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Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« on: April 05, 2014, 10:39:42 PM »
Hi, so I've got my Lubuntu Linux operating system all set up.  I've installed a few applications - and these appear in my "start" menu as icons.  Great.

However, I installed VICE, but no icon appears, and also, I can't find any way to start the emulator.  I don't know where to look for the executable.

I know it's installed because Lubuntu lists it as one of my installed apps - but damn if I don't know how to actually start the bloody thing.  They could have made it easier, methinks.

Anybody used this emulator in Linux?

PS: I've used WinVICE for years no problem.

Thanks.
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
 

Offline yakumo9275

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2014, 02:38:18 AM »
alt-f2 to get 'run' or something or command line and run one of the following;

x64, x64dtv, x64sc, x128, xvic, xplus4
--/\\-[ Stu ]-/\\--
Commodore 128DCR, JiffyDOS, Ultimate 1541 II, uIEC/SD, CBM 1902A  Monitor
 

Offline cgutjahr

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2014, 03:14:43 AM »
Quote from: ral-clan;761999
However, I installed VICE, but no icon appears
It's been a while since I used Ubuntu, but I IIRC it used to put the VICE icons in some really strange section of the start menu - like "System monitors" or something like that. Check the entire menu for the x* entries, they should be there...

Hm, wait - I just downloaded the actual vice package from the Ubuntu repositories and checked the *.desktop files in there (little text files that tell your system what icon to use for an application what description to put into help bubbles and where to put it in the menu. The relevant line in x64.desktop says:

Categories=Application;X-Debian-Applications-Emulators;

Neither "Application" nor "X-Debian-Applications-Emulators" are standard categories, afaik - which means the package maintainer for VICE on ubuntu would have screwed up - i.e. it's a bug.

Fix:

open a terminal (or use alt-f2), type:

gksudo leafpad /usr/share/applications/x64.desktop

followed by enter. Replace "Application" in the line mentioned above  with "Game". Then save and exit. Do the same for the other executables (yakumo9275 listed them).

I'm not sure how/when Ubuntu rereads information from your modified *.desktop files, you might have to log off and on again for the changes to take effect.

Are you aware that you have to install the Commodore ROMs seperately? The can't be legally distributed with the emulator.

Quote
I don't know where to look for the executable.
You can run any installed program by simply typing its name in the console - or use the alt-f2 shortcut yakumo9275 mentioned.
« Last Edit: April 06, 2014, 05:58:23 AM by cgutjahr »
 

Offline CritAnime

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2014, 04:51:13 AM »
I wrote a guide on installing Vice. http://awesome.commodore.me/articles/critanime/installing-vice-on-linux/


The article:

So I got lots of requests from friends who migrated from Windows to  various Linux platforms to do a mini guide for getting Vice working on  their systems. I distributed this guide around my friends in hopes that  it would make life easier for them. Since then I have found that my  little guide has made it’s way around other people and even onto a  forum.

They persuaded me that it would be a really awesome idea to put the  tutorial/guide on the net in a more permanent place. So here it is, in  all it’s rough around the edges glory.
 

Suppose I should point out that I was never that good at writing manuals or guides when I did this at college. Oh well……
 This guide is version 1.1 and will probably stay at version 1.1 till  the end of time. Unless something crops up that needs changing.
 -So I thought I would update this guide a little. I realized that the  guide assumed that you were using Ubuntu/Mint. Obviously not everyone  would be using Ubuntu or Mint and this was my mistake. The principle  will work the same on almost every distribution of Linux. Just check  with your distributions handbook as to changes in package management.  For example in Sabayon it would be equo install and not apt-get install.  Also if your distribution allows root access then it might be best  switching to su instead of using sudo.
 

Also a reminder that with great power comes great responsibility. Do  not mess with su unless your comfortable with doing so as su won’t ask  for permission once commands are run.-

 OK so first thing you will want to do it open up a terminal window.When the window opens you will need to run this command.
 

sudo apt-get install vice
 

It will ask for your password before starting to search for the  needed package. Input your password, which will remain hidden while typing, and press enter. After finding the package it will also ask  for confirmation that it is OK to download and install the package. Type  Y and off it goes. Loads of text will appear in the terminal window.  This is perfectly fine though so not to worry.
 
Once this process has finished you will need to run the C64 emulator in the terminal. Why?
 
Well if you simply start the emulator through the menu then it won’t  do anything at all. This is because it is generating an error but it is  not showing you the error before exiting. Through terminal you are able  to scroll up and read the error. Making life easier as we know whats  going on.
 

So run this command.
 

x64
 

At this point your emulator might work depending on your Linux  distribution. If it does then congrats you don’t need to do anything  else. If not then read on.
 

