I'd like to start off saying that this article was partially inspired by fastbilly1's article
Netbooks the Gameboys of PC Gaming [img width=640 height=480]http://a.imageshack.us/img295/5604/pafrontendsmall.jpg[/img]
The Puppy Arcade Frontend. Note the list of Emulators on the toolbar.
Due to a recent surgery I have been left with a large amount of free time. While I have been gaming, I've also been doing a good amount of research on emulation, with special focus on Linux. It was this that led me to
this website, which finally led me to
Puppy Arcade. Puppy Arcade is a modified version of Puppy Linux, a very small Linux distribution meant to run on old computer systems (minimum specs are Pentium 166Mhz and 128MB or RAM). Puppy Arcade ditches the "frills" or the regular Puppy release and fills the void with a variety emulators, from Saturn and Playstation to NES and Genesis. There are even DOS and SCUMM emulators, which is unbelievably awesome. And since Linux is already much more "lightweight" OS, the games will run faster than on Windows systems that have comparative specs. But there is another reason to consider Puppy Arcade: the delivery system. Like many Linux distributions, Puppy Arcade can be run as a Live CD (a way to test out the OS before installing for real) or on a USB thumbdrive as a persistent OS (on a drive as small as 128MB). By following the latter method, you can run Puppy Arcade without potentially messing up your computer, save any changes that you make, and add or delete games without burning a new CD. This is especially handy if you are in the habit of buying indie ROM games made for older systems, like the Atari 2600, Spectrum, or C64. It is clear that Puppy Arcade is meant to replace Windows as the cabinet arcade OS of choice.
So, there has to be a negative, right? Yes, but those problems are more indicative of Linux than of the quality of Puppy Arcade. For the uninitiated, Linux distributions come in a staggeringly large amount of variety, each with their own pluses, minuses, and general foibles. Puppy Arcade works well out of the box, but certain tasks (like copying games from USB to a hard drive) require a bit of patience. Of the two tested laptops (a Dell D600 and a Gateway ML6721), Puppy Arcade worked on each. On the Dell it worked perfectly (though we can expect certain emulated systems, such as the Saturn, to not function properly or at all). Puppy Arcade functioned doubly well on the Gateway (thanks to its dual core processor), though the wireless card went unrecognized and likely would continue without a deal of tweaking.
Regardless of these problems, I found Puppy Arcade to be a wonderful all-in-one emulation system with outstanding features and functionality, easily making it the OS of choice for portable gaming-style netbooks and laptops, cabinet gaming systems, or even just to play around a bit.
[img width=320 height=240]http://a.imageshack.us/img204/4746/scummvmcustom.jpg[/img]
ScummVM Console
[img width=320 height=238]http://a.imageshack.us/img291/5430/hungrycustom.jpg[/img]
Hungry are the Dead 3 running on the Gameboy emulator
