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Author Topic: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install  (Read 140533 times)

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tikbalang

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #40 on: March 06, 2011, 09:40:05 am »
(i didn't notice your update today, i have LiveCD32-Full-1.495-a4effa2 as i was typing this.)

hello. i'm an advancemame (DOS) user with limited experience with linux. i used to multiboot  winxp with slackware and/or ubuntu but recently prefer minimalist distros like slitaz, tinycore and puppy. i can multiboot several of them from my usbdisk using nomadic frugal installation. it's like several livecd's all in one.

i would still be using DOS for mame'ing but hardware drivers are the limiting factor. winxp or later is ok if one can shave off unneeded files and still get a workable system. tinyxp is perfect but it borders illegality. as i see it, linux is the perfect platform. it's just too daunting for most linux noobs.

allow me to share some insights which i hope will give some familiarity to most dos/win users.


1. this assures that all available partitions are searched for the loop filesystem

Code: [Select]

cdroot=/dev/sd[a-z][0-9]




2. add/fix support for fat32

i'm assuming fat32 is broken/missing because your ext2/usb was a success while my fat32/usb failed. there does not seem to be a module for it. fat32 is the common factor between linux and win users.


3. probably fix how CDROM is loaded?

this could another reason why the the loopfile can't be found. maybe the type needs to be auto and not fixed to iso9660. the idea is mentioned on this page (modifying initrd):

http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/HOWTO_LiveCD_on_disk


4. use SUBDIR parameter

looking at "/init" and "/etc/initrd.scripts" inside initrd, a "SUBDIR" parameter is mentioned. if this is similar to puppylinux's "PSUBDIR", this means that it can bs used as the starting point for searching for the squashfs file. this can be exploited so groovymame files will not clutter the partition root with files.


5. use 8.3 filenames

line #76 of "initrd.defaults" contain this:

Code: [Select]

LOOPS='/livecd.loop /zisofs /livecd.squashfs /image.squashfs /livecd.gcloop'


maybe you can add "/livecd.sfs" to the list. this allows DOS users to freely copy the entire groovy folder without fear of munging the long filenames. another file that may be important is "boot.catalog". in other distros, i see it as "boot.cat" only. initrd, vmlinuz, system.map are safe. the files under grub/ and memtest/ are not needed by dos users.


6. allow for manual installation

most 3rd party livecd cd-to-usb installer does not always work. some even fail to see the existing multiboot setup and some need to start from a clean partition. i think users should be allowed the choice to keep existing files while installing to an existing partition, whether testing or installing permanently.


altogether, i'm suggesting a simple unpack-and-go setup, to a single folder that can be easily deleted by the user if he decides it's not for him. the entire folder structure can even be copied and preserved (even in DOS, if not using LFN) to another disk if needed. usbdisks are my preferred medium now. i find them easier to copy files to, make bootable, and troubleshoot compared to CD/DVDroms.

sorry for rambling. i hope i explained myself well.

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #41 on: March 06, 2011, 11:03:54 am »
Thanks, all very interesting things I'll work on getting done, and look like the missing parts of how to get things working on usb boot device setups.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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kevinp

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #42 on: March 13, 2011, 09:13:06 pm »
This distro seems very promising but I found the partitioning very difficult to figure out.  Would be nice to have a one click setup just like every other modern release.

What is the recommended partition setup, approximate sizes, etc?  I can't get this thing to boot even when installing to MBR and having the first part marked as bootable... not getting it.

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #43 on: March 13, 2011, 10:44:03 pm »
This distro seems very promising but I found the partitioning very difficult to figure out.  Would be nice to have a one click setup just like every other modern release.

What is the recommended partition setup, approximate sizes, etc?  I can't get this thing to boot even when installing to MBR and having the first part marked as bootable... not getting it.
Yeah I plan on creating some kind of way to automatically create partitions if chosen from the free space.  Also the grub MBR thing is tricky, basically it works best to pick the same partition that was the root partition chosen to install to, although there's more testing I need to do and try to make that an automated decision.  Thanks for the feedback, I agree this part of the install is hard to understand properly if you aren't already a semi-advanced Linux user, which I would like to make and automatic option like you want to get past this one point in the install which definitely is the hardest part of setup. 
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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kevinp

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #44 on: March 13, 2011, 11:09:59 pm »
Thanks.. i'm pretty good with linux but I honestly havent done manual partitioning since i used Slackware in 1997.  I couldn't figure out how to set the MBR and have grub boot up... Don't mean to be unappreciative, just really want to try your package out..

kevinp

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #45 on: March 14, 2011, 11:48:43 pm »
Can you post an fdisk -l on what this should look like.. been trying to get grub MBR on for hours with no luck

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #46 on: March 15, 2011, 07:40:37 am »
Can you post an fdisk -l on what this should look like.. been trying to get grub MBR on for hours with no luck

Basically something like this, creating a swap partition (new partition, change to type 82) of 1 gig or double your RAM.   
creating the rest as a normal Linux partition, making sure to set it as bootable
installing to that partition, then choosing it (/dev/sda2) in the MBR menu (MBR menu should suggest the right one actually).

So you'll basically just have everything as the / drive using /dev/sda2, and /dev/sda1 as swap space (won't need a home or data/roms drive).  Of course the home/data/roms drives just have more /dev/sda3 and on using the same model as /dev/sda2 below but are not flagged as bootable.

