You opinion please

[Apollo]

I'm starting my cab project and have everything pretty much sorted other than OS. I already have XP software but was wondering what the general opinion on the forum was regarding OS for MAME. What do you think is best.

Sorry in advance, I'm sure this has been done --BINGO! Either that, or I was attempting to say "before" but it was too many letters to type-- but I can't find the thread anywhere.

Also sorry Mac users  

[_Iz-]

Your choice of OS will be largely limited/determined by what software and hardware you want/need to run.

IE: If you want to use a light gun you need an OS that supports USB (win98 or higher). If you want to use dual trackballs you need win98(se) or DOS.

Win98se seems to be the best "all around" choice. It has USB support, DOS support and dual, separate mouse support.

I personally run WinXP. I like it's stability and performance.

My best advice would be to list all the hardware and software you want to run and all OSes they are supported on. The OS that is common to all these things is your winner.

[Howard_Casto]

Don't use dos, don't use 95, don't use linux.  

You should be ok with the rest of the choices.  

[liquid8]

I like ME because of the extremely quick boot

LiQuiD8

[anthony691]

Don't use dos, don't use 95, don't use linux.  

You should be ok with the rest of the choices.  

Linix isn't easy, but it works better than the rest!

LiQuiD8: "I like" and "Windows ME" should NEVER be used in the same sentance! I thaught it was established that ME is Broken! It is horrible software that the mere thaught of it makes it harder to resist the urges that make me want to go out and kill!

[u_rebelscum]

Voted win98, but like a few others said, really depends what you want to run.  

For me, it would be win98 because I want to include dual/multiple trackballs & lightguns.  My desktop system currently runs winME, which also does this, so my second choice would be winME.  Not the best OSs, but if you clean up win98/winME, it'll be okay if the cab isn't on 24 hours a day.

If you don't want to play 2 player marble madness and the like, and your system isn't "ghetto", winXP is more stable and should do fine.  Linux & advanceMame is another stable option, especially if you're doing an arcade monitor, but you need to know *nix to set it up, and windows has more front ends.  Either this OSs should be able to run 24/7.

If you have an old computer (500mhz and slower), don't need to play the cpu intense games, and don't need USB, go with dos.

That's my 2 cents.

[Howard_Casto]

Linix isn't easy, but it works better than the rest!

Maybe so, but the front ends for it suck and mame is about it in terms of good arcade emulators.  Plus it's difficult to setup and third party, emu-related helper programs aren't available for it.  

*sigh* People should just take my opinon of such things as the fact rather than making me explain it or question my opinion.  

When it counts I know what I'm talking about.

[SirPoonga]

Linix isn't easy, but it works better than the rest!

Maybe so, but the front ends for it suck and mame is about it in terms of good arcade emulators.  Plus it's difficult to setup and third party, emu-related helper programs aren't available for it.  

Depends on how computer literate you are.  I am forced to run linux in my cabinet right now.  I love xmame.  The only problem, as noted, it the lack of frontends.  I'm hoping to change that with an OpenGL FE sometime

However, you will get more satisfaction from a windows OS as there is a better choice of FEs and more emulators.  Heck, you get to run the latest version of mame has soon as it rolls out

I'm going to try zinc on my linux machine at some point even though I know with the proc speed it will suck.

[anthony691]

Linix isn't easy, but it works better than the rest!

Maybe so, but the front ends for it suck and mame is about it in terms of good arcade emulators.  Plus it's difficult to setup and third party, emu-related helper programs aren't available for it.  

*sigh* People should just take my opinon of such things as the fact rather than making me explain it or question my opinion.  

When it counts I know what I'm talking about.

I use 98 on my cab because Linux gave me a LOT of crap...driver issues mostly. On my brothers cab, it is completely FINE!

[Howard_Casto]

Fine does not equal better.  

At best you could argue that linux is as good as windows overall taking into account all of the points I brought up.  I don't reccomend linux to anyone because it's annoying to setup and on modern pcs gives you no benefit over running windows while at the same time severely limits the options you have in terms of other emulators and front ends.  

Again, at this point I shouldn't have to explain myself as this question has been asked (and answered in detail by me) so many times.  

[Dave Dribin]

I love Linux, but would not say it is the best OS for MAME.  If you already know Linux well, as I do, MAME is cake.  And Game Launcher will run (but setting it up is *not* cake).

