Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[sc0ttman]

While making Puppy Arcade, I've looked around for many different emulator multi-frontends / rom-loaders... Most of which have been poor, or require around 10mb of libs to make them work! This is not ideal.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any decent frontends that DO NOT require either PERL, Python, PyGTK or GNOME?

If not, and here's the project part... Would it be possible to someone to make a very simple frontend for me? I've tried many times, but don't know enough - although I'm sure I can get it done with a little push in the right direction..

My requirements:

A gtk based frontend that shows a list of the emulators installed in Puppy Arcade, on the left, main window on the right.

When an emulator is selected from the list, the main window (on the right) is updated, with the current emulators details:

The main window would need 2 tabs - for 'roms' and 'settings'..

The 'rom' tab:

1. lists all the roms found in the rom directory (set in the 'settings' tab)
2. list the rom filename, filesize and play count
2. loads the rom when double clicked
3. a few extra (right-click?) options such as 'unzip','delete' etc


The 'settings' tab:

1. choosing the default rom directory for that emulator
2. choosing the default bios directory (if required)
3. opening/editing the config file of the emulator (in geany etc)

This would need to read/write settings to an rc file (beyond me ), but I'd only need someone to build a brief example, using only one emulator, I'd finish the rest...

If no one is interested that's fine, but there's a load of great GUIs made and shared on this forum - so I thought I would ask..

I'd be eternally grateful.

Cheers

[jemimah]

Can you point me to the ones with Gnome dependencies? I have had some luck with removing annoying gnome dependencies from otherwise decent software.

[sc0ttman]

[zigbert]

sc0ttman
If we could meet on irc (or somewhere), I think the framework should be fixed during a couple of hours. It all sounds easy, but I don't know anything about emulators, so you must be available for tech specifications. You can also test instant, and get it the way you want.

UK is just 1 hour away of me, so it should be simple to find a suitable time.


Sigmund

[trio]

[ttuuxxx]

This is one I don't have the time to package it, but its a start
http://www.xe-emulator.com/index.php?m=about

[sc0ttman]

Thanks for the response... About xe - I've had it working (of sorts) but am looking for a frontend that acts only as a centralised rom loader - no emulation is required...

Zigbert, I'll send you a private message soon, detailing what I wanna achieve, I'm still trying to plan exactly what I'm looking for ... I'm checking out a few screenshots of popular solutions, see what I like most...

But needless to say, I wanna keep it as simple and lightweight as possible...

I do know what I would need:

- loads into fullscreen
- supports hotkeys/keyboard navigation (and therefore joypads, using rejoystick)
- shows some emulation settings to configure in the settings tabs, which allows users to choose different options each time they load a rom..
- remember the emulation settings chosen in the settings tab for each emulator

Some more advanced, but totally un-required features would be:
- skins (or 1 skin) that adds a nice background image, and fonts
- remember emulation settings for each rom

the main issue for me, is figuring out a way to send the settings to the emulators, using only one frontend... this is because various emulators call their options by different names.. I'm sure this can be achieved very easily, but I know nothing about this kind of stuff...

example: fullscreen may be initiated by the commands '-fs', '-fullscreen' or '--fullscreen'... it depends which emulator you are loading..

I see a need to pass these options as variables, so the frontend would, in the end, pass a command such as :

[sc0ttman]

If anyone is interested, I've sent Zigbert a message and a few screenshots to get this going...

Zigbert has been VERY kind in offering to help, particularly as most poeple will have no interest in this project...

Anyway, here are some very basic screenshots - pre-design, made in paint... If anyone wants to suggest some changes, or upload their own, please feel free... But keep it simple!

Depending on how this turns out, I think it may be possible to use it as a template for a multi-loader for anything... Especially if it's somewhat 'skinnable'.

(Example: If you use multimedia apps and files instead of emulators and roms, then you got yourself a *very* simple media center...)

[sc0ttman]

[jemimah]

It wants either xmame or sdlmame. Which do you prefer?

[jemimah]

I built this against sdlmame but I don't think it actually matters as it seems to have only been checking for the presence of the mame binary.

It's probably missing icons and it requires Gconf which is in the latest Puppeee but I don't remember if Puppeee Arcade is too old or not (probably). You're going to want gconf-dbus for Puppeee Arcade since it has dbus already, but you maybe want an Orbit flavored gconf for Puppy Aracade. Ttuuxx posted an orbit pet somewhere around here.

I didn't have to mangle this too badly to get it to build - most of the gnome requirements are optional, except gnome-doc which I removed.

Let me know if it works.

[sc0ttman]

[sc0ttman]

an example... NOT WORKING! (it does nothing...)

[sc0ttman]

[zigbert]

padega