Worth Installing linux on ps3 for emus? screen 'tearing' ?

[Godzilla]

One of the things I hated most about emulators (vs real hardware,) was screen 'tearing' where the scrolling couldn't keep up. even my fast as hell pc would 'tear' on the fast scrolling between levels in pleadies (or was it phoenix,), for example, not to mention stuff like thunder force or gunstar heroes on a genesis emulator. Does anyone know how the ps3 running its emus does in this regard? is one version of linux better for emus than another? (ubuntu, yellow dog, etc.) Thanks again, and I apologize if this has already been addressed.

[+remowilliams]

Don't think the PS3 is going to make a difference per se. Sounds like you need emulators that support things like multiple buffering and vsync.

[Godzilla]

i tried all that and it never made a difference (at least on the pc,) as, after much research, I found out that, even modern pcs have weaker '2d' in their video cards than an old amiga 1000 or atari 2600. At a hardware level, they can't do things 2d wise that a 2600 or amiga (or genesis,) can do. I'm hoping that since a ps3 is a game system with more 'display' oriented hardware, that it might not be victim to the same foibles.

[CPUWIZ]

i tried all that and it never made a difference (at least on the pc,) as, after much research, I found out that, even modern pcs have weaker '2d' in their video cards than an old amiga 1000 or atari 2600. At a hardware level, they can't do things 2d wise that a 2600 or amiga (or genesis,) can do. I'm hoping that since a ps3 is a game system with more 'display' oriented hardware, that it might not be victim to the same foibles.

 

That would be the case, if Linux developers had access to the RSX, but all they get is a framebuffer. That doesn't mean much though, the PS3 is plenty powerful enough to draw every single pixel on the screen in software.

[godslabrat]

*BUMP*

 

I'd be interested in seeing what successes people have had in setting up their PS3 as a Linux box with emulators. This is a project I've been kicking around for a while, and I'd like to see what the potential is.

[+remowilliams]

I compiled MAME and some other stuff on my PS3 way back when I first got it. It was very neat.

Edited January 15, 2009 by remowilliams

[Shannon]

If you don't mind compiling the stuff yourself then it may be ok. Any precompiled stuff I tried always had messed up sound.

[Rybags]

Tearing isn't necessarily because it's too slow. Such problems in emulators can be because the frame rate of the host is different to the machine being emulated. It can also occur if a new screen is presented part way down the display.

 

You should use a page flipping option if it's available. MAME also has an option for sync to VSync (or similar).

[Cassadore]

I have installed Yellow Dog Linux 6.1 on my PS3. There is an Atari ST emulator called Hatari installed by default. It works great although you have to turn off the slower but more compatible option. Stella for the 2600 also works very well - space invaders at full screen on a 46" lcd. Other emulators I have tried are Atari 800, Commodore 64, MSX and MAME. I have not tried using the PS3 controller yet but I think it is possible. The only emulator with sound problems is DOSBOX I was trying Panzer General and the music was maybe only 95% accurate.

 

I did not compile any of them myself i used the RPMs for the ps3bodega repository. The only thing I have compiled is Openttd a linux version of Transport Tycoon. The one problem with the emulators apart from Stella, Mame and the MSX one is that it can be a pain to get the window to scale to a reasonable size. For example Hatari will only double the original screen size which still looks quite small of a large lcd running linux at 1080 resolution. The solution is a utility that uses one of the the cells to scale the screen so it has little effect on performance

[Shannon]

Thanks for that info. I may have to try those. Back when I did try it the PS3 had just came out and not much was pre-compiled specifically for it. When I compiled mame (SDL) the PS3 controller sorta kinda worked.

[+stephena]

i tried all that and it never made a difference (at least on the pc,) as, after much research, I found out that, even modern pcs have weaker '2d' in their video cards than an old amiga 1000 or atari 2600. At a hardware level, they can't do things 2d wise that a 2600 or amiga (or genesis,) can do. I'm hoping that since a ps3 is a game system with more 'display' oriented hardware, that it might not be victim to the same foibles.

