Any Tips on making a MAME arcade machine?

[Trident]

I want to buy an arcade machine shell (or make one) ,pop my old celeron466 into it and run MAME. Now i'd like to be able to boot the machine up and run it without going to windows, staying in DOS only, unfortunately i don't know a thing about DOS. What version of MAME should i use? what can i expect when undertaking this project? where should i look for an old shell? and how the hell can i learn DOS?

[FatTrucker]

Using DOS mame is harder work than other builds.
However if you are set on going that route your best bet is to use AdvanceMame. AdvanceMame is specifically designed for use in a DOS environment and the site in the link contains all the information and downloads you need to get it up and running with a Front-End in DOS. It also includes specific support for running on an Arcade Monitor.

A slightly more expensive but far easier route, is to source an old Jamma Cab (there's always some on ebay) and buy an ArcadeVGA graphics card (designed to work with Arcade Monitors out of the box) and a J-Pac (interfaces your controls and AVGA with the Jamma harness, simply plug and play), from Ultimarc.
Using a Windows based PC you can go from 0 to MameCab in about an hour. Its just as easy to hide windows and boot straight to your FE as it is to run in DOS so its well worth thinking about.

There's a vid of my first Mame Cab here, thats running on a Jamma Cab, using Commandline Mame (windows) with a front end. Right Click and 'save as' as its quite a big file. But it shows how start-up and shut down can be managed using windows.

Lastly you might want to purchase a copy of Project:Arcade. Its a book written by John St Clair owner of the BYOAC site. The site forums and the book are an invaluable resource when going through your first build.

Lastly, if you are using a very old PC, I wouldn't even attempt to run Mame0.114. You are better off sticking with an older version (available from Mame.net). Anything Pre 0.68 should be your best bet. Bear in mind you will need to find a compatible romset for old versions.

Hope that helps.

[Trident]

Using DOS mame is harder work than other builds.
However if you are set on going that route your best bet is to use AdvanceMame. AdvanceMame is specifically designed for use in a DOS environment and the site in the link contains all the information and downloads you need to get it up and running with a Front-End in DOS. It also includes specific support for running on an Arcade Monitor.

A slightly more expensive but far easier route, is to source an old Jamma Cab (there's always some on ebay) and buy an ArcadeVGA graphics card (designed to work with Arcade Monitors out of the box) and a J-Pac (interfaces your controls and AVGA with the Jamma harness, simply plug and play), from Ultimarc.
Using a Windows based PC you can go from 0 to MameCab in about an hour. Its just as easy to hide windows and boot straight to your FE as it is to run in DOS so its well worth thinking about.

There's a vid of my first Mame Cab here, thats running on a Jamma Cab, using Commandline Mame (windows) with a front end. Right Click and 'save as' as its quite a big file. But it shows how start-up and shut down can be managed using windows.

Lastly you might want to purchase a copy of Project:Arcade. Its a book written by John St Clair owner of the BYOAC site. The site forums and the book are an invaluable resource when going through your first build.

Lastly, if you are using a very old PC, I wouldn't even attempt to run Mame0.114. You are better off sticking with an older version (available from Mame.net). Anything Pre 0.68 should be your best bet. Bear in mind you will need to find a compatible romset for old versions.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your advise, I think the second method is my best bet. I'm totally new to this so i think i'll defiantly be checking out that book. Will the version of mame you described be able to run some of the games i want e.g. street fighter, Killer instinct, mortal combat, samurai showdown. couldn't find a Jamma Cab on ebay, also finding good roms for mame is much harder than i thought, i hate to say this but the software hurdles alone are starting to discourage me before i even start.

The system you built is simply awesome thats what i want for sure! Is that describe in the book? I noticed that it also runs different platforms, are these separate emulators or is it all mame. The celeron466 i have probably isn't enough to do that is it. If it isn't maybe i should start simple and make a tabletop machine running 80's games and maybe zsnes and fusion. My overall goal would be to replicate your machine if i could do it with my current computer that would be great. The more i look into this the more it looks like i've got a long road ahead of me, but i'll stick with it, you have to start somewhere right.

[FatTrucker]

Project Arcade, includes everything you need. Including full plans and templates if you want to build a cab from scratch.
It features every single type of control and interface, how they work, and where to get them.
It also includes a section on setting up your cab with different front-ends etc.

My old Mame cab (in the video) was running multiple emulators,including commandline mame, all launching from the same Front-end (mamewah) set up with custom skins for each emulator. All the software, sounds and vids running on the cab are freely available online.
The cab was running on an Athlon XP3500, 1Gb Ram with a 120Gb HDD, and included a 2.1 sound system on Windows XP.
All in all it cost me about £600 to build (but I already had most of the PC bits).

There's a work in progress pic of it here prior to it being finished since you can't really see much of the cab itself in the video. It was the first one I made (i've done several since) but I had no experience at the time so it gives an idea of how far the book and BYOAC site can take you without any prior experience.

The hardest part is getting Mame and any other emulators all configured and working from a single front end. Setting up mame for the first time can seem fairly confusing and daunting but you will quickly discover how logically it all works and can usually run with it fairly easily from there.

If you need help in getting Mame working then PM me and I'll see if I can help.