Quadhorn

_TwinWorld_; happy platformer. And surely there were ports of Elite 'I' and 'II'...

I take it the Megadrive II / Mega-CD (I) combo for £40 from our local Gamestation wouldn't be much use .... ? Their 2nd hand consoles _have_ to work for them to sell them, but you said that it powering up wasn't an issue anymore; why would you want a non-operational Sega-CD (v1)? There's always the CDX cart to deal with the Region problem. To be fair, though, you'd be looking at ~$100+ after carriage. I'm guessing you'd rather wait for a cheaper Sega-CD variant. If you don't want it, I may go and buy it anyway; I've just recalled I have a MD (I) and a M-CD II; buying the (II)/(I) combo from the shop i could finally pair like-console-with-like-CD-addon as nature intended.

For what my biased opinion is worth, get an A1200: * It can run anything for the A500 by bootstrapping the A500 OS from RAM and turning off AGA (fine; there's an 'A500 boot disk' that temporarily turns it into an A500 ala A7200->A2600). * It then has everything the A1200 has better: better CPU, 2MB base RAM, AGA graphics, HDD slot, harder, faster, stronger,.... So far as further support goes, there's still a fair sized fan base out there doing the same ridiculous things to Amigas that you/us (?) lot do to Ataris: IDE support, sound and graphics cards, etc. So far as I know, it's possible to build some evil 68030-based PC-style tower system using PCI cards and 3dfx graphics with huge meaty HDDs running *nix OS's. How far did you want to take it? I'll fish around for the details later if you want them.

Currently the MSX2; I've finally found the English translation CSS+ version of SD-Snatcher and _must_ complete it before I can move on to something else. "Other" it is. You'd think it'd be the 2600, but somehow trying to learn to program it is putting me off actually playing so much. Even with the shiny new Secret Adventure and Solaris carts I've just bought...

In the (unlikely) event you're in the UK, I'd highly suggest sifting through stuff at GameStation; it seems to be the only store left in the UK with an interest in retro-gaming. I'm sure I've seen MS Phantasy Star kicking about somewhere, for £10 or so... I definitely saw MD PS III for £20 but then that's not only steep, it's not what you're looking for. Either way, NTSC or PAL or either....? In case I see anything out and about.

Que? So far as I knew ArcadeOS itself is free, though to be fair it is meant as an "integral part" of PC2JAMMA ... so it's probably useless without the hardware they sell. Fair call. In that case try our old friend Zophar, though I've yet to build a cabinet or want a 'universal' front-end so you'd have to look through them all yourself for what you want. Maybe you or someone else could come up with a brief summary of them for us all, if you've time; http://www.zophar.net/frontends/universal.html If for some reason you're unaquainted with Zophar, it may be worth a look through the rest of the site; plenty of links (though sometimes outdated) to many emulator projects for many different platforms.

If I were to use an emulator in my home computer I use every day, then I would probably never have to touch the command line. Like you said there are plenty of neat software available. It's when you want to run different emulators from a central front end where it becomes a necessity to use the command line. 969964[/snapback] Fair do's. I think ArcadeOS covers a large number of DOS-based emulators with a single front-end with minimal fuss, if that's the sort of thing you're after (there're a number of 'config' type files available that allow easy use with a fair number of common emulators). Have we gone off at a tangent, though? ...wasn't the original post about getting MAME working at all, let alone in conjunction with multiple other emulators - where did that come in?