I would say use DOS, Win98, or WinXP depending on your processor speeds and emulators you wish to run.  I voted for DOS because it would piss off Howard.   Seriously, if you're running MAME only, pure DOS is great.  It boots fast and absolutely does not look like Windows.   Win98 has better driver support for sound and video, and more emulators, but is still DOS at heart.  WinXP has no DOS support, but is more stable.  However, a cab running only emulators and a FE doesn't benefit much from this stability.  I like Win98 because it's a good cross between DOS and Windows.  So it all depends on what you need.  Oh yeah, if you go DOS, get an ISA sound card and save yourself a lot of hassle.

-Dave

[Dave Dribin]

Oh yeah, if you do go Linux, check out Fresh RPMs:

http://freshrpms.net/packages/

They've got pre-built binaries of xmame.

-Dave

[liquid8]

Don't use dos, don't use 95, don't use linux.  

You should be ok with the rest of the choices.  

Linix isn't easy, but it works better than the rest!

LiQuiD8: "I like" and "Windows ME" should NEVER be used in the same sentance! I thaught it was established that ME is Broken! It is horrible software that the mere thaught of it makes it harder to resist the urges that make me want to go out and kill!

While I have seen MEs share of problems, it works perfectly fine once the correct drivers are installed. I have run 2 of my computers with NO problems on ME, one including a laptop, and booting into my frontend in under 10secs is pretty nice.

LiQuiD8

[anthony691]

Don't use dos, don't use 95, don't use linux.  

You should be ok with the rest of the choices.  

Linix isn't easy, but it works better than the rest!

LiQuiD8: "I like" and "Windows ME" should NEVER be used in the same sentance! I thaught it was established that ME is Broken! It is horrible software that the mere thaught of it makes it harder to resist the urges that make me want to go out and kill!

While I have seen MEs share of problems, it works perfectly fine once the correct drivers are installed. I have run 2 of my computers with NO problems on ME, one including a laptop, and booting into my frontend in under 10secs is pretty nice.

LiQuiD8

I don't mean to be stubburn like HC, but I have had REALLY HORRIBLE problems with this OS. Some complete anomolys too!

[Howard_Casto]

Hold up.  I never mentioned Me.  Me is a piece of crap and shouldn't be used for anything, period.  That one is just so obvious I didn't even adknowledge it as the others had before I entered thsi thread.  


Btw for a new pc dos is very bad also contrary to what dave will tell you.  There are 0 good emulators besides mame and it can't take advantage of your resources on a larger pc.  Also as with linux your choices in helper apps and front ends are severely limited.  

[anthony691]

Hold up.  I never mentioned Me.  Me is a piece of crap and shouldn't be used for anything, period.  That one is just so obvious I didn't even adknowledge it as the others had before I entered thsi thread.  


Btw for a new pc dos is very bad also contrary to what dave will tell you.  There are 0 good emulators besides mame and it can't take advantage of your resources on a larger pc.  Also as with linux your choices in helper apps and front ends are severely limited.  

Well, HC has now gained my acceptance! We now agree on one thing (not a bad start!) I will now respect your opinoin on MAME on Linux.

[skirge66]

hey HC as an all knowledgable guru like you what's your take on 2000pro with a gig of ram and mame32?

[paigeoliver]

hey HC as an all knowledgable guru like you what's your take on 2000pro with a gig of ram and mame32?

Too much Ram will actually slow down your emulation. Great for Windows, but useless for Mame.

Go benchmark a few emulators with different amounts of RAM in your system and you will see what I am talking about.

[Apollo]

hey HC as an all knowledgable guru like you what's your take on 2000pro with a gig of ram and mame32?

Too much Ram will actually slow down your emulation. Great for Windows, but useless for Mame.

Go benchmark a few emulators with different amounts of RAM in your system and you will see what I am talking about.

Wow is that true? So what's the perfect amount of RAM? I guess that's a dumb question. Assume running XP what would be the best amount. Also assume that I'm only running MAME on this PC.

[anthony691]

hey HC as an all knowledgable guru like you what's your take on 2000pro with a gig of ram and mame32?

[notHC]

Hmm... a GIG of RAM seems a little excessive! Why 2kpro also? If it is what you have... I suppose it isn't bad, but IMHO Win 2K is a great OS (Maybe the best Windows OS), but really isn't for gaming... I also don't understand why someone would run MAME32 when they could be running Laz or MAMEWAH on a cab [I like to forget I am running Windows on my cab]. Again I don't see it from your point of view though. You might not give a damn... I do!


hmmm... how could too much RAM slow you down? I want a rediculously technical explaination please It would be news to me!
[/notHC]

[Howard_Casto]

A gig of ram is overkill but on a nt based system it definately couldn't hurt.  

