MAME question

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:09 am

OK, here's the deal. It's called ArcadeOS, but it's actually more of a glorified ans very powerful GUI which runs on a DOS-based system (IE, actual DOS or any version of windows that is built on DOS, like 95, 98, ME, etc. ) And when it loads is basicly takes control of all your computers I/O functions, so that it can output in 15khtz and directly interpret your joystick and button inputs. You can run ArcadeOS on a standard Jamma cab with no modification, no extra buttons for coining up or quitting if you don't want 'em. You can also make other emus work with ArcadeOS, like Raine, Vantage, and I think there are lots of others. It the emu can accept the inputs you want then ArcadeOS will convert it's ouput to 15khtz for you. Read the documentation that comes with ArcadeOS for details on this. It's just too much info to put into one post at a time.

Edit: here is a link to a website of the guy who made the ArcadeOS:
http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/

You should find the program there, along with pinouts and every good thing!

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:34 am

canI get like a 900 MHz CPU with win98 and then format it to put this in the dos programming?

What would be a good PC to buy for that kinda thing?

I do like the screenshots of he interface

I cannot seem to find a "for dummies" tutorial...
could someone help me with that?

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:17 pm

900 MHz! Holy *&^ that's a bit overkill! Unless you want to run something that requires obscene amounts of computing power anyway. (Tekken?) That will probably run every classic game, plus all the NeoGeo games you could ever own! If you are using Win 98 and then program it to boot into DOS mode all the time, and then once it boots into DOS mode you just have it load up ArcadeOS. I would set up all the software and MAME and get all you ROMS loaded on with a normal PC monitor hooked up, and then just change over the boot settings and the video settings once all that hard part is done.

Oh yeah, I know it's outdated, but may I reccomend that you use the DOS MAME final build, version 0.36 ? It's the only true DOS version of mame that is very compatible, very stable, and very fast. Did I mention that it works very well with ArcadeOS? Of course, this was made in 2000, and there are probably other builds which support more games and are just a fast and stable, but for me I only wanted "old skool" games on my machine, do it didn't matter.

As for dummies, lets start at the beginning and work from there. You will need a PC with about 400 MHz processor speed and as much RAM as you can fit into the sucker. MAME doesn't really rely much on CPU speed as it does RAM. So pack in a lot. I have about 256 megs of RAM on my arcade machine with 433 MHz processor speed and that will run all my games, including Metal Slug, full speed.

The first software setup I tried I just put a shorcut to ArcadeOS unto the startup folder in the start menu, and then waited for the noise from ArcadeOS to play to turn on my monitor. Later I set it up to boot straight to DOS and load ArcadeOS, which turned out to be much faster. Of course, if you wanted to have boat loads of speed you could use Linux instead, but I don't know of any snazzy frontends that support 15khtz output like ArcadeOS.

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:24 pm

OK, I found a place which tells you how to make the video cables you'll need.

Here 'tis!
http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/pc_arc3.html

Nucklez · Post by **Nucklez** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 6:11 pm

I ended up using a regular 17" VGA CRT in mine. I run Mamewah frontend instead of ArcadeOS. I really don't have a preference between the two, I just like MameWah. It can actually run on top of Windows XP even, and very customizable. It is a bit of a bear to configure though. My emu machine is actually a 2.0Ghz P4, and it has no problem running Neo Geo. My Wii does a better job emulating N64 by a long shot though.

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:20 pm

yea a PC to Jamma Interface is definatly what I need !

Anyway, what I plan to do is run a MAME, and thenm mabye some 16-8 bit stuff plus PONG!

I really Have all the N64 stuff I want and My triple will cover that

That is all I want to do with my MAME half of the triple Arcade...

Whats with me and the triple thing?

Krepticor · Post by **Krepticor** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:56 pm

after doing some research (thanks for the links!) (sorry for double posting)

I think I am going to focus on MAMEWAH, I like the screenshots and its capability seems to be easily expandible (I mean it emu's Dreamast for goodness sake!)

But here is where I want to ask, Is there like a VERY easy tutorial?
Or even a book like Ben's?

I just need something with a little more detail on adding controls and the like
Also, I would like to have it isolated from the net and have the MAMEWAH like the OS where it is what pops up first thing,

Also, I was thinking this for hardware, Newegg clearance PC!
Meaning I would ltake things that were going cheap on Newegg (compatible of course) and assemble them for one killer MAME

arfink · Post by **arfink** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:15 pm

Well, if you want some guides I would go to www.byoac.com and check around there. If you need help with hardware and such I can help you out, but for software I really can't help much, so you should look there. However, I dunno if Mamewah will work on 15khtz monitor or not? Will it? Because if it won't then you can't use it with an arcade monitor.