Setting up a Linux based Mame system--How is ArcadeCD?

[jukingeo]

Hello All,

Here I go again setting up another computer with MAME.  This time around I would like to try out Mame on a Linux based machine.  My goal is to 'can' the OS with MAME on a DVD-R and as such I can quickly set up computers for use in cabinets.

Ok, my first attempt at running Mame in Linux was met with failure because my computer had an ATI video card in it that Linux didn't like.  As such I was not able to access OpenGL and the then application I tried, SDL-Mame, wouldn't work.

Now I have a new Intel computer system that has on-board graphics acceleration and I am ready to attempt to set up Mame in Linux again.    Being that some time passed before I got my new machine I figured I would check back here to see what is current in terms of what I should use for an emulator in Linux.

In my searches on-line I came across a link to this website:

http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/cd-readme.html

The big feature that stood out here was that I could set this up on a DVD or a USB Memory Stick and I can boot it up on just about any machine (that fits the requirements).   So after reading that, I figured I had nothing to lose and I downloaded the software.   Now comes the kicker; the included instructions explain how to run off of a CD/DVD or a bootable USB Memory stick, but it do not tell you how to set up the CD/DVD or USB Memory!  LOL!  That is a good one!

So one of the questions I have right off the bat is how does one make a bootable USB memory stick that will boot up AdvanceCD.

Next question would be that if anyone got AdvanceCD to start up, how was it?  Did it install without too much grief?  Did you like the interface?  Does it do as the site claims (boots up on just about any machine that fits the system requirements)?

If pretty much the answer is "Yes" to all three, then I would like to know how to use AdvanceCD.  (The website also has no instructions for creating a disc or memory stick.

Finally if AdvanceCD is really not the flavor of the year, then what program should I use to run MAME games in Linux?

Here are my new system stats:

1) Intel i5 650 3.2g processor with hyperthreading and turbo mode
2) Corsair DD3 4g ram
3) 2x Seagate 500g 7600rpm Barracuda HDD's
4) Video:  Intel onboard accelerated graphics
5) Sound: Realtek 7.1 HD audio
6) OS's:  Dual boot with Windows XP and Ubuntu Studio Lucid Lynx (10.04)

Thank You,

Geo

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Might take a look at Puppy Arcade

[bitbytebit]

I've put together a liveCD ISO image for 32bit and 64bit machines in an arcade cabinet or using an arcade monitor, basically to utilize the newest Linux Video drivers.  They can support the ATI cards a whole lot better now, that's mainly what it's aimed at though.  The Intel support is still decent though and might be interesting just to burn a copy and try it to see, at least would be great to hear back a report of how it acts for you since looking for feedback and ways to make it best for true original arcade monitor output.  It is bare bones, boot up and text based setup leads you through the liveCD setup, can install to hard drive too if wanting to keep or have a 'home' partition to you don't have to setup each boot after the first.  Basically the advantage, is using it will probably get the best use of your arcade monitor and closest to original resolutions, on ATI Radeons it's perfect in most cases. It has wahcade, and utilizes my switchres wrapper to mame so auto modeline generation and setup for each game.  Basically think of it as a Soft15khz for Linux but goes a bit further since in Linux you can generate modelines immediately for use and have more control over the video cards now with the newest Linux Kernel Mode Switching and DRM layer.

[jukingeo]

Might take a look at Puppy Arcade

Oh, Puppy Linux has a MAME variant?  I have to check that one out.

I've put together a liveCD ISO image for 32bit and 64bit machines in an arcade cabinet or using an arcade monitor, basically to utilize the newest Linux Video drivers.  They can support the ATI cards a whole lot better now, that's mainly what it's aimed at though.  The Intel support is still decent though and might be interesting just to burn a copy and try it to see, at least would be great to hear back a report of how it acts for you since looking for feedback and ways to make it best for true original arcade monitor output.  It is bare bones, boot up and text based setup leads you through the liveCD setup, can install to hard drive too if wanting to keep or have a 'home' partition to you don't have to setup each boot after the first.  Basically the advantage, is using it will probably get the best use of your arcade monitor and closest to original resolutions, on ATI Radeons it's perfect in most cases. It has wahcade, and utilizes my switchres wrapper to mame so auto modeline generation and setup for each game.  Basically think of it as a Soft15khz for Linux but goes a bit further since in Linux you can generate modelines immediately for use and have more control over the video cards now with the newest Linux Kernel Mode Switching and DRM layer.

I mostly do retro gaming, so there is very little past the 90's that I get into.  With the new machine I have now, though, I am pretty sure it will run quite a few of the new games too.

But basically I am looking for something that I could put on a USB stick and boot on just about any Intel based machine.

As for video, I did initially want to buy a dedicated GPU, but after I saw the performance of the built in Intel graphics.  I said to myself, "I think I can hold off a bit on that".   I have had tremendous gains in performance over my old machine which DID have an ATI gpu (of which I was very disappointed with).   I will never use an ATI gpu again.  Needless to say once I do get a GPU for this new machine, it will be from Nvidia.

