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some direction needed

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project86:

So my wife and I have abandoned our dream of having a dedicated cab... at least for a while. Just don't have the room, time, etc. Very sad!

But all is not lost, because we are going to integrate a PC into the home theater system, and that PC will hopefully be used for MAME. Display is a 50" Panasonic plasma. I know it's a far cry from a real acrade crt, but it will have to do.

Anyways, I just upgraded my parents computer for them, so I'll be keeping the old one. It is an Athlon XP 1600+, 512MB RAM, Radeon 7000 32MB video, 40GB hard drive. I'd like to use it as an mp3 jukebox as well, but that will only take a few GB of space. A few questions though:

What romset should I be looking for with this system? I don't expect to run the later stuff, just the classics.

Is there a decent wireless controller that lends itself well to MAME? I don't really have the funds to buy a slickstick or anything like that. I was thinking maybe just a wireless gamepad for now.

Which frontend is the easiest to use? My wife will be using it a lot with my 2 year old son, and they are not very technical. I'd like to integrate a music player as well, and controll the whole thing from the joystick/gamepad.



danny_galaga:



dont know about which romset to use, although ive heard mame seems to be getting quite slow this side of 100. atomic fe is a great front end, and easy to use. the animated menu would look brilliant on a 50" screen methinks. you can also use it for other emulators too...

project86:

Thanks, I'll look into Atomic FE. I was also checking out Game EX, and people always have good things to say about MAMEwah, so I guess I'll just have to set them up and try them myself.

Any other ideas about what romset to use, as well as a wireless controller option?

ark_ader:

Mame Set .84 is the same I used on a similar rig as yours.

Jukebox?  Arcade Machine?  Great ideas for the Home Theatre.

How about a modded coffee table to house your toys with a reversable top for controls?  Or an occasional table in the corner.  All these are possible with some imagination.

I like this one: http://eamontales.com/coffeetable/index.html

Have fun!  ;D

project86:

That is awesome, but I lack the woodworking skills, time, IQ, etc to build it. Mine is going to be a cheap black PC turned on it's side, doing it's best "HTPC" impersonation. I do have a nice side table that has a drawer to accomodate my vast array of remotes (only the universal remote gets to live out in the open.) My subwoofer is also hiding under that table, and once I get MAME running I hope to place my wireless gampad in there too.

Thanks for the version suggestion.

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