Despite the fact that anthony answered he is right.  2000 isn't optimized for gaming and specifically mame will run pretty bad on it compared to xp.  If it's a choice between xp 2000 and 98 run xp, but if it's a choice between 2000 and 98 then stick with 98.  The reason being is that nt os's have a larger footprint.  With that being said xp takes advantage of all of your hardware and that counter balances some of this added bulk with that and added stability.  2k on the other hand does not.  

I also agree that mame 32 is not a good choice for a mame cab.  Friends don't let friends run "windows-y" apps on their cabs.  


But too much ram can sometimes slow down the rom loading process.  It's wierd but true.  Anyway it's not enough to worry about.  

[Dave Dribin]

Yeah, a gig of RAM is *way* plenty.  You can never have too much RAM.  I don't see how too much can slow anything down.  That doesn't make any sense.

Ok, I don't get it.  How does XP take advantage of hardware any better than 98?  Both have DirectX which is about as effecient as you get.  And both use the CPU just as effeciently.

-Dave

[Odonadon]

*sigh* People should just take my opinon of such things as the fact rather than making me explain it or question my opinion.  

With your track record of past advice, it's no wonder nobody takes your opinion as fact.  

Odonadon

[Odonadon]

Btw for a new pc dos is very bad also contrary to what dave will tell you.  There are 0 good emulators besides mame and it can't take advantage of your resources on a larger pc.

ZSNES, Gens.  Tho ZSNES looks much better when utilizing it's nifty-keen graphics features which are obviously not supported in DOS.

Odonadon

[Howard_Casto]

You mean my near perfect track record of always being right if taken in context and applied to the quesiton at hand properly.

Yup why in the world would people listen to someone who consistently gives good advice?  They'd have to be crazy.    

[skirge66]

yeah...it's a burden always being right...hehe...I use that at work all the time. Anyhow, 1gig is what I have on the mom board currently, and will probably leave it there, my main system doesn't have room for another 512. the system I'm using has an 80gig HD in it, I was electing for 2000 pro because I already have the software installed on it that supports the large HD and all the ram, I could go XP but then I would need to get a copy of it.  My reason for using mame32 is that it is incredibly easy to set up ie no thinking at all...the dos thing just makes me ill sorry dos fans. thanks for the input

[spectre]

ahhh, I think we should all revert back to dos and the days of good ol' qbasic! Dos was and always will be king in my opinion! LONG LIVE DOS!

[anthony691]

A gig of ram is overkill but on a nt based system it definately couldn't hurt.  

Despite the fact that anthony answered he is right.  2000 isn't optimized for gaming and specifically mame will run pretty bad on it compared to xp.  If it's a choice between xp 2000 and 98 run xp, but if it's a choice between 2000 and 98 then stick with 98.  The reason being is that nt os's have a larger footprint.  With that being said xp takes advantage of all of your hardware and that counter balances some of this added bulk with that and added stability.  2k on the other hand does not.  

I also agree that mame 32 is not a good choice for a mame cab.  Friends don't let friends run "windows-y" apps on their cabs.  


But too much ram can sometimes slow down the rom loading process.  It's wierd but true.  Anyway it's not enough to worry about.  

2nd time agreeing! Okay HC, you have gained my total trust.

[liquid8]

I think Anthonys catch phrase should be under HCs name... HC gets a litte big for his britches sometimes..

<I have said WAY too much>


LiQuiD8

[Howard_Casto]

Confuscious say, modesty is for those who are not good at what they do.  

[rampy]

You mean my near perfect track record of always being right if taken in context and applied to the quesiton at hand properly.

Yup why in the world would people listen to someone who consistently gives good advice?  They'd have to be crazy.    

I actually was scouring the monitor board today from start to finish, and I DID find a thread where Howard was wrong, or to be more specific he answered correctly, but not in context to what the original poster had asked/defined.  Just thought i'd share that... (before you go and zing my last 50 posts for peer review, yeah I've been wrong before )

*Shrug* just thought i'd share that annecdote on the eve of the re-re-resurrection =P

Rampy

[Odonadon]

I actually was scouring the monitor board today from start to finish, and I DID find a thread where Howard was wrong, or to be more specific he answered correctly, but not in context to what the original poster had asked/defined.  Just thought i'd share that... (before you go and zing my last 50 posts for peer review, yeah I've been wrong before )

*Shrug* just thought i'd share that annecdote on the eve of the re-re-resurrection =P

Rampy

You must not have looked hard enough.  I can find many more instances of wrongness .  I'm not saying I'm always right, but I'm not going to ponder why people just don't shut up and accept everything I say as fact.  For the love of god, man!

Odonadon