Puppy Arcade can play games from a variety systems, using 'emulators', which load 'roms' (the actual games). Puppy Arcade is now in version 7, and more popular than ever. To play: Click on an emulator, optionally choose your settings, and select a rom to play (roms not included).
How to use the ISO: Burn the downloaded ISO to a CD, insert the CD into your PC, then just reboot your PC.
Also see Pendrivelinux.com for installing Puppy Arcade to any USB drive using a simple Windows installer, which they've kindly created so Windows users can create a bootable Puppy Arcade flash drive (USB stick) using a very quick and simple wizard.
Puppy Arcade works great on PCs - both new and old. But if you have an Eee PC, you might like to try Puppeee Arcade, which is perfect for your netbook.
loliloli - "O-M-G! This is exactly what I need. I'm building an arcade machine with a 400MHz computer and this is the
Holy Grail to me :D"
Feel - "Great job, Sc0ttman! This was what the world of
retrogaming was waiting for!"
SpideyLinux
- "Many thanks for this distro. It again
helps
answer the question what can be done with an older machine."
hypnobluez
- "To sc0ttman for creating this
unique puplet.. Thanks a MILLION for
creating and sharing this
treasure with us sc0ttman.
YOU ARE THE MAN!!!
."
wilde - "I have the version 4.. Now downloaded the version 5.. Excellent !!!"
dudadas - "Excellent work. Seriously, I was looking
something like that."
Puppyt - "sc0ttman - you're a Champ!
Thank you so much for your selection and compilation of games here and
for your fabulous effort."
lagbusguy - "Holy shit, that’s badass."
[MOB]Trip - "fuckin nice...noyce..and NIIIICE!"
Jonathan Frederickson - "N64? PSX? Damn that’s cool. I’ve played around with Puppy Linux in
the past, but this is just… awesome."
skinnie - "gr8 work on this ... I have been searching for something like this a long time ago! The "look" of the distro is very,
very good"
kandkyo - "This is great!, VBAM very works well.."
deniros - "To sc0ttman, big thanks for Arcade :p
Tried your 'Arcade' and it works just great! No
dependencies to hunt for, it just works. great stuff!"
1. Getting Started 2. The desktop (updated) 3. The control panel 4. Configuring emulators and joypads (updated) 5. Getting ROMs 6. Accessing your drives 7. Saving your settings 8. Tips & Tricks 9. Enable 3D acceleration (optional) 10. Install to hard drive or USB (optional) 11. Version History
1. Getting Started:
- Download the ISO file, then either burn to CD, or install to a USB drive. - Insert your media and reboot, making sure your PC's set to boot from either your CD or USB. - When Puppy Arcade boots, choose your keyboard and display options to load the desktop.
2. The desktop:
- left-click on the deskop for a small 'apps' menu, with links to the most useful apps and tools - right-click on the desktop for the full puppy menu - you'll see an animated icon bar at the bottom, showing all the emulators available - left-click on the emulator you want to load, then browse for a rom file. - right-click on the emulator icons to reset/refresh the menu - go to 'menu->desktop->wbar - configuration centre' to edit the emulator bar - In wbarcc you have 2 'profiles' - load the one that suits your resolution best, then click 'apply'
- you've also got a start menu, quick links menu and taskbar at the very bottom, set to auto-hide - the wallpaper can be changed by right clicking on any image any choosing 'Set as wallpaper' - the file manager has all the most important bookmarks added already, in the toolbar
3. The control panel:
- a tabbed navigation panel showing most of the settings and tools available - choose the 'Gaming' tab to configure your emulators config files - if needed, use one of the network wizards to setup your internet connection
4. Configuring emulators and joypads:
Some emulators require not only roms, but a system file too.
- Amiga: Find and download a kickstart file (kick13, kick20, kick31), put it in '/usr/lib/uae' and rename (or symlink) to 'kick.rom'. - Atari 800: You may need to download some system roms, and extract to '/usr/local/speccy/' - Commodore: Download a pack of system roms, and extract to the relevant folder in '/usr/lib/vice/[system]' - PupDoom: get doom2.wad or freedoom.wad. You already have '/usr/share/games/doom/prboom.wad' installed
NOTES: You are not allowed to own the BIOS of any systems that you have never purchased. Mupen64Plus also requires OpenGL (3D acceleration, see below)
Joypads
- Plug in any joypads before the desktop has loaded and Puppy Arcade should get it working. - To make ALL emulators support joypads you must use 'rejoypad' in 'Menu->Fun' or the 'Gaming tab of the Control Panel
- Use Rejoypad to map your joypad buttons to your preferred keyboard keys
- Use 'Menu->Shutdown->Restart X server' after changing your Rejoypad configuration
- type 'killall rejoystick' in the terminal if you need to close it
NOTE: You are not allowed to own the ROMs of any games released commercially, that you have never purchased.