Yes configuring MAME is complicated. People who are not patient and proficient enough with computers will have trouble getting it running. At least the user needs to know how to handle compressed files. Those looking to use mame's artwork, other supplemental files, or setting up custom joysticks need to read the docs and be comfortable opening up text files. Auditing your roms falls entirely on the advance side IMO. Knowing to work the command line from Windows dos window also helps. Now I'm sure I'm just being simple-minded here. but I have not a clue what all of you are on about. Not the detailed innards and command-line interfaces of MAME (that I can deal with), but the n00b side of things such as "how do I deal with .zip's" and game auditing. Though I could spend my time searching through MAME manuals for which-switch-does-what I really cannot be bothered when i. I just want to play a game and ii. the people who produced the front-ends have already done this and produced nice shiny GUI's for it. If simple front-ends are not what you're after (i.e. you're specifically after command-line interfaces, etc.) than I'm wrong and ignore me. Otherwise; what are you having trouble with? With EmuLoader, or just about any other front-end for that matter, the games are searched-for much like the media library in WinAmp, starting a game is a simple as double-clicking the entry in the game list, .zip's make not the slightest difference as a decompressor is included and game auditing is a matter of selecting it off the menu (which then returns a report on which are complete and what roms the 'failed' games are missing). Supplement files go in the appropriate directories and configuration is as complicated as telling EmuLoader "use this MAME.exe here". I never need touch command-line stuff. ...or I'm just spending too much time infront of a PC these days. Natch. "Best"? Interfaces should be left to front-ends, unless you have a low-powered PC running things. The different versions of MAME are designed with different uses in mind - MAME used to be your basic DOS port but now comes as a WIN32 command-line version. "MAME 32" is your Pentium/Athlon/+ optimised version with built-in GUI. I though there used to be a "Cocktail MAME" that included native video orientation switching for games that use it for cocktail-table-style cabinets, though it may have vanished / been absorbed. "Advance MAME" provides better support and displays on actual arcade monitors (as opposed to PC monitors or generic TVs). There was also "Laser-MAME", designed for use with special QM2000 laser-display kit - you can play MAME on the under-sides of clouds (no really - http://www.nightlase.com.au/lasermame/) And various ports to other OS's; *nix, Amiga, BeOS, Etc. Pick the version of MAME suited to your machine, a front-end you like and play. For a standard Windows PC, MAME or MAME 32 should be fine, unless you have special display considerations to deal with. Try http://www.mameworld.net/

A12 is high when ROM is being accessed. It is low when the TIA, RIOT, or RAM are being accessed. During the latter times, it is imperative that the cartridge not disrupt the data bus. 969771[/snapback] So is A12 a "chip select" rather than an actual address line, then? Or is that a dumb question I should be looking up somewhere else?

Using MAME itself shouldn't be that difficult; aside from grabbing MAME itself, there are a number of front-ends that provide you with easy-to-use interfaces for the OS of your choice. I have a personal like of EmuLoader (not that I've checked every front-end out there). It provides a simple filter-able list of all ROMs I have, a one-click ROM check and starting a game is as simple as double-clicking on it's line in the list. Most other decent front-ends are along the same lines. For those building MAME-cabinets there are other front-ends designed specifically for this; typically they use a button combo to allow you access to the MAME/front-end menus using the game controller (e.g. holding P1start, then the rest of the buttons access the menus), rather than having to include a keyboard, extra buton panel or other non-arcade controller for that purpose. Btw, there's a fair sized community for building MAME cabinets, including cocktail tables. There are companies that sell complete MAME systems and those that sell kits for you to build one with minimal effort. Personally I'm intending to build my own Fablon and black vinyl cocktail table monstrosity when I have the time and money; for custom projects it's not that difficult to get hold of existing designs and mod them as required. "arcadecontrols.com" should set you in the right direction, with resources and links to example projects.

Some cartridges are just outright strange - I have a Wiz'n'Liz cartridge that refuses to work unless you put it in, then twist one end out at just the right angle. In years of use no amount of cleaning has ever helped nor does a single other cartridge I own (~60) show a similar problem. I'm convinced it's because the game is just too cute for the Megadrive and it wants some distance.

Aww, bless ... lil' Sonic. S'fair enough when you start - I recall, many years ago, an evening of raging madness at falling into the Chemical Plant ooze everytime I met up with Robotnik in Sonic 2. Well, I was small at the time. Ahem. Back to the subject at hand - would I get slapped down for Zombies (Ate My Neighbours) or good ol' Streets of Rage 3? Zombies was insane. Fun but insane. SoR 2 was easy going feel-good goon-slapping fun, yet SoR 3 left you feeling you'd have been better flicking your enemy with a wet towel rather than using the limp punches of the Good Guys. What happened? It made the harder settings near impossible just because you couldn't do anything to the goons (and not even scratch Robot Y) within the time limits.