Wanna join Linux but how is emulation?

Fred the Fop · 20 January 2006, 10:32

Well.
I am here to ask a question. or two.
How good is emulation of retro games on Linux? Are the emulators in good standing for my fave oldies?
Amiga? Speccy? MSX? Megadrive? MS Dos? NEC Turbo Duo? Atari St?

The reason I ask is simple. I know emulation is pretty fair on the Macintosh, I am saving up for a beautiful new MacBook Pro.
But I also have the latest PC hardware as well. I can build a really nice box. But I am finished with Windows. The only issue is, Windows emulation of the old game systems is far ahead of Mac. Is this the same for Linux?
Yes, what I am saying is that the only reason I keep Windows around is for emulation.
I don't want to toss this nice equiptment, nor stay with Windows. I've been reading about SUSE and Red Hat and Mandrake. Really sweet stuff. But emulation?

woody57 · 20 January 2006, 12:49

Now I have moved this to retrogaming General Discusion it means two things

1] Fred has to stay seriously ON TOPIC & as do OTHERS answering the thread

2] We may FINALLY get a productive thread on this subject

This is NOT an anti M$ thread , however I too have heard these vague mumblings from Linux users who say things are moving forward

So what are the EMU options currently available ?

spiff · 20 January 2006, 13:18

http://www.zophar.net/unix/unix.phtml
Is a pretty good start for some general oppinion on atari and stuff that most ppl don’t emulate

All I can say is that Linux intel (x86) is a bit further then let’s say solaris since some of the asm code isn’t rewritten for that platform.

Jerry · 20 January 2006, 14:00

I think linux is one generation behind when considering emulation aspects but for most systems there is at least one good emulator that can do most everyday emulation. Most emulators are just not as polished as the Win versions. But linux is closing in I think.

SNES emulation eg is as good as on Windows with zsnes and snes9x both being available.
PSX emulation is equally good with epsxe.
MegaDrive emulation is good with gens.
MS-Dos is good with the cvs builds of dosbox.
Atari-ST is good with steem or hatari.
Amiga is not as good as on windows as WinUAE is just too damn fine.

I can't really say something about Speccy, MSX or NEC Turbo Duo emus as I've never used them, but I can say that linux is already a fine system for emulation and is getting better everyday. I'd give it a try. Take a good, beginner friendly distribution like (k)ubuntu, Fedora, Suse or whatever and you should be fine.
Or get a live cd like knoppix to tryout linux first.

Maverick · 20 January 2006, 15:50

Quote:

Amiga is not as good as on windows as WinUAE is just too damn fine.

It's true but E-UAE is trying to bring the benefits of WinUae to the Linux world. However there's still some stuff missing. Personally I find the missing vertical synchronisation the most annoying point, but that is of course mainly because I'm using it with an arcade monitor. Except of this you get a well running UAE with a similar GUI than WinUae. Give it a try, you can find it at http://rcdrummond.net/uae/.
And finally the most important one - MAME. Linux has AdvanceMame and Xmame which are as good as their windows counterparts.

plasmatron · 21 January 2006, 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred the Duck

Well.
I am here to ask a question. or two.
How good is emulation of retro games on Linux? Are the emulators in good standing for my fave oldies?
Amiga? Speccy? MSX? Megadrive? MS Dos? NEC Turbo Duo? Atari St?

The reason I ask is simple. I know emulation is pretty fair on the Macintosh, I am saving up for a beautiful new MacBook Pro.
But I also have the latest PC hardware as well. I can build a really nice box. But I am finished with Windows. The only issue is, Windows emulation of the old game systems is far ahead of Mac. Is this the same for Linux?
Yes, what I am saying is that the only reason I keep Windows around is for emulation.
I don't want to toss this nice equiptment, nor stay with Windows. I've been reading about SUSE and Red Hat and Mandrake. Really sweet stuff. But emulation?

Great Thread !

I ask me the same thing for a long time now. But Windows has the best emus around I think.

Time will tell.

Jerry · 22 January 2006, 09:14

It's more a question of definition of best emus. I think, that the quality of the emus between the systems is not so different but presentation is. Often the core (CPU, audio, video) can be easily ported to other systems and works fine but the GUIs can't. And coders seem to have a bit of trouble to do a nice, intuitive user interface with QT/GTK/etc or just don't care enough for the unexperienced desktop user.
That's were emus like zsnes with their own softcoded GUIs have advantages. On the other hand development on linux is a lot easier and cheaper with a lot of nice free tools available.
In the end time will tell. But I think the threatenings of M$soft with their upcoming vista/vienna/whatever might give a boost to the whole linux side.

keropi · 23 January 2006, 15:14

emus on windows is ages ahead than any other plattform... not to mention the choises...

Doc Mindie · 24 January 2006, 10:07

Keropi..... I am inclined to agree with you. But "only" because there's so many more emulation people with coding skill using Windows rather than Linux. Linux coders seems to be more into developing "serious" software rather than emulators and games.

