Linux emulation

[LittleMe]

I have a computer that very soon will be connected directly to my tv and to be used for playing some of our older pc games, emulators and browsing news.

But at the moment it crashes just too often and I'm thinking of switching to Linux on it and that's trouble for me as I do not know too much about it.
But an old friend told me that without any installation I could use a Live cd with emulators and browser preinstalled and try it out, all I needed to fix was some settings.
Does anyone knows what he is talking about and where can I get more info on it.

 

[noctrun]

read: http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php , download and burn a fitting one of those isos (or get a cd somewhere else). then boot from that cd/dvd, most of them should include documentation how to get started

 

[LittleMe]

Thaks for that link I'll check it out right after some food.

 

[Hexidecimal]

Emulation on Linux is pretty cut and dry, either theres an emulator or there isnt.

ZSNES exists but you hve to complie it, theres the wonderful Mupen64, NES emulators are different, I've yet to find a decent one with a GUI, Gens exists but again, you have to compile it. GBA and GBx al exists in some form, and theres always MAME with the gxMAME frontend.

It's all just as easy as Windows after youve messed with it a bit, but be sure you have the time, and dont get frustrated because linux takes some time to get used to.

 

[LittleMe]

Well,nes, snes, n64 and maybe psx are the main ones I'm after and I seem to have found emulators for them. But as I'm not the only user of that computer I'll have to convince the others first. I can't make an installation and try to convince the others to keep it. I'll have to somehow create or download a live cd with possibilities to play emulators and I have no prior knowledge of linux and no possibilities to install it anywhere.
So my dilemma is that I want to try it out on this soon to be second pc but There is no way I can install linux on it.

 

[smcd]

littleme: actually, most emulators can be compiled and run without an 'install' so if there are different user accounts then it shouldn't affect anyone else.

 

[LittleMe]

Well, Part of the problem is that the windows installation crashes too often. I can't play any emulator especially long before some random crash happens. There is also just one user account.