UbuntuMAME - Base System Install
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[edit] Base System Install
[edit] Ubuntu
Insert the installation CD and follow the options to start Ubuntu. Once it has loaded, double click the Install icon to start the actual installation process. When the installation is complete the machine will reboot and will now run from the hard-drive in the machine. Installation of Ubuntu is beyond the scope of this document, the official website provides multiple installation guides depending on your specific needs.
Note that if you have a USB keyboard you may not be able to choose from the boot menu, however the install program will start automatically after 30 seconds and suitable drivers should be loaded by the time the GUI is displayed.
Who are you? (why are you here?)
When prompted Who are you?, enter a username and computer name. I'll assume for the basis of this document that your name is mame and your password is mame. Please use lower case letters as Linux is case sensitive. I will also assume that this machine will never have an open connection to the internet (it will be behind at least a router), so we will do a number of very insecure things.
Prepare disk space
Choosing an option other than Erase will very likely have an impact on the intended outcome of some of these instructions, particularly if choose to retain any existing file systems. Choosing Erase is likely the fastest way to use the entire hard disk for this machine. If you wish to dual boot, consult the installation guides on the Ubuntu website.
Install
The installer is quite easy to follow, it will ask a few questions about things like time zone and the like. Your answers to many of these questions don't truly matter, as this machine is meant for gaming, not network serving of any type. Be sure to set up your network at this point, it will make things easier in the long run.
When the install completes you can remove the xUbuntu CD-ROM and reboot into your nice clean machine. We'll make the boot process even faster by the time we're done.
[edit] Eliminating the Root Password
First, fix one of my major complaints about the base install. As I pointed out, I am by nature lazy, and feel that once I've logged in, I should never have to remember my password ever again. So, we will instruct the system sudo not to request a password for the user mame.
mame@mame-machine:~$ sudo visudo
After entering your password, move to the end of the file, and add the line:
mame ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL
Note: this is a "bad" idea. You can now execute any command, as root using sudo, and it will NOT ask for your password. It's kind of like giving a monkey a machine gun - he has a lot of power, and eventually he is going to figure out how to use it and screw something up. On the other hand, he sure will have learned that lesson.
[edit] Package Management
Ubuntu provides similar package management to it's big brother Debian. In fact, the package management is done via the command line with apt-get or graphically with Synaptic. We need to set up the system for our use, and put it to work. For this step, the existing desktop GNOME installation will be our graphical interface. We want to first update and upgrade all of the existing packages.
Updating and Upgrading
We want to make sure that our installation of Ubuntu can see any and all packages that might be available. Using the GUI package manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager), Click Settings > Repositories, and make sure all the boxes are checked. If you miss this step, others later will certainly fail.
Once you have all of the Repositories selected make sure you click the 'Reload' button to download all of the information about the packages available in the newly added repositories. Once all of the repositories have been updated you will need to click the 'Mark All Upgrades' button to mark the needed updates. Make sure to click the 'Apply' button to actually download and apply these needed package updates. This will might take a while depending on the speed of your connection. It will also definitely require a reboot to install the newest Linux Kernel. Re-start your machine before continuing.
- Note The new package repositories should work out-of-the-box through the GUI, if they don't, once the machine reboots, execute this in the terminal:
mame@mame-machine:~$ wget http://repository.debuntu.org/GPG-Key-chantra.txt | sudo apt-key add GPG-Key-chantra.tx
Extra Packages via the Command Line
Additional packages are required in order to compile and support the various AdvanceMAME modes. You can also select each package in Synaptic and install them graphically but we find that it is easier to cut and paste into the command line.
- Note if you have synaptic open when you try to run this command in the command line you will receive an error.
mame@mame-machine:~$ sudo apt-get install gcc libtool libslang2-dev libsdl1.2debian libfreetype6-dev \
libexpat1-dev libsdl1.2-dev make libxml2-dev g++ fbset build-essential
[edit] Next Step
[edit] Other Steps
1.) UbuntuMAME - Overview 2.) UbuntuMAME - Base System Install 3.) UbuntuMAME - Video Drivers 4.) UbuntuMAME - Clean-Up and Networking 5.) UbuntuMAME - Build and Install 6.) UbuntuMAME - Initial Configuration and Testing 7.) UbuntuMAME - Fine Tune Advance Configurations 8.) UbuntuMAME - Auto-Login and Auto-Start 9.) UbuntuMAME - Adding NES and Atari2600 10.) UbuntuMAME - Adding a Light Gun 11.) UbubtuMAME - Adding a Jukebox System 12.) [[UbubtuMAME - Support Files for MAME - MESS
