)?
    • Default boot disk (boot.dsk)?
  • Is there a valid Disk A? (Error flag if not, Info flag if there is)
    • Can we deduce format for disk A? (Warning flag if not)
  • Is there a valid Disk B? (Info flag if so, nothing if there isn't)
    • Can we deduce format for disk B? (Warning flag if not)
    • Does Format A match Format B (Warning flag if not)
  • Is there a valid Disk C? (Info flag if so)
    • Can we deduce format for disk C? (Warning flag if not)
    • Does Format A match Format C (Warning flag if not)
  • Raise an addition error if no disks selected at all...
• Microbee Model checks
  • For each Disk Model:
  • Does a boot disk exist? (model.dsk, or boot.dsk) (Warning flag if not)
  • Does a boot disk alias exist? (Warning flag if alias exists, but not defined)
  • Is Boot Disk readonly? (Error flag is so)
• "disk.alias" checks:
  • Does the alias have a lookup filename? (warning flag if not)
  • Does the lookup filename exist? (error flag if not)
• uBee512rc Definition checks:
  • For disks assigned to A, B or C:
  • If absolute filename, does disk exist? (Error flag if not)
  • If relative filename:
    • does disk exist in ubee512 working directory "disks" subfolder? (no flag if it does)
    • If not: Does entry exist in "disks.alias"? (info flag if it does)
    • Is "disks.alias" entry valid? (checks both absolute and relative file paths). (Flag escalated to Error if not)
  • For --sram-file, --ide-a0, --tapei, --tapeo entries: Does file exist? (checks absolute filenames or looks in correct subfolder if relative) (Error Flag if not)
• You may notice from the above that some checks are duplicated:
  • This is by design to assist end user diagnosis
  • Sigh. Likely to be the most common source of bugs as a consequence

TODO

Medium term (not until 0.6beta or higher)

• Implement --account (if rc file not in expected location)
• Add Installation Aids (copy *.sample files to appropriate locations. HTML summary of Repository Locations/ettiquette. Display Validator results)
• Add "Issues" pane to summarise ALL issues
• Add awareness of RunCPM folder structure
• Add awareness of roms.alias + native md5 (before doing the below)
• Add boot ROM checks to TModelValidator
• Add support for PAKx (inc Validator)
• Add support for HDDx (inc Validator)
• Add support for IDEx (inc Validator)
• Add support for non libdsk file formats (this might not be a goal anymore - I hadn't realised ubee512 was so good at detecting disk format)
• Continue to add support for working with DSK files prior to running in a CP/M system
  • Create blank DSK
  • DSK To/From folder (inc To/From RunCPM folder)
• Add direct support for the zip file structure pioneered by @ChickenMan for both MSPP repository and Microbee Technology repository
  • Display embedded ReadMe in the Preview Pane
  • Implement a "Mount ZIP" that extracts the DSK, then actually mounts that DSK in the CP/M system
• Add support for Microbee Peripherals (Beetalker etc)
• Add support for UBEEDISK tools (to be honest, this means learning them first)
• I keep thinking about adding ability for users to define their own System Definitions (by first copying an existing).
• (Library): Write a CommandLine+Params_As_String to CommandLine+Array_of_Param
• Expand roms.alias to a full UI - offering ability to QC/add/edit/delete entries

Long Term

(dreamer! you're nothing but a dreamer)

• Investigate automating a running instance of UBEE512 (allow dynamic changing of disks)

Development Notes

• Developed under Windows 11, Ubuntu & macOS using Lazarus Trunk (3.99) / fpc 3.2.2 / 64bit
• Due to changes in TurboPowerHTML rendering only use Lazarus Trunk for compiling releases
• Uses a OO framework I developed while freelancing as "Inspector Mike"
  • There's some code tidy-up pending, this framework was developed during Lazarus & fpc early days (2009 to 2014)
  • Both projects have since moved on, leaving me with some now redundant routines

Distribution

• UBEE512, UBEEDISK, patched CPMTools, original CPMTools & RunCPM are NOT distributed with this application. You'll have to download these separetely (see Acknowledgements)
• The app will look for these on your environment path. If they're not on the path, you'll need to open "File" - "Settings" and set the appropriate paths manually

Screenshots

Build Notes

• This project requires the IM_units.lpk (Lazarus Package) from https://github.com/mikecornflake/InspectorMike-common
  • Clone InspectorMike-common
  • Install LazSerial (either use Lazarus Online Package Manager, or clone https://github.com/JurassicPork/TLazSerial)
  • not needed for uBee512Launcher, but is needed for IM_units.lpk)
  • In Lazarus: "Project" "Open"
  • Select "uBee512Launcher.lpr"
  • Then "Package" "Open Package File (.lpk)"
  • Select "InspectorMike-common\Packages\IM_units.lpk"
  • click on "Compile",
  • Then "Use" - "Add to Project" (or "Use" - "Install")
  • You should now be able to compile "uBeeLauncher.lpr"

Acknowledgements

• Microbee Technologies (http://www.microbeetechnology.com.au/) is the copyright holder for the Microbee systems
  • I strongly recommend their keyboard replacement kits which resolves long standing issues with the aging originals (neither a paid endorsement, nor anything to do with emulators or their launchers)
• Many thanks to all users who created tools, disk/ROM images and documentation:
  • User @uBee on the MSPP forum (https://www.microbee-mspp.org.au/forum/) is to be congratulated. @uBee has developed a very flexible Microbee emulator that is able to emulate all Microbee flavours and is configurable via the rc file and the command line
  • User @Chickenman on the Microbee Technology forum (https://microbeetechnology.com.au/forum/) also deserves praise. @Chickenman is a dedicated and active Archivist, current curator of the Microbee Technology repository and past curator of the MSPP repository. @Chickenman is also active across several other projects, including https://archive.org/details/@chickenman
• UBEE512, UBEEDISK & patch for CPMTools developed by user @uBee
• UBEE512, UBEEDISK & patched CPMtools (2.1) can be obtained from the MSPP repository: https://www.microbee-mspp.org.au/repository/
• Original CPMTools (2.23) can be obtained from: http://www.moria.de/~michael/cpmtools/. This doesn't support most Microbee disk formats
• Where the above tools access DSK files, they do so using libdsk either directly (CPMTools) or optionally (UBEE512) : https://www.seasip.info/Unix/LibDsk/
• UBEE512 has been forked (there was limited support for MacOS), and ongoing development & friendly support is happening in this discord: https://discord.gg/2rBya9Hh
• RunCPM can be obtained from: https://github.com/MockbaTheBorg/RunCPM
• Prebuilt Lazarus/fpc can be obtained from: https://sourceforge.net/projects/lazarus/files/
• But really - you know you want to compile Lazarus trunk: https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus
• And finally - a massive shout out to everyone on the Lazarus forums and mailing lists. Very helpful and knowledgable, the lot of them: https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php

Licenses

• ubee512launcher binaries and source code are released under GPL 3.0
• ubee512launcher uses:
  • Libraries and code supplied by the freepascal project (FCL, RTL) & the Lazarus project (LCL) under a modified Library GPL with linking exceptions
  • IM_units package which is released under GPL 3.0
  • IM_units package contains third party packages released under seperate licenses. Most third party packages are not used by ubee512launcher, the exception is:
  • TurbopowerIPro (distributed with Lazarus and used for HTML rendering) - this is released under MPL 1.1 (Mozilla Public License Version 1.1)

Mike Thompson mike.cornflake@gmail.com

• Project start 2 Jan 2024
• Updated 10 Feb 2024