windows 2k vs. win xp??

[hulkster]

alright, so im going to wipe my existing pc in my cab and reload it with new roms and updated mame.  i have xp, but its not a um...good version   and thus i wont be getting sp2 with it.  i do have win 2k though and it updates without any problems.  my question is, will win2k be okay for my cab?  i know it takes longer to boot up, but i can deal with that.  suggestions?

[AlanS17]

I would think it would be better to have WinXP with SP1 than to go back to Win2000. It's not like you need security on an arcade machine. You're not gonna be web surfing on it, are you?

[hulkster]

no, but doesnt mamewah require direct x or something?  i dont think xp sp1 comes with that.  i cant remember but i thought you had to have something installed on it to work.  i mean, do people actually buy additional licenses for their cabs?  or do they just run with the regular install and not run windows update?

[jcrouse]

i mean, do people actually buy additional licenses for their cabs?

[AlanS17]

You can seperately install DirectX. MAME doesn't require it, but some FE's do. You can get a downloadable executable through Microsoft's website, though. You don't need to use Windows Update to get it.

[hulkster]

i mean, do people actually buy additional licenses for their cabs?

[chemame]

Hulkster,

I use W2K/SP4 for my cabinet.

I know, I'm an odd bird. Still, it works GREAT for me. I have no problems with it whatsoever.

I load the thing to the hilt, too.... MAME/MESS/FCEU/ZNES/FUSION/more, also NFS6/NFSU/THPS/etc etc

It's stable as can be. I run a KeyWiz, and it's awesome under W2K too.

I don't mean to imply W2K is a better choice, as I'm sure there are many many good reasons to go with XP... I'm just not seeing where W2K is getting in my way one tiny bit.

Chemame

[hulkster]

thanks for the reply.  how long does it take to boot to your FE screen?  are you using mamewah?

[SOAPboy]

no, but doesnt mamewah require direct x or something?

[cdbrown]

you can bypass the validation on windows update by saying that you don't want to validate now.  SP2 will install on most illegal copies just like SP1 did.  It won't install on those copies/keys that are known by Microsoft as being pirated.  Try to download the distributed copies from M$ that way you can have them always.

[chemame]

thanks for the reply.  how long does it take to boot to your FE screen?  are you using mamewah?

I'll see if I can time it for you. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea.

This is another area where I seem to be entirely different from the community. My preference is to never, ever shut down my cabinet, so I don't care how long it takes to start up.

My cab sits very quietly and dicreetly in a corner of my den. My wife likes it ok, since it's just plain black with no arcade art or anything... but in any event, my main goal on this thing is to have it always on, always ready, turn on the screen and play a game.

But like I say, I'm different than most people. I never turn my systems off. Ever. Then again, one is my DVR, one is my fileserver, and of course they'd have to be on all the time. So it's not a stretch to also leave the arcade on all the time.

Yes I use MameWah. I also use KeyWiz, so there's about 15 seconds or so added there that I'll need to remove to make it a fair test.

I'll try to time the startup over the weekend, and I'll let you know.


Chemame

[Howard_Casto]

Xp has tweaks that specifically help both gaming and bootup.  2k does not.  If you have a choice, use Xp but using 2k won't be the end of the world.