nLited XP installs for a cab

[DrewKaree]

Breaking this out of another thread (sorry dot!). 

I've stripped out most of the crap that isn't necessary for an XP installation to come up with a smaller install of XP that's useable on older machines. 

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW OLD A PROC/SYSTEM THIS WOULD WORK ON

Using some info from that other thread, TinyXP clocks in at 112 megs, 400 megs installed.  I've come up with a 90-ish meg .iso, and no idea how large the install is. 

Please keep comments about this in this thread, as we're straying from dot's thread, but here's how this started, perhaps you'll like what dot's working on:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59353.0

I DON'T have my LastSession.ini, but I laid this info out elsewhere when trying to come up with suggestions, and I'll simply copy/paste those posts over here.  Sorry I can't help you out with that part, gonzo, but you should be able to tell what's what if you download the latest version of nLite.

[DrewKaree]

From the other thread:

Further looking tells me that the build of TinyXP was done via nLite or at least something very similar (there's several other types of these progs, nLite just seems to be the most doofus-proof).

I can clearly see where even TinyXP can be trimmed.  How much it would strip out of the final product, I'm not certain, but I see no need to have the following on a cab setup

MS Paint
Floppy Support
Modem Support
Printer Support
*Toshiba IDE Bus Driver - these are the types of things nLite personalizes
USB Audio Support
Active Directory Service
Task Scheduler
User Account Pictures

SERVICES:

Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Secondary Logon
Wireless Zero Configuration


All of these things I'm pointing to above are for a NON-networked version of XP that's STRICTLY for cab use only.  It also doesn't take into account any dependencies that your FrontEnd's may require.  nLite allows you to tailor YOUR XP install to YOUR needs, which may or may not include networking capabilities or at least an internet connection.  That's for you to decide.

And YES, Howard, I know your feelings on these types of programs.  This isn't intended for anyone who feels the need to install XP and keep it current and whatnot.  It's to personalize your cab all the way down to the OS you install on it, and isn't meant to serve every need that a full install of XP may.  If anyone reading this doesn't like this idea or is excessively worried that by doing this, they won't be able to run X program or Y utility or be able to hook up Z control, then you should have stopped reading by now, or should close this thread at this point.  This isn't intended for you.

[DrewKaree]

For gonzo (and for reference, I used an OEM XP Pro SP1 disc to start with):

First screen I come to:  Components

Here's the full list of options.  Also, left in display drivers for basic support, but if you have your drivers, remove these to integrate your specific ones yourself.  The second pic is what I've left after the removal process

*edit*  Save these pics to your drive and open it up to full size.

[DrewKaree]

The Options screens, both General and Patches

[DrewKaree]

Tweaks - don't have a clean version of this pic, so you'll see a few of the questions for a "generic" slimmed XP here.  Again, save to disc and open on your PC

[DrewKaree]

Tweaks - Services page. 

[gonzo90017]

TinyXP was made with Nlite. Here's the Last Session.ini I remember trying it with my cabinet but no go. But I forgot what was wrong with it.

