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Single game autoloading MAME?
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crashwg:
I was just pondering a little project that would go something like this and I could use a little input...

A control panel would be constructed with a spinner, two player buttons, one or two start buttons and optionally a credit button if Tempest cannot be set to freeplay which I have yet to check.

Check!  All that stuff is commonplace...

Now the part that I'm unsure about.

Inside the control panel would be a USB Hub that the spinner and button interfaces would be hooked up to.  In addition to that though, would be a USB Thumb Drive.  On the thumb drive I would like to put MAME and Tempest.  I would like it to be extremly user friendly, starting Tempest pre-configured without front ends or any of that junk perhaps even Auto-Starting if that is an option on thumb drives which I have also yet to check.

So there it is...  My idea.  Please give me suggestion and/or point me in the right direction of any tutorials on doing the stuff that will be required.  Oh, and feel free to use this idea, I haven't pattented it yet. ;)
RetroBorg:
Check out this link: http://surf.to/amoad

It's called Arcade Machine on a Disk.

Unfortunately there is no Tempest yet but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Also it's based on booting from your floppy drive but I'm sure you could do the same for a thumb drive. 
crashwg:

--- Quote from: RetroBorg on December 01, 2006, 10:39:08 pm ---Check out this link: http://surf.to/amoad

It's called Arcade Machine on a Disk.

Unfortunately there is no Tempest yet but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Also it's based on booting from your floppy drive but I'm sure you could do the same for a thumb drive. 

--- End quote ---

While that is interesting I'm realy looking for a solution that is idiot proof.  Something that can be just plugged into a USB port and off you go.  Rebooting can absolutly not be part of it.

I have done a bit of research since I've posted and have found out the following...

I can make a CDrom containing command line mame and tempest, on that disk I can make an autorun.inf file.  When I load the image file of that disk (i'm not going to waste disks just yet) it automatically starts tempest.  Now, of course this is another option as opposed to a USB thumb drive, I need a media that is re-writable so that the high scores will be saved.

Putting the same files including autorun.inf on a thumb drive does nothing.  That is untill I downloaded a program called "APO USB Autorun" which is a program that runs in the task bar and when a thumb drive is inserted it seeks out autorun files and loads them.  This is closer to the result I'm looking for but not quite there yet.  The host computer must not be changed by adding and sort of program such as this so I'm moving on...  :-\
crashwg:
Ok, so I've decided that if the USB thing doesn't go anywhere I'm going to want to go with an installer.

Unfortunatly I don't have much experience with them either though...

If I go that route, I would like to have an autorun.inf that launches an installer that has three options

"Install" which will:
~install to "C:\program files\tempest" or maybe I'll just go w/ MAME... IDK?
~create shortcut on desktop to "c:\program files\tempest\mame.exe tempest -mouse"
~create same shortcut in start menu (optional)

"Play" which will launch with the same parameters as the desktop and start menu shortcuts

"Exit" this one is obvious

For this I'm going to need some sort of easy to use, FREE, installer maker or some serious help.

But again, this is just a backup plan if the USB thing doesn't work.
AlanS17:
Are you looking for something you can take from machine to machine in a Windows environment? Or are you looking for a way to play just one game on a particular machine when booted from the USB drive?
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