How To Install MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) On Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/Linux Mint 13

MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is an emulation software that allows users to play classic arcade games in modern computers and platforms. The emulator supports more than 7000+ arcade video games from the 1970's era until now.

In this tutorial we will help you install MAME in the following Linux distributions:

• Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)
• Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin)
• Linux Mint 13

1. MAME Installation

Open the terminal under Ubuntu/Linux Mint and run this command to install MAME:

sudo apt-get install mame mame-tools gnome-video-arcade sdlmame sdlmame-tools

2. MAME Configuration

Start now MAME with this command so that a hidden folder (.mame) is created in your home directory which will contain all emulator settings:

mame

You can now close the emulator. Run this command to create the configuration file for MAME:

cd ~/.mame && mame -cc

The "mame.ini" file will be created in the ~/.mame folder. Edit now this file with this command:

gedit ~/.mame/mame.ini

For Linux Mint:

pluma ~/.mame/mame.ini

In "rompath", you can set your own ROM directory path or leave default paths:

Next, create the following directories in the ~/.mame folder:

• nvram
• sta
• roms
• memcard
• inp
• comments
• snap
• diff

You can create them all with this command:

mkdir  ~/.mame/nvram memcard roms inp comments sta snap diff

You can access the rom folder with this command to place your downloaded roms in:

nautilus ~/.mame/roms

As for player controls, you can easily configure them from the main interface of MAME (Configure General Inputs):

Note: While playing a game with MAME, you can exit fullscreen mode by pressing ALT+Enter.