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OK to cut the power on MAME instead of shutdown?
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Turambar:
Every motherboard has a place for front panel connectors.  That is where the computer case's power button, reset button, power switch, and HD led hook up to the motherboard.



If you look at the above image, you can see the power switch of the case hooked into the front panel connector on the motherboard.  To have a single button turn on everything, you will use a smartstrip like everyone has said.  The computer will be in the control switch.  

Take the power switch front panel connector on the case your or using (or another one if you don't want to damage the case you are using) and cut it.  Make sure to give yourself 6 inches - a foot to work with.  You now have a wire that has a front panel connector on one end and cut wire on the other.  Then hook up an arcade button (most people put it on the back of their machine or on top, and wire it normally splicing it into the front panel connector wire.  Make sure you wire ground to ground and hot to hot.  

With your computer in the control plug of a smartstrip, you can now power on your whole arcade cab with the push of a single arcade button.

ark_ader:
In the old days when we had RLL (mine had the spring) and MFM drives shutting the computer off was considered a bad thing to do as the drives did not automatically park the heads on the platter, it needed a shutdown sequence to park the heads prior to system shutdown.  So that is where you get the old advice against turning off your computer without proper shutdown.  Hard drives of today do not have that limitation.

Now before I get flamed, Windows does not really like power off shutdowns.  The Microsoft purists out there like to think your hardware is software and software is hardware, mumbo jumbo aside,  if you configure windows not to use a swapfile or if you are keen enough to use the Win2K ramdisk and swap it in RAM in XP then you can power off to your hearts content.  Just be aware anything you have open will be lost unless you save.  :blah:

Since we are talking emulators it is no biggie, and you can flip that switch with impunity.  ;D

I have a setup that swaps to memory in XP that works in the similar method.  I might defrag it twice a year yet it chugs away quite happily.

EightBySix:

--- Quote from: ark_ader on March 22, 2012, 03:32:19 pm ---In the old days when we had RLL (mine had the spring) and MFM drives shutting the computer off was considered a bad thing to do as the drives did not automatically park the heads on the platter, it needed a shutdown sequence to park the heads prior to system shutdown.  So that is where you get the old advice against turning off your computer without proper shutdown.  Hard drives of today do not have that limitation.

Now before I get flamed, Windows does not really like power off shutdowns.  The Microsoft purists out there like to think your hardware is software and software is hardware, mumbo jumbo aside,  if you configure windows not to use a swapfile or if you are keen enough to use the Win2K ramdisk and swap it in RAM in XP then you can power off to your hearts content.  Just be aware anything you have open will be lost unless you save.  :blah:

Since we are talking emulators it is no biggie, and you can flip that switch with impunity.  ;D

I have a setup that swaps to memory in XP that works in the similar method.  I might defrag it twice a year yet it chugs away quite happily.



--- End quote ---

... Making smart strips redundant?
ChrisK:
Disabling the swap file does not make Windows OK to shut off without a proper Windows shutdown.  You still have:

* The hard drive write caches.  Changes you made to a file that were in the system's RAM write cache or the write cache on the HD itself will disappear if power is yanked.  Since file operations aren't guaranteed to be transactional in Windows, even if you don't corrupt a file, you can corrupt a system this way.  (hypothetical example: update one INI but not the other, in a way that makes an app unusable)

* The file tables.  With FAT the file tables were pretty fragile.  NTFS is more reliable, but I can tell you it's not 100% reliable, because I've seen corruption in the real world.

* USB storage devices.  Want to corrupt a USB hard drive?  Pull the power while it's doing something!

* Apps behaving badly.  Some apps have their own shutdown procedure.  Pull the plug while Word is open and it'll present you with a recovery screen the next time it starts.  That's a harmless example, but some apps are worse.  For example, some only write their preference data on shutdown (ie: a front end that remembers the last game you selected).

I power off Windows systems by cutting power all the time and I'm VERY rarely bit.  I think the last time at work was last year.  But to be accurate, with standard hardware (ie: no battery-backed hard drive controller) Windows is NOT 100% safe to shut down by cutting AC power.  You'll probably be OK, but take appropriate backup measures if you plan to make it a habit.  (Actually, take appropriate backup measures ANYWAY! :) )
ark_ader:

--- Quote from: ChrisK on March 22, 2012, 05:14:03 pm ---Disabling the swap file does not make Windows OK to shut off without a proper Windows shutdown.  You still have:

* The hard drive write caches.  Changes you made to a file that were in the system's RAM write cache or the write cache on the HD itself will disappear if power is yanked.  Since file operations aren't guaranteed to be transactional in Windows, even if you don't corrupt a file, you can corrupt a system this way.  (hypothetical example: update one INI but not the other, in a way that makes an app unusable)

* The file tables.  With FAT the file tables were pretty fragile.  NTFS is more reliable, but I can tell you it's not 100% reliable, because I've seen corruption in the real world.

* USB storage devices.  Want to corrupt a USB hard drive?  Pull the power while it's doing something!

* Apps behaving badly.  Some apps have their own shutdown procedure.  Pull the plug while Word is open and it'll present you with a recovery screen the next time it starts.  That's a harmless example, but some apps are worse.  For example, some only write their preference data on shutdown (ie: a front end that remembers the last game you selected).

I power off Windows systems by cutting power all the time and I'm VERY rarely bit.  I think the last time at work was last year.  But to be accurate, with standard hardware (ie: no battery-backed hard drive controller) Windows is NOT 100% safe to shut down by cutting AC power.  You'll probably be OK, but take appropriate backup measures if you plan to make it a habit.  (Actually, take appropriate backup measures ANYWAY! :) )


--- End quote ---

So pretty much what I typed above.   ::)

For an arcade box that has one job to do, not a problem.  Your £1000 home machine... never in a million years, that is why you should have a UPS.


--- Quote ---Drives have parked themselves for at least 23 years.
--- End quote ---

Fixt

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