BYOAC OLD Wiki - User contributions [en]

Rotating Monitor

2008-11-03T03:55:47Z

Fronty: /* Programmatic Interaction */ spell/grammar checks

__NOTOC__
The '''Monitor''' is the player's display. The most commonly found monitors are fixed: They are installed in the cabinet either horiztonally , or vertically according to the Game the cabinet was designed to play. In general this makes newer, 16:9 widescreen displays a bad choice for a cabinet. There are some games that used different aspect ratios, including 1:1, but most used either 4x3 or 3x4.

On a Mame Cabinet, many different Arcade games are played. Mame can be configured to display black bars on the sides of a 4:3 ot the top of a 3:4 oriented fixed monitor so that the games will appear and can be played in their proper aspect. Mame also can be configured to rotate its display of the games so that they use the full display area, while still retaining the proper aspect. This has lead many people to designed mechanisms for Rotating the monitor within a cabinet.
 

== Types of Displays ==
[[Image:Cabinet1.jpg|right]]
In general there are two types of displays: CRT or Flat Panel. Purists prefer CRT screens, which have a number of advantages over Flat Planel displays: CRT based displays have high contrast, greater viewing angle, and are the type of display found in nearly all commercial gaming cabinets. They have the disadvantages of being heavy, and sometimes difficult to mount. When used in a cabinet with a rotating display, a fairly robust motor and power supply is required to attain the needed force to achieve the rotation. In addition, CRTs are sensitive to the Earth's Magnetic field and will therefore require degaussing each time their orientation is changed.

An LCD display is light, and very easy to mount, but suffers from a lower contrast ratio, reduced viewing angles, and possibly ghosting depending on the age of panel. (Most modern panels update every 5-10ms). Flat Panel displays are relatively easy to rotate, as they can be mounted and supported on a single pivot point. A Small hobby motor and the PC power supply are sufficent to achieve rotation, and there is no need to degauss the display. It is very importnat to select a monitor with a wide viewing angle, with both horizontal and vertical positions being easily viewed over at least 130 degrees. Some of the best LCDs offer 170 degree viewing in both oritentations, and these make the best rotating LCD displays.

== Rotating Mechanism Mechanics ==

In order to rotate a Monitor, even a flat panel display, a fair amount of torque is required. While there are literally dozens of variations of different methods available, almost all rely upon a motor driving a large pulley. Typically, the pulley is manufactured from a MDF or plywood circle with a cutout in which the monitor is embedded. Often, a motor drives a wheel along the edge or a side near the edge of this cut out to achieve the rotation, although many projects use a mechanism which requires a manual rotation by the user. One common variation is the use of a bicyle chain mounted around the outside of a wheel containing the monitor, driven by a cheap sproket attached to the motor.

== Rotating Mechanism Electronics ==

As with the mechanics, there are literally dozens of variations of different methods available for activating and driving the motor. In general, the motor is driven in a particular direction via the use of relays or an H-Bridge Circuit under control of a lower voltage logic signal. The logic signal can be provided by something as simple as a toggle switch with a neutral position. When set to the left, it sends the signal for counter-clockwise (CCW) rotation, and when set to the right for clockwise (CW). When in neutral, no logic signal is sent.

In some cases, limit switches (typically a reed switch) are used to detect when a display has reached its desired position. When this is detected, additional logic deactivates the motor.

== Programmatic Interaction ==

While all of the logic for rotating a display can be provided by manual or semi-automatic control, it is highly desirable to have the display adjust to a new orientation under programatic control, or to have the PC adjust its behavior based on the screen's orientation.

Many front-ends allow an adjustment of orientation when a button is pressed. This can be simulated via the use of mercury switches fixed to the monitor such that they trigger briefly as the monitor is rotated, and thus indicate to the front end that it should adjust its display.

Alternatively, a more complex mechanism can be used that allows the monitor to rotate under programmatic control. Often this is accomplished by using software called via a front end as a game is selected. This software then provides the logic signals required by the rotating mechanism via a data port on the PC, often the parallel or serial port. These same ports can be used to get feedback from the rotating mechanism so that it can determine when to stop the motor, etc.

=== Specific Implementations ===

Below are some examples of specific implementations for a rotating monitor - both for LCD and CRT based cabinets.

