Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: enchant on December 28, 2009, 05:47:50 pm

Title: Need to start all over again
Post by: enchant on December 28, 2009, 05:47:50 pm
Several years back, with the help of a MAME expert (who has since moved to parts unknown), I built a MAME cabinet system.  It's DOS-based, and appears to depend on specific sound card hardware.  The sound has since gone south, and getting replacement hardware for this ancient system (Pentium 75 Mhz, I think) is going to be difficult.

So I've got to start all over again.  My system was set up so that I could just power the thing on, and a couple minutes later, I had a front-end where I could use the joystick and buttons to select a game from a list.  Is something like that still possible?  I really don't want to have to depend on using an actual keyboard and mouse. But it would be nice to have some sort of plug-n-play so that I can use a PC with more recent hardware.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?  Thanks.
Title: Re: Need to start all over again
Post by: Bobulus on December 28, 2009, 06:21:53 pm
You can automate a more modern system pretty easily.

Easiest place to start is to check out the wiki entries on Fast Booting Windows (http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Fast_Booting_Windows) and Hiding Windows (http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Hiding_Windows).

If you were ever going to connect this thing to the net, I'd suggest going with windows XP, since patch support has been dropped for windows systems older than that.
Title: Re: Need to start all over again
Post by: enchant on December 28, 2009, 06:23:54 pm
Thanks for the info!  I don't have any plans to connect to the net, but I'm more familiar with XP than anything else, so that'd be my first choice.
Title: Re: Need to start all over again
Post by: unclet on December 28, 2009, 06:42:10 pm
I did this a long time ago but it might help you out using MALA as the frontend:

   http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56010.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56010.0)

If you just want to install Mame, then simply follow the Mame sections only.