Difference between revisions of "PC Operating System Comparison"

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===Windows===
 
===Windows===
{| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4
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!DOS
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Advantages:
!Windows
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:Is a current OS that more people are familiar with
|-
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:Hardware and software makers develop for Windows
|Nobody seems to understand DOS anymore
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|Is difficult to display on arcade monitor without special hardware
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Disadvantages:
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:Is difficult to display on arcade monitor without special hardware
|Newer hardware may not work under DOS (such as TV - Out)
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:Longer boot time
|Takes some time to boot to your Front-End
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:Security holes
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:Frequent operating system patches needed
  
 
===Relevant Links===
 
===Relevant Links===

Revision as of 16:46, 31 March 2006

Introduction

Back in the day, MAME was developed to run from DOS and users had to use a Windows frontend or Mame32 to get it running in Windows. From MAME v0.37b15 onwards, Windows became the MAME developers' platform of choice.

Running an older version of MAME from pure DOS will allow you to run a large number of games at a higher speed than would be possible on the same computer running Windows.

These days, a DOS system can take a lot of work to set up correctly, due to the lack of software support from motherboard and device manufacturers. For these users, a Linux install makes a lot of sense.

Each of these three operating systems has advantages and disadvantages.

DOS

Advantages:

Boots to your Front-End faster
Stable, does not crash
Can display on an arcade monitor without special hardware
Using batch files (.bat) a high degree of customization is available (including menu creation)

Linux

Windows

Advantages:

Is a current OS that more people are familiar with
Hardware and software makers develop for Windows

Disadvantages:

Is difficult to display on arcade monitor without special hardware
Longer boot time
Security holes
Frequent operating system patches needed

Relevant Links

Purple MAME - a good (but outdated) site on getting DOS Mame running on a cab.

Dos Mame Support - another good site on getting DOS Mame running on a DOS cab, including getting sound cards working and memory management.

How to make DOS Menus - a site showing how you can create menus in DOS (great for boot menus).