Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

So, as far as I can tell, there are 4 main super nintendo emulators I could use, of which 2 are available in the package manager:

zsnes
snes9x
snes9x but accessed exclusively via retroarch (available in package manager)
higan (available in package manager)

Higan, I have installed, and it technically works, but for most of the audio options I get the "Failed to initialize audio driver" error message, and for the few that do work, the sound is just terrible and broken to the point that it would ruin any games I tried to play on it.

Retroarch, I briefly had installed, but... the interface is like they are trying to copy the interface of a newer playstation on a computer, badly, and without understanding why it works there and not here. It was so unpleasant to work with, I ended up uninstalling it in frustration before even figuring out how to actually get any games to open and work right on it.

So, I have been trying to get either zsnes or snes9x working, downloaded directly from their sites. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to... actually compile these. Any instructions I find are for other versions of linux. And though there were apparently some easy to install .pet files on the old forum... most of those messages are so old, they were closer in time to the actual super nintendo than they are to today, and so the links are broken or the information is obsolete. The best I found was three pre-compiled snes9x ones that... were apparently the "wrong ELF class" for me, and so those don't work either.

Anyone have any advice for how to get any of these working? Or am I just gonna have to settle for retroarch.

x-lksk wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 12:56 pm

Any instructions I find are for other versions of linux.

Hello. This is understandable. It's unclear what version YOU have.

x-lksk wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 12:56 pm

Retroarch, I briefly had installed, but... the interface is like they are trying to copy the interface of a newer playstation on a computer,

That's exactly how it was

Grey wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2023 9:13 am

Hello. This is understandable. It's unclear what version YOU have.

Ah, whoops, my bad.
bionicpup64 8.0

Regarding compiling these things, they are not something I have ever tried to use, but I took a brief look. Because they were originally old code from many years ago they become difficult to compile on 64bit systems. I tried in Bionic64 but I was getting errors complaining of missing 32bit headers.

In the case of zsnes, the original development stopped many years ago (2007) at version 1.51 but there is a maintained fork on github and I was able to compile latest version 2.0.12 from May 2023 in my 32bit Stretch Pup. So with a bit more time and effort you (or someone else with more experience than me ) will probably find some solutions that will work.

x-lksk wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 12:56 pm

Anyone

As soon as (if) I will find an image for Qemu with a virtual Bionic on an external hard drive, I think I can help you. Snes9x is not as beautiful in appearance as Zsnes, but better. It's just that you didn't come in at the right time

Not sure if this is any help, but I was able to compile Snes9x (GTK) in BionicPup64
Version is 1.59.2 which is not the very latest but maybe OK? I am in no position to test it.
Requires meson and ninja to build (very latest has switched to cmake and ninja).
Uploaded as .PET for anyone to test it
http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks/snes9x-1 ... bionic.pet

OscarTalks wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2023 11:17 pm

http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks/snes9x-1 ... bionic.pet

It works perfectly! Thank you. You have done a great service for anyone emulating snes games on puppy linux.
(now I just wish that I understood enough of this to figure out how to make this sort of thing myself...)

If anyone cares, Mednafen is all you need. As a bonus, it plays many Nuttendo older systems, Genesis, PS1 among others. I creates a small yad gui for it just to load the games easier. Amazingly, I don't think it ever went down the Atari rabbit hole