All about the Vectrex

The bare board one is the only that was available for me, but that was the first release.
The cases should have their plans up for printing for those that need them.
I'm looking forward to having even more people to talk to about them!

Apparently there's three left!

It's an easy setup, for the baremetal stuff I've been using.
Just download the image from Vide Malban, flash it to your micro SD, stick the roms from a recent MAME in the relevant folders as well.
Stick the RPi0 onto the PiTrex, you have the time while waiting on the post to install the right header on the RPi0.
Turn on the Veccy and you should be straight into the PiTrex menu.
There might be some calibration via the setup menu but that's it.

The roms go in the folder zipped, no need for game specific folders
While Malban is taking a week or two of a break, others are continuing to work on improving the emulation and the controls.
Malban has some very interesting plans for the Pitrex.
There's an excellent chance that Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back will be coming to the format.
Not only that but we could see vector based titles, new ones, come to the device...
It's looking good!

I got the Megadrive to Vectrex adapter, it's not bad but not ideal, the NeoGeo control pad or arcade stick would be perfect

So, Malban just released a new update for the PiTrex Baremetal work he is doing,
And Battlezone looks amazing, and sounds great.
It is now playing on the single stick, as well as other configurations, and the sounds are inplemented, aside from the engine noise, which is coming in a later update.
But, I have to say, it plays very smoothly.
Here's a user playing it with a homemade overlay.
He's also using his own twin-stick.



Asteroids is still great, but even better now that he has implemented the explosion sounds using samples, it feels almost arcade perfect.
Only problem, I find, is that while movement, thrust and fire are all mapped to the controller buttons, as is right and proper, pressing button 1 and 4 together brings you to the dipswtich screen, which interrupts play, so I have to use the stick for movement instead... must message him about that.
Tempest also works beautifully, but sound isn't implemented just yet.
He has the rudiments of Star Wars on there, but I haven't the right "files" installed for that.
By all accounts it's just about playable but it is very flickery, he has some plans to improve the flicker and frame rate, to make it more playable but it will be as good as the arcade, still, getting it working in a playable state on a Vectrex is pretty amazing nevertheless!

Here's Malban playtesting his implementation, go to 4:45 or so for gameplay



I can imagine a custom overlay with the Cockpit and other colours on there, eventually.

Let me know how those of you with a PiTrex are getting along with the new update, the rest of you can just wish you had one!

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Really enjoying the latest update, Major Havoc is also playable apparently but havent found the correct roms yet, if you find working star wars files let me know please!

If you look for a old mame romset from around 2008 or before, it'll work, as the AAE emulator is from 2008.
I've tried Star Wars and it works, but the lines for the ships and other critical features are too faint to see in daylight

Vide Malban is after pouring cold water on the possibilities of BT and the baremetal approach to the PiTrex.
In fairness, while his approach has been the most user-friendly, the Raspian approach is still being developed and there will be more hope that this will integrate BT accessories into the system.
The problem with the Raspian approach is that, currently, it requires people to ssh into it to run games.
Now, this will hopefully change and it will end up being as simple as flashing an SD image, pre-built, to your card and put your games on there and that's it, but they aren't there as yet.

Malban has poured some cold water on hopes, pointing out that it really is only four or five people in active development on the system, that this is only in their spare time and this is going to limit ambition somewhat.
Also, it has to be said, Malban is pretty quick to speak his mind and that can appear quick... brisk and sharp, so there is no guarantee that he will remain a part of the scene, and his absence would be felt especially as he is the whole baremetal scene is his.

That said, even if he ceased development now, the current image is a spectacular success and is worth the price of admission as it stands.
I was playing Star Wars last night on the Pitrex and it looks amazing, despite its obvious early state.