Raspberry Pi and MAME - Hands on

[kahlid74]

I posted in the Raspberry Picade project announcement but I thought it would be good to make a main thread as well for all things Raspberry Pi gaming.  I got my Pi about a week ago and I'm impressed.  It's fast (depending on the distro you use) and it works exactly as expected.  Here's the pics I posted before so you see it running:



Notes

• Performance in Debian using the GUI (LXDE) can be sluggish sometimes
• Make sure you've got the power hook up right.  You need a micro USB at 5V and 700ma.  Anything above 700ma is fine.  I'm using an ac adapter that provides 5V at 1.8 A.  If you want to run any USB external components you'll need the additional amperage to operate them.
• When you plug in the power, if your PWR light goes to solid red, you've got enough power and you're good to go.  The OK like should flash green like an HDD light loading.  The OK light does NOT stay on
• If you have power issues or you don't know if your power adapter is providing the right voltage there are two points on the Pi board where you can plug a Multimeter in.  Super useful!  Do a quick search on Raspberry Pi's main site and you'll find the doc on how to do it.
• Make sure you have a few different mem cards to try.  I had four available and the third one finally worked.  The first two the Pi would start but the OS wouldn't load (tried multiple Distro's and reloading the image on it).  Once I got a good card I've had about 90% success on boot.
• Booting isn't 100%.  This may be because of my mem card but of 20 boots I've had 2 failed boots where I had to disconnect power and then reconnect.
• When you restore the disk image it's only 2 GB.  My card is 8 GB is size.  I had to take the mem card out, boot my laptop with it in and boot to GPart and then expand the partition to make use of the other 6 GB.

So far I've very pleased with Arch Linux on the Pi.  It's super responsive with SSH already enabled so plug it in, run an ifconfig to see the DHCP addy and then SSH to it from my desktop and I'm rolling.

I'm not going to post running AdvanceMAME on the Debian distro as a quick google search will find that for you.  The challenge is for me to gain a better understanding of the Pi and how MAME works in Linux.  You want MAME to use OpenGL to make use of the on board Video card.  That way the CPU can focus on other things but OpenGL requires a GUI/X/LXDE based environment, which I don't really want to mess with.  

So for me, I'm messing with ArchLinux on the Pi and trying to compile XMame/SDLMame/AdvanceMame to work on the console.  It looks like a few others might have done it but we'll see.

For $35 bucks shipped I'm very pleased with the purchase.  It's freaking small as heck.

[ark_ader]

Its been 3 weeks and my pi still hasn't arrived, but a friend says he purchased three of them and was delivered within a week. 

[Zobeid]

I'm guessing it might be more efficient if you could get it to start up OpenGL ES without the whole graphical desktop environment.

See if this looks useful...    http://benosteen.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/using-opengl-es-2-0-on-the-raspberry-pi-without-x-windows/

[kahlid74]

That's a good find.  I'll have to try that when I get home.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

Man, this thing is so small that I could actually see building a little handheld machine Ben-Heck style with a nice sized Psone screen.

Unfortunately, according to this video



it can't run Donpachi properly. I would need it to at least run the first generation CAVE titles to really appeal to me.

On the other hand, I don't know about how practical it would be to run the thing off batteries..

Hopefully the specs will be improved in the future and I'll be able to build a nice little portable for playing shmups at work on my lunchbreak.

[ark_ader]

I just use my phone for playing Mame.

The Pi is for programming.  I'm looking at a solar power system to charge the batteries and run the system.

I just wish it would hurry up and arrive.  I have a HDMI port all ready for it. 

[Minions]

$35 shipped? How'd you manage that? My order cost $43~ after shipping and taxes. Still waiting. Est. Ship date of 6/28.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

I just use my phone for playing Mame.

The Pi is for programming.  I'm looking at a solar power system to charge the batteries and run the system.

I just wish it would hurry up and arrive.  I have a HDMI port all ready for it. 

How in the hell could a phone possibly make a suitable setup for MAME or any other kind of gaming besides Angry Birds?

