Having said goodbye this week to Windows forever, I have been getting to know Linux and my distro of choice has been the wonderful Solus at
https://solus-project.com/The latest MAME is always available in Solus software center / Solus repository, just click install and thats it, Solus will install MAME automatically.
All I needed to do is add roms, they are not available in the repository.
Attract-mode is in the Solus software center as well, should you want to use it too.
So far I have only added roms and the latest cheatfile, configured a controller (Xbox 360) and its very smooth sailing now, all the games I have tried so far are working just perfect.
Loving it.