GroovyArcade live-CD 2022 (collaborative effort)

[Substring]

Noob question, but will all this stream down to me if I update via pacman? Or do I need to do something with the iso

Depends what part you want the most :
- 31kHz boot : that's rather at installation, but choosing the video resolution could work, I haven't tried
- usb automount : can be added manually
- new update menu : you'd need to (manually) update gasetup, it takes 1 command
- bug fixes : they are all over the place

[Jimbo]

Hey Substring,

I'm having problems running choplifter (rom choplift) with your 2020.06 release.  When the guys say "thank you" at being picked up by the chopper, the game slows right down like the speech is causing it to pause.  This seems to be the only game I've come across that does this.

I'd like to get a groovymame log, but not sure how to do that on your collab release of grroovyarcade.  If I exit to command prompt and try running "groovymame choplift > choplift.txt" from there I just get a Segmentation fault.

[Substring]

To make a REAL log :
in AM, press TAB > EMulators > MAME, edit "Command Arguments" and append -v so it should look like "groovymame arcade [name] -v"
The log is in /home/arcade/shared/logs/mame.log

[Jimbo]

Thanks substring, have submitted a report in the appropriate thread.

I wonder if you could help me with something else.  I'm trying to get my groovyarcade setup to write the mame highscore files out to a mounted usb flash drive on shutdown (as an ongoing backup), but I can't get it to work.

First I got the drive to mount on boot up, which seems to work fine, by adding the following line to /etc/fstab: -

Code: [Select]

UUID=7593-B46C /media auto nosuid,nodev,nofail 0 0
Then I added the following file "/usr/lib/systemd/system-shutdown/hiscores.shutdown" and chmod +x'd it, and set its contents to: -

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/sh
sudo cp /home/arcade/shared/configs/mame/hi/*.* /media
Nothing seems to be written to the mounted partition on shutdown though.  It works if I call the command directly from shell.

Anything you can suggest?  Thanks

[Substring]

try https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/41756

Make a logfile as well, this would help to debug what's wrong

[Jimbo]

Thanks - got it working!   

[Jimbo]

Do you know if there's any way to get rid of the visible error messages on shutdown (which was happening before I attempted to run a script to backup the mame/hi folder).

I tried to upload a photo but the forum isn't letting me.

This comes up every time I shut down...

sd-umoun[2757]: Failed to unmount /oldroot: Device or resouce busy
sd-umoun[2758]: Failed to unmount /oldroot/dev/pts: Device or resouce busy
sd-umoun[2759]: Failed to unmount /oldroot/dev: Device or resouce busy
shutdown[1]: Failed to finalize file systems, ignoring.
reboot: Power down

It doesn't *seem* to break anything, but it's ugly as heck.

[Substring]

Oldroot ? There is no such folder, or maybe something linked the initramfs ?

[Jimbo]

Yeah I don't understand it either.... can't think of anything I've done/tweaked to cause this message.  Odd.

[jonnyapps]

Thanks so much for this project and all the hard work. It's amazing.

I have no idea about development and this is my first time using Linux, so I'm not able to contribute to the work, but wondered if there's a way to donate to the project?

This project is the only way I've found that easily lets me use the CRT without much faff, so I'm wondering if there's a way I can add Retroarch to it? Happy to learn how to do it, but would be grateful of a pointer on where to start.

Thanks again for all the work

[Substring]

If you need to donate, Calamity is the one deserving everything. I'm doing that for free, for my own geek pleasure, ad I'm glad people enjoy it.

For RA ... Well ... Their switchres implementation is whacky, so nothing done on my side. Someone on Discord made some work but it' needs quite some polishing.

[donluca]

Just a heads up for Calamity/Substring: the new linux Kernel has now Intel's adaptive sync supported.

[Substring]

Does this fix the crappy intel vsync which tears so much ?

[donluca]

Could be, could be... guess only one way to know

[AmokSolderer]

First of all: Great project!
I remember how much work it was to set up my arcade machine 15 years ago. I have no idea how many modelines I calculated back then.
And when the PC died some years ago I didn't want to go through that again. So my machine stood there until I found your project and with this it was almost no work to make Mame work again - Thanks for that.

But now that I'm hooked I also want to run my old Amiga games again. FS-UAE runs fine but not in the native Amiga resolution. Therefore my question is what is the best way to run an emulator like fs-uae in a certain resolution?

I thought I'd found the answer here https://github.com/antonioginer/switchres, but these arguments do not work with the switchres version of GroovyArcade. Do I really have to compile a newer switchres version and is there a risk to mess up my working Mame setup when doing so?

Thanks in advance

[wigginjs]

Hi all,  super excited about using this project for my arcade build!  Thank you so much to Calamity, Substring, and the community for this project.

I've put the GroovyArcade 2021.03 release on a USB key and I'm using it with my an HP desktop that has an i5-3470 processor and 4GB memory.  This system has onboard video out (DVI and VGA), but I've also installed a AMD Radeon HD 5450 card in the PCI-e slot.  I'm using a HDMI -> Component transcoder to connect to my standard def Sony Wega (KV-36FS130).  The transcoder looks like this one ( https://www.joom.com/en/products/5aff9eea8b451301c9b8f471 ) and I'm also using it with a Raspberry Pi 3, outputting 240p to this TV with no issues.

