Best flavor of linux for P-III 750 Mhz with xmame?

[nobody]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Hi all,

I recently read the opinion at
http://www.mameworld.net/c0pil0t/xmame.html (not sure of the date it was
written) of xmame under Debian. I currently have a P-III 750 MHz running
Windows 2K and the mame32 frame rate does kinda stink with certain
games, especially with the later versions of the mame engine. I realize
part of the problem is that I have an old PC, but another part is surely
windows.

Anyway, I was willing to give a dual-boot option a try, as discussed in
the page cited above, but I wondered if anyone had any more recent
opinions of which flavor and version of linux to go with for an older PC
(P-III)?

Obviously security is important, so I would prefer not to get some
version that has no patches to known holes.

Debian? Fedora? I don't really need to do anything but the mame playing,
although connecting to the net is practical for updates.

I do have an X-arcade adapter connected via the keyboard adapter, if
that makes any difference.

Thanks!

 

[sinner]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

* Nobody wrote in alt.games.mame:
> Hi all,

> I recently read the opinion at
> http://www.mameworld.net/c0pil0t/xmame.html (not sure of the date it was
> written) of xmame under Debian. I currently have a P-III 750 MHz running
> Windows 2K and the mame32 frame rate does kinda stink with certain
> games, especially with the later versions of the mame engine. I realize
> part of the problem is that I have an old PC, but another part is surely
> windows.

An older version of windows, like windows98lite would likely be a little
faster but what games are you playing that have bad FR's?

> Anyway, I was willing to give a dual-boot option a try, as discussed in
> the page cited above, but I wondered if anyone had any more recent
> opinions of which flavor and version of linux to go with for an older PC
> (P-III)?

Any current version of Linux (Slack 10.1, MDK 10.1, Debian/Knoppix or
Fedora) would probably run fine on that machine. You can use the Frame
Buffer drivers and never bring up X if you like. You can also run a
light desktop like fluxbox if you prefer a GUI.

> Obviously security is important, so I would prefer not to get some
> version that has no patches to known holes.

Why is security important on this box? does it have a constant
connection to the net? will it be running any servers? In any event, all
of the above mentioned Distros have automatic updates available that are
amazingly easy. Dependency hell is pretty much a thing of the past
unless you are compiling from source.

> Debian? Fedora? I don't really need to do anything but the mame playing,
> although connecting to the net is practical for updates.

> I do have an X-arcade adapter connected via the keyboard adapter, if
> that makes any difference.

I think there is a version of Knoppix/MAME that you can boot and see how
your machine handles it. Give google a shot.

--
David
QOTD:
"I used to go to UCLA, but then my Dad got a job."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Nobody wrote on 18. February 2005:
>
> I recently read the opinion at
> http://www.mameworld.net/c0pil0t/xmame.html (not sure of the date it
> was written) of xmame under Debian. I currently have a P-III 750 MHz
> running Windows 2K and the mame32 frame rate does kinda stink with
> certain games,

I have a 233 Mhz machine here. Can forget about all newer games. But no
prob as I only play oldschool classics anyway. 🙂

> especially with the later versions of the mame engine. I realize part
> of the problem is that I have an old PC, but another part is surely
> windows.

Though being a Linux nerd I don't think it's Windows fault. At least not
with a power machine (everything above 400 Mhz is a power machine for me 🙂
as you have. You might have noticed some advantages for Linux or DOS
comparing to Win32 with slow machines below 200 Mhz.

> Anyway, I was willing to give a dual-boot option a try, as discussed
> in the page cited above, but I wondered if anyone had any more recent
> opinions of which flavor and version of linux to go with for an older
> PC (P-III)?

Doesn't matter. Linux is Linux. But you have different distributors which
have older or newer versions of packages shipped with.

> Obviously security is important, so I would prefer not to get some
> version that has no patches to known holes.

After a distribution is released it's "outdated". Like a new computer has
aged the moment you leave the shop. If a bug is known for a certain
application it affects all (older) distributions. But with all
distributions you can do online updates. With some it's very
convenient. I recall on Debian it's like "apt-get update -a" and it will
prompt for newer versions of packages you have. You can then select what
to update.

And just don't install stuff you sure don't need. Web server, FTP and
stuff. The smaller the code base the smaller the risk of being compromised.

But *any* Linux distribution is more up to date than Windows, which AFAIK
still comes without Service Pack 2 sometimes, so you infect your computer
with a bug known since more than a year!

> Debian? Fedora? I don't really need to do anything but the mame
> playing, although connecting to the net is practical for updates.

Any. If you really don't want to do online, you actually don't need to
start any service. And if you don't use X (you can play MAME on the SVGA
screen) you don't need even this. So you might be able to boot it in 10
seconds and are done.

One nice thing on Linux is you can create or modify the so called
runlevels. That means you can create (or modify an existing) runlevel,
which does nothing. So it's up in 10-20 seconds and you can play
MAME. Then, if you think you need to go online, you just go into another
runlevel where necessary stuff is started. Without rebooting.

> I do have an X-arcade adapter connected via the keyboard adapter, if
> that makes any difference.

Is it USB? Then you have to at least run the USB services, hotplug and
stuff.
--
By(e) Andreas
Old school arcade classics at http://www.tombstones.org.uk/~ankman/
Linux without installation? http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
OE user? Ease the pain and try the better newsreader http://xnews.newsguy.com/
Registered as user #289125 with the Linux Counter http://counter.li.org/