I have used MaLa in my cab since 2012.
It was the only one that did all I wanted, with relative ease.
I made a lot of nice designs for it, learned how to use the layout tool etc...
I want to say how much I appreciate the effort, and that when it's a hobby, done in one's own time, it's unfair to expect constant development and updates for a decade. As a maker I have contributed to many things, and then let them slide, although none that were software used by so many.
I need to update my computer, and MAME looks to have lots of changes since my version of 0.147.
@Loadman resurfaced for a few weeks in early 2019, and then wasn't back until Aug 2020, (which is fair enough as I said above), so I will be leaving my heartfelt thanks, and moving on to another more "in development" FE.
FWIW I have chosed AttractMode. It's incredibly simple, and can be made to do some really nice stuff, multi-emulator and nice straightforward config files. I haven't yet found anything I don't do that I want to.
Again, so many thanks to loadman!