[Tasks]
Remove Components
Patches
Tweaks
Options

[Components]
;# Applications #
Accessibility Options
Briefcase
Charmap
ClipBook Viewer
Defragmenter
Games
Internet Games
NT Backup
Pinball
Screensavers
Wordpad
;# Drivers #
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
Cameras and Camcorders
Display Adapters
Display Adapters (old)
IBM Thinkpad
InfraRed
ISDN
Logitech WingMan
Modems
MultiFunctional
Portable Audio
Printers
Scanners
SCSI/RAID
Sony Jog Dial
Tape drives
Toshiba DVD decoder card
;# Hardware Support #
ATM Support
Bluetooth Support
Brother Devices
Gravis Digital GamePort
Logical Disk Manager
Multi-port serial adapters
Secure Digital host controller
Smart Cards
Sony Memory Stick
Teletext codec
Video Capture
Windows CE USB Host
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
;# Multimedia #
Acm Core Codecs
ActiveX for streaming video
AOL ART Image Format Support
DirectX diagnostic tool
Images and Backgrounds
Intel Indeo codecs
Luna Theme
Media Center
MIDI audio support
Mouse Cursors
Movie Maker
Music Samples
Old CDPlayer and Sound Recorder
Speech Support
Tablet PC
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player 6.4
Windows Sounds
;# Network #
Active Directory service
Client for Netware Networks
Communication tools
Connection Manager
FrontPage Extensions
Internet Connection Wizard
Internet Information Services (IIS)
IP Conferencing
MAC Bridge
Map Network Drives/Network Places Wizard
MSMail and MAPI
MSN Explorer
Netmeeting
NetShell Cmd-Tool
Network Monitor Driver and Tools
Network Setup Wizard
NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Protocol
Peer-to-Peer
Synchronization Manager
TAPI Application Support
TCP/IP Version 6
Vector Graphics Rendering (VML)
Web Folders
Windows Messenger
;# Operating System Options #
.NET Framework
16-bit support
Administrative Templates
Administrator VB scripts
Application compatibility patch
Color Schemes
Command-Line tools
Desktop Cleanup Wizard
Disk and Profile Quota
Disk Cleanup
Document Templates
DR Watson
Extra Fonts
FAT to NTFS converter
File and Settings Wizard
File System Filter Manager
Help
Input Method Editor
Logon Notifications
Manual Install and Upgrade
MS Agent
Private Character Editor
Remote Installation Services (RIS)
Save Dump Utility
Search Assistant
Security Center
Service Pack Messages
Shell Media Handler
Task Scheduler
Tour
Web View
;# Services #
Alerter
Application Layer Gateway
Autoupdate
Background Intelligent Transfer (BITS)
Beep Driver
COM+
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC)
DNS Client
Error Reporting
Event Log
Fax Services
Imapi
Indexing Service
Internet Authentication (IAS)
IPSEC Policy Agent
Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Message Queuing (MSMQ)
Messenger
Network DDE
Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Network Provisioning
Performance Logs and Alerts
QoS RSVP
Quality of Service (QoS)
Remote Registry
Removable Storage
Secondary Logon
Service Advertising Protocol
Shell Services
SNMP
System Event Notification (SENS)
System Monitor
System Restore
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet Server
Terminal Services
Text Services Framework
Volume Shadow Copy
WebClient
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration
;# Directories #
DOCS
SUPPORT
VALUEADD
;# Compatibility #

[KeepFiles]
msconfig.exe

[RemoveFiles]
clock.avi

[Options]
CABRecompress
ClassicSetup
BlackSetupBack
GuestName = ""
AdminName = ""
ProfilesDir = "%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings"
TargetPath = "WINDOWS"
temp_dir = %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp
isovol = WinLite
isoatt = -allow-multidot -no-iso-translate -relaxed-filenames -allow-leading-dots -N -l -d -D -joliet-long -duplicates-once -no-emul-boot -b boot.bin -hide boot.bin -hide boot.catalog

[Patches]
TcpIp = 16777215
UsbPoll = 125
DoUxTheme
DoSFC

[Services]
StiSvc,3
AppMgmt,3
AudioSrv,2
CryptSvc,2
HidServ,4
HTTP,3
HTTPFilter,3
IpNat,3
NDProxy,3
Netman,3
PlugPlay,2
ProtectedStorage,2
SamSs,2
SCardSvr,3
TapiSrv,3
UPS,3
xmlprov,3
LanmanWorkstation,2
RasAuto,3
RasMan,3
RemoteAccess,4
IpFilterDriver,3
IpInIp,3
DHCP,2
Browser,2
NetLogon,3
RpcLocator,3
NtLmSsp,3
LanmanServer,2

