How much Mame stuff can I run in Linux?

[1UP]

So I'm thinking of switching from XP to linux for my game machine.  As far as I know, I can get Linux versions of Mame, Daphne, an I-Pac config util (albeit commandline), and probably any standard PC hardware drivers.  Is there anything I can't use?  Act-Labs guns?  Steering wheels?  What kind of setups are you Linux people using, and how well do they work?

Thanks for helping this Linux noob!

1UP

[jerryjanis]

I've been running Mame on my cabinet for a while now.  I have yet to see the act-labs usb guns work in Linux, although I haven't tried very hard.  I know that Linux does have some drivers for touchscreens and stuff, which might use a similar (same?) driver.  I have used a USB steering wheel without trouble.  For some reason I had some problems with my Dual Strike hacked joysticks.  The only thing I have connected to them are the Leland spring-loaded baseball bat joysticks, which are a low priority for me.

I use AdvanceMame.  It's great to be able to run AdvanceMame without XFree86 hogging any resources, and still having all the functionality of Linux servers and networking running quietly in the background.

Multiple trackballs are a priority for me.  Linux supports multiple trackballs very nicely with AdvanceMame, and with regular Mame under XFree86.  I recompiled AdvanceMame with the 720 driver, and my original 720 arcade stick works perfectly.

The big plus (and minus) for Linux is CHOICE.  There tend to be several choices for every detail of your cabinet, and it's never clear which one is best.  Graphics display:  Xfree86/SDL?  Xfree86/X11?  Console/svgalib?  Console/framebuffer?  I spend so much time playing with the different options and I never really got around to sticking with one.  They all have their advantages.

XFree86 runs happily under any resolution that you throw at it, so it works nicely on an arcade monitor.  I actually found that AdvanceMame is a nice tool to use to generate modelines to apply to XFree86.

[TOK]

I tried the same experiment, but now I'm back to basically a "stripped" version of Windows XP. By stripped I mean I ran MSCONFIG and shut off all the unnecessary junk, shut off System Restore as well as running SERVICES.MSC and shutting off the unneeded services.
Like you, I was an experienced PC/Windows guy, but a Linux newbie, and I had a heck of a time with Linux drivers in Mandrake 9. The hardware that was in the machine when I installed worked, but trying to add anything or update drivers was an exercise in frustration. Stupid 5 minute Windows stuff like upgrading a PS-2 ball mouse with a USB optical mouse was a 3 hour ordeal. I could also never get the beta Linux drivers from NVidia to install right. This wouldn't really affect MAME, but I wanted to upgrade them because the OpenGL apps I was messing with were super slow with the Linux drivers.

The performance gain from XP to Linux on the machine I was testing on (P3/933) was exactly *NOTHING*. No faster, no more stable, nothing.
It was a waste of time, other than as a learning exercise, and one of the things I learned is that Mandrake takes about 3 times as long to boot or shutdown as XP.

If you want to do it as a learning experiment, I'd suggest doing a dual boot. You have to create a separate partition, but I know Mandrake will co-exist peacefully with Windows if you install it on a Windows machine. That way you aren't trapping yourself into using one OS if you start getting frustrated.

[SirPoonga]

If you just want to try it out use an advancedcd or knopixxmame boot cd.

When I was using linux everything worked fine mamewise.

You will probably end up using advmame over xmame.  It's just better.

There's a mame32 like version called gxmame.

[vputz]

Been running Linux and xmame for quite a while now.  Multiple trackballs/spinners work like a dream; I don't have any ACT guns, so can't comment on them... and I've always used xmame (since mame isn't the only thing on the cab).

I couldn't be happier actually... since this is my VCR, webserver, software configuration management repository, Mame box, Daphne box, TuxRacer station, email server, filesharing hub, and damn near anything else I could want to do with it.  It's like the swiss army chainsaw of home information appliances.

In short, really happy about Linux and Mame.  But it's not for the timid; can be a real hassle to get going.

-->VPutz

[1UP]

Hmmm....I'm gonna wrap up this thread.  Thanks everybody for your input, but I guess I'll stick with XP.  I don't have time right now to do heavy troubleshooting, and I just realized that my favorite frontend won't work in Linux.  With the unknown factor of the lightguns, and the beta status of a lot of other stuff I would want to use in Linux, I'd have to say its not an option right now.

Thanks though!