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KnoppiXMAME 1.0 Released
Ant writes "KnoppixMAME is a bootable arcade machine emulator with hardware detection and autoconfiguration. It works automatically on all modern and not-so-modern hardware, including gameports and joysticks. It is powered by Knoppix Debian GNU/Linux, X-MAME, and gxmame." Update: 06/19 23:18 GMT by S : Although there are earlier versions in the release directory, looks like V1.0 hasn't made it onto the FTP just yet. Meanwhile, Jim points out the AdvanceCD image, which is "..also a bootable ISO image of a minimal Linux
distribution containing MAME, but weighing in at 16 MB rather than
200 MB so there is more room for ROMs."
Be patient, unlike certain slash editors, who should have made sure the file was actually in the directory they were pointing to. :-)
About: KnoppixMAME is a bootable arcade machine emulator with hardware detection and autoconfiguration. It works automatically on all modern and not-so-modern hardware, including gameports, CowboyNeal and joysticks. It is powered by Knoppix Debian GNU/Linux, X-MAME, and gxmame.
/ramdisk/home can also be copied to the root of the ISO to make configuration changes persistent. Networking support is now enabled and supported with xmame and gxmame. XMAME has been updated to 0.69 and gxmame to 0.33. Xv is now the default display mode; it can be changed by using the "dga" option on the boot commandline. The ISO is now 100MB smaller, at 200MB.
Changes: ROMs can now be put on the CD ISO without having to remaster/recompress Knoppix.
You'd need to desolder the ROMs from the cartridge and read them with an EPROM reader. The pinouts are often different from EPROMs, so that's another thing that needs to be dealt with. (with some wires and an IC socket or 2)
Sega CDs are just CDs. Really easy to copy these days, and I've heard the Sega CD console has no protection (so it can actually run games on CD-R).
As far as Knoppix is concerned (or any other program), there is no difference in media but the size. The filesystem is, as in a CD, ISO9960 with rock-ridge extensions. (Normal video DVDs also have an UDF filesystem, but it isn't required nor does it conflicts with the ISO9660 one.)
Mame currently supports games like King of Fighters 2001 (60mb), Area 51 (which has a 300mb HDD image file) and several other more modern games.
It's true Pac-Man is only a few KB, but if you want to play some of the more current games, you'll appreciate DVD media.
Hi everyone, I'm the author of KnoppiXMAME. The file wasn't available yet on ibiblio when I updated the project status on freshmeat. I didn't think it would generate an announcement on the main page, and I certainly didn't think it would be slashdotted!
I've mailed the ibiblio maintainers and am waiting for a response on the status of the ISO file I uploaded about three days ago. In the meantime you can grab the ISO directly from me by opening an ftp session to yummy.dyndns.org. It's only 128K up, so whoever gets it first please put some mirrors up!
- Daniel R. Tarsky
There are many many sites out there charging US$100 or more for MAME sets. It is in direct response to their actions that the Tombstone Group was formed. Due to some provider problems they were shutdown for a time. To keep the scammers from taking over during their absence, Lazarus and FreeMAMERoms took over.
There maybe other burning groups, these are just the ones I am aware of.
If you want to know what I mean by scammers do a Google for "Emu on CD" for a Brazillian site. (Please don't give them any money)