[Tweaks]
Desktop-Internet Explorer icon-Hide
Desktop-My Computer icon-Show
Desktop-My Documents icon-Hide
Desktop-My Network Places icon-Hide
Desktop-Recycle Bin icon-Show
Explorer-Add 'CMD Shell' to all Drives and Folders
Explorer-Advanced Search: preconfigure options
Explorer-Change Explorer Folder View to: details
Explorer-Classic Control Panel
Explorer-Disable Beep on errors
Explorer-Disable Prefix: Shortcut to
Explorer-Remove Send To on context menu
Explorer-Show all files and folders
Explorer-Show Drive Letters in front of Drive Names
Explorer-Show extensions of known file-types
Explorer-Show Full Path in Address and in Title-Bar
Explorer-Show Statusbar in all windows
Internet Explorer-Disable information bar when popup is blocked
Internet Explorer-Disable Market Place bookmark
Internet Explorer-Disable Media Player 6.4 created bookmarks
Internet Explorer-Disable sound when popup is blocked
Internet Explorer-Enable Google URL-Search
Internet Explorer-Keep IE URL-History for-50 Days (max recommended)
Internet Explorer-Set Homepage-www.google.com
Internet Explorer-Set Internet Explorer to accept 10 connects at a time
My Computer-Add Control Panel to Context Menu
My Computer-Add Device Manager to Context Menu
My Computer-Add Services to Context Menu
My Computer-Add Software to Context Menu
My Computer-Remove Shared Documents
My Computer-Show details in Device Manager
My Computer-Show non-present devices in Device Manager
Network-Disable automatic search for network folders and printers
Network-Disable restoring mapped network drives on logon
Network-Disable Simple File Sharing
Privacy-Clear most recently opened documents list on logoff
Privacy-Disable and Remove Documents List from Start Menu
Privacy-Remove Alexa Spyware
Security-Always show Updates under Software
Security-Disable Screensaver
Security-Disable Web Open With prompt
Speed-Disable Optimize harddisk when idle
Speed-Disable Tracking of Broken Shortcut Links
Speed-Do not cache thumbnails
Speed-Use Windows classic folders / No Tasks Sidepanel
Start Menu-Disable Highlight newly installed programs
Start Menu-Disable popup on first boot
Start Menu-Reduce popup delay
Start Menu-Remove My Music
Start Menu-Remove Search the Internet from Search
Start Menu-Remove Set Program Access and Defaults
Start Menu-Remove 'Windows Catalog' from Start Menu
Taskbar-Disable Balloon Tips
Taskbar-Disable Group similar Taskbar buttons
Taskbar-Disable Hide inactive icons
Visual Effects-Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing-Disable
Visual Effects-Fade effect on menus and tooltips-Disable
Visual Effects-Show shadows under mouse pointer-Enable
Visual Effects-Show translucent selection rectangle-Enable
Visual Effects-Show window contents while dragging-Enable
Visual Effects-Slide open combo boxes-Disable
Visual Effects-Slide taskbar buttons-Disable
Visual Effects-Smooth edges of screen fonts-Enable
Visual Effects-Use common tasks in folders-Disable

[Unattended]
UnattendMode = DefaultHide
ComputerType = Automatic
MaximumDataStorePercentOfDisk = 12
ProgFilesPath = "C:\Program Files"

[GuiRunOnce]

[Drivers]

[Hotfixes]

[TOK]

For anyone using this... How much of a difference in boot speed/performance do you see vs. a standard copy of XP with the unnecessary Services turned off? Shutting everything off in standard XP, I get into the front end in about 26 seconds w/2ghz P4 with 512 meg of RAM.
I'm only concerned with speed, I don't care about the install size.

[dot]

Breaking this out of another thread (sorry dot!).

Thanks guys!  I can't believe I didn't get one single flame for that request.  You guys rock.

