[Tutorial] Install Genesis Emulator To 64 Bit Ubuntu (13.04)

After searching for awhile I quickly found that there isn't very many 64 bit emulators for Linux and even less specifically for the Sega Genesis. The problem isn't that I need 64 bit to satisfy my PC superiority complex but that in Linux, the 32 bit versions don't seem to work on the 64 bit distributions.  I did manage to find one though by the name of dGen. Problem with dGen is that it's command line only. Who in the world makes a program that displays graphics based on the command line? In any case I found a frontend GUI that works great even though it's very dated. Below are the step by steps and a video to hopefully help you out. Keep in mind that I wrote these as if you were using the Ubuntu 13.04 desktop. This will work for any Linux distribution if you change the steps to fit your desktop situation. There's a video tutorial with the same material that's covered in this write up.  It's all the way at the bottom of this page if you prefer the video.  If you need further help please feel free to leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.



1. Download dGen from Ubuntu Software Center.

2. Get tkdgen which is a frontend for dGen from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tkdgen/

3. Unzip tkdgen

4. open terminal and go to the unzipped tkdgen folder .

type: ./configure
type: make
type: sudo make install
enter your password when prompted

To run tkdgen just type "tkdgen" in the terminal.

To create a desktop icon instead of using the command line do the following.

1. open text editor

2. copy and paste the following into editor:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=x.y
Name=ProgramName
Comment=This is my comment
Exec=/home/alex/Documents/exec.sh
Icon=/home/alex/Pictures/icon.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;Application;

------------------------------------------- Notes about the above entries --------------------------------------------

Version is the version of this .desktop file.

Name is the name of the application, like 'VLC media player'.

Comment is a phrase or two describing what this program does, like 'Plays your music and videos files'.

Exec is the path to the executable file. The full path to the executable file must be used only in case it isn't in any of the paths specified in the $PATH variable. For example, any files that are inside the path /usr/bin don't need to have their full path specified in the Exec field, but only their filename. To see all the paths in the $PATH variable you can open a terminal using Ctrl+Alt+T and type in

echo $PATH

Icon field is the icon that should be used by the launcher and represents the application. All icons that are under the directory /usr/share/pixmaps don't need to have their full path specified, but their filename without the extension. For example, if the icon file is /usr/share/pixmaps/wallch.png, then the Icon field should be just 'wallch'. All other icons should have their full path specified.

Terminal field specifies whether the application should run in a terminal window or not.

Type field specifies the type of the launcher file. The type can be Application, Link or Directory, but this article covers the 'Application' type.

Categories field specifies the category of the application. It is used by the Dash so as to categorize the applications. A launcher being a 'Utility;Application;' should be under the 'Accessories' section etc.

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3. Save as name.dekstop to your desktop. Replace name with the name of your application.

4. Right click the new file and choose properties. Go to the permissions tab. Tick the box next to “Execute”.

5. To have it show up in the Unity Dash just copy your file to /home/username/.local/share/applications.  Replace username with your user name.

6. To add your application to the Unity launcher on the left just drag it from the desktop onto the launcher.

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You can use the text on this page to follow along with the video if that's easier for you.

---------------------------------------------------------- Sources -------------------------------------------------------

The credit about the making the desktop launcher and all related information goes to vperetokin from help.ubuntu.com. For a more in depth and detailed instruction on how to add applications to the Unity desktop, launcher, and dash follow the link below.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UnityLaunchersAndDesktopFiles

Credit goes to duskfire for the commands to compile tkdgen. See his post on it and support his blog.

http://duskfire.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/emulators-on-linux-part-3/