Oct 29

AdvanceMAME .deb

UPDATE:  Debs with Sound now available here

Hey All,

It’s been a long time coming.  Between work, prototyping, other complications I present the AdvanceMAME  Debian package.

I was able to get past the issue with AdvanceMAME compiling on Raspbian. It’s the sh2 processor for the Saturn, so I had to disable that. After that, it compiles.

I have the src code up on github if anyone wants to check out the changes I had to make.

Github: https://github.com/ssilverm/AdvanceMAME_RaspberryPi
Debs: http://sheasilverman.com/rpi/raspbian/debs/advancemame_0.106.1-1_armhf.deb http://sheasilverman.com/rpi/raspbian/debs/advancemame-raspberrypi_1-1_armhf.deb (with sound)

To install:

  1. sudo dpkg -i advancemame_0.106.1-1_armhf.deb
  2. Once it’s installed, just type advmame and it will create your configuration file.
  3. Roms go in ~/.advance/rom/
  4. Edit your advmame.rc for your display:
    1. For HDMI try:
      1. device_video_clock 5 – 50 / 15.62 / 50 ; 5 – 50 / 15.73 / 60
    2. For NTSC TVs try:
      1. device_video_clock 5 – 50 / 15.73 / 60
  5. to run a game: advmame gamename (ie advmame sf2)
  6. ENJOY!!!

 

Also, another goodie… My deskcade project is coming along incredibly well! I just got in these 18mm Sanwa buttons. They are awesome.

I hope everyone enjoys. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions!

-Shea

Oct 26

Friday Post: One step forward, two steps back

Hey all,

So I got MAME compiled.  The performance took a HUGE nosedive.  Whereas before SF2 was playing flawlessly, it now looks like a slideshow.  I’m going to work on it some more.  Sorry for the huge delay in these Debs.  I’m getting much closer!

I found some 18mm buttons for my DeskCade project.  I’m really excited with how that project is going.  Can’t wait for the buttons to arrive.

Time to let a compile run overnight again!

-Shea

Oct 25

AdvanceMAME compilations issues on Raspbian [SOLVED]

Hey all,

If anyone is having compilation issues of AdvanceMAME on Raspbian,  here is the relativly simple fix:

Change the line:

CONF_CFLAGS_OPT= -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-merge-constants -Wall -Wno-sign-compare -Wno-unused

to

CONF_CFLAGS_OPT= -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-merge-constants -Wall -Wno-sign-compare -Wno-unused

in your Makefile.

.Debs to be released shortly now that this is sorted!

Oct 19

Friday Post: New Pi and Deb Beta Users Wanted!

Happy Friday Everyone!

It’s been a fun week over here.  I was able to order my 512MB Raspberry Pi from Element 14, and it arrived on Wednesday.  Protip: Call Element 14 when they have stock and you will get it really really fast.

Some high quality shots below:

I’ve been working on my Mini Arcade Cabinet project, and I was able to source a mini joystick from P3America.com.  I’m going to be working on the cabinet this weekend, and will be incorporating this into it.

Now for the big news….I have created some .debs for you all to test!  The latest version of Raspbian has been giving me a lot of compiling errors.  What I have gotten done I would appreciate some of you to beta test for me.

The two debs available now are PCSX_ReARMed and Gngeo.  PCSX worked for me when I made the framebuffer larger in config.txt, and gngeo seems to be crashing or hanging randomly.  I’m hoping it works better for you all.  Please provide me with any and all feedback you have regarding these!

Oct 12

Friday Post: Mini Cab in Orlando Sentinel

Happy Friday Everyone!

I got an email this morning from the Orlando Sentinel that the interview with the Raspberry Pi foundation at FamiLAB was ready.  I have a small part in it, as you will see 🙂

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videogallery/72853227/News/FLA360-Raspberry-Pi-Foundation-s-Eben-Upton

It has been an exciting two weeks, busy, but exciting.  I have not had time to work on emulation at the moment.  I have a long list of priorities to get done, but I’m working hard on things for the Raspberry Pi every day!

Also tonight I am going to see the Mythbusters Behind The Myths Tour! Should be a fun time.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oct 03

Preview: Raspberry Pi Arcade Cabinet

EDIT:  Now with Video!

Been working on this for a bit.  I now have limited access to a Laser Cutter.  This mini Raspberry Pi Arcade Machine I made is so cool.  The initial SVG came from here: http://www.ponoko.com/design-your-own/products/arcade-cabinet-enclosure-7231.  I had to modify the holes for the slab of wood I was using and the screen size for my 2″ adafruit display.

Enjoy!

Sep 20

New Raspbian Release – Better WiFi, Audio, and Overclocking

Hey All,

Today the Raspberry Pi foundation announced a new Raspbian release.  I’m currently putting it through its paces, but so far it seems great.

Improvements:

WiFi – I had never tried WiFi until today.  I have never had good luck with Linux and wireless adapters.  I have an older Belkin USB N wifi dongle and I plugged it in and it worked instantly.  Used the GUI WPA_CONFIG tool and it found my dongle, my network, and once I entered my password, I was connected.  Super hassle free.

Audio – Apparently there have been fixes for the audio issues.  I haven’t had good experiences with Audio on the Pi.  I go from Composite to HDMI a lot, and I use a lot of different emulators.  There has always been clicks and hisses.  I am hoping this is fixed now.  I will be testing this out later.

Overclocking – raspi_config now includes an Overclocking menu item and has introduced Turbo mode.  This is coming straight from the Raspberry Pi website:

“We’ve been doing a lot of work to understand the impact of voltage and temperature on lifetime, and are now able to offer a “turbo mode”, which dynamically enables overclock and overvolt under the control of a cpufreq driver, without affecting your warranty. We are happy that the combination of only applying turbo when busy, and limiting turbo when the BCM2835′s internal temperature reaches 85°C, means there will be no measurable reduction in the lifetime of your Raspberry Pi.”

This is awesome news!  I’m downloading all of my binaries to this new image and will be testing out the performance for you all.

Have a great night!

Sep 16

It’s Alive!!!!

Hey All,

Excited to post today.  I was out shopping today at Walmart and I came across a portable battery pack charger on clearance.  I had tried to use a friend’s Duracell Portable charger and while it would power the Pi, it only outputted 500mA so it wasn’t able to power my LCD.  I took a chance and picked this battery pack up and what do you know…it worked!

It’s a Kodak Power Pack KP1000 – 5v 700mA.


I’m now one step closer to my portable gaming station 🙂

-Shea

Sep 13

Better PlayStation Emulation on the Raspberry Pi

Shoutout to CodenameV for bringing PCSX_ReARMed to my attention!

Tonight I have uploaded the source and binaries for PCSX_ReARMed.  This is an amazing emulator that is running a lot of PSX games at full speed.  I have not been able to get sound to work through HDMI yet, but since my last reformat, I haven’t been able to get sound working on anything, so I’m kinda bummed about that.  I’m hoping some of you have better luck with the audio.

Guide to running PCSX_ReARMed:

  • Download Source and Binaries
  • unzip pcsx_rearmed.zip
  • cd into pcsx_rearmed/
  • ./pcsx
  • Have fun having fond memories replaying some favorites from a couple generations ago 🙂

Let me know if you have any issues.  Enjoy!