It's probably worth talking a bit about the software.
This time round, I've stuck to my principles and stayed with Ubuntu, but instead a trying to build a perfectly tuned system from the ground up, i've installed an "off-the-shelf", vanilla Xubuntu desktop and trimmed off the unnecessary.
Xubuntu is a variant of the standard Ubuntu image, using the XFCE desktop instead of gnome, and is optimised for older machines, in that it's less resource hungry. This should keep the processor and memory focused on running the emulator and not on producing fancy desktops in the background, that aren't being used.
If you're not a Linux fan, think of it this way - if you're using Windows to run your arcade machine, you've got to use your antivirus software for starters (not needed on Linux) then you have the whole windows OS and all it's bloat running in the background instead of focusing on the job you want the computer to do. Linux isn't as scary as it was a few years ago, and these days, most hardware etc. works straight from the go - no driver installations or other steps to get stuff to work. It really is worth a look.
Preaching finished - back to my setup. Vanilla Xubuntu from www.xubuntu.com. During the install, I made sure to choose an easy username, and password and chose auto-login. The machine needs to login automatically as I will only have the arcade controls available, and it doesn't need to be secure.
I also spent some time in the partition manager, as I like my root and home partitions separate - I find it helps with reinstalls and upgrades. Just a personal preference - nothing to worry about if this isn't for you.
After the first boot, I spent some time removing everything I didn't need, such as office software, multimedia software, graphics, printing, games(!) - you get the idea.
Then added something from the ubuntu software centre - open ssh server. This will enable me to remotely connect to the machine and do anything I need to, such as upgrades, adding new ROMs, etc. And of course, I have to install mame.
Then it's installing Wahcade from http://www.anti-particle.com/wahcade.shtml - it's a free frontend to sdlmame thank has fantastic configuration capabilities, a screen layout editor, and loads more. No more trying to invent the wheel for me!
I'll post some screenshots when I can, but it's easier for you to take a look yourself.
That's a really nice bit of kit you've got there. I'm
ReplyDeletereally liking the skinny cabinet, it looks so sleek. I might
recommend that you try out a different distro, however. You might
want to look into puppy arcade--a variation on the super
lightweight puppy linux distro. You can read more about it here:
http://puppylinuxnews.org/puplets/puppy-linux-arcade/
youve inspired me, im building arcade box myself. being new to linux, would love some additional details. ive decided on using a $150 net-top computer as the basis.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I've abandoned my Open Source roots recently, and the machine is now running a very stable Windows XP with mGalaxy (http://www.mgalaxy.com) as the frontend. The primary reason was that I got much better performance in Windows than in Linux. Couldn't get to the bottom of why, and couldn't invest the time to find out.
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing I would mention is to check the MAME performance on the Net-top before you begin - even though MAME is running very basic old arcade games, the emulator wouldn't work well for me unless I gave it a decent computer to run on. It's currently using the guts of an old laptop - a 1.8GHz P4 with 512Mb RAM.
Good luck, and if you put any pictures/a site online, please send me the link. :-)
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ReplyDelete