Code: [Select]

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1                1          14      112423+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *           15         276     2104515   83  Linux

Hopefully that helps, might be the bootable flag?  I need to look at how the arch linux installer did the automatic setup, and try to get that functional in gasetup.  Hopefully will have time this week to do that.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
--
The Groovy Organization

kevinp

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #47 on: March 15, 2011, 05:09:50 pm »
Ok, I was going through each menu choice but I didn't realize that the extra partitions were not required...

I followed the instructions and now have

error: unknown filesystem.
grub rescue>

Can you post an fdisk -l on what this should look like.. been trying to get grub MBR on for hours with no luck

Basically something like this, creating a swap partition (new partition, change to type 82) of 1 gig or double your RAM.   
creating the rest as a normal Linux partition, making sure to set it as bootable
installing to that partition, then choosing it (/dev/sda2) in the MBR menu (MBR menu should suggest the right one actually).

So you'll basically just have everything as the / drive using /dev/sda2, and /dev/sda1 as swap space (won't need a home or data/roms drive).  Of course the home/data/roms drives just have more /dev/sda3 and on using the same model as /dev/sda2 below but are not flagged as bootable.

Code: [Select]

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1                1          14      112423+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *           15         276     2104515   83  Linux

Hopefully that helps, might be the bootable flag?  I need to look at how the arch linux installer did the automatic setup, and try to get that functional in gasetup.  Hopefully will have time this week to do that.


bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #48 on: March 15, 2011, 05:25:26 pm »
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

Try that, it might be a quick fix to grub for now.  I need to look into things more, one check also before rebooting after install would be to check and send me the contents of /groovyarcade/boot/grub.conf  (where the install mounts the / partition) and possibly of 'fdisk -l' too.

I think that disk claims to fix grub installations, it's worth a shot until I can figure out more, and possibly would see what is going on pretty quickly if your able to get those two fdisk and grub.conf output/file information.

This link seems like the right one for what we need...

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub-disk/
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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The Groovy Organization

kevinp

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #49 on: March 16, 2011, 12:58:38 am »
Hi,

My partition table looks exactly like yours including the bootable flag set.  GRUB seems to install without any complaint, yet I still get the same error.

Maybe I'll revisit this in a few versions but its waaay too complicated just to get booting for me.  Looks like back to Windows for now.

Thanks


http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

Try that, it might be a quick fix to grub for now.  I need to look into things more, one check also before rebooting after install would be to check and send me the contents of /groovyarcade/boot/grub.conf  (where the install mounts the / partition) and possibly of 'fdisk -l' too.

I think that disk claims to fix grub installations, it's worth a shot until I can figure out more, and possibly would see what is going on pretty quickly if your able to get those two fdisk and grub.conf output/file information.

This link seems like the right one for what we need...

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub-disk/

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #50 on: March 16, 2011, 01:02:35 am »
Hi,

My partition table looks exactly like yours including the bootable flag set.  GRUB seems to install without any complaint, yet I still get the same error.

Maybe I'll revisit this in a few versions but its waaay too complicated just to get booting for me.  Looks like back to Windows for now.

Thanks


http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

Try that, it might be a quick fix to grub for now.  I need to look into things more, one check also before rebooting after install would be to check and send me the contents of /groovyarcade/boot/grub.conf  (where the install mounts the / partition) and possibly of 'fdisk -l' too.

I think that disk claims to fix grub installations, it's worth a shot until I can figure out more, and possibly would see what is going on pretty quickly if your able to get those two fdisk and grub.conf output/file information.

This link seems like the right one for what we need...

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/super-grub-disk/

Sounds good, I'll work on making it more automatic and figure out more about what exactly is a failsafe grub setup, seems tricky and guessing there must be certain factors that get in the way even if things look the same.  I read about how possibly sometimes the systems bios requires a separate grub partition instead of using the main root / one, so just another possible issue going on.  The whole grub setup and partitioning has been probably the hardest part of making sure the setup is clean and reliable, seems for some reason it's hard to automate but since others do it must be some secret they are using.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
--
The Groovy Organization

kevinp

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #51 on: March 16, 2011, 01:50:58 am »
Thanks so much for your hard work and quick replies..  I think when this gets sorted out you will have a very very nice setup, especially for 64 bit users.  As good as Soft15khz works, I think that linux has a better future for a nearly embedded arcade setup.  I used to love the whole HyperSpin-esque razzle dazzle but I found that stuff to just  get in the way of playing the games.  May main interest now is a fast-booting, fast-running and reliable front end.

I'll be waiting anxiously =]

General_Faliure

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #52 on: March 18, 2011, 10:19:24 am »
I also have the grub problem.
I installed Opensuse on the second hard drive and Opensuse added groovymame to the grub menu, so i could give it a test run.
I could startup Wahcade and play a game, so far it works, i didn't have much time to play around with it.
It is a bit slow at starting up tough.
The hardware of the test system: athlon 64 3000, 1 gigabyte ram, ati 9600.
My cab runs on similar hardware, but starts up a lot faster.
I would like to know how to add more games, and maybe some more emulators, (like Daphne).
Is there also a file manager? mc didn't work.

