Friday, 18 January 2008

I love Open Source!

I'm a big open source fan. I use Ubuntu on every server, desktop and laptop I own. I don't dual boot with another operating system, such as Microsoft Windows or any of Apple OS's. I used to use Windows solely, and used to point, laugh, and make silly faces at people who used Linux, but I had an epiphany around summer 2006 when I was due to attend a conference on Open Source in Brussels, Belgium. I installed Ubuntu on my laptop that I took with me, and from that point on, I was hooked.

For this arcade machine, I'm going to need some software:

  • an operating system

    • some me it has to be Linux, preferably Ubuntu or some variant



  • some version of MAME (the application that runs the games)

    • on ubuntu/linux the application is called xmame



  • a GUI

    • it's not obvious when you first start looking into all this that the mame program does not have an interface to run the games from, it's a command line program that you need to type in order to run a game.

    • as such, this makes the idea of using a semi-authentic cabinet a bit tricky unless you're going to put a keyboard in it somewhere, or...

    • get a program to run "the program that runs the games" that you can operate from arcade controls




I have to use Linux - it's in my blood. Don't let this put you off if you're not used to using Linux - it's nowhere near as difficult to use as it used to be. Also, there is loads in this blog that might be useful to you without you looking at the software.
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2 comments:

  1. retrogamer12 February 2008 at 09:30

    It seems like we mostly have had the same idea at the same time (you are a little ahead of me). I too use Ubuntu for the mame machine. Sofar i use Kxmame, but I am not sure if it will be in the final build. Have hacked the keyboard layouts, ordered the parts I need (only one player version in the start - costs money).

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  2. uowmag12 February 2008 at 09:39

    Indeed!

    I've put together a "pilot" OS in the form of a cut-down version of Xubuntu (better performance and boot time over Ubuntu) and stripped out pretty much everything - every app, every service I don't need (printing, logging, bluetooth, office apps, etc.) and left it pretty raw - just a working desktop with nothing much more than a terminal and a text editor.

    kxmame was one of the interfaces I looked at, and whilst it is a worthy application, it's not what I'm looking for. I have chosen to build my own interface (gMame - available at Sourceforge) as I found all of the others too bulky - I want something VERY streamlined - just a simple list that fires off a game when I push one of the buttons.

    There is obviously an arguement that Java isn't very streamlined or performance orientated language, but it's the language I know best (and not that very well) second to PHP.

    I just want something that works just as an Arcade Machine (no alternate operations in the background) boots in the fastest possible time, and doesn't need a keyboard or mouse other than initial configuration.

    Sorry - that started out as a reply and became more of a posting. Sorry.

    Hope you find more useful things later on - let me know if there's anything you'd like me to address either personally or through the blog.

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