arch based distro for mame cabinet

alko · 2011-05-31 10:19:59

hi all folk,

I'm a retro gaming aficionado!!

I made a cabinet on my own and installed mame and some other emulators on.

the system is a win xp "modded" to boot directly to the frontend instead of explorer.

but I would like to have an open source system.

I think that archlinux could be the right distro to build a mame machine.

anyone of you would to joinor help with this project?

gazj · 2011-05-31 11:46:41

I have always wanted to do this.

Relevant pages I think you would need off the top of my head

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Au … al_console - Autologin to start the bash shell

bash will automatically start the xorg server with the following pasted into the file ~/.bashrc

. $HOME/.bashrc
if [[ -z "$DISPLAY" ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/tty1 ]]; then
  exec startx
fi

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinitrc - Instead of using xinitrc to start your preferred window manager, use it to start your preferred mame frontend.

alko · 2011-05-31 12:08:49

really thanks,

that's a good start.

after boot there is need to boot into a multiemu frontend directly.

maybe you know hyperspin ,it's a good frontend,and it has a great collection of movies themes and graphics, but I don't know any frontend like it for linux.

we could just pack it and make a script to mod archlinux installation.

obviously we left roms out of the pack...:D

we have to modify installation to get packages from internet repositories.

Any knows how to make custom installation of arch???

alko · 2011-05-31 12:41:33

I found this in arch wiki:

Arch Linux uses AIF aka 'Arch Linux Installation Framework' to perform installations.
This tool - written in bash - consists of some libraries to perform various functions (installing packages, setting up disks etc) and some so called procedures which use these libraries to provide an easy means to do an installation or to smaller related tasks ('partial procedures'). These procedures are shipped by default:
interactive: An interactive installation procedure, which asks you some questions, guides you through an installation and helps you configuring the target system by automatically changing some settings for you depending on what you did earlier (eg network settings)
The installed system will initially have only a customisable set of "base" packages installed with whatever utilities and drivers you need to get online.
Then once you've successfully booted the installed system, you'll run a full system upgrade and install any other packages you want. (aliased as /arch/setup)
automatic: An automated, deploy-tool-alike procedure designed for low-to zero interactivity.
uses profiles for configuration of the target system.
See /usr/share/aif/examples/ for example profile files. The examples implement quite generic scenarios but you're free to change them how you like to install extra packages, do configuration tweaks, etc.
base: basic, little-interactivity installation with some common defaults.
This procedure is used by the others to inherit from, it is NOT meant to be used directly by end users
partial-configure-network: exposes the network configuration step from the interactive procedure, to help you setup the network in the live environment
partial-disks: Process disk subsystem or do a rollback
partial-keymap: change your keymap/console font settings. (aliased as km)
The benefit of procedures such as partial-keymap and partial-configure-network over direct usage of tools such as loadkeys or ifconfig is that when running the interactive procedure, you will get asked if you want to apply your settings to the config files of the target system.
If you want to go further, you can also:
write your own procedures from scratch or by overriding certain parts of other procedures
write your own libraries, to provide new, reusable functionality
create your own configs for the procedures that support them (eg automatic)
For more information, consult the readme of AIF.

is there any how to for this?
anyone has experienced this kind of tool

alko · 2011-06-01 08:28:57

I found this in AIF readme

maybe it could be useful,I think we must code an automatic procedure with partial interactivity,just name of system,root password,user and his password,packages for emu:i.e. wich emu to be installed.

I think in the machine the AIF should use all the hdd since usually the pc is used only to run mame and other emus
I think in emu package there should be:
-emu
-snaps
-theme for the front end
-cover/marquee
-rom folder,but empty...:D

I have a suggestion also for the "distro":

Archade

that is archlinux + arcade

what do you think???

AIF comes by default with these procedures:
- base: basic, little-interactivity installation with some common defaults.
This procedure is used by the others to inherit from, it is NOT meant to be used directly by end users
- interactive: An interactive installation procedure.
Asks you some questions, guides you through an installation
and even helps you a bit by updating configuration files on the target
system with your usettings
- automatic: An automated, deploy-tool-alike procedure. designed for low-
to zero interactivity. uses profiles for configuration of the installation/target system.
See /usr/share/aif/examples/ for example profile files.
- partial-configure-network: exposes the network configuration step from the interactive procedure
- partial-disks: Process disk subsystem or do a rollback
- partial-keymap: change your keymap/console font settings. The benefit of this method over a simple loadkeys is that the interactive procedure will
automatically update the rc.conf on the target system with your settings.

Last edited by alko (2011-06-01 10:40:20)

kokoko3k · 2011-06-01 08:51:26

What kind of monitor do you (plan to) use?
Right now i've a gentoo system highly customized with a slightly self modified kernel to allow the radeon driver (in use with a firmware modified radeon 9250) to output the framebuffer to 15Khz/60hz as soon as possible to match CRT frequency range.
...and i'm scared about how the new kernel will behave due to kms changes.

alko · 2011-06-01 09:19:07

hi kokoko3k,

I made a system with a lcd 22" monitor ,not so retro as yours...:D!!

but your post suggested me that on AIF procedure we must let also users choose videocard packages.

Infact,it's necessary to have video already configured from first boot,so we must include also ati and nvidia packages.

for you question we can add also in AIF procedure the choose for the kind of monitor in use.

thank for the suggestion.

alko · 2011-06-01 10:31:30

Hi all,

I made a logo for the "distro"

do you like?

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-31 10:19:59

arch based distro for mame cabinet

#2 2011-05-31 11:46:41

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

#3 2011-05-31 12:08:49

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

#4 2011-05-31 12:41:33

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

#5 2011-06-01 08:28:57

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

#6 2011-06-01 08:51:26

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

#7 2011-06-01 09:19:07

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

#8 2011-06-01 10:31:30

Re: arch based distro for mame cabinet

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