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Advice Needed. Best OS for Dedicated Emulation Computer


PeculiarSatyr

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As much as I love linux, I must say that I've always had an easier time getting things up and running on Windows.

 

That being sad, if you are a technical person and like to tweak things and make your own modifications various Linux distros can be Decent for emulation.

 

A few that immediately come to mind are:

  • RetroArch
  • Ubuntu (Xubunutu,Lubuntu,etc)
  • Puppy Linux
  • Arch Linux

 

One nice thing about linux emulation is that you get get yourself a $25 raspberry Pi and a PS3 controller and be good to go. That is what I have set up in my living room and I love it.

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I put my money where my mouth is. I bought a "late 2006" Core 2 Duo iMac on Craigslist for $125. It came with OSX 10.4.11 installed, which wasn't much use, so I purchased 10.6 from Apple for $19.99. I downloaded all the emulators that I listed above, even though I haven't heard of some of them, being from the US. Only problem, the system is a little slow due to only having 1 GB DDR2 ram. I will boost that to the maximum and see how it works.

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I put my money where my mouth is. I bought a "late 2006" Core 2 Duo iMac on Craigslist for $125. It came with OSX 10.4.11 installed, which wasn't much use, so I purchased 10.6 from Apple for $19.99. I downloaded all the emulators that I listed above, even though I haven't heard of some of them, being from the US. Only problem, the system is a little slow due to only having 1 GB DDR2 ram. I will boost that to the maximum and see how it works.

 

What is the latest OS that can be run on that system. Some of the better ones require at least Mountain Lion or Mavericks.

 

Yes... you may want to expand the Ram. What kind of video card is inside? if it used integrated graphics (GMA 950). You might me limited to Lion as the highest OS you can run without some time consuming work arounds.

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What is the latest OS that can be run on that system. Some of the better ones require at least Mountain Lion or Mavericks.

 

Yes... you may want to expand the Ram. What kind of video card is inside? if it used integrated graphics (GMA 950). You might me limited to Lion as the highest OS you can run without some time consuming work arounds.

According to everymac.com, the latest OS that can run on this system is : 10.7.5, although I have 10.6.8 on it and am quite happy.

it is using integrated graphics GMA 950. I don't have a problem with that, I have the same in my Dell.

From what I have seen on Craigslist, a system that can support Mountain Lion or Mavericks is going to cost alot more than $125, closer to $500.

By the way, I am replacing 2 512MB memory modules for 2 1GB memory modules for $16.

 

here are the complete specs: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac-core-2-duo-1.83-17-inch-specs.html

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  • 4 months later...

It's really a no-brainer.

 

Windows XP-64 is out. Finicky, limited software, limited hardware support. DirectX and openGL limitiations. And like Windows XP 32-bit, it won't make use of the latest hardware.

 

Windows XP-32 is probably out because you can't use the latest graphics hardware. And newest CPU instruction sets and SSD aren't supported here. Then there are DirectX and openGL limitations again.

 

I'm sure there are many more arguments against those two. So that leaves Windows 7 64-bit. You'll get the broadest support here, both from emulators, and manufacturers, and other developers. You can get up to date video card and driver support and the latest APIs.

 

If you need to, you can even run older versions of DOSMAME in DOSbox, or set up virtual machines if you are experiencing any compatibility issues.

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It's really a no-brainer.

 

Windows XP-64 is out. Finicky, limited software, limited hardware support. DirectX and openGL limitiations. And like Windows XP 32-bit, it won't make use of the latest hardware.

 

Windows XP-32 is probably out because you can't use the latest graphics hardware. And newest CPU instruction sets and SSD aren't supported here. Then there are DirectX and openGL limitations again.

 

I'm sure there are many more arguments against those two. So that leaves Windows 7 64-bit. You'll get the broadest support here, both from emulators, and manufacturers, and other developers. You can get up to date video card and driver support and the latest APIs.

 

If you need to, you can even run older versions of DOSMAME in DOSbox, or set up virtual machines if you are experiencing any compatibility issues.

:thumbsup:

 

Agree 100%.

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To be fair, I've seen people in this forum and plenty of other places using PC to mean a "personal computer" in general, Mac or Windows. I've even seen people lumping iOS and Android devices under the general term of PC!

 

It fits. PC = Personal Computer. iOS and Android devices are in fact, computers. Personal means privately owned. There was a time when individual people did not own computers. But IBM's branding of "PC" has added that twist in it so that sometimes, and expectedly so, it is interpreted as a computer with lineage back to IBM.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Now that I have pulled the windows SSD out of my PC, I am using linux for emulation. I'm very happy with: atari800, higan, mame (gnome video arcade), mess, openmsx-catapult, stella, zsnes, and mednafen.