Greetz, Ger.
My Arcade cab: https://goo.gl/photos/yE1KACHryQjCaaCj7
Core2 duo8400 @3.6 Ghz, 4Gb of mem, Geforce 9500.
Linux Mint 17.3 XFCE, Mame, Mess, Daphne FS-Uae, Mednafen and some more.
Mah!cade

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #53 on: March 19, 2011, 09:52:17 pm »
In the next 24 hours I'll I now have new ISO's up, they should fix the Grub issues, they should automate partition setup, and a few other fixes, they will have midnight commander file manager available from the setup menu.  So hopefully will be a big step in setup ease, really should be able to just run the 'Install' option and it'll do most everything for you now, no need to know about partition setup details anymore.

Also I now am including the LXDE Window manager which has a graphical file manager, and mplayer/ffmpeg plus gstreamer etc... Chromium, so it's more than an arcade system, it's a full on Multimedia Linux system too...

Code: [Select]
        - Midnight Commander file manager added and able to be entered through main menu.
         - Fixes for X Windows detection, xorg.conf only exists if created by setup, so
           we know if it needs to be setup by the user during install.
         - Automatic partition setup, can specify a disk drive and all partitions are setup
           magically for you, no need to worry about layout.
         - Automatic Grub setup, no longer need to do anything, it's done and done right
         - Updated SDL to re-read system modelines each time the listmodes is called
         - Updated to GroovyMame 008 with changeres support
         - Add wiimote init script by Ves

As soon as I get the ISO's built/uploaded, I'll post, should be version 1.515 release.  
« Last Edit: March 20, 2011, 06:31:46 am by bitbytebit »
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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ufoufo512

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #54 on: March 20, 2011, 11:21:23 am »
Great project! I really have longed for a replacement for AdvanceMame DOS that I have used until now.

I am using Pentium IV 2,4 GHz, Ati Radeon X800 Pro and an arcade monitor. I yesterday tried the older version 1.500 with the Voodoo3 and Matrox G400 I used to use with AdvanceMame DOS. Those cards didn't work. Fortunately I found an old Radeon which seems to work better. So far with the new version, I have been able to see LiveCD booting and AdvanceMenu in 15 KHz glory, but games themselves are using wrong garbled display mode.

I will keep tinkering with the software, I don't have a spare hard disk atm, but I will try to improvise with a USB stick.

I really hope this project will stay updated. I try to contribute something myself too. Bug reports and feature requests if nothing else.

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #55 on: March 20, 2011, 11:42:11 am »
Great project! I really have longed for a replacement for AdvanceMame DOS that I have used until now.

I am using Pentium IV 2,4 GHz, Ati Radeon X800 Pro and an arcade monitor. I yesterday tried the older version 1.500 with the Voodoo3 and Matrox G400 I used to use with AdvanceMame DOS. Those cards didn't work. Fortunately I found an old Radeon which seems to work better. So far with the new version, I have been able to see LiveCD booting and AdvanceMenu in 15 KHz glory, but games themselves are using wrong garbled display mode.

I will keep tinkering with the software, I don't have a spare hard disk atm, but I will try to improvise with a USB stick.

I really hope this project will stay updated. I try to contribute something myself too. Bug reports and feature requests if nothing else.

Possibly set the window manager to use fvwm or lxde, then from a terminal run groovymame <rom> -verbose -md 4    That output might show something interesting about the issue, I'm guessing it's a mismatch between monitor setting to groovymame and actual monitor.  See what monitor you've got set in mame.ini, check if it's the same as in switchres.conf since they should be the same.  What kind of arcade monitor is it, what khz and hz ranges can it do?  There's a 'cga' monitor option, a generic one, and h9110 one, all slightly different sections of the 15khz range from low-med-higher (or 15.2 - 16.5 or something).    Also trying `xrandr -q` in the terminal in fvwm/lxde might be interesting, double check you've got the right output as VGA-0 or DVI-0.  See  what mame.ini has for the connector, and if it's really the right connector, maybe even try the other connector on the card and bootup with that one.  One possibility is the mame.ini isn't getting setup properly with these settings.  If you're able to get logs from running groovymame in verbose mode, post them here if possible too. 

I must admit though the ATI X800 might be the issue, I have an X850 actually and I had issues with it getting 15khz properly in all modes, never was sure about if just my model (since it's a special Crossfire one). 
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
--
The Groovy Organization

ufoufo512

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #56 on: March 20, 2011, 12:01:23 pm »
Thanks for a quick reply. I will those things out. In the meantime, do you have info about the cards that should work easily? I can get a specific one for my cab, if needed. I have bunch of old ones I used to collect for AdvanceMame: Matrox, Ati (pre-Radeon), S3 and some Voodoo3 and nVidias for example, but I guess they are too old. To complicate things, the system I use uses AGP.

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #57 on: March 20, 2011, 12:15:30 pm »
Thanks for a quick reply. I will those things out. In the meantime, do you have info about the cards that should work easily? I can get a specific one for my cab, if needed. I have bunch of old ones I used to collect for AdvanceMame: Matrox, Ati (pre-Radeon), S3 and some Voodoo3 and nVidias for example, but I guess they are too old. To complicate things, the system I use uses AGP.
The ATI HD4xxx cards are good, ATI HD5xxx cards good but more risky, I have a hd4350 and hd5450 and both work great.  The AVGA3000 is good, I use one, get the bios bootup, the older AVGA 92x0 cards are good, and the ATI equivalents just as good but no bios bootup.  I would stay away from any of  the cards that start with X, seem to have issues.  The older HD2600 ATI cards work ok.  Cheapest of course is probably the HD4350 or HD5450 but I'm not fully certain of AGP options for those, but are the most well tested choices.

