Whic Operating System to use?

[D00kie]

What is the best operating system to use for a mame cabinet, i was thinking windows 2000 or winxp pro? Are these decent to use? Or do i want a dos driven one?

[rampy]

What is the best operating system to use for a mame cabinet, i was thinking windows 2000 or winxp pro? Are these decent to use? Or do i want a dos driven one?

Well that all depends on what emulators you wish to use.. which non-emu applications you wish to run... and the speed of the machine/etc  you're looking to use.    Also which peripherals are important to you.

reply back with that info and then the recommendation wars can commence (or you could just search this board for the last OS recommendation request thread)

I use DOS myself with a little win 98 lite for playing tekken 2 on zinc on a celery 366@550 fwiw.
rampy

[D00kie]

Wel it is a p3 600 with 448ram

4 player control panel, no track ball still debating wether to get one or not.  Id like to play mp3's over the network.  Mainly going to use mame i guess.

[hyiu]

I tried it with
Windows Me - 1.1 GHz AMD,
2000 Server - 866MHz Intel,
and xp - 500Mhz Intel...

all have 256M ram (or more...)
running Mame32 v.58 (and .61)

the XP one is slow on a lot of newer games...
(but since machine is slower.... hard to tell if its xp or not...)
the other 2 are good on most games I play...

I'm using gameport sidewinder hack, and 2000 Server
does not like daisy chaining the pads... caused pblms...
but good on xp and Me....
(if you're using IPAC, then you should be fine...)

hope it helps...    

[rampy]

off hand why use 2000 server for this application?  I hope you disabled some of the services you aren't using/needing.

not that it matters to me... was just surprised...

rampy

[SNAAAKE]

Windows ME works great for mame and games..

XP is too weird when using mame and some games..

 >:(RESTARTS OUT OF NOWERE

[Howard_Casto]

LOL rotflmao!

Windows Me! is the red-headed step child of the m$ family.  Whatever you choose make sure it's not Me!.  98, 95, dos, xp heck even the 2000 server with all of it's services turned on are all better than Me!.  

It's extremely unstable and bloated... more so than any os, and believe me because I have had them all on my machine at one point.

Snaake I assure you that your restarting issue is of the minority.  Either your machine is too old/wierd to run it or you have a misc error based on your particualr specs.  

[SirPoonga]

I use XP on my cabinet, will use 98 on my cocktial because I will need to use analog mame.


Worst M$ OS to use, ME, then 95, then 98.
Best to use, XP, then 98SE

XP because it is more stable then the rest.

[D00kie]

i will run either 2000 or xp, but definitely not ME

[SNAAAKE]

Snaake I assure you that your restarting issue is of the minority.  Either your machine is too old/wierd to run it or you have a misc error based on your particualr specs.  

Well...like i said..there is a big issue with XP and hydrid arcade monitor.(yes I tried many things and some pc games wont even play on XP).

It looks super blocky and jaggy on xp while its crystal clear on either 98 or ME.(probley my monitor).

I had problem with 98 not running some pc games too...Yes I want to play everything and ME works great and I dont even have windows 98 CD anymore so my machine currnetly runs ME.

My system is not weird at all howard.

gigabyte motherboard
xp 1800 cpu
1024 mb ram
40 gb hard drive
32 mb rage fury pro video

thats more then enough for any game now...

.........maybe upgrade if I ever have to

[Minwah]

I had a 'random-restarting' problem in XP, updating the BIOS cured it tho  

Win98SE is good, but I had some stability problems (in hindsight maybe flashing the BIOS would have helped this?)

XP is very good, although on my machine at least MAME performance is worse in some games.  Good stability saves a few headaches tho.  Oh, and my FE runs a fair bit quicker in XP too.  

[Vesper]

I'm running XP on a P3-1 GHz in my cabinet with no problems at all.  I turned off all non-essential services.  Very new games don't run perfect (NBA Jam, MK2/3, etc) but overall it performs very well.  I just need a beefier machine some day.  

[Chris]

I use DOS in my cabinet... definately the most stable OS!  But I'm only running MAME, STELLA, some DOS games (including DOS Dragon's Lair and Space Ace), and my DOS jukebox.  (I'm REALLY starting to consider trying to port DAPHNE to DOS....)

The benefits of DOS:

- No need to shut down gracefully... just turn it off!  This means I can just plug everything into a powerstrip, set the BIOS to "power on after power loss", and just fire up the powerstrip via a switch at the top of the cab.

- You can use FreeDOS, which is a lot cheaper than paying for a whole XP license just for a dedicated game machine.

- I get the full speed of the processor in MAME... no giving up timeslices to maintaining the Windows environment.

- No need to have a mouse.

- VERY fast boot time!

 
The drawbacks of DOS:

- Cannot access more than 256 MB of RAM.

- No USB support, so no SideWinder or DualStrike hacks.

- May be tricky tracking down sound drivers if you're using integrated audio.

- No Visual Pinball.

- No DAPHNE.  In fact, no most other emulators.

