Is there an old-school game emulator out there for TrueNAS?

[hAtul]

I've been using TrueNAS for basic home stuff, Plex, homeassistant, transmission, etc, on an old-pretty strong computer.

I thought of adding a new game emulator app for old-school games, and didn't find something stating it's specifically suitable for TrueNAS (maybe because it's not what a NAS server should do...), so which emulators do you know of that work?

I came across

1. RetroArch - https://www.retroarch.com/index.php?page=platforms
   which I'm not sure which distro will fit most for a FreeBDS jails server. yet.
   
   
2. EmulatorJS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv1cq0JhZfQ
   which seem simpler (?)

I would like to know what stuff you use, or might use, or proved to be best to use.
ps: I have a samsung tv, with tizen, if this has any app that can sync with rather than using a browser.

 

[sretalla]

EmulatorJS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv1cq0JhZfQ
which seem simpler (?)

TrueCharts has an app for it (SCALE)

 

[hAtul]

TrueCharts has an app for it (SCALE)

For the EmulatorJS app?
Although it's very tempting, I still didn't move from CORE to SCALE. Didn't do my research yet, but generally worried of instability

 

[sretalla]

For the EmulatorJS app?

generally worried of instability

How are you defining "stability"?

Does a TrueNAS SCALE system crash in normal use? No, not usually.

Does the TrueNAS SCALE OS change significantly with new updates? Sure, it's new and still developing.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm not seeing the point. Unless you were organizing an event (which would enter a copyright minefield), why would you want to host what amounts to a web page containing an emulator when you could just install whatever you want on your client machine.

Sidenote: they're making bold claims of compatibility. Either they're lying or they've been stealing code and converting it to Javascript. I say stealing because they don't say anything about such a process in the Readme.

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

@Ericloewe They probably emulate the hardware in JS and then run original ROMs - people interested in retro gaming know where to find them. The question of IP is a bit of a grey area if the original publisher is long out of business ...

 

[Jailer]

This sounds like more trouble than it's worth. I run an old laptop I picked up for $50 used for my emulator setup. It's self contained and portable and has video, sound and usb for controller inputs and runs almost all of the current emulators out there. A 256GB drive will hold just about all the ROM's you could ever want.

 

[Ericloewe]

@Ericloewe They probably emulate the hardware in JS and then run original ROMs - people interested in retro gaming know where to find them. The question of IP is a bit of a grey area if the original publisher is long out of business ...

I figure as much, my point is specifically around the "organizing an event" part, where a bunch of people all magically have the original carts or whatever.

 

[hAtul]

sooooo

1. I got convinced, SCALE seem awesome, although I noticed some previous claims Plex get stuck sometimes. hope this got resolved since. I'm upgrading it right now :)
2.

why would you want to host what amounts to a web page containing an emulator when you could just install whatever you want on your client machine

^ well, my main client machine - is a Samsung TV, I was wondering what exactly can sync with the crappy tizen os, if you have an answer for that I'll be happy to know. I even somewhere doubt that the tvs browser will manage to handle the web emulator.
I would gladly get a different machine, install RertoArch, connect it to the tvs HDMI, and done. but I don't have another machine. just an old computer I turned into a nas server which I enjoy storing files, hosting Plex and Transmission.

 

[zubo100]

sooooo

1. I got convinced, SCALE seem awesome, although I noticed some previous claims Plex get stuck sometimes. hope this got resolved since. I'm upgrading it right now :)
2.

^ well, my main client machine - is a Samsung TV, I was wondering what exactly can sync with the crappy tizen os, if you have an answer for that I'll be happy to know. I even somewhere doubt that the tvs browser will manage to handle the web emulator.
I would gladly get a different machine, install RertoArch, connect it to the tvs HDMI, and done. but I don't have another machine. just an old computer I turned into a nas server which I enjoy storing files, hosting Plex and Transmission.

Hi! Not sure if you managed to get things working for you, but maybe a small tip...

You can create a virtual machine on your TrueNAS server running Steam (in my case Windows 10 with dedicated Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080) and install SteamLink app on the Samsung TV. That way you can stream all your steam games from your virtual machine to your samsung TV. And in steam you can also install retroarch and set it up. I have been using this setup for a few months now and it works great, both with retroarch, and any other steam games... I have an xbox360 controller connected to the Samsung TV. The steamlink app is truly a good thing for in-home streaming, and even over the internet. I have set up steamlink on 2 additional TVs at my parents house (100km away from my home TRUENAS server) and it still works great. All you need is a controller. I would recommend at least a 30 Mb/s connection though.

 

[wsoteros]

install SteamLink app on the Samsung TV

IIRC Valve announced that they would no longer offer Steamlink on the Samsung TVs. I believe if you already have it installed you're good but it was probably taken off of their store. I second the notion of having a strong connection. I have had mixed results back when I lived in a place with cable internet. However, no problems with modern fiber connection across my home YMMV.


The bright side is that Steam Links can be found for pretty cheap on eBay :)