I'm guessing the older cards, or ones you have, mostly will not be able to do the 15khz resolutions.  One of my plans is to go through different video cards, look through the Linux kernel code for them, figure out what state they're in and if possible make them 15khz capable or at least document which ones can actually do the same as the ATI Radeon ones.  Unfortunately the ATI development for general modeline switching and vsync/page flipping is really ahead from what I can tell, but would really be nice if I discovered other drivers were there too and I just haven't realized it.  I might look into that more in the next few days, I'm curious now and sounds like a good thing, have been basically under the assumption everyone used an ATI card or Nvidia but the Nvidia ones with the nouvue driver are probably not "there" yet in supporting all we need to do 15khz modelines.  Also one other possible issue with an Nvidia card, or others, is that connector name needed in Groovymame.  It may need to be something odd like 'default' for those, using xrandr -q will show you what the driver decided to call the output connectors, and all the different brands have chosen different names unfortunately.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
--
The Groovy Organization

ufoufo512

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #58 on: March 20, 2011, 12:27:29 pm »
Thanks for the info. I will hunt down an ATI card. It really isn't a problem, just get a card that works and me done with it. I am so happy that I get the suitable software for my cabinet that supports new Mame version.

The monitor I am using is Wells Gardner K7000.

Specs:
Horizontal scan: 15.1 KHz - 16.8 KHz
Vertical scan: 47 Hz - 63 Hz

I have mostly used the 1. CGA, also tested the second fixed frequency CGA and H9110. I am also using JPAC which should not pass any frequencies much above and below 15 KHz, standard 31 KHz modes also show, but with double image. As far as I can tell the output for games looks like output with Advancemame when the video card was pressed to too low pixelclock value. So it might well be a problem with my video card.

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #59 on: March 20, 2011, 12:36:30 pm »
Thanks for the info. I will hunt down an ATI card. It really isn't a problem, just get a card that works and me done with it. I am so happy that I get the suitable software for my cabinet that supports new Mame version.

The monitor I am using is Wells Gardner K7000.

Specs:
Horizontal scan: 15.1 KHz - 16.8 KHz
Vertical scan: 47 Hz - 63 Hz

I have mostly used the 1. CGA, also tested the second fixed frequency CGA and H9110. I am also using JPAC which should not pass any frequencies much above and below 15 KHz, standard 31 KHz modes also show, but with double image. As far as I can tell the output for games looks like output with Advancemame when the video card was pressed to too low pixelclock value. So it might well be a problem with my video card.
Sounds good, excited to hear back your results, does sound like the video card, thanks for testing.
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Calamity

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #60 on: March 20, 2011, 02:17:28 pm »
As far as I can tell the output for games looks like output with Advancemame when the video card was pressed to too low pixelclock value. So it might well be a problem with my video card.

I've long been interested in knowing if the issue with low dotclocks that affects some ATI families (the X series, the HD3000 ones, etc.) was hardware related or just a software/driver thing. It's interesting than since HD4000 they don't have that problem anymore.

At some point, it could be interesting to add this "dotclockmin" feature I've been testing with VMMaker. So if the calculated dotclock of a given modeline turns out to be below some minimum value, say 7.00 MHz, then we'll double the horizontal resolution and recalculate the modeline (so 256x224 would become 512x224). Mame makes a great job scaling the game with no artifacts when the resolution is an integer multiple of the requested one, so the result is indistinguishable. This could be a good workaround for these rebel ATI models.
Important note: posts reporting GM issues without a log will be IGNORED.
Steps to create a log:
 - From command line, run: groovymame.exe -v romname >romname.txt
 - Attach resulting romname.txt file to your post, instead of pasting it.

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #61 on: March 21, 2011, 05:14:36 am »

At some point, it could be interesting to add this "dotclockmin" feature I've been testing with VMMaker. So if the calculated dotclock of a given modeline turns out to be below some minimum value, say 7.00 MHz, then we'll double the horizontal resolution and recalculate the modeline (so 256x224 would become 512x224). Mame makes a great job scaling the game with no artifacts when the resolution is an integer multiple of the requested one, so the result is indistinguishable. This could be a good workaround for these rebel ATI models.


Horizontal scaling by x2 would be a very good feature to have. I will get a ATI Radeon 9200 SE soon though. I found a spare hard drive yesterday evening and played some more with the software. Some observations:

* Can anyone recommend a (cheap) WLAN card that "just works"  ;D ? I tried 3 yesterday (2 PCI and 1 USB). One of them didn't get recognized at all and two others ended up with error messages when I did select them (RTNETLINK or something). I wasn't planning to network the cab, because I didn't have before, but now that it is possible, it would be great thing to have. Components are so crammed in the cab that remote maintanance would be great.

* I think I might get bluetooth (or other wireless) keyboard and mouse also for MESS and general configuration. Are there any compatibility issues I should know about?

* The image with Linux booting messages, the configuration menu and for Advmenu are too wide for my monitor. (I am using Wells Gardner K7000). There is no control for the image width in the monitor chassis, is it possible to adjust it in the software.

* I had quite a customized Advancemenu configuration before with the Advancemame. Mostly for the key mapping. I am planning to use it for the Groovy Arcade Linux also. Are there any settings that I shouldn't change on the default supplied configuration?

* With Advancemame DOS I used to shut down the cab by turning of the power from the cab, which in turn turned off the power from the computer. With DOS this was OK, I guess with Linux it isn't?

