Ok, I have mame 0.147 (Frontend built into mame, don't care for that) on a usb stick.
I have the stick, a keyboard, and mouse plugged into a 4 port usb hub (non externally powered), and the hub plugged into my winbook.
Mame 147 works good, as does mala, but mame 0.137 0.103 will not run, not sure why yet, still investigating.
Here is a pic of Galaga88 on the winbook: