Jay McGavren's Journal

DevHouse, low-tech...

Wanted something to run on the projector during Phoenix DevHouse that would give everyone a shared playground. It had to be simple enough to not interfere with people, though, and I didn’t want people to have to download clients or a bunch of other software…

I’d heard about netcat before, but it was only a few days ago that I stumbled across another article on it, including setting it up as a server/listener. Thought it would be perfect for the job, and it was - as a client. The listener didn’t let people connect concurrently in either TCP or UDP modes, so I simply grabbed a socket example from the Programming Ruby book and fired it up, then posted directions on connecting. Here’s the result…

Quick setup for Linux games under MythTV/MythGame...

These commands will install some quality games that can be played full-screen:

sudo apt-get install a7xpg
sudo apt-get install gunroar
sudo apt-get install kobodeluxe
sudo apt-get install parsec47
sudo apt-get install rrootage
sudo apt-get install sdl-ball
sudo apt-get install titanion
sudo apt-get install torus-trooper
sudo apt-get install tumiki-fighters

This command will add a “Native” games entry under the Games menu. You’ll be prompted for your MythTV DB password, which is likely stored in “/etc/mythtv/mysql.txt”.

mysql --database=mythconverg -u mythtv -p -e "INSERT INTO gameplayers (playername, gametype, commandline, rompath, extensions) VALUES ('Native', 'Other', '', '$HOME/bin/games', '');"

Then fill $HOME/bin/games “ROM directory” with scripts that launch each respective game. (These are set up for a control pad and 1024x768 resolution, so they may need tweaking.)

~/bin/games/titanion
#!/bin/sh
titanion -fullscreen -res 1024 768

~/bin/games/gunroar
#!/bin/sh
gunroar -fullscreen -res 1024 768 -enableaxis5

~/bin/games/rrootage
#!/bin/sh
rrootage -fullscreen -lowres

~/bin/games/parsec47
#!/bin/sh
parsec47 -fullscreen -lowres

~/bin/games/torus-trooper
#!/bin/sh
torus-trooper -fullscreen -res 1024 768

~/bin/games/a7xpg
#!/bin/sh
a7xpg -fullscreen -lowres

~/bin/games/sdl-ball
#!/bin/sh
sdl-ball

~/bin/games/kobo-deluxe
#!/bin/sh
kobodl -fullscreen -width 1024 -height 768 -joystick -nomusic

~/bin/games/tumiki-fighters
#!/bin/sh
tumiki-fighters -fullscreen -res 1024 768

Be sure to make the scripts executable, or they won’t launch:

chmod ugo+x ~/bin/games/*

In mythfrontend, go into game setup and scan for new games. Each script you set up should then appear under the “Native” entry in the games menu - just pick one and fire away.

Questions/suggestions? Post ‘em in the comments!

cowsay :)

jay@dandelion:~
$ sudo port install cowsay
Password:
--->  Fetching cowsay
...
jay@dandelion:~
$ cheat lipsum | cowsay

:)

from: jay

to: logan

subject: Gemini: Repulsive behavior…

No, not from me. Well, it is from me. But it’s in the source code… Oh, forget it.

Have explosions that push on surrounding objects working in Life-Tank. Need to tweak that explosion duration, though…