I know I could get a Cannoo or something, but I want something with a big screen in and tate for vertical shmups. There is nothing on the market that can do that.

This thing is small enough to make that idea possible, but the specs aren't powerful enough for the type of games I'm interested in. I'll just have to wait longer.

[Oraap]

How in the hell could a phone possibly make a suitable setup for MAME or any other kind of gaming besides Angry Birds?

There is a way: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120808.0

[Haze]

It would probably be more worthwhile somebody porting Final Burn Alpha instead, that can run the majority of the Cave 1st/2nd game games on an original XBOX, so should be fine on the Pi IMHO.

[ark_ader]

Its been 3 weeks and my pi still hasn't arrived, but a friend says he purchased three of them and was delivered within a week. 

I arrived today! Joy of Joys! 

Now to figure out how I can get all the emulators running on this little guy, and code some python scripts.

This PC is really small.  I thought the Pi devs opted for a MicroSD port, but I have a full size one. Excellent.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

How in the hell could a phone possibly make a suitable setup for MAME or any other kind of gaming besides Angry Birds?

There is a way: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120808.0

you cannot play games on a phone. They are meant for calling people.

[saint]

Threadjack - those who have the Pi in hand, comments please on the suitability for:

1. Running an MP3 jukebox? Don't really care which as long as it has some sort of decent GUI and can pull off a network share. Touch screen monitor hookup? I'm going to guess it's a no on that one?

2. Booting straight up into a slideshow, again preferably running off a share but not required, with the monitor in portrait mode.

Thanks!

[HaRuMaN]

You people with a Pi in hand ought to throw those bad boys on eBay and double (or more) your money.

[ark_ader]

Threadjack - those who have the Pi in hand, comments please on the suitability for:

1. Running an MP3 jukebox? Don't really care which as long as it has some sort of decent GUI and can pull off a network share. Touch screen monitor hookup? I'm going to guess it's a no on that one?

2. Booting straight up into a slideshow, again preferably running off a share but not required, with the monitor in portrait mode.

Thanks!

Oh yeah. 

1. XBMC + touch screen I do not know, unless it is like those eeepc touch screens that was just an USB and is treated as a mouse....why not?

2. SMB + <Linux scripts> and from Wikipedia:

Supported digital video resolutions are: 640 × 350 EGA; 640 × 480 VGA; 800 × 600 SVGA; 1024 × 768 XGA; 1280×720 720p HDTV; 1280 × 768 WXGA Variant; 1280 × 800 WXGA Variant; 1280 × 1024 SXGA; 1366 × 768 WXGA Variant; 1400 × 1050 SXGA+; 1600 × 1200 UXGA; 1680 × 1050 WXGA+; 1920 × 1080 1080p HDTV; 1920 × 1200 WUXGA.[59] Also to be supported are the generation of 576i and 480i composite video signals for PAL-BGHID, PAL-M, PAL-N, NTSC and NTSC-J[69]

[drventure]

Threadjack - those who have the Pi in hand, comments please on the suitability for:
1. Running an MP3 jukebox? Don't really care which as long as it has some sort of decent GUI and can pull off a network share. Touch screen monitor hookup? I'm going to guess it's a no on that one?

+1 very curious about this.

[ark_ader]

How in the hell could a phone possibly make a suitable setup for MAME or any other kind of gaming besides Angry Birds?

There is a way: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120808.0

you cannot play games on a phone. They are meant for calling people.

I will have to remember that when I am playing Mr Do! with my Zeemote on my Galaxy S, whilst waiting in line at the supermarket.

[NIVO]

has Berries seen this yet? Time for Freebox to be ported to run on this little gem.

[yotsuya]

I cancelled my preorder. I'm going to wait for Pi 2.0.

[paigeoliver]

I really don't understand the community excitement about this, yes it is cheap, but it is quite underpowered and an old cast off PC would be a better choice in any application that didn't require such a tiny circuit board. Even in a lot of those applications an all in one micro-atx motherboard would likely fit and be far more useful.

