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Author Topic: front ends .. whos the best?  (Read 2682 times)

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Dashman

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front ends .. whos the best?
« on: January 15, 2007, 07:59:25 pm »
OK .. I built a cabinet, loaded a PC, now what do you feel is the best program to run as a front end in  arcade cabinet? The monitor is set vertical, and the graphics card supports it. Te PC runs XP, has a 200 gig HD, 256DDR Video ram, and 512 System Ram. IT also has XARCADE joysticks, buttons, adapter card. I'm tired of lookig at them all .. so I'm taking a poll of the mob!!!

Kven
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squirrellydw

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2007, 08:14:34 pm »
This is a very broad and opinionated question, the best thing to do is look at them and try some out.  I am currently using Mala (free), but have used Atomic (free)and Maximus Arcade ($25)  I think Mala is easy to use and setup and does everything I want.  Just need someone to make a skin for me or learn how to do it.
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TOK

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2007, 08:17:48 pm »
I've tried them all, and there is one definitive answer: It depends.







AtomicFE and MaLa are both free and have well implemented vertical support. I'm using MaLa in my vert cab. Its fast, stable and easily configurable.
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lingpanda

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2007, 10:44:55 pm »
Quote from: Dashman on January 15, 2007, 07:59:25 pm
OK .. I built a cabinet, loaded a PC, now what do you feel is the best program to run as a front end in  arcade cabinet? The monitor is set vertical, and the graphics card supports it. Te PC runs XP, has a 200 gig HD, 256DDR Video ram, and 512 System Ram. IT also has XARCADE joysticks, buttons, adapter card. I'm tired of lookig at them all .. so I'm taking a poll of the mob!!!

Kven

GameEx

http://tomspeirs.com/gameex/

GameEx is a graphical DirectX based front-end for MAME, Zinc, Daphne, PC Games, and all command line based game emulators, along with being a complete Home Theatre PC solution. The original goal was for it to be used on Windows Media Center as a plug in for playing games and for Arcade Cabinets although will run on Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista. If you have Media Center and don't need a games plug-in, GameEx still adds additional features including Internet Radio, News Reader, DVD's on disk, and Karaoke.
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lingpanda

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2007, 10:45:16 pm »
dbl post
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Howard_Casto

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2007, 01:27:27 am »
OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :lame: :angry:
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BamBam

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2007, 10:44:29 pm »
Mala is in my cabinet, but GameEx is on my Win XP Media Center Edition computer.
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Galaga... Was there any other game?

loadman

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2007, 01:59:49 am »
Quote from: BamBam on January 16, 2007, 10:44:29 pm
Mala is in my cabinet, but GameEx is on my Win XP Media Center Edition computer.

Hey that is my Idea!  ;)  I call mine a Jukebox but its turning into more of a Media Thing
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Havok

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2007, 10:28:13 am »
Just try the most popular ones and see which one works best for you:

AtomicFE
GameEx
Mala
Mamewah

You can install and run all of them at the same time with no conflicts - so check them all out...
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mrbones

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2007, 11:28:56 am »
I like Game Ex and I even contributed and registered it. The reason I like it the most was it basically setup itself. Very easy to install and use. It even updates itself.
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Buddabing

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2007, 11:54:03 am »
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
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wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
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I have changed my nickname to "Cakemeister". Please do not PM the Buddabing account because I do not check it anymore.

Please read the wiki!

loadman

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2007, 03:28:25 pm »
Quote from: Havok on January 17, 2007, 10:28:13 am
Just try the most popular ones and see which one works best for you:

AtomicFE
GameEx
Mala
Mamewah

You can install and run all of them at the same time with no conflicts - so check them all out...

I meant to say that. And check the wiki
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Havok

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2007, 03:39:07 pm »
Quote from: Buddabing on January 17, 2007, 11:54:03 am
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki
wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki

You know, if you rotate this 90 degrees to the left, it kinda looks like a middle finger...

Coincidence? I think not!

 :o
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squirrellydw

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2007, 04:27:16 pm »
 :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:
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I b**ch. People listen!!

southpaw13

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2007, 04:31:10 pm »
Yes, check the Wiki-it shows most (if not all) options...

Mala and Game EX are awesome!

Southpaw
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MYX

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2007, 10:19:36 pm »
Quote from: Havok on January 17, 2007, 10:28:13 am
Just try the most popular ones and see which one works best for you:
AtomicFE
GameEx
Mala
Mamewah

You can install and run all of them at the same time with no conflicts - so check them all out...
Yeah, Like Havok said, and it was listed in no particular order. -cough-atomic -cough-

A great place to start is MAME32
Two things to remember. 1. Roms in the Roms directory. 2. Snaps in the Snap directory. 
Office pc keyboards makes lousy CPs.
Mamewah is a little hard to get configured but works well afterwards.
I before E except after C
Candycabs are not real cabs.

 8)

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M    Y    X

BLACKOUT  - Finally rewritten - http://blog.myxdigital.com/
Original BLACKOUT thread - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=48239.0

BamBam

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2007, 12:40:56 am »
Quote from: loadman on January 17, 2007, 01:59:49 am
Quote from: BamBam on January 16, 2007, 10:44:29 pm
Mala is in my cabinet, but GameEx is on my Win XP Media Center Edition computer.

Hey that is my Idea!  ;)  I call mine a Jukebox but its turning into more of a Media Thing

Just got to work on getting the video and audio all the way over to my HDTV without my wife noticing ;)
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Galaga... Was there any other game?

BamBam

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2007, 12:42:36 am »
Quote from: Havok on January 17, 2007, 10:28:13 am
Just try the most popular ones and see which one works best for you:

AtomicFE
GameEx
Mala
Mamewah

You can install and run all of them at the same time with no conflicts - so check them all out...

Shouldn't Mala be at the top of the list ;)
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Galaga... Was there any other game?

Havok

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Re: front ends .. whos the best?
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2007, 12:47:06 am »
Quote from: BamBam on January 20, 2007, 12:42:36 am
Quote from: Havok on January 17, 2007, 10:28:13 am
Just try the most popular ones and see which one works best for you:

AtomicFE
GameEx
Mala
Mamewah

You can install and run all of them at the same time with no conflicts - so check them all out...

Shouldn't Mala be at the top of the list ;)

The list is alphabetical. Oh, hey... look - AtomicFE is on top...

 ;D
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