- More difficult to set up if you have always been a Windows user.  I'm fortunately old enough to predate Windows (for that matter, I predate hard disks and 3.5" floppy drives!), but it took a while for me to remember how to do some things I used to do in my sleep...

- Jukebox choices are more limited.

- People tend to flame you if you admit to using DOS in a cabinet instead of XP.

--Chris

[BASSOFeeSH]

I tried it with
Windows Me - 1.1 GHz AMD,
2000 Server - 866MHz Intel,
and xp - 500Mhz Intel...

Just curious, why would you put the oldest OS on the fastest machine & the newest on the slowest?

[hyiu]

haaa haaa.... actually....

I also have a P166 running Windows 95....
that is for watching tv and burning cd in my room...
(has a PCI tv card...)
I also have a 2000 Server as work machine...
(I cannot put any game-related things on this one... or else... no work will ever be done.... actually... I have Mame32 on it for a while.... took me a looong time to make up my mind to delete it.....)  Since everything is setup, I don't want to touch it....

and then I bought a new mahcine for the cab.... since I have pblm with 2000 with gameport daisy chaining... I don't want to use 2000 on the new one, with XP not out yet.... I installed ME which is available to me..... (and I have to say.... so far... no pblm whatsoever...) full mame v58 installed here.. hee hee...

and recently, I got my hand on an old machine.... so, playing around with xp a little bit.... and of course.... put mame here to try.....  

since once I get things working, I don't want to change it... so... that's how it turns out..... (ok... this is too long and too bored....)

[Howard_Casto]

hehe that's what i was wondering...

anyway they are both the worst two possible os choices anyway...Me and 2000 server.

[hyiu]

I don't play too much computer games and I don't really download stuffs from the web without others confirmed that things are generally safe.....

2000 Server... all setup for VPN and such for work...
and I have to say.... they might be the worst choices in your case..... but a lot of companies are using Windows NT upgrading to 2000...

and my ME machine so far has no pblm whatsoever....
(knock wood.....)

so.... I'm ok with my current setting....    

[SirPoonga]

hehe that's what i was wondering...

anyway they are both the worst two possible os choices anyway...Me and 2000 server.

Actually, win2k datacenter edition.  Oh wait, that only comes on enterprise servers:)

[OSCAR]

Doesn

[mikenotbob]

I use DOS in my cabinet... definately the most stable OS!  But I'm only running MAME, STELLA, some DOS games (including DOS Dragon's Lair and Space Ace), and my DOS jukebox.  (I'm REALLY starting to consider trying to port DAPHNE to DOS....)

- No need to shut down gracefully... just turn it off!  This means I can just plug everything into a powerstrip, set the BIOS to "power on after power loss", and just fire up the powerstrip via a switch at the top of the cab.

Chris,
Thanks a million for this tip! The double-button power on has always bugged me.  Who would have thought the solution would have been so simple?  Now I have to plug up that extra hole on top of my machine.

[SirPoonga]

Chris,
Thanks a million for this tip! The double-button power on has always bugged me.  Who would have thought the solution would have been so simple?  Now I have to plug up that extra hole on top of my machine.

Hehe, or get that usb controled power strip that shutdown everything when the computer shutdowns.

Those DOS freaks!  Can;t get rid of that OS:)  Missing out on some awesome games that could be in your cabinet, like big race pinball, golden tee golf pc, and nfl blitz.

[Chris]

Those DOS freaks!  Can;t get rid of that OS:)

He... a MAME cab is a perfect application for DOS, though... compact, stable, and fast.... I'm just glad the MAME team decided to continue to support DOS...

Missing out on some awesome games that could be in your cabinet, like big race pinball, golden tee golf pc, and nfl blitz.

Well, I've never played any of those, and when I want to play pinball, golf or football, I'll play Visual Pinball, Links 2001, or Madden...

I'm one of the few people I know who doesn't particularly care for Golden Tee, although I do have Golden Tee II in my cab...

--Chris

[SirPoonga]

Well, I've never played any of those, and when I want to play pinball, golf or football, I'll play Visual Pinball, Links 2001, or Madden...

Visual Pinball, AHHHH.  It;s cool, but physics are completely inacurate:)  That;s why I have M$ Pinball arcade and Pro-Pinball series.

[mikenotbob]

Those DOS freaks!  Can;t get rid of that OS:)  Missing out on some awesome games that could be in your cabinet, like big race pinball, golden tee golf pc, and nfl blitz.

Hahahahaha!  DOS keeps it a retro experience for me.    There are benefits to both the DOS and Windows OS's, so it's really what's important to you that leads to the decision.  Definitely more software available for the windows user.  But like Chris, I'm not familiar with much of it.  My non-emulation gaming consists of Wolfenstein 3D, Jumpman, and the commander keen series!  

The only thing that I feel I'm really missing out on is Peters Emulaxian frontend.  I drool over pictures and descriptions and his website, but won't download it for fear of having to convert my machine to windows!

The big DOS bonus, and I can't stress this more (even though it has been mentioned) is the ability to just shut the thing off in the middle of any game.  'Shut down' the arcade cabinet?!?    Other perks, no need to ever use the mouse (keep it as far away from a computer experience, I work w/ em 8 hours a day), Ease of use/setup (if you are already familiar with DOS).  No need to disable a billion things from windows, delete icons, camoflauge the fact you are running windows, etc.  Speed in general (no windows overhead), and a daaaaamn quick boot speed.

