Oh, wait. Are you saying that I need a 64 bit machine / OS to run Groovy?
If I'm reading the iso file correctly yes, x86_64 is 64 bit only.
I could be wrong. He could intend that it supports 32-bit and 64-bit.
Arch usually names ISO's as
archlinux-2015.03.01-dual.iso
or
archlinux-2015.03.01-i686.iso for 32 bit
GroovyArcade-Arch2015.02.15-x86_64.iso
Yes, I have the i686 version. So I believe I have the correct one.
At any rate, so far I have not tried out Groovy because my main computer has it's monitor on the secondary video port. The VGA output is the 2nd port and the DVI output is the primary port. So I have to try it on another machine when I get the chance.
I'm not sure if I'm grasping your problem correctly, if not ignore this but couldn't you just unplug your monitor cable so your video card doesn't lock into that output/port? Have the only cable your using for your GroovyArcade monitor plugged in, boot GroovyArcadeboot, select the correct boot option?
Or just do your selection for your desired output blindly using the picture below as a guide.
[/quote]
I do get to that picture, but when it tries to load it, its says it can't find a display on the primary port. On my video card I have two ports, a DVI and a DVI / VGA port. The card/computer sees the DVI port as the FIRST port on the machine. The other DVI / VGA port is the SECOND port. I have my main monitor on the 2nd port because there isn't a VGA option on the first one. Consequentially when starting GroovyArcade to test on my main computer, it is looking for the primary (FIRST) port. However, I do have another machine which I have to set up in which I know the VGA is the primary port because it is the ONLY port on the machine.
If there is a nice arcade looking FE for Linux then I would jump on using a Linux based OS in a heartbeat.
So far the consensus is Attract-Mode.
There were some posts on this forum by Calamity and Ves on release notes for GroovyArcade. The one were interested in is New configuration files for Attract-Mode.
See the release notes here
https://code.google.com/p/groovyarcade/wiki/GroovyArcade_ReleaseNotesAfter some digging around it does appear that Attract-Mode is included in GroovyArcade. It's just not in the gasetup menu.[/quote]
That is funny, it is on the disc but it wasn't put on the setup menu?!?!
Just select LXDE as your frontend and execute
/usr/bin/attract
Here's a video of Attract-Mode in action.
I think it looks great compared to what we usually get for Linux.
Yes, it does look pretty nice, but it looks like it needs some power to run. Would a Pentium 4 be good enough?
I built a 64bit linux .ISO that boots up to attract mode and runs mame. 157 with no-nag & hiscore support plus GLSL.
I actually built it on a 3ghz single core celeron D system with a radeon HD 4650 and it played the classics with crt shaders just fine.
I didn't get a ton of feedback for it & I was just offering it up for people to check out.
I'm working on a 32 bit version for some older p4 PC's I have with a radeon 7000/7500 graphics cards. (the old ones)
Those will handle Attract-mode decently as long as you don't try to get fancy with wheel art or CRT shaders.
I'm using advmame .106 on those systems & it works well on 512 MB of ram if I boot it up to a minimal X environment.
I can make that available when it's done also.
I have a P4 with an ATI 7600X card on it. Will run on an Atom processor? If so I could use that board I posted earlier I believe that is a 1.8ghz Dual Core, so it should be better than a P4. But my P4 was a 2.8ghz single core. So the Atom would be slower since Mame only runs on one core, right? It is just that the P4 is pretty big for a Mame computer.
Thanx for the info thusfar. I am going to test GroovyArcade on my P4 machine now, I will report back later.
Geo