So what's everyone using for a frontend ??

[dashingw]

I'm partial to mGalaxy myself, straight forward and looks good....

[Generic Eric]

You should consider linking mGalaxy and then adding each response.  Later on start a poll.

I don't think I've heard of mGalaxy before.

I'm still deciding.

[BadMouth]

So what's everyone using for a frontend ??

Them's fightin' words in these parts.

Mala 4 Life

If your FE looks like someone else's, it sucks.

[paigeoliver]

Been on Mame 32/ Mameui since a hard drive failure 7-8 years ago. Had Mamewah before that.

[dashingw]

You should consider linking mGalaxy and then adding each response.  Later on start a poll.

I don't think I've heard of mGalaxy before.

I'm still deciding.

Links....

www.mGalaxy.com.  (download the frontend)
http://www.mgalaxy.com/forum/index.php (for everything else)

I have tried Hyperspin, Gamex and, maximum arcade but for ease of use, cost and style remain with mGalaxy. And its Free. It has two icons when installed. One sets up all the emulators paths, controls and themes and the other icon runs the program...

And this isn't mine, I am just a user.

[harveybirdman]

If your FE looks like someone else's, it sucks.

QFT 

cue Hyperspin groupies in 3....2....1....

[horizon]

If youre FE hasnt had any support in the last 3 years, it sucks.

I am using Emulation Station with custom pictures

[harveybirdman]

touche

[dashingw]

If youre FE hasnt had any support in the last 3 years, it sucks.

I am using Emulation Station with custom pictures

Well mGalaxy is still being supported  it had its last update in January, a month ago...

[Typefighter01]

I'm partial to mGalaxy myself, straight forward and looks good....

+1

Crazy easy to set up 

Also, it has a sort of jukebox feature that will play whatever music you want in the background while you surf the game menu. I downloaded arcade sounds (like the actual sounds tape recorded inside a real arcade), and it added to the whole "arcade" experience.

[Hoopz]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84933.msg889884.msg#889884

[Generic Eric]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84933.msg889884.msg#889884

It would be interesting to see if opinions changed.

[dashingw]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84933.msg889884.msg#889884

Sorry, didn't see it.......:-)

[horizon]

If youre FE hasnt had any support in the last 3 years, it sucks.

I am using Emulation Station with custom pictures

Well mGalaxy is still being supported  it had its last update in January, a month ago...

Not directed at you my friend. 

touche

[keilmillerjr]

http://attractmode.org

[Fursphere]

Its hard to pass up the incredible amount of content and effort that's been put into HyperSpin. 

[keilmillerjr]

Its hard to pass up the incredible amount of content and effort that's been put into HyperSpin.

Yeah, but hyperspin makes my head spin. It's like a vw, over engineered.

[05SRT4]

I user Hyper Spin, saw it once and liked it. Took forever to setup to my liking and now im scared to branch away to something else.

Plus the chicks dig it 

[stavros693000]

ive got hyperspin and gameex set up on mine....I really like both
cant wait to try gameex evolution looks pretty sweet.

hyperspin looks great but gameex does so much more I love both of them

[AzureKnight]

mala for my build, I'm happy with it so far.

[Vigo]

Mala here as well. and yeah, I really wish there was some updated support, or a v2. I thought hyperspin got put into update purgatory as well.

[liquid134]

i use mala on my current setup (figured its the best option for my p4 1.8ghz pc with mame .106) i do wish tho that they were updating it....

[tony.silveira]

my history of FE's...

ADVMenu
MameWAH
MALA (current)

currently investigating attract-mode and have it set up for mame.  going to try and make the switch from MALA. might give a couple of others a try also, if i'm going to leave MALA behind, might as well try a few.

[ChanceKJ]

Mainly Maximus Arcade. Its a bit buggy, and it REALLY needs an update from the developer. But found I it was quite a bit more easy to setup and build my own custom GUI's with so that it matches the project i'm working on better. If i do an RPi build down the road i know theres a couple simple and bad ass front end packages for those as well.

Truth be told, i'm trying to work my way away from things that have the need for a Front End. My builds are starting to gravitate toward things that have the GUI already built in, like the ArcadeSD, and these little Namco Plug-n-Plays. Just one less thing to have to deal with.

[harveybirdman]

Truth be told, i'm trying to work my way away from things that have the need for a Front End. My builds are starting to gravitate toward things that have the GUI already built in, like the ArcadeSD, and these little Namco Plug-n-Plays. Just one less thing to have to deal with.

Or actual hardware!  Jamma 4 life! 

[Fursphere]

Mala here as well. and yeah, I really wish there was some updated support, or a v2. I thought hyperspin got put into update purgatory as well.

The author is working on updates, slowly.  The graphics / theme / video crew is cranking out new stuff every day.  The scripting crew (HyperList) is also publishing new stuff almost weekly I think. 

HyperSpin is a full blown community at this point.

[Vigo]

Yeah, I know it is a community, and themes and add-ons are being developed. I am more talking about the once announced Hyperspin V2.