For the same basic money you can get something like this, which is far more useful and not that much bigger.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIA-Mini-ITX-EPIA-EX15000LG-1-5GHz-C7-CPU-Motherboard-w-180-Watt-Flex-ATX-54-/380448307420?pt=Motherboards&hash=item58947c78dc

[HaRuMaN]

^ That's like 4X as big.

[Mysterioii]

I think the form factor is the biggest draw.  I'd like to see just how small a mame cab LeChuck could cook up with one of these...   

$35 shipped? How'd you manage that? My order cost $43~ after shipping and taxes. Still waiting. Est. Ship date of 6/28.

I'm curious about this too.  Khalid did you find it with free shipping somewhere, or did you mean "$35 plus shipping" rather than "$35 shipped?"

[saint]

I really don't understand the community excitement about this, yes it is cheap, but it is quite underpowered and an old cast off PC would be a better choice in any application that didn't require such a tiny circuit board. Even in a lot of those applications an all in one micro-atx motherboard would likely fit and be far more useful.

For the same basic money you can get something like this, which is far more useful and not that much bigger.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIA-Mini-ITX-EPIA-EX15000LG-1-5GHz-C7-CPU-Motherboard-w-180-Watt-Flex-ATX-54-/380448307420?pt=Motherboards&hash=item58947c78dc

Form factor and power supply. Even with that small of a mobo you still have to stick a power supply somewhere.

[kahlid74]

$35 shipped? How'd you manage that? My order cost $43~ after shipping and taxes. Still waiting. Est. Ship date of 6/28.

My shipping was free.  I didn't enter any coupons they just offered it for free.

My second Pi is supposed to arrive in a few days too so that will be good to test multiple builds on.

My primary build right now is going to be a Car entertainment system for my son.  I plan to have it capable to either play MAME games or watch movies on.  That way once in the car he can be in his own world.  He can play a game or he can watch a movie.

I really don't understand the community excitement about this, yes it is cheap, but it is quite underpowered and an old cast off PC would be a better choice in any application that didn't require such a tiny circuit board. Even in a lot of those applications an all in one micro-atx motherboard would likely fit and be far more useful.

For the same basic money you can get something like this, which is far more useful and not that much bigger.

For me it's not as much excitement in a computing way versus a MAME/Arcade way.  We had a bunch of these talks in the Everything else forum a month or two ago and for me, the Pi is a great step forward in small computing.  It's a semi to open platform that will support so many different projects.  I look at it like an Arduino.  It's got the capacity to do so many things very simply because it's small and it's power reqs are minimal.

[Mysterioii]

Did you get it from Newark or some other source?

[ark_ader]

I cancelled my preorder. I'm going to wait for Pi 2.0.

I think I have the update as there is no digital coax (except through HDMI) instead there is a 3.5 headphone jack.

[kahlid74]

Did you get it from Newark or some other source?

Newark/Element14.  I've bought stuff from them before so maybe because I was a previous customer I got free shipping.  I have no clue.

[yotsuya]

Mine was preordered from Newark, and they only ever quoted me $35. The card I used to preorder it expired so it got held up, but I decided to cancel since I'm too busy to fiddle with it and didn't want to leave it lying around when someone else could use it.

[PoDunkMoFo]

http://hackaday.com/2012/06/22/gooseberry-is-the-latest-arm-linux-board/

[Silas (son of Silas)]

Threadjack - those who have the Pi in hand, comments please on the suitability for:

1. Running an MP3 jukebox? Don't really care which as long as it has some sort of decent GUI and can pull off a network share. Touch screen monitor hookup? I'm going to guess it's a no on that one?

2. Booting straight up into a slideshow, again preferably running off a share but not required, with the monitor in portrait mode.

Thanks!

1. Perfect. XBMC is a really slick jukebox / media player that runs on the pi. I recommend the RaspBMC build. Currently in RC3, and gets better every day. Boots in 20 seconds and supports remote controls, youtube videos etc etc. very nice. NB: as far as touch screens go, There's a few people on car computer forums who have done it already. There's a touchscreen skin for XBMC that seems pretty good.