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #62 on: March 21, 2011, 05:30:30 am »

At some point, it could be interesting to add this "dotclockmin" feature I've been testing with VMMaker. So if the calculated dotclock of a given modeline turns out to be below some minimum value, say 7.00 MHz, then we'll double the horizontal resolution and recalculate the modeline (so 256x224 would become 512x224). Mame makes a great job scaling the game with no artifacts when the resolution is an integer multiple of the requested one, so the result is indistinguishable. This could be a good workaround for these rebel ATI models.


Horizontal scaling by x2 would be a very good feature to have. I will get a ATI Radeon 9200 SE soon though. I found a spare hard drive yesterday evening and played some more with the software. Some observations:

* Can anyone recommend a (cheap) WLAN card that "just works"  ;D ? I tried 3 yesterday (2 PCI and 1 USB). One of them didn't get recognized at all and two others ended up with error messages when I did select them (RTNETLINK or something). I wasn't planning to network the cab, because I didn't have before, but now that it is possible, it would be great thing to have. Components are so crammed in the cab that remote maintanance would be great.

* I think I might get bluetooth (or other wireless) keyboard and mouse also for MESS and general configuration. Are there any compatibility issues I should know about?

* The image with Linux booting messages, the configuration menu and for Advmenu are too wide for my monitor. (I am using Wells Gardner K7000). There is no control for the image width in the monitor chassis, is it possible to adjust it in the software.

* I had quite a customized Advancemenu configuration before with the Advancemame. Mostly for the key mapping. I am planning to use it for the Groovy Arcade Linux also. Are there any settings that I shouldn't change on the default supplied configuration?

* With Advancemame DOS I used to shut down the cab by turning of the power from the cab, which in turn turned off the power from the computer. With DOS this was OK, I guess with Linux it isn't?

Here's one database of compatible linux hardware, there are quite a few, just google for it and you should somewhat find information.  http://www.linuxcompatible.org/compatdb/lists/hardware_linux.html  Usually they just work, some don't but are usually cheaper ones or no names.  The 3com ones usually work, intel ones.

Blue tooth should be fine, it should work in theory out of the box if supported by Linux, I have blue tooth on mine to talk to a wii remote.

That's strange about the monitor, I didn't expect it to not fit  but I'm guessing that's one of those issues with certain arcade monitors.  Calamity might have more ideas on that, but I've been somewhat trying to keep the menus as small as possible in width, seems that's more important than I had thought.  So your monitor is horizontal, doing 640x480 interlaced, I 19" or smaller?   I just thought that would always work, very strange, but again Calamity probably has more insight into why and the technical ways possibly to adjust that.  I will need to think about that more.

Well mostly the advanced menu setup should just move over, there might be a few little changes to specify how the setup is but I'd try yours and then if doesn't work possibly do a `diff -ru old.config new.config` and see what that shows, that should give an idea hopefully what is different.  I think it'll be fine, but I'm not sure, or another way would be to go through your config, pick the things you know you changed and tweaked, and copy them to the new config and go from there.

Nope, you will not want to turn off Linux, although it is much more bullet proof than Windows with this, I mean you probably won't damage the system and most likely it'll always just take a long time to boot doing a disk repair since it is journaled and the system generally will not even lose data doing that.  Yet you don't want to, it is very risky, just not as risky as say turning off an XP system every day like that :).  Now you could, in theory with Linux, (and maybe Windows I guess) setup the off switch to trigger the reset button and have the reset button setup to send a ACPI signal to start an automatic shutdown of the system.  It can do that, I am not sure how I have the stuff setup but it's probably more possible in Linux than anywhere else to have the system respond to a power switch event (or a relay signal to some kind of input/usb device/sensor) to run shutdown.  I'm sure this hasn't been explored before for Arcade systems and Linux, but I would guess we have a much more chance with a Linux system to wire into the on/off switch somehow to trigger the system to shutdown nice and cleanly every time.

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LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
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ufoufo512

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #63 on: March 21, 2011, 05:48:55 am »
Thanks for the answers. I think I have enough info to go forward.

I think the monitor is 19", I am not sure. I haven't measured it and the manual for it I have, is a generic for all sizes for this monitor. It is actually rotatable, but with width I mean the larger dimension in this case.

Edit 1:
Here is the service manual for the manual:
http://www.dosmame.mameworld.info/data/_uploaded/image/dos.other.wg-k7000.pdf

And, yes I think the display modes I have seen are interlaced. Probably 640 x 480 as you said.

Edit 2: The service manual talks about both horizontal and vertical size adjustments are possible, but I don't have similar controls on my model. Strange...
« Last Edit: March 21, 2011, 06:13:36 am by ufoufo512 »

dmarcum99

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #64 on: March 21, 2011, 01:52:51 pm »
you guys are sure making it hard not to give this a try on linux now!!!

How would I go about setting this up for a hard drive install?  I have a empty 500GB HD that I could move my roms and snaps to if need be.

I burned the CD (1.515 64bit) and was able to get the packed in games to work...just wasn't smart enough to figure out how to get it to see my NTFS drive where my roms and snaps have been for my XP setup.  I wasn't able to figure out how to get it to boot from the HD either...I thought I had it, but everytime I rebooted to the 500GB HD it stalled.

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #65 on: March 21, 2011, 03:10:46 pm »
you guys are sure making it hard not to give this a try on linux now!!!