6. Accessing your drives:
- all your storage drives can be found at '/mnt/' - but not until you 'mount' them - left-click on the desktop and choose 'Drives' to see all your drives - hard drives are listed as sda1, sda2, sda3 and so - double-click on a drive to mount it, it will then open up in a file manager window - after saving your settings (see below), you can use 'startmount' you open your drives at boot
7. Saving your settings
- choose 'pupsaveconfig' from the 'utility' menu to create your save file before you shutdown, so you don't lose any changes - when you shutdown for the first time, you should be asked to save your session - a nice menu should popup when you shutdown to help you create a savefile, if needed - after creating a savefile, you will be asked whether to save to it or not, at each shutdown
8. Tips & Tricks
a. Run Puppy Arcade without a hard drive:
- After booting, you can simply replace your Puppy Arcade live-CD with a CD/DVD full of roms. - Mount the DVD/CD drive and your roms will be available at '/mnt/sr0/'
b. Hard drive/USB install:
- Put your savefile on the same drive as your roms, and your roms will be available at '/mnt/home/path/to/your/roms'
c. Create an easy to remember ROM directory:
- You can symlink your roms folder to /roms/ - so it's easy and quick to reach them - To do this, type 'ln -s /path/to/your/roms /roms' in the terminal
d. Use you joypad or joystick:
- Plug in your device before the Puppy Arcade deskop loads - Your joypad will be loaded automatically and should be called '/dev/js0' - You can now update the controller settings in your emulators, or using 'Rejoypad'
9. Enabling OpenGL (for 3D acceleration - only required for N64):
You'll simply need to download and install the correct dot pet file for your graphics card. Then (optionally) follow the softwares' instructions and restart X.
PETS FOR NVIDIA CARDS: The 'nvidia-7186.pet' is for ancient nvidia graphics cards (riva TNT to Geforce 1). The 'nvidia-9643.pet' is for most nvidia cards (officially Gf2 to Gf4 but tested on Gf7 OK). The 'nvidia-100.14.19.pet' is for latest cards (Gf5 to Gf8).
All Nvidia drivers are available http://download.tuxfamily.org/nop/ More Nvidia info http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=22272
Alternatively, you could find and download "NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.22-pkg1_412.sfs" to add a large collection of proprietry Nvidia drivers.
PETS FOR ATI CARDS: Catalyst 9.9: For newer cards, go to http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=46507 Catalyst 9.3: For older cards, go to http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45601 You can find out which one you need at the pages above.
PETS FOR INTEL CARDS: A few drivers and details about compatibility can be found at http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=44388 Finally, for one more .PET, you can check out http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=291587#291587
PETS for OLDER / VARIOUS CARDS: Here are a load of .PET files for SiS, framebuffer, 3dfx, Voodoo, Intel, Matrox, VIA and others, see this post: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=48019
If you STILL can't find what you are looking for, then try a search at http://pupplinux.ca or the puppy forums
10. Install to Hard Drive or USB (optional):
- Installation is not required - you can simply boot Puppy Arcade straight from CD - However, Puppy Arcade can also be installed using a number of easy methods:
- Install to any USB drive, using Windows: Download the ISO file and this USB installer, then follow this great guide at PendriveLinux.com - Install to anything, using Puppy Arcade: Load the live CD, select 'Menu->Utility->Universal Installer' and follow the guide
Hello.
I am using puppy arcade on a athlon 64 2800, 1 gig of mem, and an Ati 9200se.
At first i had problems with low resolutions (mame), but after i installed the ati driver it all works fine.
Admin, commented at 24/02/2010
Fullscreen resolutions can be changed in the MAME display options.. If that helps.
Helpless, commented at 26/02/2010
Cool idea, but I can't open a pdf file to read instructions. Neither auto nor can i get epdfview to run from menu. ver5 installed nor ver7 live CD. P3-450 w/192MB, do i need a better computer?(altho that defeats the reason for trying this)
Admin, commented at 27/02/2010
Hi Helpless,
Nothing is wrong with your PC. Download the bug fix file, listed under the main download link. This will fix it.
Colin, commented at 02/03/2010
Is it possible to run this on PS3?
Admin, commented at 02/03/2010
In short, no. The PS3 is a PPC based system, not i386.. Everything would need to be re-compiled from the ground up. More info: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=27814
Robert, commented at 04/03/2010
I'd first like to thank you on the most amazing thing that has ever come out of linux, my wishes have been granted.. almost. I ran puppy v4 for a few days now and I'm almost familiar with it. So I wanted to give the puppyarcade a try, but it doesnt see my keyboard at all! :( it boots up to the pick your mouse and i can't select my mouse any suggestions? btw i'm using V5 of the arcade
Admin, commented at 10/03/2010
Robert, I looked everywhere for a solution, or other users with similar problems and I am stumped.
I can only suggest trying another keyboard or finding and copying your keyboard drivers from a standard Puppy 4.x into Puppy Arcade (but they should already be the same!)..