[ChanceKJ]

Truth be told, i'm trying to work my way away from things that have the need for a Front End. My builds are starting to gravitate toward things that have the GUI already built in, like the ArcadeSD, and these little Namco Plug-n-Plays. Just one less thing to have to deal with.

Or actual hardware!  Jamma 4 life! 

Oh trust me, I'm slowly getting there.

I know you guys have heard me harp on this before, and some of you have offered help and such, but Hyperspin just doesn't work for me, on many levels. Over complicated, processing heavy, fragmented, and ubiquitous. Meh. It has its place. I guess.

[yotsuya]

Truth be told, i'm trying to work my way away from things that have the need for a Front End. My builds are starting to gravitate toward things that have the GUI already built in, like the ArcadeSD, and these little Namco Plug-n-Plays. Just one less thing to have to deal with.

Or actual hardware!  Jamma 4 life! 

Oh trust me, I'm slowly getting there.

I know you guys have heard me harp on this before, and some of you have offered help and such, but Hyperspin just doesn't work for me, on many levels. Over complicated, processing heavy, fragmented, and ubiquitous. Meh. It has its place. I guess.

I'm actually surprised, as I think it fits into your "Go Big Or Go Home" mentality. 

Once you start going dedicated, you're hooked. MAME has it's place, but you start to see a machine that plays a few games flawlessly is better than a machine that plays everything with compromise. 

[Vigo]

Once you start going dedicated, you're hooked. MAME has it's place, but you start to see a machine that plays a few games flawlessly is better than a machine that plays everything with compromise. 

The perfect cocktail is a 1-2 mame cabs, and as many dedicated machines that you can tastefully cram into your basement. 

[DeLuSioNal29]

The big question I'm concerned with is:  Which Frontend EASILY supports PC games?  With the explosion of Steam Arcade Games I'm looking for a front end that is compatible with Steam's proprietary method of launching games in addition to MAME and consoles.

Anyone?

D

[yotsuya]

Once you start going dedicated, you're hooked. MAME has it's place, but you start to see a machine that plays a few games flawlessly is better than a machine that plays everything with compromise. 

The perfect cocktail is a 1-2 mame cabs, and as many dedicated machines that you can tastefully cram into your basement. 

That's EXACTLY what I got, brotherman! 

[wp34]

Once you start going dedicated, you're hooked. MAME has it's place, but you start to see a machine that plays a few games flawlessly is better than a machine that plays everything with compromise. 

The perfect cocktail is a 1-2 mame cabs, and as many dedicated machines that you can tastefully cram into your basement. 

So let it be written.  So let it be done.   

[Hoopz]

The big question I'm concerned with is:  Which Frontend EASILY supports PC games?  With the explosion of Steam Arcade Games I'm looking for a front end that is compatible with Steam's proprietary method of launching games in addition to MAME and consoles.

Anyone?

D

GameEx

[ChanceKJ]

I have a few PC games setup in a PC Games section of Maximus I placed in FLYNNs. GTA2, Take No Prisoners, etc  works well for me.

[AzureKnight]

Once you start going dedicated, you're hooked. MAME has it's place, but you start to see a machine that plays a few games flawlessly is better than a machine that plays everything with compromise. 

The perfect cocktail is a 1-2 mame cabs, and as many dedicated machines that you can tastefully cram into your basement. 

This sir...is my dream, and if I dump the pool table I have a LOT of room in my finished  basement.

[ChanceKJ]

Sin!

Don't you dare abandon a perfectly good pool table!

[BadMouth]

Sin!

Don't you dare abandon a perfectly good pool table!

I used my pool table as a nice level flat surface to build my cab on, then chucked it. 
ok, it was a particle board table I got on clearance for $100 and may have not been considered perfectly good by some.

[mgb]

My arcade cab has Mala for its simplicity.
I've recently been setting up a console emu pc for someone else so I've been messing with front ends.
I'm messing with Launchbox and it's pretty cool for scraping box art and what not from online.
In the past I have used Mamewah and Atomic.
I'm messing around with Maximus again and considering it for my htpc/ console emu machine.
This machine boots into xbmc and I have a menu to go into Maximus. This works well because I also have a menu to goto steams big picture mode.
I'm contemplating changing my vertical arcade cab over to Maximus also.

[AzureKnight]

Sin!

Don't you dare abandon a perfectly good pool table!

It is far from "perfectly good".  It came with the house when I bought it.  I'm not a pool table fanatic so I'm sure what I'm about to call these things is probably wrong but...the felt is really, really worn in many places and rather loose.  The slate under it is pitted and cracked in spots with debris under the felt.  I've managed to smooth out a lot of the debris but not all.   It has a full ball return system but two of the pockets are broke.  The plastic logo is shattered.  The outer corners are cracked or missing and the wood grain has been covered over badly with now peeled wood grained contact paper.  It is barely serviceable to casual players.  It does see use a few times a year at family gatherings but that has reduced over the last 5 years.  I think I have used it alone twice over those 5 years.  I may restore it some day...

But to have a row of nintendo cab or two / Tron cab / 720 / mame machine / sit down driver / pinball or two...yeah that is a win to me.