Sound, ePSXe and Linux

Phoenix Flame · April 30th, 2002

I've just installed Mandrake 8.2 on my computer and the first thing I tried out was the linux version of ePSXe. I managed to get everything working so far, and I'm running Pete's MesaGL 1.61 and Pete's DSound equivalent SPU.

The question I wanted to ask was, are there any better SPU plugins out there? Linuzappz's sound plugin just crashes ePSXe with a Segmentation Fault and Pete's seems to be missing a lot of features. Has any attempt been made to port Eternal SPU over to Linux? Is there a sourceforge page for it or something?

Also, would I be totally wrong in expecting the Linux version to be faster than the Windows version? I was expecting a speed increase in Mandrake since WinXP is so resource-hungry, but in ePSXe things run slower.

And is there a way to fiddle with GL settings such as FSAA in Linux? I've installed the 28.80 nVidia drivers for Linux but I'm yet to figure out how to enable FSAA or anything like that.

krz · April 30th, 2002

To enable FSAA you need to set the environment variable __GL_FSAA_MODE to a value between 0 and 5. The value you choose is based on which video card chipset you have. Here is a link the 28.80 linux docs.

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_4...880/README.txt

--
Keith

**ammoQ** · April 30th, 2002

To increase speed,
a) get the accelerated X server from NVidia if you haven't already

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux

b) when you want to play, start windowmaker instead of KDE, KDE2 is just as resource hungry as XP and the sound daemon seems to make additional problems.

Phoenix Flame · May 1st, 2002

I'm running GNOME instead of KDE. Also regarding speed it does seem to be faster than in WinXP, but the framerate handling is a little dodgy. If I disable framerate limitation then I get framerates of around 70-80FPS, but when I limit the FPS to 60 it hovers somewhere around 50-60 ... any ideas? Or is this just because Linux PSX emulation isn't as developed as Windows versions?

**Pete Bernert** · May 1st, 2002

>but the framerate handling is a little dodgy.
>If I disable framerate limitation then I get
>framerates of around 70-80FPS, but when I limit
>the FPS to 60 it hovers somewhere around
>50-60 ... any ideas

In Windows I can use a higher timer precision, that's why the fps display is not as stable as in Windows (at least on systems below 800 Mhz or so... my Athlon 1.2 is giving me a constant framerate)... lu_zero told me about a different timer approach, used by some linux media players, but I haven't looked at it yet, maybe it will help (and maybe it will not work at all

)

krz · May 1st, 2002

Just curious, but what do you using (currently) for timing under linux?

**Pete Bernert** · May 1st, 2002

currently I am using the gettimeofday func... you can see the details in the file fps.c of the peops soft gpu.

krz · May 1st, 2002

gettimeofday() has microsecond resolution, so I don't think the problem is timer resolution.

After looking at the code, you might be better off determining how much time to wait, and calling usleep (instead of a busy wait loop). gettimeofday is a syscall, so there is a fair amount of overhead when calling that in a loop. Just a thought/suggestion.

April 30th, 2002	#1 (permalink)
Phoenix Flame Flood Yourself Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Adelaide, Australia Posts: 1,338	Sound, ePSXe and Linux I've just installed Mandrake 8.2 on my computer and the first thing I tried out was the linux version of ePSXe. I managed to get everything working so far, and I'm running Pete's MesaGL 1.61 and Pete's DSound equivalent SPU. The question I wanted to ask was, are there any better SPU plugins out there? Linuzappz's sound plugin just crashes ePSXe with a Segmentation Fault and Pete's seems to be missing a lot of features. Has any attempt been made to port Eternal SPU over to Linux? Is there a sourceforge page for it or something? Also, would I be totally wrong in expecting the Linux version to be faster than the Windows version? I was expecting a speed increase in Mandrake since WinXP is so resource-hungry, but in ePSXe things run slower. And is there a way to fiddle with GL settings such as FSAA in Linux? I've installed the 28.80 nVidia drivers for Linux but I'm yet to figure out how to enable FSAA or anything like that.

April 30th, 2002	#3 (permalink)
ammoQ Emu author Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Vienna/Austria/Europe Posts: 1,168	To increase speed, a) get the accelerated X server from NVidia if you haven't already http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux b) when you want to play, start windowmaker instead of KDE, KDE2 is just as resource hungry as XP and the sound daemon seems to make additional problems. __________________ If you think my English is bad, wait till you read my Polish.

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April 30th, 2002	#2 (permalink)
krz Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 10	To enable FSAA you need to set the environment variable __GL_FSAA_MODE to a value between 0 and 5. The value you choose is based on which video card chipset you have. Here is a link the 28.80 linux docs. http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_4...880/README.txt -- Keith

May 1st, 2002	#4 (permalink)
Phoenix Flame Flood Yourself Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Adelaide, Australia Posts: 1,338	I'm running GNOME instead of KDE. Also regarding speed it does seem to be faster than in WinXP, but the framerate handling is a little dodgy. If I disable framerate limitation then I get framerates of around 70-80FPS, but when I limit the FPS to 60 it hovers somewhere around 50-60 ... any ideas? Or is this just because Linux PSX emulation isn't as developed as Windows versions?

May 1st, 2002	#5 (permalink)
Pete Bernert FREAK Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 874	>but the framerate handling is a little dodgy. >If I disable framerate limitation then I get >framerates of around 70-80FPS, but when I limit >the FPS to 60 it hovers somewhere around >50-60 ... any ideas In Windows I can use a higher timer precision, that's why the fps display is not as stable as in Windows (at least on systems below 800 Mhz or so... my Athlon 1.2 is giving me a constant framerate)... lu_zero told me about a different timer approach, used by some linux media players, but I haven't looked at it yet, maybe it will help (and maybe it will not work at all )

May 1st, 2002	#6 (permalink)
krz Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 10	Just curious, but what do you using (currently) for timing under linux?

May 1st, 2002	#7 (permalink)
Pete Bernert FREAK Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 874	currently I am using the gettimeofday func... you can see the details in the file fps.c of the peops soft gpu.

May 1st, 2002	#8 (permalink)
krz Registered User Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 10	gettimeofday() has microsecond resolution, so I don't think the problem is timer resolution. After looking at the code, you might be better off determining how much time to wait, and calling usleep (instead of a busy wait loop). gettimeofday is a syscall, so there is a fair amount of overhead when calling that in a loop. Just a thought/suggestion.