Can your cab connect to the internet?

[BadMouth]

Both my machines have all services relating to networking disabled in hopes of gaining a sliver more speed.
Am I really gaining anything?

I've read where some of you VPN to do maintenance.
(that sounds nicer than squinting at an s-video connection and using a trackball as a mouse)

Anyone have their cabs connected for online play?

[gabe]

My cab runs Linux and has no keyboard or mouse attached.

The only way I administrate my machine is over the network via SSH. I often do so from my desk at work, so yes, it is very much attached to the internet.

[leapinlew]

no internet/lan access for me. I'd like my Mame machines to stay virus free.

[Rando]

My cab currently connects wirelessly because it's new and I'm still performing updates and such to MALA, ROMs, etc.  As I get more stabilized and final I may turn access off so that it's 100% used as an arcade and not a backup PC.

[yotsuya]

I have mine hooked up wirelessly to my home network for maintenance and file transfers. The AtomicFE folder on it is mapped on my main computer so I just have to turn it on in order to drop in new files.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Same as LeapinLew, networked for the time being  but as everything becomes stable and setups finalized, I'll probably unplug except for specific maintenance/upgrade sessions. 

[scofthe7seas]

no internet/lan access for me. I'd like my Mame machines to stay virus free.

Hahaha what is your Mame cab doing to get viruses?! No doubt playing those naughty mahjong games while you're away..

I don't have network on mine. A pain at times, but mitigated with a USB extension cable for maintenance.

[Nephasth]

no internet/lan access for me. I'd like my Mame machines to stay virus free.

+1

[gabe]

While I can follow the logic, I find it interesting that so many people seem to think that the only way to keep a computer virus free is to keep it off of the internet.

[HaRuMaN]

While I can follow the logic, I find it interesting that so many people seem to think that the only way to keep a computer virus free is to keep it off of the internet.

The only guaranteed way...

[scofthe7seas]

While I can follow the logic, I find it interesting that so many people seem to think that the only way to keep a computer virus free is to keep it off of the internet.

The only guaranteed way...

Well, it's not like the internet is just a cesspool, waiting to rampantly infest PCs upon connection. I mean, sure, if you use your cabinet to browse around you have a chance, but just connecting to the internet without doing anything isn't going to get you a virus. I don't really know why a cabinet would need to be on the internet though?

[fallacy]

I like to play Dungeon fighter online on my MAME cab




I reminds me of my favorite 2D beat them up “Streets of Rage” Plus it’s online and you can gear your self and group with other people, it’s the best of both worlds.

[leapinlew]

While I can follow the logic, I find it interesting that so many people seem to think that the only way to keep a computer virus free is to keep it off of the internet.

For me it's either disconnect the mame machine, or have an extra beefy machine and keep it updated.

If you've never had a microsoft update crash your machine, or a bad AV definition pack cause your machine to slow down to a crawl, you may not understand it. It's a trade off. I have plenty of machines that I have to keep up with virus definitions, service packs, application patches, etc, I don't want to create more work for myself by having to update arcade machines and troubleshoot them when there is a problem.

5 of my machines are using Windows XP, no service packs (or SP1, I can't remember).

[leapinlew]

Well, it's not like the internet is just a cesspool, waiting to rampantly infest PCs upon connection.

A lot of the nasty worms connect to your machine and don't need the user or computer to do anything but be connected. 

[scofthe7seas]

A lot of the nasty worms connect to your machine and don't need the user or computer to do anything but be connected. 

I've heard another tech say this, but I've never seen any such thing. Any major ISP should have a firewall to prevent this from happening solely by connecting to their service. If they didn't, they'd be liable for a phat lawsuit.

Though I do agree with not connecting for slow-down / update nagging. Like I said, mine isn't connected.

[leapinlew]

I've heard another tech say this, but I've never seen any such thing. Any major ISP should have a firewall to prevent this from happening solely by connecting to their service. If they didn't, they'd be liable for a phat lawsuit.

Its a slippery slope for an ISP to decide what can access the network and what can't. I'd say if they started blocking any traffic they would be more liable for a lawsuit than by blocking none. Right now, they provide a fully open pipe to the internet. You've never heard of Conficker or Nimda?

[BadMouth]

I worry more about getting viruses from the hacks and cracks that I have to download from shady sources every time I buy a new PC game to put on my cab.
(of course, they can't be sending personal information if they aren't connected to anything)

If it were connected, it's not like I'd be browsing with it or have automatic updates turned on.

I don't really know why a cabinet would need to be on the internet though?