Now note the version of Vice your working with. In this case, at time  of writing, it’s 2.3 but it could be several version ahead when you  read this. So note the version open your browser as we are off source  hunting. Go to this url www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/crossplatform/emulators/VICE/  and it will have lots of links to various tarballs but we are only  after one. And that, in this example, is the vice-2.3.tar.gz tarball.
 
**NOTE!!!! – Again check the version of Vice you are working  with as you will need the corresponding source. for example 2.2 will  need the vice-2.2.tar.gz, 2.3 will need the vice-2.3.tar.gz and so on.  If the wrong one is used then the emulator may not work or may become  unstable.**
 

Save the file to the Downloads file in your home directory. Because  next we will be unpacking it. Run these commands in terminal.
 

cd ~/Downloads
tar xfzv vice-2.3.tar.gz
 

The first command will change into the Downloads directory, the ‘~’  is a shortcut to your home directory and is the same as doing cd  /home//Downloads. The second command will unpack the  .tar.gz into the Downloads directory. So when you open the Downloads  directory in your file browser you will see a folder name Vice 2.3.
 
Now for the last stage. All we are going to do is copy the contents  of a folder within the freshly unpacked directory and copy it over to  the required places. So lets do our final command.
 
-If your distribution allows root use then this command can be done  by switching to root using su. Once in root simply don’t bother using  sudo.-
 

sudo cp -vR ~/Downloads/vice-2.3/data/* /usr/lib/vice
 

This command will do a recursive copy of all files and folders from  within the data folder over to /usr/lib/vice. Sudo is needed as the  target directory is owned by root and so needs root privileges in order  for files to be copied.
 
And that should be it. If your run the emulator in terminal or through  Applications > Other menu you should now have a working C64 emulator.  Along with all the other 8-bit Commodore emulators

As for the icons. I don't think they actually appear under a "games" tab. If I recall they come under something like "other" in a start style menu. On Ubuntu it just muddles everything together. But if you installed correctly you should be able to find them. Also WinVice will work on Linux using Wine. It works perfectly fine because I have used it. So that is always a option. Plus Wine is kind of considered a essential bit of software these days because of the amount of people moving from Windows to Linux. So installing Wine is a good idea.

To install wine either use the "app store" (can't remember the actual name) or in a terminal, which a icon does exist within the menu, simply do sudo apt-get install wine and bobs your uncle.

Actually while we are on with Commodore related stuff. Maybe you would consider getting FS-UAE. I like it because it is user friendly and I just can't gte my copy of Amiga Forever to work with Linux lol. To install do the follow in a terminal (you can copy paste this stuff in).

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:fengestad/stable && sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install fs-uae fs-uae-launcher fs-uae-arcade -y

Others might disagree but from what i have used it does the job. You just obviously need some legal kickstarts.
« Last Edit: April 06, 2014, 05:20:06 AM by CritAnime »
 

Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2014, 05:19:00 PM »
CritAnime,

Thanks for your help. I finally got a chance to play with VICE under linux today and followed your installation instructions, but I'm getting an error message:

XRandR: XRandR reports current display: 1920x1080@50
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/C64/kernal'.
Received signal 4.

Exiting...


I'm running VICE 2.3

It used to start with an error that said the ROM kernal could not be found.  I assume this was because there was no .vice folder containing them in my home directory containing the ROM files. So...I created one manually:

/home/brent/.vice/C64

and put the ROM files in there (basic, chargen, kernal).

Now I don't get the Kernal not found error.  Instead I get the "Received signal 4 error" as stated above.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 06:04:47 PM by ral-clan »
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
 

Offline CritAnime

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2014, 11:04:15 PM »
Hi.
 
Did you do this command in terminal after unpacking the source tar?
 
sudo cp -vR ~/Downloads/vice-2.3/data/* /usr/lib/vice

That should copy everything into the correct places without the need to put any roms in anywhere else.
 
I am also looking and I recall lubuntu using the lts release of Ubuntu as the base. If so then it might be a bugged version of Vice is still in the repository. If it still fails I will try something for you. However I am at work so I can't do very much.

Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2014, 02:18:32 AM »
I believe I did try that line, CriteAnime.  I followed your tutorial all the way through.
I typed it exactly as written - was I supposed to replace the asterisk or the "usr" part with my own user name instead?
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
 

Offline CritAnime

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2014, 04:10:26 AM »
Ah no. If thats what you have done then that is gonna be the issue. the * is a wildcard catch everything. So basically you are telling the cp terminal command to make sure it grabs everything from the /data folder and copies it to /usr/lib/vice folder.

