Is Puppy Linux suitable for MAME?

[DeLuSioNal29]

Hi,

I'm completely new to Linux, but I thought it would be the best option to recycle an old PII 450mhz machine into a vertical arcade cabinet.

My question is:

Is Ubuntu Linux the only version that MAME supports?  I kind of like Puppy Linux so far, but I'd like to run the following:  MAME, Wahcade.  Most things I've read refer to Ubuntu.  Does anything work with Puppy Linux or is Linux simply Linux?

I'm a vet when it comes to Windows XP but this is the first time I'm delving into Linux.  So go easy on me. 

Thanks in advance and take care.

~ DeLuSioNaL

[Pinball Wizard]

All linux programs will run on any distribution as long as it is the same processor type, which in your case, it is. IIRC you just need a .rpm for Puppy linux to be able to do what you want. I know that Wah!Cade offers a .rpm package so all you need is to find an SDLMame package that qualifies.

[DeLuSioNal29]

So I managed to find SDLMAME 0.119.  (I am using MAME .119 on my Windows XP machine so I wanted to remain consistent).

I THINK I found an already compiled version.  Not too sure though.  Can someone confirm this?  I found it here:  http://rbelmont.mameworld.info/sdlmame0119.zip

Again, never used Linux, so I'm learning.  Is there anything special I must do to get it to run properly in Pupply Linux?  Do I simply copy it over to the hard drive and run it?  What executable do I run?

Thanks in advance!

~ DeLuSioNaL

[tikbalang]

there are exisiting mame livecd's for linux. you might want to try them first.

AdvanceCD v2.6.3
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1672273&forum_id=313513

AdvanceCD v2.6.2
http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/

Lincade v0.04
http://www.pc2jamma.org/

Piapara
http://sourceforge.net/projects/piapara/

[bloodyviking77]

I THINK I found an already compiled version.  Not too sure though.  Can someone confirm this?  I found it here:  http://rbelmont.mameworld.info/sdlmame0119.zip

Nope, that's the source. rbelmont is the sdlmame maintainer and the packages available at his site are sourcecode only, meaning you'll need to compile ... It's not difficult and there's some tutorials on the forums (linked from the main sdlmame page) but it might be easier for you to track down a binary.

Never used Puppy Linux so don't know whether there are binaries readily available. I think there are semi-official packages available for ubuntu,  which no doubt Google will find for you. If you do want to try ubuntu, you'll probably actually be better off with "xubuntu" - this runs a less resource-intensive window manager and environment than the standard ubuntu. (There are other alternatives, too!)

I agree with tikbalang that a liveCD is probably a good idea to start with in any event.

Good luck!

[dirkomatic]

The .deb files and repositories for sdlmame can be found at http://sdlmame.wallyweek.org

[tikbalang]

puppy arcade:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?search_id=737109340&t=46639

Code:

Packages: What's in? What's out?

Packages Added:

DosBox - dos in linux - play classic dos games 
FakeNES - famicom/nes emulator, loads of options
FirePup - fastest FireFox around
Gens - best genesis/megadrive emulator
GXMAME - called 'arcade' on the desktop, emulates LOTS of arcade systems
MG - called 'sega' on the desktop. A MasterSystem/GameGear emulator (no frontend).
Mupen64Plus - N64 emulator (requires OpenGL)
pSX - excellent playstation emulator (requires OpenGL)
QEmu - boot any bootable ISOs within puppy linux
SNES9x - great snes emulator with netplay
VBA - called 'gba' on the desktop. A gameboy emulator (no frontend).
..plus all required libs (SDL, allegro, libcups.so.2, libGLU.so.1 etc)

Packages Removed:

Extra gtk, icewm and jwm themes
PERL and ndiswrapper,
PPPoE + Roaring Penguin
PSIP
Samba + pnethood
sane + xsane,
Seamonkey Suite,
..plus any extraneous apps with smaller alternatives (netsetup_retro, pbackup, etc)

Most emulators run without OpenGL, except Mupen64Plus and pSX, which DO require OpenGL.
NOTE: ePSXe doesn't need OpenGL in 'software' mode, and can be installed and used instead of pSX.