Couple of "building my mame comp" questions

[j123vt_99]

Not sure if this should go in hardware or not, so if not, i will move it.. While learning how to alter a cabinet and convert it for MAME, I want to get my MAME machine up and running.

question 1) does it make a difference to mame (compatibility/speed) if i load the OS on 1 HD and MAME and roms on another?

2) i plan to load mame roms and a couple of other emulators on the same comp to use in my cabinet. is it possible to play other emulators with an JAMMA control panel

3) is there a front end that will let me choose a particulator emulator or should i just go with windows and the normal icons?

[pointdablame]

1) Not that I'm aware of.... at the very least, it works fine either way.  I've never done any speed tests one way or the other, but my guess is they are nonexistant or minimal.

2)  As long as your "JAMMA control panel" is in some way connected to a PC (more than likely through a JPAC), then yes, it is not a problem.  Once you can get your computer to recognize the arcade controls as "keyboard presses" its just a matter of setting up your controls in your other emulators.

3) There are quite a few front ends that allow you to use multiple emulators and choose them at will.  Do a quick search here.  I use MameWah and like it very much.  I'm almost positive that Dragon King does multiple emus, as well as Kymaera, Emulaxian, 3d Arcade, etc.

I've only personally used MameWah, but I'm pretty sure the others mentioned (as well as others I'm sure) have the multiple emu feature.

[j123vt_99]

which OS would you go with? got 256 mb of ram and an intel celeron (will upgrade the mb eventually)

[GGKoul]

Win98.. if you upgrade your ram, then XP.

[Minwah]

1) does it make a difference to mame (compatibility/speed) if i load the OS on 1 HD and MAME and roms on another?

Don't think so, but some would say having your Windows swapfile on a separate drive to your Windows installation is a good idea.