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Windows 98, XP, DOS, or Linux?
Nefesis:
has anyone ever tried 95? i have an old 95 i was going to use... but should i install windowsa 98? i might not have much RAM, so should i go with a DOS setup? and can DOS run USB ports? lots of questions, little time for answers :) heh heh
spystyle:
My biggest concern in relation to OS is speed, in my tests FreeDos + DMAME was about the same speed as Win98SE + FastMAME
(Win98SE + FastMAME has about 1 FPS faster, but no big deal)
The reason I prefer Win98SE + FastMAME is because of driver support : lets face it fellas, dos drivers are scarce unless you have older hardware. I use a new computer in my cab and there aren't DOS drivers for every card, so DOS isn't an option.
However, if i was using an old PII board with some ISA slots I'd fill 'em up with good old school sounblaster 16 and the usual supsects and run DOS.
There is also the issue of how painful the setup is : unless you grew up on it DOS is a real drag. I'm nostagic about it but the drivers for recent hardware just don't exist.
In my opionion Win98SE is the happy medium between difficult DOS and bloated WinXP, after all Win98SE is a DOS based OS and has been reguarded by many as very fast and user friendly.
Not to mention if you want to add some of your favorite PC games to your cabinet Win98SE makes it simple
(see this thread about favorite PC games on a cab http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=7479;start=0 )
Can you dig it?
Craig
Pipercub:
It depends on your plans for accesories balanced against your desire for reliability in my opinion. I have 3 MAME machines running DOS and they stay up for months at a time and other than one or two rare instances of a game not booting up completely the only reboots of the machines are due to power outages, upgrades, or moving the machines around. If you want that sort of reliability and no need ever to resort to a mouse or keyboard (other than initial setup) and can live without USB accessories then I would say go DOS:>
My machines are as follows:
**Q*Bert clone
Fixed vertical monitor
Only Vertical ROMS
Mame .67
ArcadeOs
3 buttons 1 joystick +2 player start buttons
iPac encoder
PIII 800 /512Mb ram /TNT2 32Mb AGP/SB16 ISA
**Asteroids Delux rescued from going to the dump
Fixed horizontal monitor
Only Horizontal ROMs
Mame .67
AdvanceMENU (note: new version with xml file will not run, older one does
6 buttons 2 joysticks + 2 player start buttons
iPac encoder
Athlon XP 2400/512Mb ram/TNT2 32Mb AGP/ SBPCI (DOS driver available for the one sold at WalMart)
**PacMan, also rescued from going to the dump
Fixed vertical monitor
PacMan series ROMs only
ArcadeOs
Mame .36
0 buttons + 2 player start buttons
KeyWhiz encoder
AMD K6II 240Mhz/ 64Mb ram/ Nvidia 32Mb PCI/same SBPCI as above
Daniel270:
My MAME cab has an older HP (Pavilion 6633C) in it and it's using the stock Windows 98SE... The system isn't worth using for much of anything else... but it does play the majority of the games I like with ltttle to no problems ;D
About the only real problem with it is the lack of Memory... it's still running on the original 64MB Ram that's stock in it.... (PC 100 chips are getting a bit more difficult to find...and ebay is a hit and miss).
Pipercub:
You should have no trouble using something faster than PC100, I have PC133 in the AMDK6II and PII800