Need help picking a frontend.

[Chris2]

Hey all. As you can see, I'm looking at frontends for my cabinet. The two most important requirements are:

A: All menus are clearly visible through an RCA video connection.
B: Everything must be doable exclusively through the control panel. (no keyboard and mouse.)

Right now, I'm leaning towards either MAMEWAH or Game Launcher, as both seem to have the things I'm looking for in my machine. I only worry about how much OS use is involved, which brings up my other question. What are some good steps to take in getting the machine to load quickly and boot straight to a frontend? Ideally, the boot-up process would take a short amount of time and would require no Windows relations to play the games. Any tips on how to do this?

Thanks for any help.

[youki]

Most of front end allows that.

The 4 main (free) being.

Mala , Mamewah , Khameleon and mine AtomicFE.

a more complete list :

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Front-Ends


I'm using XP on my cab, and it boot up directly to the Front end in 11seconds , faster than my dos setup on the same machine that boots in 15seconds.

I simply started from a full XP (not from tinyXP or else)  , and i stopped all windows service i don't need and all program that loaded not usefull. (using msconfig) . 

To know what service to stop.. some are obvious .. for the other i tried one by one... i remove one... reboot..it still work...i remove the next one... if not, i go back and try the next one.

[gonzo90017]

Dos setup? I'm curios, what fe are you using?

[youki]

Under Dos, i use AdvanceMenu.

[headkaze]

The 4 main (free) being.

Mala , Mamewah , Khameleon and mine AtomicFE.

I didn't realise Khameleon was that popular already? Don't you normally recommend GameEx in your top 4? Hmm I smell a conspiracy 

EDIT: Oh I get it, mention Khameleon and Cakemeister won't make a wiki wiki wiki post. Clever! 

[youki]

I was talking about FREE front end.
 

Not about  "Crippleware" , "Shareware", "vaporeware" ,"tupperware" or  "idontknowware"...   It is why your favorite HTTPC Front end  and DK is not in that list. 

[massive88]

Try em all, see which you like best.  I have like, 8 installed and ready to mess with.  Youll soon find you like one better than the others, or you will get so frustrated with not being able to do something with one, that you will be more informed to ask a more specific question about which front end to use.

Its not like in the romset/chd/videos scheme of things front ends take up a lot of space.  Treat em like pokemon until you zero in on your choice.

[headkaze]

I was talking about FREE front end.
 

Not about  "Crippleware" , "Shareware", "vaporeware" ,"tupperware" or  "idontknowware"...   It is why your favorite HTTPC Front end  and DK is not in that list. 

So does that mean we class AtomicFE as "bestcosiwroteitware"?  

BTW Since when was DK going to be shareware?

[massive88]

I would hope he likes his best, why shouldn't he pimp it when people ask for opinions?

DK probably falls under the vaporware category, or tupperware... not sure.

[headkaze]

I would hope he likes his best, why shouldn't he pimp it when people ask for opinions?

Fair enough but he does tend to put other FE's down, which to me is bad sportmanship.

I notice that BBB isn't going around promoting his FE as the quality of it speaks for itself. And his users seem to do the job for him anyway. I think HyperSpin will be on the top of the list in no short time judging by what people have been saying.

[youki]

Dk the ultimate release we are still waiting , falls in the vaporware category of course. (hopefully this remark will force Howard to come back  to proove the opposite! )

AtomicFe 0.20 will fall in that "Vaporeware" or in the "KillerAppWare"  ...   

But You could have some surprise.... (hopefully good)... 

[massive88]

Hyperspin is really damn cool, without a doubt.  Personally I don't think it will be as mainstream as MaLa and Mamewah, only because BBB is set on the wheel navigation (duh its the whole idea behind the theme) but not everyone will want the wheel.  Text lists are more what people are used to and comfortable with, that could change though. Also to make Hyperspin really shine requires a ton of graphic work and customization of themes, or a large library of available themes, that will begin to approach romsets in hdd size.  From what I have seen so far, the perfect application of it would be on themed cabs, with limited romsets, such that every game you provide access to can realistically have a specific theme for it.  The overall effect in that application will likely blow ones mind though, so that should be taken into account.