I can get video to display by using the HDMI output of the Radeon and selecting the NTSC option during USB key boot.  I'm able to use this to complete the GroovyArcade install to my hard drive.  But, when I boot from the hard drive, I just get grabbled video from Attract Mode and even when I hit ESC and go to the text configuration menu.  I was able to start getting video output from the text configuration menu by editing the  /boot/EFI/syslinux/syslinux.cfg file and specifying 640x240S as the resolution.  It was blank before this.  I've also tried going into a game from the Attract Mode menu, but I still get grabbled video.  Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

[Substring]

First of all: Great project!
I remember how much work it was to set up my arcade machine 15 years ago. I have no idea how many modelines I calculated back then.
And when the PC died some years ago I didn't want to go through that again. So my machine stood there until I found your project and with this it was almost no work to make Mame work again - Thanks for that.

But now that I'm hooked I also want to run my old Amiga games again. FS-UAE runs fine but not in the native Amiga resolution. Therefore my question is what is the best way to run an emulator like fs-uae in a certain resolution?

I thought I'd found the answer here https://github.com/antonioginer/switchres, but these arguments do not work with the switchres version of GroovyArcade. Do I really have to compile a newer switchres version and is there a risk to mess up my working Mame setup when doing so?

Thanks in advance

Hey! Glad you like it

FS-UAE is ... complicated. I've already looked in how to get SR implemented inside, but it's really really complicated. As the Amiga could output almost any resolution, using a loader like switchres won't help much, but here is how you should do it !

• The repo you've mentionned can somehow be implemented inside GA by installing the switchres-git package. In that case, you'll then have to set your monitor by editong /etc/switchres.ini
• Using this version, you cvan use switchres as a loader : switchres 320 288 50 -s -l "fs-uae rom"

is an example for 320x288 on a PAL system (as the Amiga is mostly PAL)
[/list]

That's a starter point, ask for more help if you need

[Substring]

Hi all,  super excited about using this project for my arcade build!  Thank you so much to Calamity, Substring, and the community for this project.

I've put the GroovyArcade 2021.03 release on a USB key and I'm using it with my an HP desktop that has an i5-3470 processor and 4GB memory.  This system has onboard video out (DVI and VGA), but I've also installed a AMD Radeon HD 5450 card in the PCI-e slot.  I'm using a HDMI -> Component transcoder to connect to my standard def Sony Wega (KV-36FS130).  The transcoder looks like this one ( https://www.joom.com/en/products/5aff9eea8b451301c9b8f471 ) and I'm also using it with a Raspberry Pi 3, outputting 240p to this TV with no issues.

I can get video to display by using the HDMI output of the Radeon and selecting the NTSC option during USB key boot.  I'm able to use this to complete the GroovyArcade install to my hard drive.  But, when I boot from the hard drive, I just get grabbled video from Attract Mode and even when I hit ESC and go to the text configuration menu.  I was able to start getting video output from the text configuration menu by editing the  /boot/EFI/syslinux/syslinux.cfg file and specifying 640x240S as the resolution.  It was blank before this.  I've also tried going into a game from the Attract Mode menu, but I still get grabbled video.  Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

Mmmmmmhhhhh when the USB booted and GA went through the detection of the screen, did you choose the right monitor from it ? Because having video= empty is not normal. Or I have a bug with digital outputs (which is possible because I didn't test them, really, I only care about analog outputs). That said, grabbled output is probably because it was outputing 1024x768 as video= wasn't specified. Try with 640x480iS or 720x480iS (which is the value of the NTSC option on the iso). Are you sure your TV is NTSC only ?

[wigginjs]

Thanks, Substring!  I’ll try that when I get home. Yes, the TVs I’m using a standard def US televisions with component input. Is GroovyArcade typically only used with real arcade monitors and not standard def televisions?  I’m curious how most people are transcoding RGBHV to YPbPr if they are using a standard def television. I’ve found some transcoders, but they are much more expensive than the HDMI to YPbPr device I’m using.

[Substring]

I don't have much knowledge about TVs in USA, and if thy can only do pure ntsc or they have some tolerance. The purpose of my words was rather to say that Games will be forced to the exact NTSC vertical refesh rate. Games like rtype or mortal kombat won't feel like the exact original.

Although GA is indeed for arcade cabs, tvs are supported. Just know the limits of a tv compared to an arcade cab

[AmokSolderer]

The repo you've mentionned can somehow be implemented inside GA by installing the switchres-git package.

Apparently something is wrong with the switchres-git package in Pacman. Looks like I have to install it manually.
I'm an Ubuntu-User in normal life, so I have to find out first what's the best way to do this in Arch-Linux.

I'll keep you posted.

[Substring]

Apparently something is wrong with the switchres-git package in Pacman. Looks like I have to install it manually.
I'm an Ubuntu-User in normal life, so I have to find out first what's the best way to do this in Arch-Linux.