So, do you guys have your cab working with TinyXP/nLite?  The funny thing is I was wondering if anyone had done any work to identify the unnecessary components of XP and removed them.  I must be living right because you guys showed up and introduced me to something I'd never heard of.

I'm not real concerned about the drive space consumed by the installation, but I *really* hate having a bunch of junk loaded that will never get used.

dot

[DrewKaree]

For anyone using this... How much of a difference in boot speed/performance do you see vs. a standard copy of XP with the unnecessary Services turned off? Shutting everything off in standard XP, I get into the front end in about 26 seconds w/2ghz P4 with 512 meg of RAM.
I'm only concerned with speed, I don't care about the install size.

I have an HTPC with a slimmER version of XP (left a lot of stuff in there due to program dependencies).  I can boot to the "Front End" in 16 seconds.  2200 AMD with 1 gig of ram.

This was done with an earlier version of nLite, and looking through the list, there's more stuff I'd rip out and a few other services I'd remove entirely, so I'm betting I could get it down a few seconds, but not sure how much. 

FWIW, this is often done with car-puters, and those guys seem to be ONLY focused on boot time, because they all seem to talk about 300-400 meg .iso's (XP Pro SP2 with Hotfixes thru September come in around 640 megs for comparison).  www.mp3.com will have guys telling you about 10 seconds or less for boot times, but I have no idea what they've done to get it to boot that quick.  I just know there are other programs like nLite they speak about there to trim XP down, and they're looking to achieve the goal you're referring to.

So, do you guys have your cab working with TinyXP/nLite? 

I'm not real concerned about the drive space consumed by the installation, but I *really* hate having a bunch of junk loaded that will never get used.

Got an HTPC and my kid's terminal on my network running an nLite'd version of XP.  I ripped out quite a lot on the kid's PC and it runs pretty decent on an old 400mhz beater I had.  I was looking at doing this to use another beater to run a jukebox program that was only supported with XP.  I've since given up on that jukebox program, but check out nLite (infrequently) to see what's new.

Crap I hate having on there, or prefer to use another program instead:

Briefcase
Calculator
Internet Games
Games
Defragmenter (use a better standalone program if I need it)
NT Backup (use a better standalone)
Paint (Photoshop, if needed)
Wordpad (use Notepad++ instead)

I also prefer to take out as many drivers and hardware support as I can for stuff I won't/don't have, and all the excess keyboard setups and languages I'll never use.  Everything else is a personal decision, I think, and you can really tailor this to your needs, wants & desires.

[Howard_Casto]

The 400 mhz pc... by "run decent" do you mean it could handle mame?  How much ram did you put in it?

[spystyle]

I stripped out all of the crap from Windows XP by installing Windows 2000 instead :)

It was easy

[Howard_Casto]

I stripped out all of the crap from Windows XP by installing Windows 2000 instead

It was easy

Note to anyone who doesn't know... 2k is NOT the same as xp by any means.  I would reccomend a crazy tweked version of xp over 2k any day. 

[DrewKaree]

The 400 mhz pc... by "run decent" do you mean it could handle mame?  How much ram did you put in it?

That PC was set up for my kids to use for homework and internet access.  IIRC, it has 384 megs of ram.  The only things it's designed to run are Mozilla and MS Office, and to connect to my network.  My kids also use it to rip music to their mp3 players, but that's about it. 

I know it ran v0.78 very nicely with the above-mentioned setup before I removed it.  My kids play primarily consoles, and I don't allow installation of anything that doesn't relate to schoolwork or basic internet usability on that PC.  If I had to guess, I'd say it ran 60% of the games in that version without any problems.  I tend to play about 20 particular games no matter what version, and they're older games.  No problems with those whatsoever.  I could run DOS for those, but I hate dicking around with DOS anymore, so if I can avoid it at all, I do.

I stripped out all of the crap from Windows XP by installing Windows 2000 instead

It was easy

There are/were programs to strip crap out of Windows 2000 too.  2000 isn't without its dislikes either, but 2000 still wouldn't be what someone looking to nLite an XP installation would choose.  It's simply a different OS that some choose because they're comfortable with it.

