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New StandAlone Panel Build Idea
dawolv:
LOVE this idea!
Instead of a Full Size HDD why not a 2.5" Laptop HDD (very lightweight)?
ATOM D510 Intel Board (CPU/Mobo/Video)
~200W PSU
Hmmm..this is turning into a PC :-\
*Goes back to the drawing board*
WhereEaglesDare:
***Back to drawing board indeed***
NOT putting a PC in there, because then I may as well build a small bartop, and that isn't the idea. I'm going to have to dig out my USB HUB and put some roms on my thumbdrive and connect a gamepad and try it out.
I know people have those passport HDD that dont require a external power supply, but Im sure they may not work as well on a hub, I dunno. Doesnt MAME load the rom into the RAM of the PC anyways so once the game is loaded it doesnt read from the thumbdrive or HDD anymore? Thats how some people play CHDs over a Share Drive.
I was going to hack a game pad for the controls for 1P and use a second pad for 2P or maybe make a second one down the road. Anyone think I should make this standalone panel a two player panel?
--- Quote from: drventure on June 02, 2010, 07:23:24 am ---
BTW I'm pretty sure you can config a USB stick drive to autorun something when it's inserted. The use may have turned that off in the OS, but I believe that capability is there.
--- End quote ---
It is a OS setting. I'll start setting up the thumbdrive I guess, if there is any custom programming involved I'll post it here when I get it working.
I just thought of a problem. If I put the front end on this and lets say the drive is set to be drive F:\ on my PC and set all the paths to the F:\ drive (F:\Mame\Roms) etc, then if I goto another PC and that PC designates the drive as E:\ then it wont work at all... Unless I can find a batch file that will assign drive designators then I may not be able to do this.
Burn4Evr:
I've seen this done on a NES pad before, Although I don't have a link handy. Bit of googling might help.
Also I would look into running it as an OS on a stick.
Ubuntu live usb stick + linux emulators should fit the bill nicely.
This would work for any system that can boot from USB. This way you never touch the resident operating system and such.
Plus I could totally see it as a way to get people to turn their old spyware slowed PCs into Mame machines.
WhereEaglesDare:
I dont think running an OS from a stick is ever a great idea, maybe a good idea but not great. Ive done it, it is a lil difficult, I even got one of them home made Bart PE Win XP sticks, but thumb drives arent meant to be written to constantly and they will not last as long as you may want. Plus that will require rebooting the PC, maybe getting into the BIOS and on older PCs installing a firmware update or flashing the BIOS to allow boot from USB.
Nice thought, very unique and that is the direction I am looking for (something different) and thanks for the input but I dont see that as practical
drventure:
You shouldn't need to run an actual OS from the drive, just have it start mame or a front end, possibly start a bat file that rewrites some drive letters in the cfg files, but even that I'll bet there's a way around.
Yeah, I'm digging the "No pc" approach.