Re: [Xmame] creating a xmame system

[Kingsley]

Jeffrey Ross wrote:

1) what linux distro is recommended? (eg Fedora, Ubuntu, Slackware etc)

Doesn't matter IMHO, I use Gentoo.

2) how is an autologin with X accomplished, and starting up an xmame 
front end

Gentoo has an /etc/conf.d/local.start which is called after all
the init.d/* is run.  In here I:

su --login --command "/usr/bin/startx" mame > /dev/null 2>&1 &

And in the ~/.xinitrc for 'mame' user, I start my frontend script.

Alternatively, you could add an inittab entry that did this
(auto-spawn), or modify the xdm script, or ... heaps of ways.
Take the path of least resistance.

3) how is a safe shutdown accomplished without corrupting the disk?

In my .xinitrc, I start the front-end in the foreground (no window 
manager at all).  The next command is "init 0" (with /sbin/init chmod 
+s).  So as soon as the UI is closed, the machine shuts down.

4) is the P-III I described sufficient to run (almost) everything?

It will run all the old stuff perfectly.
The later stuff a little jerkily, and the really-new stuff
quite poorly.  When workstations have outlived their usefullness
they replace the machine in the cabinet.  It's like a CPU retirement
phase before recycling!

5) xmame front ends - what's a logical choice to handle this?

I coded up my own, it implements a web-server.  My UI is firefox,
with a fullscreen plugin for 'full' full-screen.  Coded it a year
or so ago, but I think it sends back a special mime-type when you
click on a game, and then the (automatic) action is to call xmame.x11
I also wanted jukebox style functionality, and I'm a propeller head,
so codeed my own. Have a poke around on freshmeat.net, try a few
you might like.

6) any other gotcha's or suggestions?  a previously posted Howto?

It's way too much fun.
It takes longer than you think, lots of dicking around.
A full ROM set (without CHDs) is around 10G.

Me and my brothers scratch built full-size cabinets about 5 years ago.
It took 2.5 months worth of saturdays.  Mine still gets used
most days, mostly by my 6-year-old playing some robot fighting game he 
found, or just for music.

cheers,
-kt


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