Re: [GNU-linux-libre] MAME emulator is giving incentive to use non-free software

[Jean Louis]

Hello Leo,

On Fri, Apr 01, 2016 at 03:17:06PM -0500, Leo wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 8:51 AM, Ivan Zaigralin <address@hidden>
> wrote:
> 
> > The point of emulators like this one is to preserve software history.
> > Yes, it emulates non-free software. No, it's no longer relevant. I mean,
> > it's no longer relevant as software, but only as the historical record
> > of what entertainment software was like in the times of yore. New
> > nonfree games are being written today in order to seduce people, so I
> > can see why something like wine is dangerous, but no one, no one will
> > get seduced by a museum piece. MAME does not give any incentive to use
> > non-free software, because all of this old software is obsolete and
> > useless. But it does give an ability to study it from the historical
> > perspective, which is a good thing.
> >
> 
> I disagree with all this. My brother-in-law built an arcade-like cabinet
> and put MAME in it. He plays these games and invites his friends to play
> these games with him. A coworker is working on the same thing. They are not
> exactly obsolete if they still provide entertainment. That's like saying
> that Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is obsolete because now we have
> romantic comedies in 3D.
> 
> That being said, I'm still not sure what to think of MAME, but I personally
> see it in the same level as WINE.

Please ask him if he had to load the BIOS and blobs as required:
http://docs.mamedev.org/basicuse/commonissues.html?highlight=bios
http://docs.mamedev.org/basicuse/gettingstarted.html#bios-dumps-and-software

Basically, he uses non-free software, and I don't know how it relates to
free-software demand.

Jean Louis