[DrewKaree]

Forgot to add that the Office version on that PC is stripped as well.  MSFN is the forum to check out if anyone would like to slipstream Office into their XP install, or any of a number of other programs.  Worth your time if you do "part-time tech support" for family members. 

[TOK]

I stripped out all of the crap from Windows XP by installing Windows 2000 instead

It was easy

I have 2000 on a second cab I'm building. The PC is up and running, but I haven't got to the point where I'm tweaking the OS on it. Out of the box, XP boots way faster than 2000 so I was thinking 2000 might actually be harder to optimize.

When I did XP, I used that Black Viper tweak guide to Services and disabled everything I didn't need. Figured on doing the same for 2000.

[youki]

For anyone using this... How much of a difference in boot speed/performance do you see vs. a standard copy of XP with the unnecessary Services turned off? Shutting everything off in standard XP, I get into the front end in about 26 seconds w/2ghz P4 with 512 meg of RAM.
I'm only concerned with speed, I don't care about the install size.

My XP install in my cab boots faster than my Dos Install.

XP  takes 11-12 second to boot to the FE
Dos takes 15 second  to boot to the FE!  (without CDROM support!!! XP has the CD Rom support)

I just started from a normal XP , and stopped all services i don't need, and few little things , Like manually disable few driver i don't need too.

The machine is a AMD 2000+ with 256mega of ram and a HD of 40giga IDE.

But the machine is dedicated to MAME only.   No Internet, No Anti-virus ,No .NET , No other tool or emulator. Except the Front End and Mame.

[JackTucky]

Drew:

Is there a program that will strip XP after it's installed?

Jacktucky

[DrewKaree]

Drew:

Is there a program that will strip XP after it's installed?

Jacktucky

XP Lite, but it's far more harsh to the system.  Also, if you accidentally remove something from XP with it, you may not be able to put it back in, which means another format and re-install. 

It'll work if you're just trying to strip out useless crap like Paint, Briefcase, Calculator, Themes, etc from your current XP install, and it's a pretty decent solution for someone who wouldn't want to tinker with nLite, it's just not as robust a solution.

nLite is the solution to not even having stuff installed in the first place.  XP Lite is the solution to possibly removing some things afterwards.

[WunderCade]

Is it conceivable that these barebones OS' can be scaled down to such a degree that they can be flashed to a USB Flash Drive 1Gb< ? A pocket OS....sweeeet.

At any rate, I think DOT's script can be Flashed. That'd be a kewl little tool.

[DrewKaree]

Is it conceivable that these barebones OS' can be scaled down to such a degree that they can be flashed to a USB Flash Drive 1Gb< ? A pocket OS....sweeeet.

I know for certain that it could be,  however, the lifespan of such a beast is questionable, and I'm sure it's not as easy to run as simply sticking in the USB stick and going off on your merry way.  It'd also run slower, which is going to pretty much negate any benefit to this method.

Better to stick with Knoppix or some such Linux distro for something like that.

[Howard_Casto]

Is it conceivable that these barebones OS' can be scaled down to such a degree that they can be flashed to a USB Flash Drive 1Gb< ? A pocket OS....sweeeet.

I know for certain that it could be,  however, the lifespan of such a beast is questionable, and I'm sure it's not as easy to run as simply sticking in the USB stick and going off on your merry way.  It'd also run slower, which is going to pretty much negate any benefit to this method.

Better to stick with Knoppix or some such Linux distro for something like that.

Well what might work is to take xp itself and put it on such a drive but use a tweaking program to move all the writeable stuff (swap space, registry, ect) to a real harddrive.  I know that sounds a little silly, but the benefit would be you could adjust the settings on your cab by simply unplugging it and plugging it into your main pc and yet have all your roms and data files on the harddrive. 