I'll keep you posted.

Nothing wrong with it, it just conflicts with the regular switchres package as both can't exist together. Just say Yes, it will install.

[AmokSolderer]

Nothing wrong with it, it just conflicts with the regular switchres package as both can't exist together. Just say Yes, it will install.

The problem occurs after I say yes. Then Pacman prepares the installation and tells me that the package cannot be found.

[Substring]

just pacman -Sy switchres-git, the repos must have changed since your last update

[MonkeyJug]

hey guys - i'm a linux noob.

i've installed this version onto a 120gb ssd - i can boot fine and play the free selection of games.

I want to install loads more roms so i've bought a 1tb ssd, but i can not find a way to initialise/format the new drive.  it used to be right there in the old groovyarcade iso version...

can anyone help, please?

[AmokSolderer]

Oops, I had a typo in my pacman command, hard to spot on the arcade monitor. 

Now I have the new switchres installed, but it doesn't do much good..

It seems like the favourite resolution of fs-uae is 692x540 @50Hz which could fit the original res of PAL Amigas including borders. So I ran the following command to run it with this resolution:

switchres 692 540 50 -s -l "fs-uae"

But the result is not as expected, the whole picture is shifted to the right.

When I run fs-uae from the desktop (with running X-server) then everything is almost right, it's just a bit too wide as the resolution is 640x480 instead of 692x540.
How can I change the resolution of the groovy arcade desktop to 692x540?

[Substring]

You can't change your desktop resolution to the one you'd like. And the resolution you expect is out of reach for 15kHz, so I wonder what is your source for that. You can't run the command from a terminal, it would imply fs-uae runs on KMS which I'm not sure of. Better reach the desktop and try the same command. But really, this resolution looks weird to me.

[AmokSolderer]

This seems to be the default resolution of FS-UAE.
I admit that the 50Hz is confusing, because it's an interlace mode.
When I calaculate it with switchres, I can see that the frequencies are right.

Code: [Select]

switchres 692 540 50 -c
Switchres: Modeline "696x540_50i 15.675000KHz 50.000000Hz 14.170200 696 724 791 904 540 565 571 627 interlace -hsync -vsync
BTW, when I run the switchres command from the desktop I don't have this shift to the right. I guess I'm going to play a bit with the resolutions from there.

Thanks for your help

[Sledge]

So is this ready for prime time?
I'm considering trying Linux/GM for one of my machines to see how it compares to windows...
Is there a guide for linux newbies like me to follow on how to do this?
Cheers

[Substring]

Hi!
My only advice would ve to burn the iso on a usb stick, boot on it and try a rom that is shipped with the distro. What's your setup ? CPU, video card, monitor

[Sledge]

E8500/ATI 3850/Nanao MS9
Or there abouts

[Substring]

I suppose it should work, despite these parts are really old. What worried me the most was your CPU that could ve 32bits only but hopefully not, it is 64bit (GA doesn't work on 32bit)

[makya]

Hi All,

Could you please let me know whether it is possible to install GA as dual boot with windows (only one HDD)?

[Substring]

It's technically possible, but the installer is not made for this situation. In other words : you're on your iwn, and it requires sure some knowledge

[makya]

Thanks for your quick answer. So I will try installing GA first and then windows, as I would not know how to do it the other way around.

[Sledge]

Might help?
https://www.techsolveprac.com/install-windows-after-ubuntu-dual/

[Substring]

Not that much ... Things to care about :
- disks size
- uefi or bios
- which Os to install first (most probably GA)

You may install GA in second, but then you have to do everything by yourself, which includes creating and formating partitions, install the OS (it's mainly copying files to specific folders). The most complicated part is the bootloader.

[makya]

Thank you both!

It's been a trial and error process but finally got it working.

GA installed first using GAsetup option. This method use the whole HDD so I had resize the linux partition (booted on another live linux and used gparted).
Then installed Win10. Once done had to make a new boot entry (using easyBCD) because Windows did not take care of the existing linux of course.

[robbbby]

So I tried installing this version of GA and am still having a hard time getting a picture on my CRT.

Previous to this I was running windows and groovymame, everything worked fine, I changed nothing except for booting off the usb and formatting the main harddrive.

When installing version of GA the voice goes through all outputs on card 1 which is my motherboard, it finds my lcd monitor.  Next it goes through all the outputs on card 0, which I can only assume is my radeon.

When it gets to the DVI-I and DVI-D ports it says no screen found, then it says "forcing analog".
When it does that my CRT comes to life, and it says "Press enter if you can see this".
I hit enter and the screen once again goes black, afterwards nothing happens, it just sits with no picture on both my CRT and LCD hooked up to motherboard vga.

[Substring]

It's supposed to ask you which output will be used for CRT, and then select a monitor type. Connectors that have to be forced to ON are turned to on before any selection happens. Can you provide the file located in /home/arcade/shared/logs/groovy.log ? (or could be /home/arcade/shared/log/groovy.log)

It should even say "Turning <connetor> to ON as required"