What's the best front end and version of MAME for a vertical classics setup?

[monkeybomb]

It's a vertical 1 player setup with a 4 way joystick and a pc running 64 bit Windows 7.   The comp can run hyperspin, but I don't know how to change my setup to something more 1983 inspiring.  I don't think HS does vertical anyway.   I've looked at maximus and I don't see anything ideal for vertical.  The vertical settings just give me a small version of the horizontal with lots of black on the screen.   I tried Mala a long time ago, but struggled with the configuration.  If that's best, I would give it another try.  I'm considering adding Pinball and vectrex.

Also, what version of MAME should I use for this.   I have rom sets of 32, 72, 84 and 148.  148 seems unnecessary but I don't really know the difference.  The games I play seem to run the same.

Thoughts?  Suggestions? Generic love for vertical classics is also acceptable. 

[vwalbridge]

Hyperspin doesn't natively support vertical but there are vertical themes out there. Jeepguy81's theme is absolutely fantastic and I used it on two vertical builds. You can see how they work by checking out the videos at the end of the two DK builds in my signature.

[yotsuya]

I use AtomicFE for mine.

[mgb]

To me, Mala is the easiest for vertical but on my current build I'm using Hyperspin with Jeepguy81's Cocktail themes just like vwalbridge has done.
it has nice eye candy without being too much bling

[vwalbridge]

it has nice eye candy without being too much bling

That's why I love Jeepguy's cocktail themes. The artwork is very classy without all the glitter. you can even remove the "press start" text and animated arcade joystick. I even removed the game info. Jeepguy's themes even allow you to remove the glass that would normally be above the cocktail table. I didn't care for it but some might like it. Easy as just renaming that folder.

[dashingw]

mGalaxy all the way

www.mGalaxy.com

[Phreakwars]

I use AtomicFE on my son's vertical cocktail cabinet. Works great.

[ark_ader]

ArcadeOS. 

[Phreakwars]

ArcadeOS. 

ArcadeOS is AWESOME, if you want to go through the trouble of finding hardware and an OS "OLD ENOUGH" to run it. I'm not knocking ArcadeOS, just giving a reality check about today's hardware on it. It's still a pretty killer FE for it's time.

[nitrogen_widget]

My vote is Attract Mode.
There are a few vertical themes available for it.

[monkeybomb]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Truthfully, if I only had access to one of these, I'm sure I'd be happy with it.

I gave a significant effort to look for jeepguy81's files, but came up short. He supposedly has a folder somewhere but I couldn't find it on the ftp site and the download pages over there simply have too many files.  It does look awesome, but I can never get things right with HS and I really want this simple.

I love arcade OS and have it on a multiboard, but I think I'm going to go with attract mode if I can find the vertical themes.  The default pacman layout is a list on the left, snapshot on the right, marquee up top and it was very easy to configure.

I also checked out mGalaxy and it was super simple, but I wasn't quite sure what I was installing.  During the installation process it looked like it was doing something with the google chrome folders.  The text goes by quick and I don't have the skills to investigate, but I'm curious to know if I was imaging that or if it's actually going through google chrome during the install.  If anyone knows one way or the other, it would be great if they would post.  After even mentioning anything out of the ordinary, it would be nice to clear it up if it's nothing.

[lostboy4480]

I am a big fan of Attract Mode..  Simple to setup and can be themed to look like anything you want.