[Taborious]

This sounds like a perfect Wiki topic... Maybe an addition to what is already there for striping XP...

Hopefully, I'll find some time to play with this type installation.

[lloydcom]

Is it conceivable that these barebones OS' can be scaled down to such a degree that they can be flashed to a USB Flash Drive 1Gb< ? A pocket OS....sweeeet.

I know for certain that it could be,  however, the lifespan of such a beast is questionable, and I'm sure it's not as easy to run as simply sticking in the USB stick and going off on your merry way.  It'd also run slower, which is going to pretty much negate any benefit to this method.

Better to stick with Knoppix or some such Linux distro for something like that.

I second the Knoppis route, as it is easier to install to the pen drive.  I'm still toying with the idea of the Knoppis Mame with the 80's roms with a 128mb pendrive.  These things go for pennies and I have the whole thing running in system memory. 

I tried installing XP with the pendrive, even though I could format for Dos Fat32, with a naked version of XP clocking in a 64mb footprint which is fully functinonal on a CF, but not a pendrive.  Something to do with the way the pendrive is formatted.

I think 64mb XP is pushing it.  But is cool to think how small you can go.  I saw a Win98 install clocking in a 8mb.  That's extreme!

[DrewKaree]

Well what might work is to take xp itself and put it on such a drive but use a tweaking program to move all the writeable stuff (swap space, registry, ect) to a real harddrive.  I know that sounds a little silly, but the benefit would be you could adjust the settings on your cab by simply unplugging it and plugging it into your main pc and yet have all your roms and data files on the harddrive. 

The swap file and registry writings XP does also reduce the lifespan of a USB flash drive.  I don't know the amount of life in those things, but there IS a finite life to them, and continually writing/overwriting to them reduces that lifespan.  Knoppix will write less and smaller amounts, or even better, can be run fairly quickly from a CD.  XP is a bit more limited in that way. 

Howard's idea sounds pretty good in that if you've got more than one setup, his suggestion of using the USB drive as a "Settings" saver seems (to me) similar to what dot was laying out in that other thread.

[DrewKaree]

I don't quite get what "no go" means.  Did it install but some piece didn't work, did it not install, did a vital piece not work meaning you stripped out too much....not a lot to go on.

Based on your list, there's a few things that seem like they could have caused a problem but without knowing what the problems you were having are, there's no way to know for sure.

The items to perhaps reconsider stripping:

;# Drivers #

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
Display Adapters
Display Adapters (old)
Logitech WingMan

;# Hardware Support #
ATM Support
Gravis Digital GamePort
Logical Disk Manager

;# Multimedia #
Windows Media Player 6.4

;# Operating System Options #
.NET Framework
16-bit support
Application compatibility patch
Command-Line tools
FAT to NTFS converter
Manual Install and Upgrade **easily misunderstood as well
Shell Media Handler

;# Services #

COM+
Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC)
Imapi
Message Queuing (MSMQ)
Secondary Logon
Shell Services

[Options]
CABRecompress **This item alone could be the problem, depending on what you're referring to.

Hope that helps you out.  I found the last session.ini on my networked disc, but the two discs I have set up for MAME (one for use with USB, gamepad & joystick support, one without) use have no Last Session.ini on them.

[DrewKaree]

Oh, and use a CD-RW until you've got the disc the way you want it.  Test the install with the CD-RW and if all goes well, then burn to CD-R.

[spystyle]

Boy, you guys are a bad influence! After seeing this thread I tried a few versions of TinyXP and liked them...

Especially this one which has no minimum HDD, CPU, or RAM check at install:

link not allowed, Google this exact phrase: (with the quotes)
"Windows TinyXP Professional SP2 Beast Edition Unattended CD" +pirate bay

(it also comes with FireFox installed, joy)

Both TinyXP and Jacked XP authors boast their versions of XP can use as little as 18 MB RAM "when all services are set to manual"

I wonder : Can MAME32 run when "all services are set to manual" ?

