What OS is recommended for a slow PC?

[Miles]

There's this PC under my desk at work that appears to have been forgotten (through upgrades, staff leaving, company takeover... etc.)

IIRC, it's a 733 MHz Pentium 3, currently running Win 98SE. Probably only about 128MB of RAM.

I was considering borrowing the machine for home, to connect to a TV to use as a mainly as a MAME machine (and maybe for XviD playback if it's up to it.)

What OS would be recommended? Bearing in mind that ideally it should support my Playstaion->USB converter so I can use my Namco arcade stick?

[youki]

I would recommend XP.

Some will said 128MB is not enough for XP.  But it is wrong.  If you optimize your XP , install only what you need. Stop all services you don't need.   For a PC almost dedicated for mame is enough.

Of course  you could not play Heavy games , but for classic is very enough. And in case , you can use an older version of mame.

The advantage of XP ,  i think you will not have problem to support your PSX Usb converter.

A good friend has his mamecab running on XP 128Mg of ram and 800Mhz processor (AMD) , it runs really smoothly up to game liste Metal Slug.

[Bloinkxp]

Grab a stick of 256 Meg PC133 and pop it it.  It will make a world of diffence and make XP running Metal Slug nice and smooth.  How do I know?  That is my identical to my main Mame machine...

[s4tay]

I agree, I have an 866MHz with 768MB of ram with WinXP and it runs great with Metal Slug.

[ahmer]

The very Best Os is LINUX.If You just want a mame cab you can use Linux with Advmame and Advmunu.Belive me there is no other better way to go.

If you are not familer with Linux then DOS is the other Suitable OS.I
personally not give you advise to Use Dos.[Headache]
Simplest way is to Install WinXP,it is the last but not the least recommendation.

Btw for LINUX and DOS you have an opportunity to set Arcade Monitor/TV Screen without using an ArcadeVGA card Because WinXp is not compatable with Direct Video board Programming.

[kevinu]

I use MS-DOS in my machine mainly because it starts up fast and I can simply hit the power switch to shut it down. Perfect for kids!

However, I'm doomed to using older video and sound cards because newer cards don't have DOS drivers.

For me DOS + ArcadeOS have been working great for a long time and provide a fast & pretty environment that has proved to be kid proof.

Kevin

[RayB]

You realize that the OS isn't going to control how well a MAME game runs?

What matters is what options you have turned on or off in MAME.

[spystyle]

I would put 2K on any computer before XP.

2K is always overlooked by the masses but ask anyone who is paid for their PC knowledge what OS they run on their rigs and those who are paid the highest will always say 2K pro SP4

But on a P3, why not keep 98SE?

Craig

[bigfuz]

I am running a 533Mhz machine, win98SE with 192mb ram.

[spystyle]

I agree,

An older version of MAME runs quickly. I put MAME .53 on all my cabs, it's quick on a PII

Craig

[elvis]

The OS isn't so much the concern as the emulator.

Vantage, RAINE, Kawaks, etc are all much faster than MAME.  If the games you want to play are supported by different emulators, try them out and see how you go.

RAINE in particular is very interesting.  The supported games list is growing at a pretty crazy rate, and folks like Haze are converting MAME drivers across which is brilliant.  Plus RAINE is licensed under a much friendlier Artistic license.  MAME's license makes the hippy in me cry.

With that said, if I build a system low on RAM then I'll use Linux + SVGALib, as there's much less memory consumed by the GUI which can then be used by emulators + games instead.

[Miles]

You realize that the OS isn't going to control how well a MAME game runs?

In my experience, the OS does make a difference. Way back when I had a 233 MHz Pentium MMX, I got noticeably better performance running MAME from DOS than from Windows.

I'd run DOS on this one too, but I'm worried about hardware compatibility.

[spystyle]

Finding drivers for DOS can be difficult, but if you like DOS see FreeDOS http://freedos.org

Most of the computers I set up in cabs have a GeForce with TV out and AC97 sound. I wonder if there are DOS drivers for those and what DOS frontend is good.

I am nostalic about DOS! It is good

Dig it?
Craig

[spystyle]

Monitor Guru:

Perhapse you could write instruction for us to install linux like you do 

Craig

[jopenner]

I get plenty of arcade love with my P3 500 with 512 MB of RAM running on WinXP.
It also has made networking with my main computer a breeze.

John

[RayB]

I get plenty of arcade love with my P3 500 with 512 MB of RAM running on WinXP.
It also has made networking with my main computer a breeze.

John

Can ya tell me what your frame rate is in Ghouls n Ghosts?

[elvis]

Monitor Guru:

Perhapse you could write instruction for us to install linux like you do 

Craig

There's already 2 excellent sites that go in depth into MAME+Linux usage:

Whammocade:
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/whammoed/whammocade/software.htm

EasyMAMECab:
http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/

Both sites are written by BYOAC members.  There is HEAPS of information there, and if you are serious about switching to Linux in a cab, it's worth your time to read it all start to finish.