I can't speak for the PS3, but this screen-tearing issue is an annoying problem that I can never get rid of in Stella, at least with the software renderer. I've tried many different types of timing code, and it still skips every now and then. The problem is that one doesn't have access to the hardware directly, and can't control the timing. About the only solution I've come up with is to turn on vsync in OpenGL mode. But this only works when (a) vsync actually functions correctly (it doesn't in Vista with NVidia drivers, for example), and (b) you're using an LCD monitor with a 60Hz refresh rate.

 

Don't get me started on the capabilities of the Amiga I cut my teeth programming that system, and wish things were still that simple. VIdeo hardware today is greatly advanced compared to the Amiga, but that's not the issue. The Amiga and Atari 2600 were timed at NTSC 60Hz rates, and it's simply impossible to get timing that tight in Windows, Linux, or OSX. At least not without depending on vsync, which (if working correctly) is exactly how those old systems worked.

[EricDeLee]

I have installed Yellow Dog Linux 6.1 on my PS3. There is an Atari ST emulator called Hatari installed by default. It works great although you have to turn off the slower but more compatible option. Stella for the 2600 also works very well - space invaders at full screen on a 46" lcd. Other emulators I have tried are Atari 800, Commodore 64, MSX and MAME. I have not tried using the PS3 controller yet but I think it is possible. The only emulator with sound problems is DOSBOX I was trying Panzer General and the music was maybe only 95% accurate.

 

I did not compile any of them myself i used the RPMs for the ps3bodega repository. The only thing I have compiled is Openttd a linux version of Transport Tycoon. The one problem with the emulators apart from Stella, Mame and the MSX one is that it can be a pain to get the window to scale to a reasonable size. For example Hatari will only double the original screen size which still looks quite small of a large lcd running linux at 1080 resolution. The solution is a utility that uses one of the the cells to scale the screen so it has little effect on performance

 

 

Are there any good sites that go through the step by step on this stuff? Install and getting everything figured out?

I'm considering doing this, but I also don't want it to be a heavy learning curve. I still want all of my PS3 functions that are on the main menu system.

 

Is there a forum around that has all of this information compiled (like max console forums or something) Thanks

[Cassadore]

I have installed Yellow Dog Linux 6.1 on my PS3. There is an Atari ST emulator called Hatari installed by default. It works great although you have to turn off the slower but more compatible option. Stella for the 2600 also works very well - space invaders at full screen on a 46" lcd. Other emulators I have tried are Atari 800, Commodore 64, MSX and MAME. I have not tried using the PS3 controller yet but I think it is possible. The only emulator with sound problems is DOSBOX I was trying Panzer General and the music was maybe only 95% accurate.

 

I did not compile any of them myself i used the RPMs for the ps3bodega repository. The only thing I have compiled is Openttd a linux version of Transport Tycoon. The one problem with the emulators apart from Stella, Mame and the MSX one is that it can be a pain to get the window to scale to a reasonable size. For example Hatari will only double the original screen size which still looks quite small of a large lcd running linux at 1080 resolution. The solution is a utility that uses one of the the cells to scale the screen so it has little effect on performance

 

 

Are there any good sites that go through the step by step on this stuff? Install and getting everything figured out?

I'm considering doing this, but I also don't want it to be a heavy learning curve. I still want all of my PS3 functions that are on the main menu system.

 

Is there a forum around that has all of this information compiled (like max console forums or something) Thanks

 

http://forums.ps3bodega.com/

 

http://us.fixstars.com/support/installatio...1_ps3_guide.pdf

 

you need a large memory card to backup your ps3 saved games and downloads as you have to format and partition the hdd (10gb is plenty of space for linux). You can either boot into linux or gameos. You can get from linux to gameos via a menu item the same way as you would shutdown windows. (you need to restart once you go into gameos for the sixaxis to sync). There is a learning curve to linux as you don't install software like you do in windows. For YDL linux you do it via RPMs . Sometimes you need to use the terminal to do things via command line. It is about as user friendly as dos and windows prior to windows 95