If yes, how do I set all services to manual?

Thanks,
Craig

p.s. You can download torrents with a free program called Utorrent

[Howard_Casto]

Boy, you guys are a bad influence! After seeing this thread I tried a few versions of TinyXP and liked them...

Especially this one which has no minimum HDD, CPU, or RAM check at install:

link not allowed, Google this exact phrase: (with the quotes)
"Windows TinyXP Professional SP2 Beast Edition Unattended CD" +pirate bay

(it also comes with FireFox installed, joy)

Both TinyXP and Jacked XP authors boast their versions of XP can use as little as 18 MB RAM "when all services are set to manual"

I wonder : Can MAME32 run when "all services are set to manual" ?

If yes, how do I set all services to manual?

Thanks,
Craig

my guess would be "maybe"


For the install to get that small directx would have to be removed, which newer versions of mame need.  Mind you technically you can run mame without directx, it's just very crappy performance wise.

[spystyle]

As far as I know TinyXP "Beast edition" comes with DX9 already installed

[DrewKaree]

I wonder : Can MAME32 run when "all services are set to manual" ?

If yes, how do I set all services to manual?

Start --> Run --> services.msc --> double-click each service and set startup type to manual.

On one hand, it SHOULD run, since setting 'em to manual still allows the service to run when needed, but I'm guessing Windows has some problems dealing with such a setup, or it becomes a tedious hassle with Windows perhaps having to start several services and slowing down system performance. 

TinyXP (and I'm guessing all other iterations of it) was created using nLite, so the customization possibilities are on display with it.  Adding other programs as TinyXP does depends on the install routine of each program.  Many (IIRC, all of them, but I could be wrong) of the additional programs on TinyXP are programs that do not hook into your PC other than perhaps a few registry keys, and simply can be copied onto the hard drive.  Such a feat isn't that hard and is as simple as adding the proper folder structure on your installation disc and perhaps adding an install switch depending on the program, MAYBE you have to write a simple batch file to copy a program folder from the disc to your hard drive in the proper place. 

To me, it's about stripping out extraneous crap that doesn't belong on a MAME setup, but I can also see the beauty in a simple install disc that would make all future cab setups or troubleshooting for you something that's as easy as sticking in a disc and restarting the PC

[spystyle]

Thanks DrewKaree,

Using 'TinyXp beast' on my virtual PC I was able to set all but RPC to manual, and the settings stayed even after a reboot.

I had mame32 set to automatically launch (via a shortcut in the startup menu) and it worked.

Attached are screenshots, from a fresh boot, with mame32 closed.

It's using 45.3 MB RAM (after minusing task manager)

Tell me what you think.

Cheers,
Craig

[dot]

That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as I got my system down to 10 processes and 50 MB of RAM on a standard XP SP1 install 

My bloat is on the file system!  I won't be able to compete with you there.

dot

[spystyle]

Hi Dot,

I'm not really familiar with this stuff - but if you like what you see, go ahead and download TinyXP 'beast' and do the following (I had to write it out for a friend of mine, so I'll copy/paste below)

---

Now that TinyXP is installed

1. Right click on the desktop, click properties, under "themes tab" select "windows classic", then under "screen saver tab" change monitor off to "1 hour" then click apply, OK, OK

2. Now we are back at the desktop and the ugly wallpaper is gone. Right click the taskbar at the bottom, click properties, click "start menu" tab, select "windows classic start menu" , click OK

3. back at desktop, click start > control panel > system

make a note of the amount of ram, we will call this "actual ram"

click "advanced tab" click "performance setting" change to "adjust for best performance", click apply, click the "advanced tab" under "virtual memory" click "change"

change initial size to X2 of your actual ram, change maximum size to X3 of your actual ram, click "set" then OK OK OK

4. back at the control panel, click tools > folder options > view

UNcheck "hide protected operating system files"

UNcheck "remember each folder's view setting"

click apply > OK

5. Back at control panel, double click "system" click hardware > device manager

This is the device manager, any icons with a yellow exclamation point are devices that need drivers, make a note of the devices and install the drivers

---

(That's probably over-explaining it for anyone who can read this thread, but oh well)

After that, run services.msc, click "startup type", right click each "automatic" service, select "properties", set all to "manual"

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

So does anyone know how to get MAME32 to start 'maximized' ?

