retro gaming (MAME) on Linux

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I have a mini HP Chromebox PC that runs cool and silent at about 35 watts of power use. Originally designed to run Chrome OS, I followed some steps online and put Gallium OS on it. (a variant of Xubuntu)

I'm tempted to try putting MAME on it to run some old games like Frogger, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc., and build something like a Partycade.

I have at least 8 working flat screen LCD monitors that I paid about $6 each for. I think that all I'd need would be some sort of gamepad/joystick, and some sort of melamine board.

The system I was using a year ago for my desktop PC is the aforementioned HP. I upgraded the internal SSD and memory. It has a 1.4 GHz Celeron 2955U Processor, which only gives about 840 cpu marks of performance. However, it runs cool and absolutely silent, and should be plenty to run some of these really old games on MAME.

I'm pretty sure I can get MAME up and running on this. However, I was wondering how possible it would be to get the system to automatically boot up into MAME, or some frontend.

As it is right now, I have to hit Control + L on the keyboard to get it to boot to Linux. Otherwise, it tries to boot to Chrome OS, and I believe that is corrupted. (not that I want to ever boot to Chrome OS anyway)

I followed the directions on Mr. Chromebox to get Linux on there:

Archive:Chromebox - Official Kodi Wiki

kodi.wiki

The part I'm a bit confused about is this:
3.2 Dual Boot OS Selection
When dual booting with ChromeOS and LibreELEC/GalliumOS, due to the ChromeBox's firmware setup, there is no conventional boot menu. Instead, the OS selection is made via keyboard shortcuts on the developer mode boot screen (shown above): [CTRL-D] boots directly ChromeOS; [CTRL-L] boots the legacy BIOS (and whatever secondary OS is installed). The default OS and boot timeout are set using the 'Set Boot Options' feature of the EZ Setup Script.


I'm not sure what an "EZ Setup Script" is, or how to adjust it. I'd like to change the default bootup to Gallium OS, so that I can pretty much forget that Chrome OS is even on there..... Any ideas?

 

[VirtualLarry]

methinks that you might get more replies to your query if you titled it something like "Converted ChromeOS to Linux, default OS boot menu support?"

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I mean, worst case scenario is that I have to keep a keyboard attached, and hit ctrl + L on bootup each time. I'll spend some time over the next week trying to change the default boot to Linux.....

 

[TheELF]

lakka
recalbox
batocera

These are linux distros that can be put on usb sticks to boot into a retroarch frontend automatically, they are listed in order of increasing size and "bloat" (bezels addition video and graphics and so on) lakka is a 500Mb no non-sense basic retroarch distro, batocera is more of an arcade attract setup with all the bells and whistles, if you set up your bios to boot from usb first it will boot automatically as long as the usb is plugged in.
They can also be installed onto internal harddrives but you need to know what you are doing to not mess things up.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

lakka
recalbox
batocera

These are linux distros that can be put on usb sticks to boot into a retroarch frontend automatically, they are listed in order of increasing size and "bloat" (bezels addition video and graphics and so on) lakka is a 500Mb no non-sense basic retroarch distro, batocera is more of an arcade attract setup with all the bells and whistles, if you set up your bios to boot from usb first it will boot automatically as long as the usb is plugged in.
They can also be installed onto internal harddrives but you need to know what you are doing to not mess things up.

Thanks - I will have to especially look into Lakka & recalbox!