Now in terms of my needs, the first couple cabinet plans I have DO NOT include an original arcade monitor as I am planning them around flat screens (the cabinets are smaller designs, one will be a bartop).   I am not going for 100% accuracy here.  But eventually one day I will put together a full cabinet, just not now.

BTW, what did you base your project on?  Did you use ArcadeCD?  Did you use SDL-Mame?  Or did you use something else entirely?

Thanx,

Geo

[bitbytebit]

I mostly do retro gaming, so there is very little past the 90's that I get into.  With the new machine I have now, though, I am pretty sure it will run quite a few of the new games too.

But basically I am looking for something that I could put on a USB stick and boot on just about any Intel based machine.

As for video, I did initially want to buy a dedicated GPU, but after I saw the performance of the built in Intel graphics.  I said to myself, "I think I can hold off a bit on that".   I have had tremendous gains in performance over my old machine which DID have an ATI gpu (of which I was very disappointed with).   I will never use an ATI gpu again.  Needless to say once I do get a GPU for this new machine, it will be from Nvidia.

Now in terms of my needs, the first couple cabinet plans I have DO NOT include an original arcade monitor as I am planning them around flat screens (the cabinets are smaller designs, one will be a bartop).   I am not going for 100% accuracy here.  But eventually one day I will put together a full cabinet, just not now.

BTW, what did you base your project on?  Did you use ArcadeCD?  Did you use SDL-Mame?  Or did you use something else entirely?

Thanx,

Geo

It's based on Gentoo, with overlays which are using all the X server/OpenGL/Mesa from the git repositories and has a custom kernel from the newest linux git-next patched for 15khz operation. Yeah I definitely am hoping for it to support Intel/Nvidia too but just not tested, in theory it should.  It is mainly aimed by default at arcade monitors, 15khz, although I do run it on my intel based laptop pretty nicely too .  Yeah it's 2.5-3 Gig full install, about 600 meg compressed and in theory (I got it working) installable on a USB stick but I admit it's required knowing a bit about grub setup (having to find the usb stick to push grub onto it, not easy to automate unfortunately without syslinux support).  Kind of closer to a research type project into getting Linux to meet the different requirements games/emulators require.  Which main advantage has been putting together the bleeding edge linux DRM-next kernel with OpenGL/X/DRI stuff that no other current linux distributions have implemented yet. Also the patching of what is necessary to bypass any of the blocks in those, hopefully eventually to pass those fixes on back to the original software developers (although they don't always care so much about 15khz support unfortunately).

[jukingeo]

Might take a look at Puppy Arcade

Hello all,

I tried out Puppy Arcade today with a direct boot from a USB drive.  So here is the breakdown.

The Good:

Ok, so with a little help from PendriveLinux.com, I manged to set up a bootable USB drive flawlessly.  It was an extremely easy setup in which I didn't even have to burn the PuppyArcade10.iso to a disc.  It worked directly from the iso.   Once everything was set up, I set my machine to boot from USB and BOOM!  The flash drive booted up.  So, thumbs up on the setup.

The Bad:

Within PuppyArcade, I can say that I pretty much do not care for the interface.  I guess I should have been a bit more clear on this, but basically I want to create a repeatable setup that is bootable from USB BUT retains an arcade appearance.  While I WAS easiliy able to find my roms and load them up from a simple double click, but I would rather have a nicer front end like that of WahCade.

The Ugly:

No Sound, No OpenGL.

This is really bad.  No matter what I did, I couldn't get sound to work and the video ran very slow.   I remember I had problems on my previous system because OpenGL wouldn't work, but I know it is working now on my new system because I can play games like Neverball and Sauerbraten.   So I did a bit of poking around in the video section and sure enough, Open GL was not enabled.   If I tried to enable it, I couldn't get the games to start up.

So I am not sure what I am doing wrong, or if it is a system/program issue, but as it stands, I don't really care for the interface right off the bat and I probably would seek a different alternative.   The fact that I can't get the sound, nor video to work right doesn't help either.


Ok, seeking another alternative, I would like something that is a bit more 'arcade' looking, but still can be booted from a USB.

Edit:  Just to try things out in Ubuntu, I loaded up SDLMame and I don't have any trouble with how it runs the roms.  So the issue must be with Puppy.   

I will say though, my sound is a bit choppy with SDLMame and I don't remember having that problem with my old Dell machine.



Thanx,

Geo

[Monkey]

for the Advance Mame, i got it (sort of) working by using this

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

to install a Distro of linux no in the list, scroll to the bottom of the list and select one of the 2 there, i chose the "new" one.

its really good for other installs like puppy arcade etc, as it links directly to the download of the distro you want.

and it makes for a quick and easy install.

the issue i had with advance mame was it wasnt compatible with my graphics card.

but i will be watching your progress closly as it seems we are after the same goal