Help a Mac guy out....(bought my first PC for MAME)

[MacGuy]

Hi there,

Like many of you, my journey to MAME has let me to this forum. I've read and reread many posts trying to figure out the best course of action to create a MAME cabinet. I'm a lifelong Mac guy, got started there, and have never looked back. I'm a graphic artist/video producer by trade, and from college (where Mac was the only choice) until now I've only owned Macs.

As I'm sure someone will be quick to point out, that there are Mac versions of MAME out there, but I need something that is up to date, and can run with a powerful front end. I want the OS to be invisible.

I'm looking at a SlikStik Classic or Fighter controller and a UAII kit.

I bought a computer over the holiday weekend here's the specs:
Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz CL3 Memory
Diablo Black and Silver ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB Ports and 400-Watt Power Supply
Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz / 2MB Cache / 800 FSB / OEM / Socket 775 / Dual-Core / Processor
Mach Speed P4MSD-800 Via Socket 775 MicroATX Motherboard / Audio / Video / AGP 8x / 10/100 Ethernet LAN / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA / RAID / CNR
Sony DRU-120C Multi-Drive / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 5x DVD-RAM / 8x+R DL / 4x-R DL / 48x24x CD-R/RW / Black Only / Retail Internal DVD Writer

...all for $200 off of Tiger Direct. I checked with a family member who thought it looked like a good deal for what I was trying to do.


So as a Mac guy I have no clue what I need to get it going. What OS? What version of MAME? What frontend? (keeping in mind I don't know much about the PC side, which is easiest to setup?)


Any help would be appreciated

Thanks,
Mac Guy

[Evil Harry Potter]

Welcome to t3h dark side of computers.

OS I would reccomend is WinXP with Service Pack 2 and probably mame32 as it comes with a pretty nice GUI. That's the easiest.

MAMEWAH is a pretty good front end if you don't wanna go the mame32 way. This involves more fiddling around but the author is a local here so there'll be no problem getting help. Hopefully. 

[TOK]

I'd suggest MaLa as a front end since its much more point and click friendly than the text editing of MAMEWah.
I set up and like both, but found MaLa to be way easier to get running (15 minutes to set up on a vert cab, literally).

[barness]

Or if your willing to spend 30 bucks, I think Maximus Arcade is amazing. The amount of emulators it supports, and the built in MP3 Jukebox is awesome.

AWESOME PC for that money. Nothing special with the video card, but you won't need it for MAME. Do they still have that deal? Lucky man!

I had trouble with MAMEWAH, wierd unexplained errors.

[Mac Guy]

Unfortunately the deal ended on Sunday. It was one of those day after Thanksgiving sales. I'm glad it's a decent computer.

I'm hoping to put a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 Pro in it with DVI so I can convert to component video. I hope I can figure that out. I'd know how to on a Mac .

I just won an ebay auction for a SlikStik classic for $337, so I'm feeling pretty good. I hope it works the way it should. I was going to buy a Fighter Unit and add pinball buttons for the same money (with shipping figured in).

Now I just need to order the UAII kit and a 27" TV with component, and I'll be most of the way there.

[TOK]

I'm using a Radeon 9550 with component adapter on one of my machines. This is another case where MaLa might help you because it easily lets you input custom resolutions and the Radeons support them.
I used 640x432 to get my games full screen with no cropping.

[barness]

Hopefully I can output my Laptops video to componant, because my monitor is way to small... I'll see what I can do when I get home.

My laptop has S-Vid out, I just need to learn how to use it. I just installed new ATI drivers, so I think I can do it.

[Mag Guy]

All of the stuff came in today. I've never assembled a PC before. I haven't had time today to put it together yet, but I'm hoping I can figure it out. I'm assuming it won't be too hard. I also won an ebay auction for a Radeon 9600 256MB video card. I can't wait for that and the slikstik to come in.

Mac Guy