arcadeshop-style multigame board that is user programmable?

[GaryMcT]

Anyone know of one?  Or any small system that has Mame ported to it, gets the resolution and refresh rates correct, etc?

[FrizzleFried]

Uh,  MAME?  That's about all you've got to work with there.... I suppose you could pick up one of the 1xxx-in-1 boards,  but it's just a PC with a JAMMA I/O board slapped on to it... plus it's underpowered and many times the components you get are used garbage. 

Just get the smallest motherboard you can find and build a MAME PC with it.

To be clear though ... there is NO single board user programmable option out there other than the Arcadeshop board which has a limited number of game,  an absurdly high price,  and a guy running the show that doesn't seem to care about after the purchase customer support (no updates since JANUARY!).

[GaryMcT]

Well, that's a bummer.

I'm trying to short circuit using Windows due to difficulties with getting all refresh rates working for the games that I care about.  I guess the next step is to finally get off my lazy butt and figure out how to get a Linux install that has svgalib or framebuffer drivers so that I can make newer Mame builds do the right thing with refresh rates. 

I don't mind writing tons of code, but I hate screwing around with getting Linux installations to have the driver support that I need.  Does that make me a bad person?   I used to be a Linux nut back in college, and it is still as user-unfriendly as it was then, and I have far less patience for messing around with that sort of things these days.