Book suggestion for Saint, our fearless leader! :)

[RTSDaddy2]

This might should be in "Everything Else," please move if so - but I have a suggestion.  Instead of doing version 2 of "Project Arcade", perhaps you could write a book on all these front ends, describing to those of us who have far less than a Ph.D. in programming how to set up MAMEWAH,  AtomicFE, etc.   

No offense to our front end folk - I've had conversations with Min about Mamewah, and he's a great guy...but I've just never seen anything...all of them...be so hard to configure!

[TOK]

They are all very open ended, which is both a blessing and a curse. They're all very flexible, but that comes with a learning curve. The problem I see with a book is that the FE's are updated way too fast for the print world. By the time the book was written and put in print, it'd be 5 revisions behind, at best.

Swindus and Yuoki (sorry if thats spelled wrong) are very prolific updaters. I think any tutuorial on these programs needs to be web based for quick updating and access.

[saint]

What Tok said

Good fodder for the Wiki!

[divemaster127]

A setup guide for mamewah would be awesome, its a great frontend, but by far the hardest to setup i have done
dm

[MYX]

The MAMEWah Wiki has gotten to be pretty informative. Check it out. Now, what would also be VERY usefull in the WIKI is an Idiot's guide to the MAMEWah Res tool. The dang thing makes me want to bash my head through broken glass. (Actually the read me vs. reality makes me want to do the glass thing) the tool is actually great.

[RTSDaddy2]

I must admit I hadn't considered how quickly some of the front ends get updated....'twas just a little suggestion.

[krick]

Now, wht would also be VERY usefull in the WIKI is an Idiot's guide to the MAMEWah Res tool. The dang thing makes me want to bash my head through broken glass. (Actually the read me vs. reality makes me want to do the glass thing) the tool is actually great.

I tried the MAMEWah res tool about a year ago and I thought the other tool from Gavin Benson was a lot easier to use.  However, I think it's only for use with the ArcadeVGA...

http://gavin.benson.users.btopenworld.com/Downloads/

[loadman]

The Wiki is a Godsend..
When I started many years ago I had to plough through many 'stale' websites to find relevant info

Swindus and Yuoki (sorry if thats spelled wrong) are very prolific updaters. I think any tutuorial on these programs needs to be web based for quick updating and access.

FYI Swindus (MaLa FE) has it own Forum and is in the process of creating a help section on the Mala Website..  here

A setup guide for mamewah would be awesome, its a great frontend, but by far the hardest to setup i have done

PS I suggest new MameWah users who are finding setup too hard give MaLa a spin as it is very quick to set-up.

[Havok]

Youki (AtomicFE) also has a help forum, and visits it daily, in addition to here:

AtomicFE Support

[Taborious]

Found this old topic in a search I was doing for something else, anyway.

As RTSDaddy2 stated, instead of project arcade 2 I would suggest this...

I built my arcade about a year ago and it turned out great. I got ALL of my infomation from Saint's book and this forum. The one thing that frustraded me was some of the things I had never done before and was reluctant to attempt, encoder wiring, laminate, routing, etc... I had always thought it would be a great idea to have a video of the arcade building process, I even have a name "This Old Arcade" as in "This Old House" tv show. They are great at showing and describing to you how to do something and I think most would agree a visual with a description is a lot more helpful than reading a how-to, you just get that warm-fuzzy when you see it done.

Just my 2 cents, I think it would be a good seller but of course I lack the ability or equipment to pull off such a task...

[Kaytrim]

I'll second that Taborious.  A How to DVD included with the book would be great.  The DVD could be split up into chapters that correspond to the ones in the book.

[rdowdy95]

I am a MameWah kind of guy and I like it.  It was very hard to figure out, but once I got the hang of it....IT was all good.  The only other setup I have to do for it is get around to making my Daphne ini file.  I have a lot of examples for the Daphne ini file just haven't had time to setup yet.

[Encryptor]

I think a second version/updated book would be a great idea. The first version was a tremendous help in the basics of building a cab. The only thing I think it was lacking was some detailed closeup shot of certain things. Like how to mount the bezel, the bezel glass, how to mount a marquee. Some of the finer details of building a cab.

A DVD companion would be nice also!

Just my two cents worth.

Encryptor

[spacies]

I am a MameWah kind of guy and I like it.  It was very hard to figure out, but once I got the hang of it....IT was all good.  The only other setup I have to do for it is get around to making my Daphne ini file.  I have a lot of examples for the Daphne ini file just haven't had time to setup yet.

I am in the same boat.
I have all the files for Daphne but just have never found time to install them, or the need to.

I have used MAMEWAH since day one, I can set it up in minutes now.

[Encryptor]

spacies

Could you do a guide for MameWah? I tried and couldn't make it work.

[Taborious]

Mamewah how-to:

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Mamewah

[headkaze]

Also for GameEx there is a New User Guide and Support Forums.

The top 4 most popular FE's are updated regularly and have active involvement with the community by the authors as well as users willing to help out.

Also check out the Mala Setup Document by UncleT and the AtomicFE docs by Havok.

So there is plenty of help for setting up FE's, not like it was when I first setup my cab.