I was considering re-enabling all the networking stuff to download the new street fighter game from capcom so I wouldn't have to bother with a no-cd crack.
I know it's probably going to be one error message after another about all the services I have disabled though.
If I bother re-enabling all of them, I'll probably just leave them on so I can set things up to do maintenance from my main PC.
Running up and down the stairs because I forgot a file or forgot to unzip a file is getting old (they don't even have winzip installed, lol)

Also been thinking about giving iracing a try on the driving cab even though I suck at sim racing.

[scofthe7seas]

You mean through steam? I wouldn't. As far as I know, those need network connections / steam access. Street Fighter 4 is pretty awesome on my cab though, I have to say. Wasn't interested in it at all on xbox.

Lew : I have heard of them, both of them require outgoing "hand shaking" streams.
Conficker was close to what you were saying, but it attacked corporations / registered domains. Nimda was spread the standard way : emails, websites, files.
A virus would have to ping random Ips to get someone just by logging on. I suppose by random chance you could be infected before it was stopped, but a person spreading a virus wouldn't typically do this because it would quickly be detected and precautions would be taken against it before it could cause much damage.

I'm not saying it's impossble, just saying in my years I have never seen it. I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.

[eds1275]

Mine's not. If I need anything I bring a memory stick over and do it that way. I have an LCD screen on it so it's easy to see the screen, but not arcade authentic.

[Donkbaca]

That dungeon fighter looks sweet!

Not planning on having the cab connected, though I am planning on connecting the xbox for XBL

[TOK]

No net access on mine. I actually had all 3 MAME cabs on the net before building my game room, but after moving them out there they are not networked. I occasionally add a ROM or something with a flash drive, but that is so rare that doing it that way isn't a hassle.

[Dan_Dan_91_07]

Yes

My frontend (GameEx) has links to two radio stations, an inbuilt weather forecast viewer,  a inbuilt RSS viewer and a link to Google, which by using a Firefox add-on called full-fullscreen (which forced firefox into fullscreen mode),an on-screen keyboard and my touch screen - is a fantastic feature.

[Paul Olson]

Mine is on my network. That way I can log in from any computer in the house and configure it when I want. Now that I have an LCD, it is not as big of an issue though. I still don't see any reason to disconnect it though. I don't have too many problems keeping any of the computers up and running. I haven't had a bad virus for a few years. the last one did take out the hard drive on the cab computer though. It was a good excuse to upgrade.

[alfonzotan]

I have an 802.11n USB dongle plugged into the front panel.  Makes it easy to fire up Space Paranoids for that groovy Tron stick goodness.  

It's a Hackintosh build, so random virus infections aren't a pressing concern.

[kalars123]

Mines connected wireless full time when it's turned on, no real need for it sept for the semi regular SSF4:AE online match-up, I can see people's reasoning for not wanting to have their Cab's connected but for me in all my years of using the internet from dialing in to MBBS boards to right this second, I've only ever had 1 major virus and have never had an issue with Microsoft updates/service packages..ect.  So for me I don't feel there really is much of a risk.

[TopJimmyCooks]

With internet connectivity and autohotkey, you could map one of your admin buttons to order a large sausage and mushroom from Papa Johns.   

[kalars123]

With internet connectivity and autohotkey, you could map one of your admin buttons to order a large sausage and mushroom from Papa Johns.   

Imagine showing that "feature" off at your next house party LOL

"yea joe check out this new feature i built in" and you have a button labeled Papa Johns, ---smurfette---!

[leapinlew]

Lew : I have heard of them, both of them require outgoing "hand shaking" streams.
Conficker was close to what you were saying, but it attacked corporations / registered domains. Nimda was spread the standard way : emails, websites, files.
A virus would have to ping random Ips to get someone just by logging on. I suppose by random chance you could be infected before it was stopped, but a person spreading a virus wouldn't typically do this because it would quickly be detected and precautions would be taken against it before it could cause much damage.

I have no idea what versions of conficker you have seen, but all it takes is an unpatched system on the same network as an infected system. No outward bound handshake required. Which means, if someone hops on my wifi with an infected machine or plugs into my network, my machine could be compromised in no time. It does more than just attack corporation domains. It fills up the task scheduler with small jobs and eventually takes up all available system memory and brings the system to a crawl.

I've been fighting it for over a year and it totally sucks. I have no reason to connect my Mame computers to the network/internet. If I wanted to play some online game with one of my cabinets, I would have to do a lot of patching, but I wouldn't not do it. I'd just have to take a lot of precautions that I don't have to do now.