Last Linux-version of UAE I tried....I couldn't get to properly run :/ admittedly, that was a couple of years ago, though

keropi · 24 January 2006, 10:21

...also I really love windows... tried linux but sadly, even if it has a great gui (kde3) you cannot find simple progs to do simple stuff like in win...
but it's great for a 2nd OS...

Jerry · 24 January 2006, 11:49

Hmm, I don't want this to become a linux vs windows thread as I think both systems have their advantages and I'm using both. I use linux since 2 years and I like my linux system better currently. I mean, some of the linux concepts are crap and qt is quite sluggish compared to mfc, but I know exactly what's going on in my system. And I don't have any everyday problems that I can't solve in linux.

woody57 · 24 January 2006, 16:19

Indeed keropi this IS supposed to a thread focusing on what EMU Linux can do

We have pleanty of threads about windoze emulation so please try to stay reasonably ON TOPIC

keropi · 24 January 2006, 19:01

so where is the off topic in my post? you cannot even find a descent gameboy emu (try bgb for win for a REAL gb emu) on linux... that is a simple task...

Jerry · 24 January 2006, 20:42

Ok,
I must confess that I've never tried gameboy emulation that much and BGB has the label "best gameboy emulator" painted all over their website

.

The thing is that I know there are GB emulators available that don't seem to be that bad. KiGB or VisualBoyAdvance seem to be quite compatible and run most of the games and that's what I want my emulators (mainly) to do.

Also you could always try to use your favourite windows emulator with wine.

keropi · 24 January 2006, 21:56

bgb is indeed the best there is, if someone had a real gameboy can clearly see that...
wine... I totally forgot about that

has anyone tried that? does it work good?

Jerry · 02 February 2006, 00:08

Yes, I try wine every now and then to see how far it has progressed. The current version runs bgb 1.12 quite fine (just did a quick check). WinUAE does start but I couldn't get it to accept any input in compatibility mode. But demos work fine. Probably just needs some tweaking. All only tested with buildin functionality...

mtb · 05 February 2006, 21:57

I use mostly linux ( i booted windows last time in november 2005 ).

Msx: openmsx imho is really good.

Pce: there is hugo and mednafen ( also emulates nes, lynx, gba and maybe something else ), the shareware emu for windows worked a pair of years ago with wine, iirc was called magic engine.

atari 2600: stella seems very good to me, there is also z26 but i have never tried it.

Spectrum: iirc fuse is quite good.

C64: vice, not that good in terms of interface.

If you want more info let me know.

Fred the Fop · 17 February 2006, 02:11

Not that this matters, but having bought a Apple Powerbook my Linux query is no longer something I care to have answered. Thanks to all those who helped, and I hope that Linux users or switchers gained good info.

Minuous · 17 February 2006, 05:08

Emerson Arcadia 2001 emulation on Linux is not as good as on the Amiga, 'cos AmiArcadia isn't available for it...

20 January 2006, 10:32	#1
Fred the Fop flaming faggot Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Versailles Age: 55 Posts: 2,808	Wanna join Linux but how is emulation? Well. I am here to ask a question. or two. How good is emulation of retro games on Linux? Are the emulators in good standing for my fave oldies? Amiga? Speccy? MSX? Megadrive? MS Dos? NEC Turbo Duo? Atari St? The reason I ask is simple. I know emulation is pretty fair on the Macintosh, I am saving up for a beautiful new MacBook Pro. But I also have the latest PC hardware as well. I can build a really nice box. But I am finished with Windows. The only issue is, Windows emulation of the old game systems is far ahead of Mac. Is this the same for Linux? Yes, what I am saying is that the only reason I keep Windows around is for emulation. I don't want to toss this nice equiptment, nor stay with Windows. I've been reading about SUSE and Red Hat and Mandrake. Really sweet stuff. But emulation?

20 January 2006, 14:00	#4
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	I think linux is one generation behind when considering emulation aspects but for most systems there is at least one good emulator that can do most everyday emulation. Most emulators are just not as polished as the Win versions. But linux is closing in I think. SNES emulation eg is as good as on Windows with zsnes and snes9x both being available. PSX emulation is equally good with epsxe. MegaDrive emulation is good with gens. MS-Dos is good with the cvs builds of dosbox. Atari-ST is good with steem or hatari. Amiga is not as good as on windows as WinUAE is just too damn fine. I can't really say something about Speccy, MSX or NEC Turbo Duo emus as I've never used them, but I can say that linux is already a fine system for emulation and is getting better everyday. I'd give it a try. Take a good, beginner friendly distribution like (k)ubuntu, Fedora, Suse or whatever and you should be fine. Or get a live cd like knoppix to tryout linux first. Last edited by Jerry; 20 January 2006 at 14:10.