2. Easy.
Install eog
create a text file called slideshow.sh with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr -o 1
eog -f --slide-show $HOME/Pictures

Change the permissions to make the file executable then select slideshow.sh as a startup application. Modify your fstab file to automatically mount your share in your picture directory and you are done.
xrandr will rotate the screen to fit portrait mode.

If you need help setting it up PM me.

[kahlid74]

http://hackaday.com/2012/06/22/gooseberry-is-the-latest-arm-linux-board/

Nice, except it's 2.5 times larger than the Pi.  Quite a behemoth where size is an issue.

[saint]

Threadjack - those who have the Pi in hand, comments please on the suitability for:

1. Running an MP3 jukebox? Don't really care which as long as it has some sort of decent GUI and can pull off a network share. Touch screen monitor hookup? I'm going to guess it's a no on that one?

2. Booting straight up into a slideshow, again preferably running off a share but not required, with the monitor in portrait mode.

Thanks!

1. Perfect. XBMC is a really slick jukebox / media player that runs on the pi. I recommend the RaspBMC build. Currently in RC3, and gets better every day. Boots in 20 seconds and supports remote controls, youtube videos etc etc. very nice. NB: as far as touch screens go, There's a few people on car computer forums who have done it already. There's a touchscreen skin for XBMC that seems pretty good.

2. Easy.
Install eog
create a text file called slideshow.sh with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr -o 1
eog -f --slide-show $HOME/Pictures

Change the permissions to make the file executable then select slideshow.sh as a startup application. Modify your fstab file to automatically mount your share in your picture directory and you are done.
xrandr will rotate the screen to fit portrait mode.

If you need help setting it up PM me.

Awesome sauce - thanks Silas! Gonna try to order one.

[MTPPC]

you cannot play games on a phone. They are meant for calling people.

I will have to remember that when I am playing Mr Do! with my Zeemote on my Galaxy S, whilst waiting in line at the supermarket.

So you are "that guy". I can think of about 10,000 things better to do while waiting in the grocery line than knocking off a game of Mr. Do! Beware this:

http://drdunckley.com/2011/02/15/computer-video-games-and-psychosis-cause-for-concern/

[ark_ader]

you cannot play games on a phone. They are meant for calling people.

I will have to remember that when I am playing Mr Do! with my Zeemote on my Galaxy S, whilst waiting in line at the supermarket.

So you are "that guy". I can think of about 10,000 things better to do while waiting in the grocery line than knocking off a game of Mr. Do! Beware this:

http://drdunckley.com/2011/02/15/computer-video-games-and-psychosis-cause-for-concern/

Yep I'm that guy.  Darn it, caught again.  The way kids work at the checkout I can play a whole game of Game Dev Story.  Sad but true.

[NIVO]

Threadjack - those who have the Pi in hand, comments please on the suitability for:

1. Running an MP3 jukebox? Don't really care which as long as it has some sort of decent GUI and can pull off a network share. Touch screen monitor hookup? I'm going to guess it's a no on that one?

2. Booting straight up into a slideshow, again preferably running off a share but not required, with the monitor in portrait mode.

Thanks!

1. Perfect. XBMC is a really slick jukebox / media player that runs on the pi. I recommend the RaspBMC build. Currently in RC3, and gets better every day. Boots in 20 seconds and supports remote controls, youtube videos etc etc. very nice. NB: as far as touch screens go, There's a few people on car computer forums who have done it already. There's a touchscreen skin for XBMC that seems pretty good.

2. Easy.
Install eog
create a text file called slideshow.sh with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr -o 1
eog -f --slide-show $HOME/Pictures

Change the permissions to make the file executable then select slideshow.sh as a startup application. Modify your fstab file to automatically mount your share in your picture directory and you are done.
xrandr will rotate the screen to fit portrait mode.

If you need help setting it up PM me.