I'm not saying it's impossble, just saying in my years I have never seen it. I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.

If you want to see it in action. Put an unpatched Windows XP system straight on the internet with no firewall, service packs, antivirus and a real IP.

[kalars123]

I'm not saying it's impossble, just saying in my years I have never seen it. I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest.

If you want to see it in action. Put an unpatched Windows XP system straight on the internet with no firewall, service packs, antivirus and a real IP.
[/quote]

but who would do that anyway?, I mean honestly I think we as a hobby industry have come far enophe that even the beginner collector/restore/custom mame cab, will know at least that you never put an unpatched unprotected system on the internet. One of the very reason's I've never had many virus issue's unlike ALOT of my friends is that i keep by virus protection up to date, i keep windows up to date and i don't do anything stupid, I don't download/open an e-mail that i don't know, i don't visit any random porn sites...ect.

And when I do very rarely get a virus I just format and restore from a 3mo offline backup. Internet safety isn't all that hard people

[Generic Eric]

The thing that has prevented my most from having my mame pc connected was its proximity to the router.  Now that I have another ethernet cable I can plug it in.  At least when its not connected to the xbox360.

[leapinlew]

but who would do that anyway?, I mean honestly I think we as a hobby industry have come far enophe that even the beginner collector/restore/custom mame cab, will know at least that you never put an unpatched unprotected system on the internet. One of the very reason's I've never had many virus issue's unlike ALOT of my friends is that i keep by virus protection up to date, i keep windows up to date and i don't do anything stupid, I don't download/open an e-mail that i don't know, i don't visit any random porn sites...ect.

Well, my point was a system can get infected if you do nothing. To keep a system "safe" you have to patch the OS, applications as well as run antivirus software. Which means you not only have to spend more time keeping your mame machine online and functioning properly, you run into the risk of a patch or software update which breaks the computer thus causing even more maintenance. To me, it's all about setting up a machine and forgetting about it.

One of the very reason's I've never had many virus issue's
Internet safety isn't all that hard people

that made me  

If it was easy you would have had NO virus/malware issues. It's a never ending battle and you have to keep up on the latest rules of what you can and can't do. It's not impossible, but to act as if it's as easy is ridiculous.

[scofthe7seas]

If you want to see it in action. Put an unpatched Windows XP system straight on the internet with no firewall, service packs, antivirus and a real IP.

How long should I keep it on for? At what time could I turn it off and say this test is done? I have a spare laptop. I can install Windows Xp (Not even SP1!), nothing else, and plug it directly into the cable modem.

Given an infinite amount of time, an infinite amount of monkeys can write Shakespeare, apparently, but what if they had a timeframe? The test is impossible, because if I leave it for a day, or a week, You'll say I didn't leave it on long enough.

Plus, I don't really want to take up my internet with a lame experiment for a week!

Which means, if someone hops on my wifi with an infected machine or plugs into my network, my machine could be compromised in no time.

So you're saying the infection risk is something more localized? Like a local person attacking?

I've gotten some viruses in my time, don't misunderstand, but it was from digging around on the internet looking at stuff I shouldn't be. I just don't think virus attacks are a huge problem for individuals.

@kalars123
The problem with all that patching and virus scanning is that people want their MAME pcs as clean and fast as possible. I wouldn't put Mcafee on my Mame PC. But I also don't really see a point of having a MAME cab on the internet.

[kalars123]

@scothe7seas

I agree that there really isn't any need for a cabinet to be on the net, before SSF4:AE i only connected mine to the network for quick updates but had internet access rejected via my router, so it was connected internally only.  But now with SSF4, it's connected just like any of my other computers it patched and completely up to date, only difference is I don't do any web browsing on it, and i have all ports blocked to except those needed for SSF4 and GFWL.

@Leapinlew
no what you describe would be "no internet safety needed", and it's not an never ending battle at least not on my end, that's why I pay company's for their software so the never ending battle is on their end, for the average joe consumer internet safety is a joke just follow your common sense keep your software/virus protection up to date, and you won't have an issue, and the only time you will have an issue is when you doing or looking at something on the net that 1. you probably shouldn't be doing anyways, 2. is illegal in your state/country.  It's that simple no amount of arguing or saying conficker is the devil is going to change it.

Like I have said I completely understand people not hooking their cabs to the net, I also just want to set it and forget it without having to worry about updating/patching..ect  But I also don't want people to think "and there a few people out there somewhere that will" that if they do connect their cab to the net that some how a virus is going to magically find it's way into their home network and steal all your financial data. Because the likelihood of that happening almost zero.

