Emulators


An emulator is a program designed to mimic another operating system. In the case of games, these emulators mimic the operating systems of game consoles such as the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, PlayStation, or arcade machines. Fire up a game emulator, and you have a virtual version of that game system running on your computer. For anyone nostalgic for the heady days of old game consoles or arcade games, emulators are really fun. You can play all the games you remember without having to dig your old game console out of that box in your garage.

To play a game on an emulator, you have to get a copy of the game to load. The game copies, usually called ROMs, are floating around online to download. Be warned that most emulator programs have not been made very user-friendly for new Linux users. You cannot usually download them from any handy repositories. There are sometimes, but not always, RPM files for the programs. Running emulators gets you into the terminal and config file land of Linux. If you don't want to enter that land, you might want to stick with other gaming options. Many emulators are available to run in Linux, but a few programs have been around for a while and have most of the kinks worked out.

TuxNES

Program Info

Program URL

http://tuxnes.sourceforge.net/


TuxNES is an emulator of the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. The program is very simple and is run straight from the command line. You can download a GUI front end for TuxNES, GTuxNES (see http://www.scottweber.com/projects/gtuxnes/). If you plan to play lots of games with TuxNES, the GUI (see Figure 12.7) might be worthwhile to download, but I find it just as easy to use the command line for only an occasional game.

Figure 12.7. The GTuxNES GUI front end for TuxNES.


UNDER THE HOOD

SHH, I DIDN'T TELL YOU ANY OF THIS

Okay, technically, most game ROMs are illegal. The emulator programs themselves are legal, but when you download a ROM, you're in trouble. There are differing accounts on whether it is legal to have a ROM of, say, Super Mario Brothers if you have the real Nintendo cartridge in a box in your house somewhere. Some lawyers have also argued that you can have a ROM for 24 hours and then delete it. A few sites online (such as http://www.sys2064.com/legalroms.htm) list old arcade games that are now legal to have as ROMs and home-brew ROMs. Try to be legal, if you can.


Although you can install TuxNES from RPMs, I have had odd problems on different Linux versions with the RPMs. If you experience odd performance from TuxNES, uninstall the program and try installing TuxNES from the source. Hop back to Topic 3, "System Tools and Utilities," to review how to install a program from its source code. If you still have problems, try installing one of the older versions of the program.

XMAME

Program Info

Program URL

http://x.mame.net/


This program started out as a series of emulators for single arcade games. A developer got the bright idea to combine all those separate emulators into the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, MAME. The Linux and UNIX version is called XMAME. Instead of game consoles, XMAME emulates old arcade machines. You can play arcade games from the 1980s without some kid standing in the arcade waiting for his turn on the machine.

Although TuxNES has a couple problems that might force you to install the program from source, XMAME messes with your mind and your patience. The program has been around for quite some time, but there are still lots of quirks and bugs. If you have trouble running games after the program is installed, check out the FAQ on the MAME Web site to see common problems and suggestions.

One advantage of XMAME is that you can play most old arcade games that are now free and legal using this program. You can also play a few of the "home-brew" games that individual developers have created and released for free. XMAME supports more than 3,000 games. You can grab a rudimentary GUI front end to use with XMAME, TkMAME (see http://tkmame.retrogames.com/).

Other Emulators

An emulator is available for just about any game console you can think of. Remember the ColecoVision game system from the 1980s? Yeah, no one else does, either (or wants to admit their age by remembering it), but there is an emulator for it. You can find emulators for Nintendo GameBoy, Super Nintendo, Sega systems, PlayStation, and even Atari. LinuxLinks.com has a good list of Linux game emulators online at http://www.linuxlinks.com/Software/Emulators/Videogames/index.shtml.



Linux Desktop(c) Garage
Linux(R) Desktop Garage
ISBN: 0131494198
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 141

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