Awesome sauce - thanks Silas! Gonna try to order one.

i might have to get in on this one as well. I know nothing of linux(yea its sad hehe) but im willing to go through the troubles to get a new touchscreen build going like this.

[kahlid74]

i might have to get in on this one as well. I know nothing of linux(yea its sad hehe) but im willing to go through the troubles to get a new touchscreen build going like this.

There's a good deal of Anti-Pi gripe and for good reason since we hadn't really had our hands on the device yet but I can tell you first hand it's worth $35 bucks regardless of what you use it for.  Linux comes quite easily and there are so many forums out there you're likely to find someone else with a problem you might have and how to fix it.

So do it.

[Mysterioii]

Did you get it from Newark or some other source?

Newark/Element14.  I've bought stuff from them before so maybe because I was a previous customer I got free shipping.  I have no clue.

Funny, I just preordered one from them (yeah I know, I might get it sometime in 2014) and they added tax and freight.  Came out to $44 total.  And I've ordered from them before too.      Maybe they had a free-freight preorder window that I missed.

[javeryh]

So has anyone gotten MAME up and running (and performing at proper speeds) on this thing yet?

[crippledlemming]

I've gotten about 30 different titles running properly on the pi.  I can take videos of 1944 etc running smoothly on it.  Out of the box the pi is a decent platform, but after some hardware and software tweaks it is an excellent platform.  I just got my ipac and controls in today, when I get home from work I am going to compile the software to get them up and running with the variant of Debian that I'm running and I can post results if anyone is interested.

I'm running advancemame, I compiled from source. I know there are some binaries floating around out there but I couldn't get them to work properly. I also have my pi overvolted slightly and overclocked to 1150mhz. Galaga would run fine on 900mhz OC with no overvolt, but some of the newer roms 1944 ex would lag without it.

[Well Fed Games]

Man, I have a closet full of composite-in TVs that I would love to make into classic bartops with the Pi and its composite out. So glad you guys are blazing a trail with MAME and Pi!

[javeryh]

Awesome.  Hopefully these things will improve over time to the point where it can handle most of the games running in MAME.  As it stands now, it seems like these boards would work great in a "classics" cabinet.

[Well Fed Games]

Bump bump. Anybody know of a good tutorial to get MAME going on a Pi? I just want to make some "dedicated" (will boot to one game- no front end) cabs/bartops for some old games.

[TPA5]

I've been thinking about using mine as a dedicated SNES rom machine. This thread has inspired me to get my arse in gear and work on it again! I have a SNES with a shot board, the Pi would fit perfect in it.

[lordnacho]

I've been thinking about using mine as a dedicated SNES rom machine. This thread has inspired me to get my arse in gear and work on it again! I have a SNES with a shot board, the Pi would fit perfect in it.

My original Pi project was a digital picture frame, but I can't get the damn wifi working on it.  Sometimes I really hate Linux. 
But maybe I'll shove it into my old NES instead.  I bought a broken one on ebay, but was able to fix it.  I only have a couple games though, so thinking it's better to be Pi'ed.

[CoryBee]

I am very interested in a write up on using pi-es to run Mame as well! Would make for a good dedicated cab or for a X-in-1 machine.

[kahlid74]

There are boat loads of good threads on how to use MAME on the Pi.  Most revolve around Debian and AdvMame.

Just a word of caution about the Pi and composite hookups, the resolution may be completely messed.  I've now used three composite TV hookups and each is a nightmare to work with.  From the resolution not fitting to the clarity being horrible, they are just UN-useable.  I'm going to be moving to HDMI.

[Well Fed Games]

There are boat loads of good threads on how to use MAME on the Pi.  Most revolve around Debian and AdvMame.

Just a word of caution about the Pi and composite hookups, the resolution may be completely messed.  I've now used three composite TV hookups and each is a nightmare to work with.  From the resolution not fitting to the clarity being horrible, they are just UN-useable.  I'm going to be moving to HDMI.

Boo, the mass of composite TVs lying around is what made me most interested in Pi.

