[RELEASE] "Arcade Browser" (Emulator ROMS browser) Script for Linux

malte · 2010-07-20 07:50

redsandro Wrote:Hi, sorry for the late reply! Since some stuff changed on the forum, I don't get notifications on replies to this topic anymore, even though I am subscribed. I added a new subscribtion, maybe that will fix it.

Ok. I thought that you have been too busy to reply and to work on your script in this time. As I wanted to add lots of other changes I decided to build a new script from scratch (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=70115). But I took some ideas from your original script. I hope this is ok (mentioned in the source: http://code.google.com/p/romcollectionbr...default.py).

Any interest in joining forces?

Regards,
malte

Redsandro · 2010-07-20 16:10

Wow that's pretty nice what you did there.

I'm glad my ideas could kickstart your browser. Thanks for mentioning my name in the source. Did you replace the xml "database" with sqlite? Sounds interesting, but on first glance I cannot find it in the default.py or gui.py on google code. Am I missing something or just not looking good enough?

I think your browser is very modern while mine is kind of old skool if you know what I mean. You seem to have a fair amount of time, I have so little. For that reason, I think I should best implement the few features I have in mind to Arcade Browser, and maybe use your suggestion to add multi-rom support if I cannot find a way to pack my old multiroms. Perhaps if in the end the take on rom browsing seems to be different enough we can link to each other in source or docs as different takes attract different users.

Any descent update will be delayed anyway because of work, soon I'm going on holiday and after probably change jobs. And I also have this video encoder CLI I'm working on. Smile

ubuntuf4n · 2010-07-20 16:19

Can I use it with Windows ?

Redsandro · 2010-07-20 17:08

With AB, not yet, Linux only. That's something I want to implement first because my fastest computer runs Windows now.
So a new version will probably support Windows.

As for Malte's fork of AB, I'm not sure, he'll probably reply soon!

malte · 2010-07-20 17:18

redsandro Wrote:Did you replace the xml "database" with sqlite? Sounds interesting, but on first glance I cannot find it in the default.py or gui.py on google code.

Yes, I used sqlite. There is an additional module gamedatabase that provides database access. It is used like this (in gui.py and helper.py): Game(self.gdb).getAll()

Quote:You seem to have a fair amount of time

I had some time at the beginning of the year. But now I have to find the little holes in real life again Smile

Quote:I think I should best implement the few features I have in mind to Arcade Browser, and maybe use your suggestion to add multi-rom support if I cannot find a way to pack my old multiroms.

Sure. You can use everything that I posted in your thread and everything that I already implemented in the new script. I took your original launchEmu method and made some changes that it will run on Windows and xbox, too. Maybe you could revert these changes to your script if you like.

Edit: No, my fork does not run on Windows, too. But it should be easy to adapt this code to your script (because its taken from there Smile

): http://code.google.com/p/romcollectionbr.../helper.py (have a look at launchEmu)

Redsandro · 2010-07-20 17:34

So you updated launchEmu for Windows compatibility but not the rest of the script? Looks like we have some more common interests! Wink

Curiosity: Why update launchEmu for that? You wanted to port to Windows but then changed your mind?

Well if you wait patiently enough, I will have probably worked it out in the next update. Smile

BTW - I think you can remove xml.dom.minidom now if you care to save some kb's and some clockcycles. Not a lot, but as my father used to say, any delta is a mile on a slow horse. Nah, he didn't really say that.

malte · 2010-07-20 18:01

No, I think launchEmu is the only part where you have to take care of OS. Like using a batch file instead of bash if you would like to use it in solo mode.

I started to implement this as I already moved to the new script from scratch. So it is not available in my fork of AB.

Redsandro · 2010-07-20 18:30

Oh sorry my bad! By fork I meant Rom Collection Browser. Is that one platform independent?

I also wanted to make Arcade Browser XBOX compatible earlier because 2nd hand XBOXes are really cheap, but I didn't understand the format. I thought it would be just .exe like Windows but it's not. Anyway, it's not 'urgent' anymore since I got rid of my TV (everything is MC + Monitor now).

malte · 2010-07-20 22:49

Quote:Oh sorry my bad! By fork I meant Rom Collection Browser. Is that one platform independent?

Yes. At least windows, linux and (with V0.6) xbox.

The main part for being platform independant should be this:

Prepare command if launched in solo mode:

Code:

#get environment OS

env = ( os.environ.get( "OS", "win32" ), "win32", )[ os.environ.get( "OS", "win32" ) == "xbox" ]

#invoke batch file that kills xbmc before launching the emulator                        

if(env == "win32"):

    #There is a problem with quotes passed as argument to windows command shell. This only works with "call"

    cmd = 'call \"' +os.path.join(RCBHOME, 'applaunch.bat') +'\" ' +cmd                                             

else:

    cmd = os.path.join(re.escape(RCBHOME), 'applaunch.sh ') +cmd

launch rom with os.system or runxbe (for xbox):

Code:

if(env == "xbox"):    

    xbmc.executebuiltin("XBMC.Runxbe(%s)" %cutFile)

else:

    os.system(cmd)

All this can be found in the helper.py starting from launchEmu. I have taken a lot of ideas from your script and leos launcher plugin (and some modifications done by other users).

But if I remeber correctly your script should already work on windows if you don't use it in solo mode. Just have a look one or two pages back in this thread.

Redsandro · 2010-07-20 23:43

Thanks.

Yes I was hoping it kinda should work since most is platform independent and I wrote more (xbmc-unrelated) independent scripts before. Except I only ever had a Linux machine for the actual launching. Now recently I have XBMC on Windows and I'm still trying to convince my friend to mod his MSXBOX* since he only plays the 360 anyway, and ROMs are awesome and fit nice on a XBOX.

I wonder what the emulation future brings with game production getting as big as movie production instead of 2 dudes in a cellar. I mean, compare those 8k ROMs to ID's upcoming Rage racegame; the uncompressed build is one terabyte in size! Heh.

*) Remember the 1984 MSX? And now the XBOX from MS? There's something about MS and X'es. Tongue

ubuntuf4n Posting Freak Posts: 786 Joined: Jan 2010 Reputation: 2	2010-07-20 16:19 Post: #43 Can I use it with Windows ?
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Redsandro Skilled Python Coder Posts: 133 Joined: Jul 2008 Reputation: 0 Location: Netherlands	2010-07-20 17:08 Post: #44 With AB, not yet, Linux only. That's something I want to implement first because my fastest computer runs Windows now. So a new version will probably support Windows. As for Malte's fork of AB, I'm not sure, he'll probably reply soon! Try Xubuntu. It's the new Ubuntu.
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malte Skilled Python Coder Posts: 1,177 Joined: Jan 2010 Reputation: 17 Location: Germany	2010-07-20 18:01 Post: #47 No, I think launchEmu is the only part where you have to take care of OS. Like using a batch file instead of bash if you would like to use it in solo mode. I started to implement this as I already moved to the new script from scratch. So it is not available in my fork of AB.
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