Console_Debugger ignoring keyboard inputs?

Hi. Thanks for the great work with FS-UAE! I had been using WinUAE for retro gaming until I stumbled across a few FS-UAE Megapaket downloads on mightandmagicworld.de.

I've enjoyed FS-UAE, but I'm using WinUAE for the debugger because my FS-UAE debugger doesn't seem to recognize my keyboard inputs. I must be doing something obviously very wrong, because your other users on these forums don't seem to have any problems using the debugger.

TL/DR:
Both the installed and the portable versions of FS-UAE 2.8.3 and 2.9.3, and the portable version of FS-UAE 2.9.5dev, work great for my retro games.
I am able to launch the debugger in the console window, but it seems impervious to my input.
I can continue to play games with no adverse effects, but can't seem to influence the debugger. This appears consistent to me whether portable or installed, whether 2.9.3, or 2.9.5dev, and whether running Fate or Amberstar retro games.


My system is a several-year-old HP Pavilion 64-bit laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.

Here's a quick summary of my issue:

I can bring up the debugger in the console window, but it doesn't seem to respond to any user inputs.

I launch FS-UAE 2.9.3 from Windows' cmd.exe with this line:
fs-uae.exe "C:\Megapaket-Amberstar\Amiga Version\Configurations\02_Amberstar - English Version (1.96).fs-uae"

That configuration file is fairly simple, as follows:
# FS-UAE configuration saved by FS-UAE Launcher
# Last saved: 2016-09-18 15:46:43
[fs-uae]
amiga_model = A1200
chip_memory = 1024
fast_memory = 8192
floppy_drive_0 = C:/Megapaket-Amberstar/Amiga Version/Workbench/Workbench31 - install31.adf
hard_drive_1 = C:/Megapaket-Amberstar/Amiga Version/Amberstar Englische Version/Amberstar
kickstart_file = C:/Megapaket-Amberstar/Amiga Version/Kickstarts/kick3.1.ROM
slow_memory = 1536
mouse_speed = 40
fullscreen = 1
console_debugger = 1

The game launches & plays well.

I launch the console debugger by pressing either F12 & D or F11 & D.

The Amiga display flashes "ACTIVATED DEBUGGER" in the lower left.

The Windows' console displays this line:
WARNING: Activated debugger
-- stub -- activate_console
This is followed by a standard debugger display of registers, current command, and Next PC.

Now I want to see a list of valid debugger commands by typing ? or /? followed by enter. However, these (and other keys) appear to have no effect on the cmd window.

I ensure the cmd window is the currently active window by clicking on it with the mouse.

I try toggling F12 & G a few times to "release or acquire the input grab" if needed. No effect.

With the console window active, I try a variety of inputs such as F12 & other keys, ALT & other keys, CTRL & other keys, WIN & other keys, etc. No effect.

I open Notepad & stuff a few characters into the clipboard, then right click on the cmd.exe window and select paste. The window displays no effect.

Next, I download and run FS-UAE 2.9.5dev portable variant, and execute from my 2.9.5dev directory using the same command line and configuration file.

Same attempts. Same results.

Next, I think, maybe the Amberstar game is at fault, so I queue up Fate-Gates of Dawn on FS-UAE 2.9.3 using a similar command line and configuration file, but pointing to Fate.

Same attempts. Same result.

Next, I check the log files. First, I delete the 2.9.3 log file, then re-run Amberstar from the command line, initiate the debugger, fail to influence it, and then quit FS-UAE through F12 & Q. I don't see anything obvious from the log file, but since it's 60 KB, I could be missing something...

Summarizing:
Both the installed and the portable versions of FS-UAE 2.9.3, and the portable version of FS-UAE 2.9.5dev, work great for my retro games.
I am able to launch the debugger in the console window, but it seems impervious to my input.
I can continue to play games with no adverse effects, but can't seem to influence the debugger. This appears consistent to me whether portable or installed, whether 2.9.3 or 2.9.5dev, and whether running Fate or Amberstar.