 

I am also re-living the 90's with chocolate-doom, fredoom, and prboom+

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  • 1 year later...

It is sad there is no real deal for CRT purists. Of course, if you are using an LCD, which I have no doubt majority of people do, you have no reasons to care. The image is going to be distorted either way, the lag input is going to be either way. But there is no kernel mode OS available for really optimized stuff and MS DOS is long dead. Xbox is kernel mode but noone has managed to get custom video timing on it - it is all distorted image at fixed interlaced resolution (laughing at people claiming Xbox emulators looking like original...). And there is no advantage of Linux over Windows - it is the opposite. Windows was proven to have much faster input lags - it is simply much more geared towards real gaming although far from my view of a realtime powerhoused kernel based system.

 

Lately I have seen some improvements on Raspberry Pi firmware to output 240p over composite but it is actually no significant improvement for the community. The image is very much distorted like on Xbox or Wii by the fact the output is still fixed, especially no custom horizontal resolutions... And the weak performance of Pies can hardly match that of desktop CPUs often needed for MAME and other emulators. I guess even good old Xbox can sweep the floor at least with older Pies.

 

Sadly, the only reasonable solution is Windows + GroovyMAME + CRT Emu driver + 15 kHz ATOM BIOS card... what a mess isn't it. I hope one day we will see a proper compact device with the power of desktop CPU to do the proper job.

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I tried Retropie for Linux on an older i5 workstation-style laptop. I installed Linux Mint and then Retropie. The step-by-step instructions I read worked well for initial install and additional core installs used a bit of computer common sense and observation.

 

Emulation was pretty smooth. I played Banjo-Kazooie with no slow down and Mario 64 ran great. The only real hiccup was programming my USB N64-style pad so the proper buttons worked. I haven't gotten aroubd to figuring out the button remap after controller setup.

 

I think one could have a lot of fun gutting a laptop and making your own "console".

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It fits. PC = Personal Computer. iOS and Android devices are in fact, computers. Personal means privately owned. There was a time when individual people did not own computers. But IBM's branding of "PC" has added that twist in it so that sometimes, and expectedly so, it is interpreted as a computer with lineage back to IBM.

 

I always found it funny that the cheap ~$200 early computers were called "Home computers" while the $4000 systems were called "Personal Computers" You could buy a 'personal' home computer for every member of your family for the price of one PC back then! Lol

 

yeah I know the origin of the word is in business. personal meaning a computer a worker could have on their desk vs logging into the mainframe or whatever :)

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I always found it funny that the cheap ~$200 early computers were called "Home computers" while the $4000 systems were called "Personal Computers" You could buy a 'personal' home computer for every member of your family for the price of one PC back then! Lol

 

yeah I know the origin of the word is in business. personal meaning a computer a worker could have on their desk vs logging into the mainframe or whatever :)

Then Apple muddied the waters by doing the "Mac vs. PC" ad campaign where a "PC" is anything Windows.

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I always found it funny that the cheap ~$200 early computers were called "Home computers" while the $4000 systems were called "Personal Computers" You could buy a 'personal' home computer for every member of your family for the price of one PC back then! Lol

 

yeah I know the origin of the word is in business. personal meaning a computer a worker could have on their desk vs logging into the mainframe or whatever :)

 

Yes.

As I Did For Myself and Friends.

My Old PC (Intel Pentium 200) Without HDD and Without Audio Device.

32MB Memory, Old CD-ROM Drive + CRT Monitor and Keyboard, Only.

PC + OSx16 Version 6.22 BOOT-CD (350 Atari Games Included) + Low Coast USB Sound Card (~$3) + Speaker (or Headphone) ==>> Atari 2600 + Many Games And Real Atari Sound ! (A Complete Console).

OSx16 became the only DOS that Supports USB SOUND CARD (Unique !).

OSx16 Version 6.22 BOOT-CD is FREE, and I Can Use USB SOUND CARD with My modern PC, Also (And You Too).

Why Not ?

 

Good Luck.

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So I'm thinking about building a PC with the sole purpose of Emulating video game consoles. I'll probably get a Blissbox to use original controllers.

 

I've only ever built Windows PCs and have never built a specialized machine. Basically I'd be looking to emulate everything from the 2600 to the Wii and up if possible.

 

Anyone have good experiences with a specific linux distro that I should try (that is reasonably user friendly)?

 

So what did you end up doing? This thread has kept on going without you, it seems.

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