Pass (host) UAE command line argument to AmigaDOS

[paraj]

Not a fully baked idea, and perhaps it's already possibly and I just don't know about it, but I think it would be convenient to be able easily "inject" some state from the command line into a system friendly environment.

Concretely it'd be nice if I could run say

winuae -config=whdload.uae -cmd="whdload sys:foo/bar.slave CUSTOM1=42" -G

and it would run the command after startup-sequence.Just being able to set an environment variable that could be picked up by s:user-startup would also be sufficient for this I think. (Both use cases are inspired by https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=117593).

Would also be useful if it something like that could work with

winuae64 -cfgparam=quickstart=A1200,0 -0 "%~dp0some.adf" -G

, i.e. you could add command line parameters and/or environment variables on the fly to "one off" launches.

Basically I have two different work flows that I'd ideally like to cover:
- HD based ("whdload development") with a single HD (folder) that covers many different things where I want to launch different stuff from host
- FD based ("trackloaded") - standalone stuff where I'm testing just one thing and just want a way of giving the tested program (launched as a "virtual floppy") a simple argument

[copse]

This is how I would try to do it if I had the need:

1. Go into WinUAE properties. Look in Hardware / Expansions and in the "Miscellaneous Expansions" section.
2. Check "bsdsocket.library".
3. For the Amiga side, write a simple telnet server that opens the bsdsocket.library and listens on a port and has two simple commands "blockuntilready" and "execute".
4. For the windows side, write a simple telnet client that connects to the given port and actions whatever.

A similar thread with external control requirements was here and Hannibal went with using the IPCTester.cpp code in the WinUAE repository. Searching for EVT in the WinUAE repo will find you the definition file with the events. Otherwise DBG for debugger commands.

[Seiya]

Originally Posted by paraj

Not a fully baked idea, and perhaps it's already possibly

you do exactly this with GameBase Amiga from 15 years

[paraj]

Originally Posted by Seiya

you do exactly this with GameBase Amiga from 15 years

That's a launcher for various games tough, right? I'm looking for something I can use while developing. (Clarification below).

Originally Posted by copse

This is how I would try to do it if I had the need:

1. Go into WinUAE properties. Look in Hardware / Expansions and in the "Miscellaneous Expansions" section.
2. Check "bsdsocket.library".
3. For the Amiga side, write a simple telnet server that opens the bsdsocket.library and listens on a port and has two simple commands "blockuntilready" and "execute".
4. For the windows side, write a simple telnet client that connects to the given port and actions whatever.

A similar thread with external control requirements was here and Hannibal went with using the IPCTester.cpp code in the WinUAE repository. Searching for EVT in the WinUAE repo will find you the definition file with the events. Otherwise DBG for debugger commands.

Thanks, that would indeed work (though I think it might be easier to use the serial port - at least for me), but my wish is for something simple and built-in that doesn't require extra tooling. It's obviously fine if not every wish is granted

To spell out the whdload use case, I have an emulated root directory with subdirectories containing whdload slaves in development. For each of those I have a SYS:Slave1/Source/Makefile that builds that slave and can launch WinUAE with the correct virtual emulated HD. In s:user-startup I have "cd SYS:slave1 : whdload slave1 <options>". This works fine, but when I switch to slave 2, I have to edit s:user-startup to launch slave2 instead (maybe changing options etc.). Thus some kind of command line argument to inject state would allow me to avoid the user-startup editing part every time I switch between them. Of course, there are other ways around it, like overwriting a common script with the makefile or something like that, so it's not like I'm out of options.

If it's something only I would have a use for it's obviously a bad idea for a feature.

[Seiya]

Originally Posted by paraj

That's a launcher for various games tough, right? I'm looking for something I can use while developing. (Clarification below).

understood.

[DisasterIncarna]

you can low-tech cheese something similar, just add a windows directory as an amiga drive, TEST: or something, and just have your startup-sequence do a RUN >NIL: Execute TEST:Script after LOADWB, maybe wrap it in an if exists statement, if such a script exists ittl get executed then gets deleted after execution, if not business as usual.

Just means you could make a quick dirty script outside of winuae before launch, yeah that wouldnt be "native" but that plus other things can work and do something similar.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by DisasterIncarna

you can low-tech cheese something similar, just add a windows directory as an amiga drive, TEST: or something, and just have your startup-sequence do a RUN >NIL: Execute TEST:Script after LOADWB, maybe wrap it in an if exists statement, if such a script exists ittl get executed then gets deleted after execution, if not business as usual.

Just means you could make a quick dirty script outside of winuae before launch, yeah that wouldnt be "native" but that plus other things can work and do something similar.

I had a similar idea until I read the second 'workflow':

Originally Posted by paraj

Basically I have two different work flows that I'd ideally like to cover:
- HD based ("whdload development") with a single HD (folder) that covers many different things where I want to launch different stuff from host
- FD based ("trackloaded") - standalone stuff where I'm testing just one thing and just want a way of giving the tested program (launched as a "virtual floppy") a simple argument

[paraj]

Yeah, one off scripts seem like the way to go. Second "workflow" is probably too niche anyway.

[TCD]

Toni might be able to answer if 'uae-configuration' could be 'abused' for this.

[paraj]

Originally Posted by TCD

Toni might be able to answer if 'uae-configuration' could be 'abused' for this.

Oh, yeah, something like that might be a good way to handle it.