Hopefully I've missed something obvious.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that whenever FS-UAE starts (whether 2.8.3, 2.9.3, or 2.9.5dev) the screen flashes crazily, taking about one screen snapshot a second until I press F12 & F. This is a separate issue that I wouldn't mention here, but I suppose it's possible that this could have some bearing on my problem with the console debugger. I haven't tried 2.8.3 with the debugger, because when I first had this screenshot issue, I upgraded to 2.9.3, and although the screenshotting wasn't resolved, I haven't gone back to 2.8.3.

Whether or not the debugger works, FS-UAE is a great program -- thanks again for all the amazing effort!

I'm not sure that my expectations or understanding of the debugger window are correct.

Once the console lists the registers, I have expected that the console window is the debugger. I have switched focus to the console window and tried to enter commands. The console window is then unresponsive. I've tried F12-G from the console window and from the FS-UAE window to no effect. I've also tried entering characters when FS-UAE is active. Whatever is running in FS-UAE window is responsive to the characters, but the console is not.

With WinUAE, once the debugger is active, the WinUAE window freezes until you enter "g" in the debugger.

I notice that when the FS-UAE debugger is launched in the console with F12-D or F11-D, the FS-UAE window continues executing normally. Does this tell us anything? The debugger does appear to have been initiated because registers are now listed in the console, but FS-UAE is not frozen, and the console is unresponsive to keyboard input.

Today I launched FS-UAE Windows Powershell instead of cmd.exe. In Powershell, once the debugger is activated, the register display appears and then a prompt is presented (the ">" sign). This was unresponsive to inputs in the FS-UAE windows, which continued executing normally. When changing focus to the console window and entering "c" followed by enter, the console window gave a windows response indicating "c" is an unknown command. So, I'm still guessing and not succeeding.

I think it's clear that I simply do not know what to expect. Is there a document or web page that steps through activating and using the FS-UAE debugger?

Thanks!

[Genlock]

Hello Rangerous
Iam Quite new to the Fs-uae ,and the debugger but i did come across this
http://lallafa.de/blog/2013/06/added...uaes-debugger/

while searching for data on the Rpi3 ,I hope something is usefull for you,as I dont know what you wish to enter into the Debugger or what commands you expect to work ?

Good Luck !

Originally Posted by Genlock

i did come across this
http://lallafa.de/blog/2013/06/added...uaes-debugger/

Thanks, that was a great reference!

Even though LAFALLA uses a Mac and I use Windoze, I can see that my config file and launch command are very similar to his. Once I pressed F11-D, my console window launched a debug display that was also very similar to his. However, two things were different:
1) My FS-UAE Amiga emulation window did not freeze, and
2) my console was unresponsive to keyboard inputs.

For my Windoze machine, this experience was true across 2.9.3 installed, 2.9.3 portable, and 2.9.5dev portable versions.

Originally Posted by Genlock

I dont know what you wish to enter into the Debugger or what commands you expect to work ?

Initially, I'd be happy if I could execute a few of the very simple debugger commands, such as "c" to dump the state of the CIA, disk drives, and custom registers, or "r" to dump the state of the CPU, or "t" to step through the next instruction.

Originally Posted by Genlock

Good Luck !

Thanks, now that I have a better understanding of how this should work normally, I'll keep troubleshooting and see if I can figure this out. Thanks so much for that reference!

[FrodeSolheim]

Hi, it is possible it does not actually work on Windows (as it is now), due to differences in terminal handling between Windows and *Nix. I've only tested the console debugger on Linux. It might be fixable, but most likely it is not something you can figure out. By the sounds of it, development is needed...

Hi. Thanks for the incredible work on FS-UAE -- it's amazing!

I think you're probably right; I've gone as far back as 2.8.3 without any luck.

There are plenty of alternatives:

1) I haven't done it on this PC, but have been thinking about setting up dual boot into CentOS, which could provide a workable FS-UAE alternative.

2) WinUAE's graphical debugger still works very nicely.

With those alternatives, it seems reasonable that this issue should be pretty low on the priority list. Should I bother to file a bug report? Does such a database exist?

I'm not sure why, since it seems they're sharing a lot of the same code, but since I stumbled across FS-UAE, I've preferred it to WinUAE because I've felt that it's easier to get things working (simple config files are really nice), and also (can this impression be real?) I feel that the display looks better.

So, thanks for the quick response, and also thanks again for this really great emulation tool!