Anyway back to this thread, I dont really want to argue with you, but its not like he said, try AtomicFE, its the only one that does what you want.  He suggested it at the end of a list of 4 front ends, and I didnt really read anything he said that was really opinionated or anything less than factual until you baited him.   He even linked the wiki which is probably the best answer anyway.  By suggesting multiple choices, hes letting the quality of the products speak for themselves, if AFE is not good for the users needs, theres 3 others suggested to try, and the wiki to peruse.  But maybe theres a history I dont know about though, so Ill just back out now before getting further into it.   

[massive88]

Hah whoops!  Hit quote instead of modify.  Go go post count!

[headkaze]

But maybe theres a history I dont know about though, so Ill just back out now before getting further into it.   

hehe obviously you don't know the history. But your right youki didn't make a negative post so I apologise to him for that, I don't want it to look like I baited him, I was only trying to make a joke. Youki normally puts GameEx in his top 4 list but changed it for Khameleon. I just noticed it and made a joke. I guess FE's need to be free to be good again now (maybe it depends on his mood when he posts)

Anyway I agree about the wheel thing, which is why my own FE (Razor) will have text based menu system. It will be made for large game collections although it will support per-game layouts. I might put a wheel in there too for the sake of it, as it's not that hard to code something like that.

But You could have some surprise.... (hopefully good)...

It this your next-gen engine for AtomicFE? Cool! As I think it will need a graphics update to keep up. So are you still going to write it in C#?

[youki]

I have never said that GameEx is not Good, i just said it is not Free. 

So i suggest to try Free front ends , before trying a other. 

It this your next-gen engine for AtomicFE? Cool! As I think it will need a graphics update to keep up. So are you still going to write it in C#?

No it is not my next gen engine, it is still the same engine.   The engine since version 0.15 was already able to do things like HyperSkin  (except the rotation and the well (that needs rotation) and particle effect)  .  The main problem of Atomic his that his config tools allows you to access only 60-70% of his capabilities and that are not very intuitive for complex settings. I'm just working on that to make the power of Atomic accessible easly and few other little things.

[headkaze]

I have never said that GameEx is not Good, i just said it is not Free. 

So i suggest to try Free front ends , before trying a other.

My point was that being free doesn't necessarily mean it's a better. Some people don't mind paying a small reg fee and the OP didn't specify it had to be free. I didn't mind paying for mine, and I'm happy I did. Sometimes paying a reg fee improves updates, and I havn't seen another FE that is more active than GameEx. If I was using AtomicFE I would have donated the same amount to you. I don't think indy coders get enough for their hard work.

It this your next-gen engine for AtomicFE? Cool! As I think it will need a graphics update to keep up. So are you still going to write it in C#?

No it is not my next gen engine, it is still the same engine.   The engine since version 0.15 was already able to do things like HyperSkin  (except the rotation and the well (that needs rotation) and particle effect)  .  The main problem of Atomic his that his config tools allows you to access only 60-70% of his capabilities and that are not very intuitive for complex settings. I'm just working on that to make the power of Atomic accessible easly and few other little things.

Really? But it's not using Direct3D so I don't think it could pull off quite the same level of animation as HyperSpin or Razor. BTW There is no particle effect in HyperSpin I believe your thinking of Razor.

I agree config tools are a pain in the neck. No matter what you do there will always be someone who thinks it's too hard to set up. I don't think that will change any time soon unless there is an "Emulator Coders Consortium" that is started that attempts to create standards for emulator coders to follow like same config format, input mapping system etc. (wouldn't that be great though!)

[joebells]

BBB said particle effects are coming to hyperspin and he hopes to have them done by monday.

[youki]

Really? But it's not using Direct3D so I don't think it could pull off quite the same level of animation as HyperSpin or Razor. BTW There is no particle effect in HyperSpin I believe your thinking of Razor.

Yes, really, at least what i see on the HyperSkin video. Atomic can do techincally quite similar things (except rotation as i said). And purely in DirectDraw.  I just just didn't have the time and mainly the Talent to make this kind of skin. But i hope being able to produce few skin like that quickly in the next version thanks to the work i'm doing on the config tools.

I agree config tools are a pain in the neck.

200% agree ,  and not pleasant to do... i really prefer coding routine for crazy graphics effect than a simple config tool.  But config tool are may be the more important part in the success of a Front End.