[AlienInferno]

My machine's currently connected to my home network and thus the internet.  I'm planning on having it setup wirelessly once it goes in my cab.  Mainly for maintenance?  (can't spell LOL).  The only thing I would use the internet then for is maybe the high score sharing thing Torino is thinking about/working on.  Either way with the wireless I can turn it on and off at will so no biggie to me.

[EVEGames]

For me it's either disconnect the mame machine, or have an extra beefy machine and keep it updated.

+1.  Not going to connect any machine (cab-dedicated or otherwise) to the internet and not have Norton running in the background, and that means accepting frequent updates, allowing scans to take place, and relinquishing some resources to the antivirus program at all times.  The kinds of machines I use in my cabs, I need all the resources dedicated to the games.  If I need to apply an update of some kind, and that's rare once I get a cab set up, I do it with a USB thumb drive, using files which were scanned for viruses on another machine.

-EVEGames

[kalars123]

I got a question, it's seems a reoccurring thing here is that people don't want to connect their cabs to the net because they don't want to use a A/V program to use up resources.

Whats the average specs of all your builds? Is A/V really going to sap that much from your system as to make ANY game unplayable? I'm not asking this for anything but plain curiosity, I just recently build what i consider a fairly low end system for my hybrid Mame/Jamma UMK3 machine and it was just a couple hundred bucks.

AMD Athlon 2 X2 3ghz
4gig ram
ATI HD4890
appropriate cheepie jetway Mobo
650w P/S
1TB WD green HD
that was if i remember right like ~$350
and it runs SSF4:AE at 200+fps with everything maxed I can't belive a A/V program would tax it that much.

Unless your using a Pentium 4 with 1gig or less ram i can't see a A/V program being that much of an issue except maybe annoying pop ups.

[lastrega]

My Maricab is connected to my network wirelessly to transfer music and updates... my cab is a jukebox as well. so i tranfer new purchases via mylaptop to Mari.  I have a wireless mouse and keyboard for her, and I have chrome as an exe loadable in hyperspin...... I check my mail and this forum every night on it then play some turf masters, and moon patrol:)   Hell this very post is being written on my arcade machine:) best thing I ever built,  ........ the whole family loves it.  EVEN MY WIFE ..... I have to wait to use my own machine... I am thinking about making another one:)  okay back to the internet topic,  I have panda antivirus..... Very good because it is so light and takes hardly no memory resources, I have had NO issues or bugs with my internet cab........


In fact I am getting ready to make a new maricab for a customer, and one key selling point was it was a wi fi enabled device:) her kids liked how they could see if a new message was comming through on  "facebook" when they were playing frogger............   ML

 I have had no issue at all and I would recomend it for anyone who has a jukebox build:)   just my 2cents:)

[scofthe7seas]

...set it and forget it...

Isn't that the tag line for the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie?

[BadMouth]

Whats the average specs of all your builds? Is A/V really going to sap that much from your system as to make ANY game unplayable?

Those are around my specs (2.9Ghz X3 in the regular setup, 3.2Ghz X2 in the driving cab.....around $250 in each).
It took a LOT of tweaking to get California Speed to stay in the 90-100%.
I'm confident it would be unplayable with AV, automatic updates, auto restore, etc. running.
(No desire to undo all my tweaking to test it)

There have also been a couple threads where people with faster systems couldn't get CarnEvil running without sound skips.
Yet it works flawlessly for me (with a 32bit OS no less).  They say they've tried tweaking everything in MAME.
I believe the difference was that I have nothing unnecessary for emulation running in the background.

Keep in mind that you built recently (as did I) and those parts weren't as cheap years ago when others built their cabs.
...and the bargain parts at that time weren't as fast.

A lot of cabs started out as a way of putting an outdated computer to use.
I built one last month using a 600mhz celeron.  
That thing needed all the help it could get just to make it to the mid 80's games.
Forget about AV.

[kalars123]

@badmouth

Agreed i can see an issue with people have system's in their cabs a few years old, or those putting a retired rig back into service, but for people building now, parts are really cheap i just don't think system performance should be a deciding factor "at least for current system builders" for hooking their cab up to the net is all.  As Lastrega said there are A/V program's with very small footprints you could run on a minimalist system without an a problem.  And to think of it I've never tried running CarnEvil after updating for internet connectivity it ran 100% when it was a closed system I'll have to try now and see if there's much difference, and I don't have any driving game rom's because i don't have a wheel, I have though ALOT about building or converting a cockpit, but frankly I just don't have any room for one and can't see me having any room for it, in the near future