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[announcement] RomWiz - New open-source Linux romset manager

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Yannick Effinger

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Oct 19, 2009, 4:47:37 PM10/19/09
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Hi everyone,

Like everyone else I used clrmamepro for a long time to manage my
romsets. But one day, I switched to Linux and sadly found no alternative.
I started to verify and clean the many zip files by hand, then by using
some bash scripts, but as you might guess, that still wasn't really fun.

Then, instead of using clrmamepro through wine, I started my own little
project.
RomWiz was born, and today was the first public release of my little MAME
romset manager.

It can verify, clean, archive and rebuild romsets. For the latter, it
uses duplicate roms available in other romsets, or archived roms.

You can download it from : https://sourceforge.net/projects/romwiz/

For the moment, you'll have to compile the sources (that shouldn't be a
problem for most of Linux users), but I intend to release a 32 and 64
bits debian package as well.

Please, give it a try, any comments/suggestions/feature-requests will be
welcome ;-)

Andreas Kohlbach

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Oct 19, 2009, 9:46:52 PM10/19/09
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That should be something for MCR.

Though I use Linux myself I have an old rom set and never upgrade, as
long as the those games I like work for me. :-)
--
Andreas (PGP Key available on public key servers)
13. find /usr2 -name nethack -exec rm -f {};
--Top 100 things you don't want the sysadmin to say

MCR

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Oct 21, 2009, 5:50:19 AM10/21/09
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I will give it a whizz and let you know what I think :) Roman S has done
an excellent job making clrmamepro compatible with Wine, but native is
better.

--
╔═╦═╦══╦══╗ |
║ ║ ═╣ ║╚╗ |www.pleasuredome.org.uk - ROMs, Retro, Community
╚╩═╩╩══╩═╩═╝ |Linux - Humanity in computing

MCR

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Oct 21, 2009, 5:51:36 AM10/21/09
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On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:47:37 +0000, Yannick Effinger wrote:

Noooo!!! Its QT ;) I don't know if I want all that KDE bloat ;)

Andreas Kohlbach

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Oct 21, 2009, 3:37:04 PM10/21/09
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"Just" the QT Libs. Quite some MB though.


--
Andreas (PGP Key available on public key servers)

You know you're a Redneck when
27. You have a complete set of salad bowls, and they all say Cool Whip on
the side.

Yannick Effinger

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Oct 22, 2009, 2:59:47 PM10/22/09
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that's exactly why I chose QT, and not KDE widgets : you can use RomWiz
with your favorite desktop environment. I tested it with XFCE and it
worked like a charm (hail to the freedesktop shared technology project) ;)

MCR

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Oct 23, 2009, 4:17:10 PM10/23/09
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OK I will run it and tell you what I think :) Better not screw with da
romz ;)

MCR

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Oct 23, 2009, 4:29:24 PM10/23/09
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On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:59:47 +0000, Yannick Effinger wrote:

It compiled fine. I am currently copying my ROM set to another drive to
test on.. Can I ask. What happens to incorrect roms? Deleted? flagged?
What about CHD's

BTW TYVM. Keep working on it. It looks fantasticly simple.

Roman Scherzer

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Oct 23, 2009, 4:57:17 PM10/23/09
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> BTW TYVM. Keep working on it. It looks fantasticly simple.

MCR, sorry but I kept it as a secret till now (and family business keeps
me from constantly updating my wip page), but the new Windows 7 hype got
me working again and so be prepared for "clrmame 7" in early 2010.

http://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/wip2010.jpg

MCR

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Oct 23, 2009, 5:21:47 PM10/23/09
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ROTFL. You couldn't make it simpler could you, I mean, is that button
really needed? :)

BTW: As I have said before, thanks for making clrmamepro Wine compatible
and worrying about us freaks :)

Roman Scherzer

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Oct 23, 2009, 5:31:17 PM10/23/09
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maybe I recode it to make it a widget

MCR

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Oct 23, 2009, 6:01:58 PM10/23/09
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On Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:47:37 +0000, Yannick Effinger wrote:

Snipped



> Please, give it a try, any comments/suggestions/feature-requests will be
> welcome ;-)

You should be proud of what you have done. I use Wine *only* for
clrmamepro and while it will remain my ROM manager for the foreseeable
future, I see this tool is both simple to use, fits the look and feel of
my desktop and seems bug free (fingers crossed!)

Anyway...

Compiled fine, no issues whatsoever. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala (RC), all
dev packages installed.

Right.. here are my comments so far and I am *not* complaining, but you
want feedback.

First of all I am getting CRC errors in some sets. My sets are up to
date and I believe free of CRC problems.

A) Was seeding on pleasuredome.org.uk 100% - But not while scanning
B) Clrmamepro shows no such errors.
C) I extract the archive (to double check) and it extracts fine.
D) I try it with SDLMAME and the game works fine.

It could be an SDLMAME issue, but I want to make you aware. I cannot
test this against the same binary with clrmamepro (I use a downloaded
MAME.EXE for this purpose).

It would be nice to be able to save the log output.
When changing ROM paths and then changing tabs without saving first, it
would be nice for the program to remind me to save first (or do it
automatically).
Where ROMs are archived should be user selectable or shown :) It archived
one ROM out of a set and I couldn't find it.

A scan option (without fix) for when you just want to check.

A help file would be nice, I know help files are not a priority now, just
sayin'.

A deb package would be welcomed (I know you are going to do this).