If not, I 'spose I could use an FE. What FE uses almost no RAM and displays screen shots?

Thanks,
Craig

[Howard_Casto]

Gamelauncher would be your best bet for that.  Assuming you can get it running in xp.... but since gamelauncher runs in dos, that kind of defeats the purpose. 

[spystyle]

Cool, I found out how to start mame32 maximized with windows:

Place a shortcut to mame32.exe in the startup folder (of course)

right click the shortcut, select properties, and change

"run : normal window" to "run : maximized"

Groovy

Also, mame32 (I tested ver .36) doesn't use too much RAM. While mame32 .36 was open 72mb (out of 128mb) were free. Meaning the OS and FE take only 56mb of RAM!

That means only a 64mb stick of RAM is lost, the rest is all resource for the game.

:)

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

TinyXP "beast" uses only 45.3mb RAM, but what to compare it to? I did some testing with "Windows 98se retail" for comparative data and below are my findings.

---------------------------------

Windows 98se retail for arcade PC

official minmum specs are: less than pentium 1 cpu, 24 mb RAM, 260 MB HDD

1. my testing shows 98se uses 43mb RAM (out of 128) initial **
2. and 23mb RAM (out of 128) after setting disk cache to 8 mb***
3. and 21.5mb after all startup items were disabled****

Installation used 200mb HDD space ("compact installation" was chosen)

**There is no "task manager" in Windows 98, You can see your free memory with the tool "resource meter" (you must add "show unused physical memory" from the edit menu). You find it by going to: Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Monitor. (if you don't see it there you can add it from "add/remove programs > windows setup")

***open c:\windows\system.ini , search for line [vcache] and change it to this:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=8096
MaxFileCache=8096

No point in adding more than 128 RAM in Windows 98:

I was reading about Windows 98 and was surprised to find out it can not take advantage of more than 128 mb RAM (http://tinyurl.com/ylmcny)

**** start > run > msconfig > startup tab (uncheck all)

* make sure to diable auto insert notification in Windows 9X, otherwise Windows will scan for changes in the cd-rom drive every few seconds. To do this open device manager and right click the cd-rom drive > properties > uncheck "auto insert notification"

[spystyle]

Stability issues:

As we all know, Windows can become very unstable (and bloated) over time - a (professional tech) friend of mine has recommended a program called "Deep freeze"* - apparently, once you set up your arcade PC to your liking you can "deep freeze" it, so everytime you boot the computer it will be exactly as it was when you "froze" it. You can have a folder that is unfrozen (called "thaw space") that you can add files (to which will remain after you reboot)

He states that whenever the computer acts up simple press the reset button and all is well again. The program sells for $25 retail.

*
http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp

[spystyle]

For comparative data I also tested Windows 95b

official minmum specs are: less than pentium 1 cpu, 8 mb RAM recommended, 70 mb HDD

1. my testing shows 95 uses 30.9mb RAM (out of 128) initial
2. and 21mb RAM (out of 128) after setting disk cache to 8 mb*

Installation used 100mb  HDD space ("compact installation" was chosen)

*open c:\windows\system.ini , search for line [vcache] and change it to this:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=8096
MaxFileCache=8096

I've read that 8mb of disk cache is good for FAT32 file system, and 2mb disk cache is good for FAT16 file system (http://tinyurl.com/ylmcny). Windows 95b (aka OSR2) supports FAT32