It looks like, due to formatting, that it is all one string. when really it is two seperate directories.

sudo cp -vR ~/Downloads/vice-2.3/data/* /usr/lib/vice

There is a space between /* and /usr/lib/vice. /usr is User System Resources and is where the largest portion of software data is stored. It is a root directory hence the need for sudo to run the command.

Just for reference the -vR options after cp is verbose and recursive.

Just looking and there seems to be a bug within the version of vice in certain repositories. Check this page (http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/i386/vice/download) and see of the updated package helps.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2014, 04:24:54 AM by CritAnime »
 

Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2014, 01:08:09 PM »
Ah!  Okay, no, I did not replace * or usr with my own.  I typed it as you had written.  But I believe I did not see the space, and typed it as one continuous line of text.  I should have just cut a pasted - (I might have - I can't remember).

I will try it again.
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Offline CritAnime

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2014, 01:43:30 PM »
I am just in the process of installing xubuntu to try and see if I get the same issue.

Offline CritAnime

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2014, 02:58:10 PM »
So I followed the install instructions and it installed on mine alright.



It is Vice 2.3. Which version of Lubuntu are you using. Also this is what it should output through terminal.

Code: [Select]
XRandR: XRandR reports current display: 1920x1080@60
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/C64/kernal'.
C64MEM: Kernal rev #3.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/C64/basic'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/C64/chargen'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/PRINTER/mps803'.
Palette: Loading palette `/usr/lib/vice/PRINTER/mps803.vpl'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/PRINTER/nl10-cbm'.
Palette: Loading palette `/usr/lib/vice/PRINTER/mps803.vpl'.
NL10: Printer driver initialized.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos1541'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/d1541II'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos1570'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos1571'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos1581'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos2031'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos2040'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos3040'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos4040'.
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/DRIVES/dos1001'.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2014, 04:58:47 PM by CritAnime »
 

Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2014, 05:52:51 PM »
I believe I am using Lubuntu 13.10?  Saucy...

I just downloaded and installed the live disc from the main Lubuntu site last month.
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
 

Offline CritAnime

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2014, 06:09:51 PM »
Hmm ok now I am confused because that is the same version that I am using just using s different window manager.....

OK lets try this.

sudo apt-get autoremove vice

This will remove Vice from the system. Next do this.

sudo rm -r /usr/lib/vice

This will do a recursive delete of the vice folder from the usr directory. Remove any files to do with vice you created within your home directory. But keep the vice files within downloads.

Now confirm vice is removed by doing x64. Once you have confirmed its removal redo the tutorial and copy and paste it all the blue commands into terminal. See if that works. I am looking up what a signal 4 is to make sure it's not a bug.

Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2014, 09:28:09 PM »
Okay, I will try this Wednesday night as that will be the first time I have a moment to sit down and do something like this.

Thanks very much for your instruction...
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com
 

Offline Ral-ClanTopic starter

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Re: VICE on Linux? How do you start it?
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2014, 02:25:54 AM »
Did exactly as you said - uninstalled and re-installed VICE cutting and pasting the commands from your guide above directly to the terminal.  Same problem re-occurs.

Here's a cut and paste from my Terminal showing me running the x64 command.

Code: [Select]
brent@Brent-Lubuntu:~/Downloads$ x64
getting symbol guess_format failed!
*** VICE Version 2.3 ***
OS compiled for: Linux
GUI compiled for: GTK+
CPU compiled for: 80386
Compiler used: GCC-4.7.1
Current OS: not yet implemented
Current CPU: Intel Pentium 4/Pentium D/Pentium Extreme Edition/Celeron/Xeon/Xeon MP
 
Welcome to x64, the free portable C64 Emulator.
 
Current VICE team members:
D. Lem, A. Matthies, M. Pottendorfer, S. Trikaliotis, M. van den Heuvel,
C. Vogelgsang, F. Gennari, D. Kahlin, A. Lankila, Groepaz, I. Korb,
E. Smith, O. Seibert.
 
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
See the "About VICE" command for more info.
 
XRandR: XRandR reports current display: 1920x1080@50
Loading system file `/usr/lib/vice/C64/kernal'.
Received signal 4.

Exiting...

brent@Brent-Lubuntu:~/Downloads$

I don't know if this is important or not, but my main menu (start bar thingy) doesn't have an applications folder.  So I never see any VICE icons in my start bar.

Again, there doesn't seem to have been a .vice folder or sub-folders created in my "/home/brent" folder.  There simply aren't any vice related folders there.  Should these have been created during the installation?  Even showing hidden folders does not reveal a .vice folder or subfolders.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2014, 02:30:55 AM by ral-clan »
Music I've made using Amigas and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com