Any recommended forums for these "tons of threads" or should I just google it up?

[kahlid74]

There are boat loads of good threads on how to use MAME on the Pi.  Most revolve around Debian and AdvMame.

Just a word of caution about the Pi and composite hookups, the resolution may be completely messed.  I've now used three composite TV hookups and each is a nightmare to work with.  From the resolution not fitting to the clarity being horrible, they are just UN-useable.  I'm going to be moving to HDMI.

Boo, the mass of composite TVs lying around is what made me most interested in Pi.

Any recommended forums for these "tons of threads" or should I just google it up?

haha sorry.  Try googling RaspberryPi and AdvMame.  If you have any issues let me know and I'll see if I can dig up what I found.

[Well Fed Games]

There are boat loads of good threads on how to use MAME on the Pi.  Most revolve around Debian and AdvMame.

Just a word of caution about the Pi and composite hookups, the resolution may be completely messed.  I've now used three composite TV hookups and each is a nightmare to work with.  From the resolution not fitting to the clarity being horrible, they are just UN-useable.  I'm going to be moving to HDMI.

Boo, the mass of composite TVs lying around is what made me most interested in Pi.

Any recommended forums for these "tons of threads" or should I just google it up?

haha sorry.  Try googling RaspberryPi and AdvMame.  If you have any issues let me know and I'll see if I can dig up what I found.

That is perfect. I'm so new to the idea just knowing the right keywords is where I need to start. Thanks!

[vanrose72]

What's the take on this Picade project on Kickstarter?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimoroni/picade-the-arcade-cabinet-kit-for-your-raspberry-p



(My apologies if this has been posted elsewhere already.)

[kahlid74]

What's the take on this Picade project on Kickstarter?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimoroni/picade-the-arcade-cabinet-kit-for-your-raspberry-p



(My apologies if this has been posted elsewhere already.)

I just saw this and I'm happy it's being done but I think there is a huge unknown here in that the Pi's performance for gaming just isn't up to snuff.  So this project is misleading because people are going to go in believing they'll get the same performance of an x86 only to be let down after actually implementing it.

There is also NOTHING in this kickstarter that I can see dealing with the distribution running or how they are running/setup MAME.  So I'm worried.  There's information here that I would want to see before I invest.

[yotsuya]

I'll donate 5 quid if they change the name to something other than Picade. I'm not chuffed by the name.

[Well Fed Games]

I'd pay for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to get Mame/Pi running (for "dummies," so to speak).

Also, i keep reading "Picade" as:

[CoryBee]

I'd pay for a step-by-step walkthrough on how to get Mame/Pi running (for "dummies," so to speak).

Also, i keep reading "Picade" as:

I vote for the new name to be "Pi-Card" 

[vanrose72]

I just saw this and I'm happy it's being done but I think there is a huge unknown here in that the Pi's performance for gaming just isn't up to snuff.  So this project is misleading because people are going to go in believing they'll get the same performance of an x86 only to be let down after actually implementing it.

There is also NOTHING in this kickstarter that I can see dealing with the distribution running or how they are running/setup MAME.  So I'm worried.  There's information here that I would want to see before I invest.

I agree with your sentiments about the project being misleading. I had considered those issues as well: Performance and the distribution of MAME and its ROMs.

[cyber7]

http://aubreykloppers.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/pi-mame-another-insane-project/
http://aubreykloppers.wordpress.com

Hi Guys
This is just a reference to a nice step-by-step installation and pitfall guide.

cyber7-out

[kiwasabi]

http://aubreykloppers.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/pi-mame-another-insane-project/
http://aubreykloppers.wordpress.com

Hi Guys
This is just a reference to a nice step-by-step installation and pitfall guide.

cyber7-out

How is the performance? I heard even Street Fighter 2 struggles on a Pi. You can get a micro PC based on the RK3188 chipset, quadcore 1.4ghz processor, 2GB RAM, etc for around $70 these days. Then just use Android OS on it and you're golden.