About using frontends...

[Billabong]

OK, first off, I'm not trying to start a 'flame war' or anything, just looking for a little insight.

OK, I know if you're making a DOS box to run MAME, a front-end makes life easier.

But, if your running Windows, why not just use MAME32? Am I missing out on something by using MAME32? My setup isn't fancy, just a regular PC and a PC monitor.
Are there advantages to running regular MAME and a frontend, that you don't get with MAME32?

I've conquered the hardware, now it's time to learn about software.

Thanks,
Billabong

[Mike]

The advantage is most people on here are using an arcade cabinet don't want it to look like a computer. Mame32 looks like a windows application.

[Lilwolf]

main reason.  I don't have a mouse on my cabinet.

Mame32 and many other frontends arent' really designed to be run on a cabinet, but a computer with a full keyboard and a mouse.

Also,

1) mame32 doesn't have a lot of features
2) Looks like windows (a reason lots are going to other FEs
3) isn't all that pretty
4) gives the FE authors a way to contribute.  

It's really hard to start helping emulation with mame right now.  The drivers that are coming out are so complicated, that newbees shouldn't aren't going to get far.  You can start by emulating systems that are already emulated in your own system (and many do... I started porting mame to java at one point, then others did it before I had the z80 running)..

[)p(]

But, if your running Windows, why not just use MAME32? Am I missing out on something by using MAME32? My setup isn't fancy, just a regular PC and a PC monitor.
Are there advantages to running regular MAME and a frontend, that you don't get with MAME32?

I just made mine because I wanted an fe that would take up the Galaxian theme of my Galaxian cabinet when I made a mame machine of it now more then two years ago...to get a nice intergrated and esthetically pleasing...Gesamtkunstwerk...uhhum...just kidding on that last bit...
But i must admit it got a bit out of control lately with the 3darcade  

Peter

[Howard_Casto]

Mame 32 is fine if you like giving bill gates free advertisment.

It looks like windows and that's bad.... we have an arcade machine, so we don't want people to automatically think that it has a pc inside it and thus we try to hide that fact via a good fe.  Also mame32 only shows one type of artwork at a time and doesn't let you do anything without a mouse.  For does users I suppose it would make sense from their prespective to use mame 32 since hte only fe's they have available kinda look like mame 32, mainly one big list and that's it.

Also who said we're just running mame on our cabs?  I run mame, u64, u642, impact, modeler visual pinball and wahtever else I find amusing at the time.  Unless you like to navigate through windows in your cab, a fe is necessary to manage all of those.  

So in closing a vaild point sir, but it's kind of like asking "Why do you guys use computers when you could write papers on typewriters?"  Sure you COULD do it that way, but what's the fun in that?  

[Billabong]

Thanks.

OK, I get the point now. When you make a full cab, you want it to look as little like Windoze as possible. I can dig it.

And please understand, I was not trying to disrespect fe authors. I've done many projects on the premise "Sure you COULD do it that way, but what's the fun in that?"

Like I said, I just have a regular PC and a monitor, which I use for things other than MAME (gasp!). I just was wondering if I was missing anything, like speed or something, by not using a fe.

Thanks,
Billabong