[Tool] BestArcade

Clyde

@Ashpool Maybe the shebang is just outdated? Let's see what @Voljega can tell us about it.

Voljega

You're right Ashpool of course, now that I think about it, I use Spyder as an IDE in Windows and it does seem to execute the script in python 3.6.1 (previously 3.3), now the shebang is obviously outdated but might still take the lead on what the IDE does behind the screen.
I had typicale troubles with Tkinter syntax linked to python version so clearly it must be one or the other

I guess I must install an Ubuntu VM somewhere and try to compile it and execute it in both 2.x & 3.x see what happens, sorry for the mix up

@Clyde

Yes as @Ashpool said, you should execute directly in command line through Python after compiling it. Now obviously my instructions are really incomplete and even misleading on linux and I should work on that...

Sorry guys I have only learned Python by myself a while ago (mostly for this tool) and am still not very fluent around compilation and things like that (benefits and drawbacks of using an IDE...)

Clyde

@Voljega No problem, kudos for your willingness to learn, to create something useful, and to share it with others.

Voljega

Well I spent the evening trying to install Ubuntu VM with Virtual Box on my brand new pc with Windows 10....

Ubuntu 64 bits gets randomly stuck when installing on different pages whitout any reason
Ubuntu 32 bits is lovely, only an old LTS (as 32 bits was discontinuated) for which they deleted the apt-get repos (as always) so no git (or not without spending hours experimentig with alternate command lines in the terminal), prompts to update to the last LTS and then says the updater is not compatible with this update

And to think I managed to install all that without trouble on my old W7 a yaer or so ago but deleted it since...

So I lost a few hours for nothing, and didn't have any fun.

At least I removed all 2.7 shebangs on windows and it seems to run fine

mitu

@Voljega we try to keep this forums readable for users of all ages, so please tone down the injectives.

Voljega

@mitu didn't knew that, sorry.

Ashpool

@Voljega said in [Tool] BestArcade:

So I lost a few hours for nothing, and didn't have any fun.

Sorry to hear that - I am off for ~1.5 weeks now and whence I return, my priority is to finish my first control panel build (I am nearly done with the painting, then it's wiring that baby and finding a suitable way to mount it to the wall/upon a shelf) - but I have a working Ubu18.4 LTS VM running in VMWare Player, so i may give it a try.

Voljega

@Ashpool no problem it's not your fault !

Ubuntu 64 bit VM doesn't manage to install despite everything in bios and windows10 beeing setup properly (SVM activated and Hypermode-V deactivated)
Ubuntu 32but VM manages to install but Canonical already suppressed all apt-get repositories for this version, so it requires a lot of extra step....

I didn't even think about juste downloading the zip of the source code or even copying it through usb key, but I'm not sure even sure both python version were installed by default anyway, and I was exhausted...

And off course I suppressed the 32bit VM

Clyde

@Voljega Sorry for your troubles and thanks for the effort.

Using an deprecated release has several disadvantages. Aside from the extra steps you mentioned, it's also unsafe to use it online (as any OS without security updates is), and your testing results may differ from users with up-to-date releases.

Lubuntu still has 32-bit versions, and its last LTS 18.04 is still supported until April, 2021. The newest non-LTS release 19.10's support ends in June, 2020. The next LTS 20.04 will come out around the end of April this year.

Although their official download page surprisingly doesn't list the still valid 18.04 LTS, you can get it from their archive of older releases. Be sure to get the latest snapshot (aka point release) 18.04.4, as it includes any updates until its release – which seems to have happened yesterday, good timing!

Voljega

@Clyde
Thank you I'll check that ass soon as I have the courage again ! ;)

Voljega

Release 1.4
https://github.com/Voljega/BestArcade/releases/tag/1.4

Add handhelds tab, generate a romset of all handhelds non-console game devices from latest mame romset
Add Neo Geo AES tab for generating neo geo AES romset
Remove Sega System SP (Spider) games from naomi romsets as they are not supported anyway
Cute icon

Next version:

Seriously try to execute it on linux, again !
Vertical romset

Voljega

Release 1.5
Download it here
For linux version, see instructions here : https://github.com/Voljega/BestArcade

Changelog

Linux compatibility (see README.md)
Added Sega Model 2 and Sega Model 3 tabs
Updated FBNeo tests to mid-may level

Next version :

Standard testing board will become the Odroid N2, a new spreadsheet will be created

Clyde

@Voljega Kudos for the Linux part, but why does your release page read "(Windows)" for a python application that should run under every OS with python? (That said, you know better if your code is somewhat Windows-dependant.)

By the way, your link to README.md isn't one. 🙂 I think you meant https://github.com/Voljega/BestArcade/blob/master/README.md

Voljega

@Clyde because the release is only a windows exe :)
if you want to use the linux version, you have to download the sources and use them directly, I hesitated to mention it in the README... EDIT : Done
code is agnostic

Yeah the README.md url thingy is done automatically by this forum beacause of '.md' part

Clyde

One suggesten for your Linux instructions: Maybe add the commands to clone the repo like you did for the installation of python-tk?

sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/Voljega/BestArcade

(apt-get isn't necessary for some years now, apt is enough and gives more user-friendly information.)

That said, you could then also add commands to change permissions and execute the script:

cd BestArcade            # change to BestArcade directory
chmod u+x BestArcade.sh  # give execution perms (already done in git-cloned version)
./BestArcade             # start BestArcade

Voljega

@Clyde Done and pushed, thank you

Now I've got a first user on Mac and a tricky issue with Tkinter not scaling correctly on that !

Voljega

Release 1.6
Download it here

Changelog:

New test tab for Odroid N2+
New test tab for N100 miniPC w. DDR5 RAM
Separate Naomi and Naomi2
New tvgames tab
Big cleaning and fixing of every set, collection and test files
Update to latest Mame and FBNeo sets
Simpler, almost automatic build for Windows

BestArcade spreadsheet has been split in three, for Pi3, Odroid N2+ and N100 miniPC
N100 MiniPC is my reference machine, making almost all mame games run 100% for 140$, can't recommend it enough
Pi3 and N2+ spreadsheets are kept as is and won't be updated anymore

Voljega

Release 1.7
Download it here

Changelog

Separate roms and CHD folders (roms folder will be used by default if no CHD folder is specified)
Allow to exclude CHD game from set generation
Includes properties files for each game with the following information: orientation, CHD, samples
Includes 2 players version for roms with 4/6 players preventing the user from selecting specific characters
Updated to FBNeo 2024-04-30 and Mame 0.265