How to Setup Game Emulators (Linux)

Installation of Emulator

Download the latest version of the emulator. After you've downloaded the file to your /tmp directory, untar it and check out its contents. Someemulators come pre-compiled, while others come as source. If you got the source version, there should be directions about compiling it in the INSTALL or README file(s) that usually accompany the source. Once the executable binary is ready, you want to make sure that all the users can use it. Type:

chmod 755 binary

Where binary is the name of the emulator. The next step is to copy the binary to directory from which it will be executable. You can use /usr/bin to avoid fiddling with paths. Type:

mv binary /usr/bin

This will move the file to /usr/bin, from where it will be executable by all users. If you feel like fiddling with paths and making proper directories for each game, be my guest.

If you downloaded a frontend (easy-to-use interface for X) for the emulator, you should repeat the procedure for its binary (chmod 755 binary; mv binary /usr/bin). I highly recommend getting a frontend if it's available for the emulator, because it saves you from learing all the flags with which to start the emulator. If you didn't get one, or it wasn't available for the particular emulator, please read the instructions. They can be found wherever you untarred the package. (/tmp/... if you follow this guide)

There are two ways of starting the emulator. You can make a shortcut on your desktop to the emulator or front-end binary, or you can open a terminal window and type the emulator or frontend binary name.

Getting Roms

ROMS are games for the emulator. You might have already some.

Installing Roms

ROM installation is relatively simple. You want to put the ROMS in a directory which can be accessed by all users. After decompressing the ROM (in /tmp/roms/ for example) type the following commands as root:

chmod 755 romname

mkdir /usr/share/games/roms

mv /tmp/roms/romname /usr/share/games/roms

When you'll want to load a specific ROM, the directory to look in will be /usr/share/games/roms

Setting Up Your Joystick

First, make sure your joystick/gamepad is supported. You can visit RedHat'ssupported (or whatever Linux version you are using) hardware page to find out.

You then have to make sure that your joystick is compiled into your kernel. Type the following commands as root:

ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/*/joy*

And you should see something like this appear:

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-analog.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-assasin.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-console.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-db9.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-gravis.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-lightning.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-logitech.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-sidewinder.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-thrustmaster.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joy-turbografx.o

/lib/modules/2.2.10/misc/joystick.o

You then select your joystick name and type:

modprobe joystick

modprobe joy-yourjoystickname.o

If all went well, those two commands looked as if they didn't do anything. Done.