In the early mame cab days, dos was the only answer (unless you were command prompt-phobic), but these days they both merit.  I just hope they keep compiling a DOS mame, or soon DOS won't make any sense at all.

Right now, though, it really boils down to a speed vs. software availability issue.  

[SirPoonga]

The big DOS bonus, and I can't stress this more (even though it has been mentioned) is the ability to just shut the thing off in the middle of any game.  'Shut down' the arcade cabinet?!?    

You shut your arcade cabinet down???  Blasphemy!  That's what sleep modes are for  It's awesome to walk up to my cabinet, touch the trackball, and everything warms up and my FE is ready to go.

Other perks, no need to ever use the mouse (keep it as far away from a computer experience, I work w/ em 8 hours a day), Ease of use/setup (if you are already familiar with DOS).  No need to disable a billion things from windows, delete icons, camoflauge the fact you are running windows, etc.  Speed in general (no windows overhead), and a daaaaamn quick boot speed.

You don't need a mouse for windows:)  Plus if you have a trackball....

You can get windows to boot really fast too.  I mean, you need a fast computer these days anyway to run the latestest stuff added to mame.

And now that I found a shell replacement for windows that has the features I am looking for I will integrate windows and make it look arcadish, not hide windows, but improve it:)

Also with windows you get use of the ctrlr files, a VERY nice added utility to mame.  No longer have to setup each indivisual game in a set that are related.

I'm not against DOS, but dos has tons of headaches for setting up mame.  Gotta worry about things like VESA modes and such.  Man, I still havent figured out how to make pacman run horizontally in dos yet.

Oh, another perk of windows, networking!  None of my roms are on my cabinet, they all load over the network.

As it has been said, each has it ups and downs.  

[mikenotbob]

Sir Poonga,
Alright dude, you win.    Dammit, if you make me convert to windows, I'm going to bill you for my time lost installing/configuring everything! I'm going to recite in my sleep tonight: 'DOS, keep it retro... DOS, keep it retro... DOS, keep it retro...'

[SirPoonga]

Sir Poonga,
Alright dude, you win.    Dammit, if you make me convert to windows, I'm going to bill you for my time lost installing/configuring everything! I'm going to recite in my sleep tonight: 'DOS, keep it retro... DOS, keep it retro... DOS, keep it retro...'

Hey, person wanted to know which OS, just giving reasons:)

Though you could go linux too for the same reasons you mentioned for dos.

[Chris]

You shut your arcade cabinet down???  Blasphemy!  That's what sleep modes are for  It's awesome to walk up to my cabinet, touch the trackball, and everything warms up and my FE is ready to go.

DOS can do this if the BIOS supports sleep mode, although I haven't tried it yet... I would need a way to make sleep mode cut off the marquee light as well...

You don't need a mouse for windows:)  Plus if you have a trackball....

To fit on my cab properly, my trackball is instaled upside down... not a problem for MAME with reverse axis, but Windows doesn't like it...

And now that I found a shell replacement for windows that has the features I am looking for I will integrate windows and make it look arcadish, not hide windows, but improve it:)

Yes, that DOES look promising...

Oh, another perk of windows, networking!  None of my roms are on my cabinet, they all load over the network.

DOS has networking, it's just trickier to find drivers these days.  With LanManager installed, it looks like a Windows share across the network...

--Chris

[Mordy Ovits]

Doesn't anyone here use linux? (besides me)  You get extremely robust filesystems that let you mount 99% of the system readonly.  That lets you pull the plug with shutting down.  You get the the DOS-like ability to go super-simple with no bloat.  You also get superb networking, for transfer of ROMs, etc.  You get the option of running it via SVGAlib or hardware scaled Xv.  Personally, I think Linux makes the best MAME platform.

[gibble]

Doesn't anyone here use linux? (besides me)  You get extremely robust filesystems that let you mount 99% of the system readonly.  That lets you pull the plug with shutting down.  You get the the DOS-like ability to go super-simple with no bloat.  You also get superb networking, for transfer of ROMs, etc.  You get the option of running it via SVGAlib or hardware scaled Xv.  Personally, I think Linux makes the best MAME platform.

I was thinking of doing this?  Are there any howtos from start to finish?  ie what the barebones linux install needs to have installed, what front end, etc...

[Chris]

What about MP3 jukeboxes for Linux?

Theoretically, all I should have to do is recompile my jukebox for Linux; I don't have a Linux development environment set up, though...

Is there any interest in this, or does Linux already have lots of MAME-cabinety jukebox choices?

--Chris

[SirPoonga]

I was thinking of doing this?  Are there any howtos from start to finish?  ie what the barebones linux install needs to have installed, what front end, etc...

40 megs wa the minimum install for redhat 6.0.  Don't know about today.  I got linux down to 5 megs (most of the drivers and such were taken out, I striped it down to just the drivers needed for that computer).