How would I go about setting this up for a hard drive install?  I have a empty 500GB HD that I could move my roms and snaps to if need be.

I burned the CD (1.515 64bit) and was able to get the packed in games to work...just wasn't smart enough to figure out how to get it to see my NTFS drive where my roms and snaps have been for my XP setup.  I wasn't able to figure out how to get it to boot from the HD either...I thought I had it, but everytime I rebooted to the 500GB HD it stalled.

I'm not sure, but might be something about the size of the drive that the grub boot loader doesn't work.  What message does it say or where does it stall? 

To setup the NTFS drive you have to access either the http web interface and configure it (username: admin password: arcade).  It's sort of a pain though, and I need to add an automatic option to ask to set it up the mounting of it.    One quick way to mount it is running this on the console: `sudo mount -t -ntfs /dev/hda1 /data/` or whatever drive the NTFS drive is (use `sudo fdisk -l` and look for which is the NTFS type).  Then you can change the advancemenu config to point to the right locations and test it that way. 

I'll look into making the NTFS setup easy from the setup menu, something I haven't focused on but shouldn't be too much trouble at all.  The grub issue is odd, I'm possibly going to try and redo the way I do autopartitioning and drive setup to hopefully fix the issue.  Probably need to make a small /boot partition for the kernel and grub to setup on, and I'm guessing that should solve the issues with grub and an install being able to boot.  Hopefully by next weekend I have a lot of that done, maybe sooner if I get time.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
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Calamity

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #66 on: March 21, 2011, 03:16:20 pm »
Quote
* The image with Linux booting messages, the configuration menu and for Advmenu are too wide for my monitor. (I am using Wells Gardner K7000). There is no control for the image width in the monitor chassis, is it possible to adjust it in the software.

If you don't have the horizontal size coil adjustment your manual explains, then you can easily tweak your modelines to fit in the screen by calculating bigger borders. I'm not sure if the modelines used during boot are actually editable or just prefixed there, I remember soft-15Khz modelines were used for that at some point, don't know how it's done right now.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2011, 03:18:23 pm by Calamity »
Important note: posts reporting GM issues without a log will be IGNORED.
Steps to create a log:
 - From command line, run: groovymame.exe -v romname >romname.txt
 - Attach resulting romname.txt file to your post, instead of pasting it.

CRT Emudriver, VMMaker & Arcade OSD downloads, documentation and discussion:  Eiusdemmodi

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #67 on: March 21, 2011, 03:47:46 pm »
Quote
* The image with Linux booting messages, the configuration menu and for Advmenu are too wide for my monitor. (I am using Wells Gardner K7000). There is no control for the image width in the monitor chassis, is it possible to adjust it in the software.

If you don't have the horizontal size coil adjustment your manual explains, then you can easily tweak your modelines to fit in the screen by calculating bigger borders. I'm not sure if the modelines used during boot are actually editable or just prefixed there, I remember soft-15Khz modelines were used for that at some point, don't know how it's done right now.

The frame buffer ones are calculated with switchres previously, and hardcoded and compiled into the kernel as a table of modelines.  So they can't change dynamically on bootup unfortunately.  Possibly putting the basic modeline calculation into the kernel and utilizing the margin capability would be solution, I haven't thought about that for awhile but should probably be the best way to do it.  I'll look into that possibly soon.
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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #68 on: March 22, 2011, 07:32:09 pm »
This is a tremendous contribution to the community, bitbytebit.  I'll definitely be trying out the new ISO's soon.  I think that your distro will be a serious platform to use on MAME cabs, as Linux really should be *the* MAME platform for the future.

Thank you so much.. I think donation will be in order soon

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #69 on: March 22, 2011, 07:39:40 pm »
This is a tremendous contribution to the community, bitbytebit.  I'll definitely be trying out the new ISO's soon.  I think that your distro will be a serious platform to use on MAME cabs, as Linux really should be *the* MAME platform for the future.

Thank you so much.. I think donation will be in order soon
Thanks, I've been working on a big change for the next ISO versions which hopefully really makes the grub and partitioning issues vanish.  Things hopefully will be a lot easier, auto partitioning now creates a separate /boot drive that's ext2 (probably will make grub always work on all systems) the home drive is separate and now roms are going to be under /home/roms/* .  Also hopefully the mounting of the /home/roms/ drive will work fine for NTFS (readonly, will need to configure advancemenu for the dir structure your NTFS uses) This basically is aiming at some of the issues and hopefully will make automatic installing even better, hopefully have this out by the end of the week or weekend.  I'm trying to really make the whole setup of the drives both simpler for the user but really more advanced technically with different partitions for /boot, yet won't require the user to know any of that and hopefully just installs cleanly.
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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #70 on: March 23, 2011, 04:50:13 pm »
Hi bitbytebit,

Some guys in the Spanish forum are testing las version of GroovyArcade:

http://www.retrovicio.org/foro/showthread.php?14969-GroovyArcade-Por-fin-100-Pixel-Perfect-y-mucho-mas

They are having problems with 9200 and 9250 cards. Only interlaced modes are working, progressive ones are out of sync or completely messed for some reason. I'm waiting to see how it works for VeS. It's really odd... have they changed anything else in the drm code lately? I can't test my 9250 at the moment, but am planning to install my 9250 back in this machine to test patched Catalyst 6.5 for XP64 so I'll be testing that also.

