*** If you're using version 0.124+ of sdlmame from Dribble (installed using Add/Remove or yum), the location of the mame.ini file needs to be: /etc/mame/mame.ini instead of ~/.mame/mame.ini ***
There are numerous versions of the MAME arcade machine emulator available on Linux (xmame, xmame.sdl, sdlmame). This is the easiest way I know of to install and use the sdlmame version...
Install sdlmame using Add/Remove Programs after following the steps in the guide I posted:
Howto: Install software (the easy way)
sdlmame
and optionally:
sdlmame-data-samples
After installing you should have it create an .ini file so you can edit it. The .ini file is simply a text file that is used to store configuration settings. By default it looks for the mame.ini file in certain folders. So you would use these commands to do that:
1. Open a terminal window while logged in under your normal user name
Applications -> Accessories -> Gnome Terminal
2. Create a .mame folder in your home folder
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mkdir ~/.mame
3. Change to your new .mame folder (the . in front of it means it is "hidden")
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cd ~/.mame
4. Have sdlmame create a config (mame.ini) file in this folder
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mame -createconfig
5. Edit the config file
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gedit mame.ini
The first thing you may want to edit is the location of your ROM folder. The default is /usr/share/mame/roms. For example lets say you have your ROMs stored in your home folder under a subfolder: emulators/mame/roms.
So you would change the line:
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rompath /usr/share/mame/roms;/usr/share/mame/chds
to:
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rompath $HOME/emulators/mame/roms;$HOME/emulators/mame/chds
You may also want to have it set to automatically skip frames on games it can't run at full speed, so change:
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autoframeskip 0
to:
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autoframeskip 1
Under # PERFORMANCE OPTIONS, multithreading improves performance on many games, so you may want to enable that, too:
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multithreading 1
For good performance, you
must change this line under # VIDEO OPTIONS from:
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video opengl
to:
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video soft
Joystick support should be enabled by default, but just in case, check that you have:
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joystick 1
NOTE: I am using a Logitech USB gamepad and have no 6-Axis PS3 controller plugged in.
Finally, save your edited mame.ini and close the editor.
6. You should now be able to start sdlmame from the command line. For example, if you were starting the game Double Dragon, you would use the command:
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mame ddragon
Or to start in a resizable window:
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mame ddragon -window
If you get an error message about missing files, you either have an incorrect ROM file or your rompath isn't correctly set in your config file.
While sdlmame is running you can press F-11 to toggle display of the current framerate.
...
There's a newer version of sdlmame available but you have to compile it yourself. Since *I* can do it, it must not be terribly difficult...
but does require some changes to the makefile, development libraries installed, etc. I might post instructions later... by compiling the latest version you'll get a user interface that displays all your roms -- much better than just using the command line alone! Here's the home page of sdlmame:
http://rbelmont.mameworld.info/?page_id=163CORRECTION: No edit to the makefile is required to compile. Just use
make CELL=1 NO_OPENGL=1 (you will need a number of development libraries installed, too)
EDIT: With more recent versions of sdlmame there's a switch for using the sixaxis controller (wired) -- you should also change:
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sixaxis 0
to:
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sixaxis 1