On the ROM path screen saving and loading profiles would be a good idea.
So I can save one for scanning and perhaps one for rebuilding (differing
orders and paths).

For the future... crazy ideas..

A ROM archive option. Automatically rebuild sets in separate
700MB/4.7GB/8GB (user selectable) folders for backing up.

If you need a tester, feel free to email me at
mcr<dot>mame<at>gmail<dot>com and I will play around with it and give
more feedback.

There are a few Linux users that would love this, ok for me to pimp it
out for their feedback? :)

MCR

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Oct 23, 2009, 6:03:02 PM10/23/09
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On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:31:17 +0200, Roman Scherzer wrote:

> maybe I recode it to make it a widget

Don't you know how to trim bloat ;) A widget still isn't efficient
enough. :-)

Andreas Kohlbach

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Oct 23, 2009, 6:34:40 PM10/23/09
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On Oct 23, 5:21 pm, MCR <mcr.m...@geemail.invalid> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:57:17 +0200, Roman Scherzer wrote:
> >> BTW TYVM.  Keep working on it.  It looks fantasticly simple.
>
> > MCR, sorry but I kept it as a secret till now (and family business keeps
> > me from constantly updating my wip page), but the new Windows 7 hype got
> > me working again and so be prepared for "clrmame 7" in early 2010.
>
> >http://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/wip2010.jpg
>
> ROTFL.  You couldn't make it simpler could you, I mean, is that button
> really needed? :)  
>
> BTW: As I have said before, thanks for making clrmamepro Wine compatible
> and worrying about us freaks :)

I love Windows and will soon get Windows 7 and dump Ubuntu Linux. Then
I can use clrmame 7 too without emulator.

Andreas

PS: ;-)

MCR

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Oct 23, 2009, 6:39:29 PM10/23/09
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LOL.. I am already using Windows 8.. it's called Ubuntu :-P

Yannick Effinger

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Oct 27, 2009, 7:52:17 AM10/27/09
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Incorrect ROMs are deleted from ROM sets, but are kept in the archives,
just in case.
I've designed RomWiz to be as secure as possible, and you'll always have
the last word about ROM deletion. Only exception is when the ZIP archive
is broken and RomWiz is unable to read from it : in this very case, it
salvages anything possbile and put it into the archives, before deleting
the wrong ZIP file. During the last phase of the "scan & fix" process,
the salvaged ROMs are used to rebuild the faulty ZIP as best as possible.

CHD's are not supported yet, but I'm planning to support them as well
(sample files should follow the same path)

Yannick Effinger

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Oct 27, 2009, 8:16:52 AM10/27/09
to


I'm really happy that you like RomWiz ! And feedback, positive or
negative is always welcome ;-)

For your first problem (CRC errors), which ROM set is affected ? Is it
really a CRC error, or an "unknown CRC" ?

About saving the log and the preferences saving reminder, I'm already
working on it. Those were minor fonctionalities, and I wanted to release
RomWiz ASAP. And this time I managed to avoid developer's biggest
problem : deciding when an application is ready to be released ; too soon
and you've got a handful of bugs, too late and your piece of work will
never get released ;-)

Archives are stored in ~/.romwiz/archives , but a quick access is indeed
a good idea.

For the other things, I put that on my "toDo" list. Will keep me busy for
the next evenings (it's getting pretty cold out there ;-) )

And about the other Linux users' feedback, hell yes ! Feel free to talk
about it to everyone :-D
By the way, I'll send you a mail to keep in touch for more details,
ideas, feedback and stuff ;-)

MCR

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Oct 27, 2009, 5:22:06 PM10/27/09
to
On Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:16:52 +0000, Yannick Effinger wrote:

Snipped


> I'm really happy that you like RomWiz ! And feedback, positive or
> negative is always welcome ;-)

Well its good to get something 'native'. Roman's program is awesome but
Wine breaks occassionally (always at the wrong time ;) )



> For your first problem (CRC errors), which ROM set is affected ? Is it
> really a CRC error, or an "unknown CRC" ?

I will do another scan and cut and paste them.

> About saving the log and the preferences saving reminder, I'm already
> working on it. Those were minor fonctionalities, and I wanted to release
> RomWiz ASAP. And this time I managed to avoid developer's biggest
> problem : deciding when an application is ready to be released ; too
> soon and you've got a handful of bugs, too late and your piece of work
> will never get released ;-)

I understand. I am pleased you released it when you did, its stable,
compact and quite intuitive.

> Archives are stored in ~/.romwiz/archives , but a quick access is indeed
> a good idea.

Ahh.. /thats/ where it is! TY

> For the other things, I put that on my "toDo" list. Will keep me busy
> for the next evenings (it's getting pretty cold out there ;-) )

Lucky for us :-)

> And about the other Linux users' feedback, hell yes ! Feel free to talk
> about it to everyone :-D
> By the way, I'll send you a mail to keep in touch for more details,
> ideas, feedback and stuff ;-)

Yes please. I would appreciate it. It's mcr....@invalidgmail.com
remove invalid ;)

--
╔═╦═╦══╦══╗ |42 is the answer dammit.

MCR

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Oct 27, 2009, 5:23:32 PM10/27/09
to

Nice! Thanks for letting me know.

> CHD's are not supported yet, but I'm planning to support them as well
> (sample files should follow the same path)

Excellent. Although just checking if they are missing is fine by me :-)

--
╔═╦═╦══╦══╗ |42 is the answer dammit.

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