Important note: posts reporting GM issues without a log will be IGNORED.
Steps to create a log:
 - From command line, run: groovymame.exe -v romname >romname.txt
 - Attach resulting romname.txt file to your post, instead of pasting it.

CRT Emudriver, VMMaker & Arcade OSD downloads, documentation and discussion:  Eiusdemmodi

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #71 on: March 23, 2011, 04:56:50 pm »
Hi bitbytebit,

Some guys in the Spanish forum are testing las version of GroovyArcade:

http://www.retrovicio.org/foro/showthread.php?14969-GroovyArcade-Por-fin-100-Pixel-Perfect-y-mucho-mas

They are having problems with 9200 and 9250 cards. Only interlaced modes are working, progressive ones are out of sync or completely messed for some reason. I'm waiting to see how it works for VeS. It's really odd... have they changed anything else in the drm code lately? I can't test my 9250 at the moment, but am planning to install my 9250 back in this machine to test patched Catalyst 6.5 for XP64 so I'll be testing that also.


I haven't actually updated the kernel in quite a while, so it shouldn't be that, I'm pretty sure you've used the kernel version that's there right now and guessing VeS is too.  Sounds odd, if either of you can reproduce it would be good to possibly get some logs then after that.  I'll have to try and see if I can figure out what could be going on.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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Calamity

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #72 on: March 23, 2011, 05:05:10 pm »
Yes its odd, now a third folk is reporting it's working perfect with two different 9250s he is testing.

Here is a video by Paul Sernine:
http://www.retrovicio.org/foro/showthread.php?14969-GroovyArcade-Por-fin-100-Pixel-Perfect-y-mucho-mas&p=145452&viewfull=1#post145452
« Last Edit: March 23, 2011, 05:55:17 pm by Calamity »
Important note: posts reporting GM issues without a log will be IGNORED.
Steps to create a log:
 - From command line, run: groovymame.exe -v romname >romname.txt
 - Attach resulting romname.txt file to your post, instead of pasting it.

CRT Emudriver, VMMaker & Arcade OSD downloads, documentation and discussion:  Eiusdemmodi

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #73 on: March 23, 2011, 10:07:53 pm »
Yes its odd, now a third folk is reporting it's working perfect with two different 9250s he is testing.

Here is a video by Paul Sernine:
http://www.retrovicio.org/foro/showthread.php?14969-GroovyArcade-Por-fin-100-Pixel-Perfect-y-mucho-mas&p=145452&viewfull=1#post145452

Are the problems when using a TV or NTSC output, or is he just using NTSC?  The TV output hasn't been well tested, I suspect that NTSC might not work right now if it really is on a TV.  That sort of makes sense, that we are getting interlaced working on that but not progressive.  I'm not sure though, the settings I used for NTSC were not verified fully and they could be wrong in the monitor settings.
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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dmarcum99

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #74 on: March 23, 2011, 11:40:25 pm »
I just want to say.....WOW!!!  I had trouble with the install last night, but I fiddled for a while and struck gold.  After transfering my roms & snaps it was like butter. 

I cannot tell you how glad I am that I tried the linux version.  I had a quad core AMD (OC'd to 3.7GHZ) with 4GB ram & ATI 4350 on XP using Hyperspin and there was so much overhead...I never realized how much CPU I got back by going to  GroovyMAME.  I must admit, I love the bling that hyperspin brings, but for what I gained I don't think I'll miss it.  A simple game like Simpsons bowling had huge gains and made it playable.  Before on my previous setup it was hardly playable.  So far no soundsynch pitch issues or anything!  AND...my trackball worked without me having to do anything.  (WINNING!!!)   :cheers:

But by far the best advantage was the AUTOMATIC native resolution modeline generation.  I've only tried about 50 or so games, but they were absolutely spot on!  Even the wierd ones like Frogger, Galaxian, Scramble....I can't say enough good things.  I tried advmame for DOS and got nice resolutions, but never could get the refresh rate right.  All the scrollers are now smooth like a baby's bottom!!   NO HITCHING!!!  Just try Vanguard, MK(attract mode), Scramble, or any other scrolling game....it's awesome.  When word spreads about this you and Calamity are going to be very popular people.

I can honestly say my cab will not have windows again.  Next on the list, I'm going to try to figure out how the youtube user "AlexHardest" got his advmenu so awesome and try to replicate or at least personalize my cab.  AdvanceMENU Part01

Huge props to you bitbytebit and to Calamity for the awesome work!   :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
« Last Edit: March 23, 2011, 11:42:35 pm by dmarcum99 »

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #75 on: March 24, 2011, 04:42:46 am »
Are the problems when using a TV or NTSC output, or is he just using NTSC?  The TV output hasn't been well tested, I suspect that NTSC might not work right now if it really is on a TV.  That sort of makes sense, that we are getting interlaced working on that but not progressive.  I'm not sure though, the settings I used for NTSC were not verified fully and they could be wrong in the monitor settings.

He is booting with [VGA-1 NTSC] and the selecting NTSC in GroovyArcade menu, I'm asking him just to make sure but I think he's tested other options in GroovyArcade menu and it's the same, and also other guy tested with CGA/NTSC/H9110 and still the same. I'm sure it's something that can be fixed, if only I can reproduce it here.

dmarcum99, thanks a lot for your comments, let's thank bitbytebit who is making a huge work supporting all this.
Important note: posts reporting GM issues without a log will be IGNORED.
Steps to create a log:
 - From command line, run: groovymame.exe -v romname >romname.txt
 - Attach resulting romname.txt file to your post, instead of pasting it.