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20 January 2006, 12:49	#2
woody57 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Manchester Posts: 801	Now I have moved this to retrogaming General Discusion it means two things 1] Fred has to stay seriously ON TOPIC & as do OTHERS answering the thread 2] We may FINALLY get a productive thread on this subject This is NOT an anti M$ thread , however I too have heard these vague mumblings from Linux users who say things are moving forward So what are the EMU options currently available ?

20 January 2006, 13:18	#3
spiff Oh noes! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Neverland Posts: 766	http://www.zophar.net/unix/unix.phtml Is a pretty good start for some general oppinion on atari and stuff that most ppl don’t emulate All I can say is that Linux intel (x86) is a bit further then let’s say solaris since some of the asm code isn’t rewritten for that platform.

22 January 2006, 09:14	#7
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	It's more a question of definition of best emus. I think, that the quality of the emus between the systems is not so different but presentation is. Often the core (CPU, audio, video) can be easily ported to other systems and works fine but the GUIs can't. And coders seem to have a bit of trouble to do a nice, intuitive user interface with QT/GTK/etc or just don't care enough for the unexperienced desktop user. That's were emus like zsnes with their own softcoded GUIs have advantages. On the other hand development on linux is a lot easier and cheaper with a lot of nice free tools available. In the end time will tell. But I think the threatenings of M$soft with their upcoming vista/vienna/whatever might give a boost to the whole linux side.

23 January 2006, 15:14	#8
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	emus on windows is ages ahead than any other plattform... not to mention the choises...

24 January 2006, 10:07	#9
Doc Mindie In deep Trouble Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Manchester, Made in Norway Age: 51 Posts: 841	Keropi..... I am inclined to agree with you. But "only" because there's so many more emulation people with coding skill using Windows rather than Linux. Linux coders seems to be more into developing "serious" software rather than emulators and games. Last Linux-version of UAE I tried....I couldn't get to properly run :/ admittedly, that was a couple of years ago, though

24 January 2006, 10:21	#10
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	...also I really love windows... tried linux but sadly, even if it has a great gui (kde3) you cannot find simple progs to do simple stuff like in win... but it's great for a 2nd OS...

24 January 2006, 11:49	#11
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	Hmm, I don't want this to become a linux vs windows thread as I think both systems have their advantages and I'm using both. I use linux since 2 years and I like my linux system better currently. I mean, some of the linux concepts are crap and qt is quite sluggish compared to mfc, but I know exactly what's going on in my system. And I don't have any everyday problems that I can't solve in linux.

24 January 2006, 16:19	#12
woody57 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Manchester Posts: 801	Indeed keropi this IS supposed to a thread focusing on what EMU Linux can do We have pleanty of threads about windoze emulation so please try to stay reasonably ON TOPIC

24 January 2006, 19:01	#13
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	so where is the off topic in my post? you cannot even find a descent gameboy emu (try bgb for win for a REAL gb emu) on linux... that is a simple task...

24 January 2006, 20:42	#14
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	Ok, I must confess that I've never tried gameboy emulation that much and BGB has the label "best gameboy emulator" painted all over their website . The thing is that I know there are GB emulators available that don't seem to be that bad. KiGB or VisualBoyAdvance seem to be quite compatible and run most of the games and that's what I want my emulators (mainly) to do. Also you could always try to use your favourite windows emulator with wine.

24 January 2006, 21:56	#15
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	bgb is indeed the best there is, if someone had a real gameboy can clearly see that... wine... I totally forgot about that has anyone tried that? does it work good?

02 February 2006, 00:08	#16
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	Yes, I try wine every now and then to see how far it has progressed. The current version runs bgb 1.12 quite fine (just did a quick check). WinUAE does start but I couldn't get it to accept any input in compatibility mode. But demos work fine. Probably just needs some tweaking. All only tested with buildin functionality...

05 February 2006, 21:57	#17
mtb Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Italy Age: 40 Posts: 466	I use mostly linux ( i booted windows last time in november 2005 ). Msx: openmsx imho is really good. Pce: there is hugo and mednafen ( also emulates nes, lynx, gba and maybe something else ), the shareware emu for windows worked a pair of years ago with wine, iirc was called magic engine. atari 2600: stella seems very good to me, there is also z26 but i have never tried it. Spectrum: iirc fuse is quite good. C64: vice, not that good in terms of interface. If you want more info let me know.

17 February 2006, 02:11	#18
Fred the Fop flaming faggot Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Versailles Age: 55 Posts: 2,808	Not that this matters, but having bought a Apple Powerbook my Linux query is no longer something I care to have answered. Thanks to all those who helped, and I hope that Linux users or switchers gained good info.

17 February 2006, 05:08	#19
Minuous Coder/webmaster/gamer Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Canberra/Australia Posts: 2,630	Emerson Arcadia 2001 emulation on Linux is not as good as on the Amiga, 'cos AmiArcadia isn't available for it...

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