mame'ing in dos

[tikbalang]

is anyone still using mame under dos? i'm planning to build a mamecab using dos to boot faster. will i be able  to play 90's games with mame v.69, the last dos version?

[lloydcom]

I am, well I have to since my new project centers around an old IBM 365x Thinkpad.  I bought some 1gb compact flash cards and a PCMCIA adaptor and the speed increase helps.  Using no hard drive always does.

Since I am playing a few of the classics, I'm not "into" getting the big games to work, but the simplicity of DOS still appeals.

I enjoy getting these old PCs working under Linux or Dos. 

There again I wasn't that OLD when the 486 came out..... 

[tikbalang]

thanks for the reply. i'm new to mame and looking for support for the dos version. i prefer dos for its quick bootup. later if i need features, i may use linux (knoppix mame, or zenwalk).

[NOP]

I too am using DOS, arcadeos and MAME.  I don't recall which version of MAME it is though. 

I also switched to a 1gig compact flash card and an IDE adapter.  There was no noticeable change in load times between hard drive and CF, and having no moving parts inside my cab (well, there's a fan in the power supply and on the CPU) make it all the more stable.

I'm running one of those tiny VIA Epia motherboards, and it's got enough speed to play all the classics that I'm interested in running.

If you use arcadeOS as a front end, just be aware that it takes a bit to get used to configuring it, and there's a bug that I'm trying to track down that pops up when I add a new game to one of my custom lists.

If you're using an arcade monitor, you will also need a config.sys driver (arcmon.sys iirc) to drive DOS at the proper refresh rate.

I've been really really happy with DOS and MAME on my cocktail machine.  Let us know if you need help!

-jeff!

[RayB]

I use DMAME 0.78
I don't know where you get that 69 is the last version.

What speed is your CPU? Mine is 1.0ghz. Some games are still slow. I have to keep VSYNC off, and I also set all vector games to use DMAME 0.55 (too slow in .78)

My front end is GameLauncher

[Chris]

I'm running one of those tiny VIA Epia motherboards, and it's got enough speed to play all the classics that I'm interested in running.

Which one?  I'm thinking of using one of these with TV-OUT to build a MAME "TV plug-and-play" box for my brother...

[tikbalang]

I use DMAME 0.78
I don't know where you get that 69 is the last version.

.69 was the latest version i could find from mame.net. i don't know how to compile and links to the dos sources are unavailable. where didi you get yours?

What speed is your CPU? Mine is 1.0ghz. Some games are still slow. I have to keep VSYNC off, and I also set all vector games to use DMAME 0.55 (too slow in .78)

My front end is GameLauncher

i am intending to use this p3 1133ghz/128mb ram as a dedicated mame'ing machine but i am currently testing on a p233mmx/64mb ram pc. i don't know how to use frontends yet.

[quarterback]

I use DMAME 0.78
I don't know where you get that 69 is the last version.

.69 was the latest version i could find from mame.net. i don't know how to compile and links to the dos sources are unavailable. where didi you get yours?

From the top of that page:
"if you REALLY need a new older version which is not yet linked from this page, try http://www.mame.net/zips/mame???b.zip or mame???s.zip, replacing ? with the version number."

So, you can get version .73 at: http://www.mame.net/zips/mame073b_dos.zip

Or vesrion .88 at: http://www.mame.net/zips/mame088b_dos.zip

or version .92 at: http://www.mame.net/zips/mame092b_dos.zip

etc

But you can't click those.  You'll have to copy paste them

[tikbalang]

thanks, i saw that but gave up when i could not get 110 down to 105. i now have v100 dos. regarding old versions, i frequently see .37, .55, .92 as being popular when i search this forum. what's so special with these versions?

[NOP]

I'm running one of those tiny VIA Epia motherboards, and it's got enough speed to play all the classics that I'm interested in running.

Which one?  I'm thinking of using one of these with TV-OUT to build a MAME "TV plug-and-play" box for my brother...

Epia M-10000, the 1GHz variety.
The project page is here:
http://www.waste.org/~winkles/winterMAME

Pay no attention to the photos and description of the HDD stuff-it's all gone now.
The downside of using them (in DOS anyway) is since there's only 1 PCI slot, I had to use the onboard video, which has a few resolutions that don't come up properly.  The game Journey (escape) was one of them that I can recall that didn't work.  Not that I really want to play that game, I just wanted it on my cabinet because the concept was so silly. 

-jeff!

[Grauwulf]

I'm running mame in dos as well using ADVMAME and Arcade OS. I can't remember what version of ADVmame I'm using, but I think it's somewhere in the .87 area. The biggest challenge I have found so far using dos is getting sound card drivers. Easiest solution I have foind is to use a SB PCI sound card, but I have one motherboard that will just *not* use any PCI sound card in DOS.

[scottyfryer]

I'm using Defcade's dos mame and his updated version of Arcade OS and its working great.