CRT Emudriver, VMMaker & Arcade OSD downloads, documentation and discussion:  Eiusdemmodi

bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #76 on: March 24, 2011, 12:28:26 pm »
Version 1.525 has some major reworking of the directory layout and menu system, autopartitioning, way install works.  Basically if you had problems with grub not booting, or menu system was a bit confusing, hopefully this makes things somewhat more linear and logical.  Hopefully that's the case, also updated the kernel to the newest stable Linux one now that it's out scsi support on bootup may help some systems.

Importantly the roms directory is now /home/roms/ instead of /data/, also the mame ones are in /home/roms/roms/ and other systems are /home/roms/SYSTEM_roms and SYSTEM_snaps/ format, the directory layout when autopartitioning is basically /boot gets 100 meg for kernel, / gets 4-16 gig depending on your drive size, /home gets all the rest of the space.  So that way /home/ can contain the roms and /home/arcade user directory, and you can mount (hopefully works with NTFS now) another roms partition to that /home/roms/ if you want a separate drive for that. 

The main menu now is basically System Setup, LiveCD Setup, Installation, File Manager, Partition Manager, Reboot.  So you go through the setup menu first, then choose either the LiveCD menu or go through the Install.  In fact you really don't even have to use Setup because the Install now asks you about each Setup menu, more like a normal guided installation in some ways.  The LiveCD menu separates all the LiveCD things so it's not confusing as to what is an Installation thing and what is a LiveCD thing.

24032011 - 1.525 Release
         - Kernel 2.6.38.1 update, new ATI Radeon microcode updated for newer cards
         - Include scsi support in grub bootup and genkernel build
         - Static IP option in network setup
         - Many more checks in setup system for drive configuration
         - Changed /data to /home/roms, quite a big change
         - Changed autopartitioning to use / /boot /home and swap, more complex layout
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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dmarcum99

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #77 on: March 24, 2011, 01:32:29 pm »
Since I did a HD install and it appears to be working great with an ATI 4350 is there a reason for me to go from 1.515 to 1.525?

Also, how is the updating handled from a HD install?  I don't want to screw anything up if I do decide to upgrade later on... 

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bitbytebit

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #78 on: March 24, 2011, 01:54:16 pm »
Since I did a HD install and it appears to be working great with an ATI 4350 is there a reason for me to go from 1.515 to 1.525?

Also, how is the updating handled from a HD install?  I don't want to screw anything up if I do decide to upgrade later on... 

awesome work guy!  just freakin` awesome!!
Nope, probably no need right now since mostly the changes are aimed at making the installation easier, clearer and less likely to fail at grub MBR installs. 

Right now updating mostly is seen as you would want to backup your /home/arcade directory, possibly /data if you haven't already got backups of the roms (or now in 1.525 it's /home/roms, so basically /home all together now), and pretty much copy them onto a fresh install.  I can see how there's probably an option to upgrade I need to make on the menu and it would just not touch the /home directory and instead just re-install to the existing partitions from the old install. 

Another option that I do for systems I use for other purposes like servers/desktops, if  one  knows or reads up on Gentoo, is you can always treat it like a mostly normal Gentoo system and use the emerge/portage/ebuild system, but of course it might drift away from Arcade Monitor safety since there are quite a few modifications and following the ISO images and updating through them in the future when needed is safest on an arcade cabinet.

So probably look forward to a general update option in the next version, although mostly any big important changes would be in the future if you wanted a newer version of Mame as they come out.  Really once it's setup it's fine, but I do see how with the new partition setup I can probably in the future make it easy if one wanted to upgrade for any particular reason.  The only other issue there is if any specific files changed in the /home/arcade/ user directory like .config type files as advancemenu or odd's and ends, but that really isn't happening lately at all so I don't expect much to change there in the future.

One thing I do need  to fix, is going through the different emulators and tuning them for matching mame button input, resolution setup, some work already but 2 or 3 have a few issues and just need to be configured.  Actually if anyone out there does go through and configure the different emulators, gens/snes especially, would be great to pass the changes back and I could incorporate them.

Thanks, it's good to see people starting to be able to use it and enjoy it, definitely knew I had originally gotten something nice setup here on my cab and fortunately have finally been able to make it into a portable distributable form (and from the help of Calamity, Ves and others it's been able to be much better than I had originally thought possible).  The other use of this for me has been the ability to setup my own workstation/server systems quickly which I used to dread going through the whole Gentoo setup from scratch, or using Ubuntu and fighting customizing it over and over, but now I'm able to quickly install a Linux system and know it is ready to go. 
SwitchRes / GroovyMame - http://arcade.groovy.org
Modeline Generator and Mame Wrapper for Windows or Linux
LiveCD of Groovy Arcade Linux for Arcade Monitors
GroovyMame - generate arcade resolutions like advancemame
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dmarcum99

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Re: 32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install
« Reply #79 on: March 25, 2011, 10:44:34 am »
When I select a game from advmenu, right before the game starts, I see an enlarged pic of the game I selected (cool)...but right before the game starts, I see a mouse pointer.  Did I do something wrong in my setup?  Is there anything I can do to keep from seeing the pointer before the game starts?

I also went through another 150 or so roms last night.  A couple of games run too fast.  It might be mame, but I'd thought I'd bring it up.  The games I found were Mace & Wayne Gretzky's 3d hockey.