FRONT END

The front end that I used was ArcadeOS this was part of the PC2 JAMMA project. There is some great technical information on the site so take a look.

The main reason for using ArcadeOS was that it is DOS driven and very easy to set-up and use. All the functionality of the front end can be driven by the control panel.

I use ArcadeOS in a horizontal position and the text is very legible on a 27" TV. Just remember it's not a PC monitor and the text will never be as clear. Game selection is a breeze and you can create your own favorite lists. 

Here is a close up of the screen and front end. You can get a feel for the S-Video resolution of from this shot!.

There really isn't a lot that I have to say about the front-end of my cabinet. ArcadeOS fit my requirements to a "T".  The user intervention is all controllable by the control panel as far as I can tell. It will also run other emulation software but my only concern is MAME.

There is a lot of discussions about the best front end to use,  my advice to you is to try all the different ones for yourself and find which fits your needs best and can implemented in your cabinet. 

In the DOS section I'll show you my start-up proceedure, AutoExec.bat and Config.Sys files so that you can see how it all gels.

next:  DOS !