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booting a mame cab really fast....
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stratjakt:
1) dont use DOS or Win95.  Actually, some machines can hibernate in DOS as the functionality is built into the hardware (many laptops, for instance).    Of course, boot time into DOS isn't really the issue here.   DOS can boot off of HDD faster than the average arcade monitor can warm up.  I'd actually think linux would be the perfect OS for an arcade machine, if not out of many folks ability to configure.  Maybe it's time for an arcade distro..

2) WTF would you need 4 gigs of memory in an arcade cabinet for?  You wouldn't have a good reason for this much RAM in any gaming rig.  Don't let the "x-treme PC" posers fool you.  Even so, 4 gigs from a good fast SATA drive would probably still be faster than a warm reboot of a full-out XP Pro install.

3)  So reboot once in a while.  This isn't much of a problem in XP, but it can happen if the application software is poorly designed/written.  I rarely reboot the PC in my office, and when I have to, it's because something I've coded borked it all up.  Still, it's yet another good reason for a dedicated linux arcade distro, though.

At any rate, a solid-state drive, RAM or otherwise, won't significantly increase your boot time.  Sure the actual load times will be quicker, but most of the time you're waiting is for services to start, hardware to be initialized, waiting for DHCP negotiation on the network, auto-discovery and all that stuff.

If you trim out all unneeded services (a standalone mame box should need, well, virtually none of them) boot time should be no problem.


IIRC, you can nix the password thing by killing the windows logon client service.
krick:

--- Quote from: Flinkly on October 04, 2005, 04:14:33 pm ---
what is the problem we're looking to solve?


--- End quote ---


Basically, we're just looking at new, really expensive technology, and fantasizing about how it might fit into the "
TurboC--:

--- Quote from: krick on October 04, 2005, 12:22:45 pm ---If you could get a copy of the BIOS file, I bet you could hex-edit out the logo if you could figure out where it was.  You sure someone doesn't have a tool already to do this?  What is the exact compaq model?  Is there any info that says what type of BIOS it is (award, phoenix, ami) while booting?
--- End quote ---

There are no relevant BIOS options, checked.  Compaq Presario 5155.  BIOS screen lists "686A1  01/21/99".  I doubt the BIOS has ever been flashed. 

The main issue is that I want to boot as fast as possible, so I minimize running my 19" standard-res arcade monitor at a bad frequency (Happ Vision Pro.)  I don't have the whole cab setup yet, but... I figured I would just have to wait and plug in the monitor after booting, every time I powered up.  Otherwise I can get some kind of smart power strip or something... if it exists.
krick:

--- Quote from: TurboC-- on October 04, 2005, 04:49:12 pm ---The main issue is that I want to boot as fast as possible, so I minimize running my 19" standard-res arcade monitor at a bad frequency (Happ Vision Pro.)  I don't have the whole cab setup yet, but... I figured I would just have to wait and plug in the monitor after booting, every time I powered up.  Otherwise I can get some kind of smart power strip or something... if it exists.

--- End quote ---

Running an arcade monitor at the wrong frequency will likely damage it regardless of how much you "minimize" the time.

In my opinion, the best solution is to use a J-PAC because it divides the 30KHz signal in half to protect your monitor.

If you're not going with a JAMMA setup, Andy will sell you the divider chip and a schematic if you're interested in building the circuit yourself...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=24300.0
TurboC--:
Sounds like a good idea.
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