Current state of Linux in the BYOAC world

[RobotNinjaTim]

I plan on starting my first cab soon and I have been reading a lot of materials, here and other locations.  The year is 2010 and many of the threads here are several years old at this point and I just wanted to collect some more information about the current state of Linux in arcades.  Linux obviously has an attractive price for newcomers to the hobby, but how does it really compare to a simple Windows setup these days?

I was hoping that this thread might be able to be used as a little reference for people considering Linux as an operating system for their box.  I was interested in learning the CURRENT capabilities of Linux with hardware and software.

To start things off:

AdvanceMame seems to be the emulator of choice.  SDLMAME seems to be the emulator of choice.
There are a handful of front ends these days that support Linux as well, AdvanceMenu for example.
Not that I am trying to promote the Advance products, they just seem to be readily available and easy to use for Linux.  I have no clue how they actually perform.
Is there any jukebox software out there that works with Linux?

In terms of hardware, it appears that there are several encoders that have Linux support  these days.  And of course, Linux can handle almost any hardware you have in the actual PC with the proper drivers (notice that I said ALMOST).  One thing I did see that does not have Linux support is the Arcade VGA from Ultimarc.  However many of the other encoder products from Ultimarc do have Linux support.

That is all the basic stuff I have for now.  Please add more to the thread, and feel free to comment on things I have already listed.  Let us know what does and doesn't work and what you can and cannot do on Linux.

[Blanka]

AdvanceMame seems to be the emulator of choice.

The last one is pretty old. I think SDL Mame is the Mame of choice for the X operating systems (Linux, Unix, OSX)

[RobotNinjaTim]

AdvanceMame seems to be the emulator of choice.

The last one is pretty old. I think SDL Mame is the Mame of choice for the X operating systems (Linux, Unix, OSX)

Good catch.  Thanks.

Link to SDLMAME.

[RobotNinjaTim]

And actually, reading more... like 2 threads down from this one SDLMAME is in regular mame?.  Hooray for integration!  Anyone have any insight?

[escher]

And actually, reading more... like 2 threads down from this one SDLMAME is in regular mame?.  Hooray for integration!  Anyone have any insight?

I just built it under Ubuntu 9.10 and it seems to be playing nicely for the most part (weird issue with keys, see my topic if you care).  Follow the instructions in another thread to install pulse audio, though, or you'll be stuck doing some hard resets.

[RobotNinjaTim]

I just built it under Ubuntu 9.10 and it seems to be playing nicely for the most part (weird issue with keys, see my topic if you care).  Follow the instructions in another thread to install pulse audio, though, or you'll be stuck doing some hard resets.

Here's a link to escher's post..  Thanks escher.  These are the kinds of things I'm looking for in this thread.  Things that may have worked on the Windows side but don't seem work in Linux... everything from OS details and emulators, to hardware and controls.  I'd like to know it all (maybe some other people would too).

[Quinny]

I am also starting out and trying to get Ubuntu and SDLMame to work with everything.

I think a popular front end is Wahcade, which works well for me.

I am stuck on getting LEDs to work though. I have a LedWiz and there is no support for it in Linux that I can see. I am a Linux newby but I am considering writing code that will get it to work. If you are comparing to Windows, Linux doesn't have something great like Ledblinky and mamehooker.

Also, I use clrmamepro (with WINE) for ROM management and that works fine.