[[Weisshaupt's LCD Mechanism]]

== See Also ==
* [[Arcade Cabinet]]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Basics]]

Rotating Monitor

2008-11-03T03:53:27Z

Fronty: /* Rotating Mechanism Electronics */ spell/grammar checks

__NOTOC__
The '''Monitor''' is the player's display. The most commonly found monitors are fixed: They are installed in the cabinet either horiztonally , or vertically according to the Game the cabinet was designed to play. In general this makes newer, 16:9 widescreen displays a bad choice for a cabinet. There are some games that used different aspect ratios, including 1:1, but most used either 4x3 or 3x4.

On a Mame Cabinet, many different Arcade games are played. Mame can be configured to display black bars on the sides of a 4:3 ot the top of a 3:4 oriented fixed monitor so that the games will appear and can be played in their proper aspect. Mame also can be configured to rotate its display of the games so that they use the full display area, while still retaining the proper aspect. This has lead many people to designed mechanisms for Rotating the monitor within a cabinet.
 

== Types of Displays ==
[[Image:Cabinet1.jpg|right]]
In general there are two types of displays: CRT or Flat Panel. Purists prefer CRT screens, which have a number of advantages over Flat Planel displays: CRT based displays have high contrast, greater viewing angle, and are the type of display found in nearly all commercial gaming cabinets. They have the disadvantages of being heavy, and sometimes difficult to mount. When used in a cabinet with a rotating display, a fairly robust motor and power supply is required to attain the needed force to achieve the rotation. In addition, CRTs are sensitive to the Earth's Magnetic field and will therefore require degaussing each time their orientation is changed.

An LCD display is light, and very easy to mount, but suffers from a lower contrast ratio, reduced viewing angles, and possibly ghosting depending on the age of panel. (Most modern panels update every 5-10ms). Flat Panel displays are relatively easy to rotate, as they can be mounted and supported on a single pivot point. A Small hobby motor and the PC power supply are sufficent to achieve rotation, and there is no need to degauss the display. It is very importnat to select a monitor with a wide viewing angle, with both horizontal and vertical positions being easily viewed over at least 130 degrees. Some of the best LCDs offer 170 degree viewing in both oritentations, and these make the best rotating LCD displays.

== Rotating Mechanism Mechanics ==

In order to rotate a Monitor, even a flat panel display, a fair amount of torque is required. While there are literally dozens of variations of different methods available, almost all rely upon a motor driving a large pulley. Typically, the pulley is manufactured from a MDF or plywood circle with a cutout in which the monitor is embedded. Often, a motor drives a wheel along the edge or a side near the edge of this cut out to achieve the rotation, although many projects use a mechanism which requires a manual rotation by the user. One common variation is the use of a bicyle chain mounted around the outside of a wheel containing the monitor, driven by a cheap sproket attached to the motor.

== Rotating Mechanism Electronics ==

As with the mechanics, there are literally dozens of variations of different methods available for activating and driving the motor. In general, the motor is driven in a particular direction via the use of relays or an H-Bridge Circuit under control of a lower voltage logic signal. The logic signal can be provided by something as simple as a toggle switch with a neutral position. When set to the left, it sends the signal for counter-clockwise (CCW) rotation, and when set to the right for clockwise (CW). When in neutral, no logic signal is sent.

In some cases, limit switches (typically a reed switch) are used to detect when a display has reached its desired position. When this is detected, additional logic deactivates the motor.

== Programmatic Interaction ==

While all of the logic for Rotating a display can be provided by manual control, or by semi-automatic control, it is highly desirable to have the display adjust to a new orientation under programatic control, or to have the PC adjust its behavior based on the screen's orientation.

Many front-ends allow an adjustment of orientation when a button is pressed. This can be simulated via the use of mercury switches fixed to the monitor such that they trigger briefly as the monitor is rotated, and thus indicate to the front-end that it should adjust its display.

Alternatively, a more complex mechanism can be used that allows the monitor to rotate under programmatic control. Often this is accomplished by using Software called via a Frontend as a Game is selected. This software then provides the logic signals required by the Rotating mechanism via a data port on the PC, often the Parallel or serial port. These same ports can be used to get feedback from the rotating mechanism so that it can determine when to stop the motor, etc.

=== Specific Implementations ===

Below are some examples of specific implementations for a Rotating Monitor - both for LCD and CRT based cabinets.

[[Weisshaupt's LCD Mechanism]]

== See Also ==
* [[Arcade Cabinet]]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Basics]]

Rotating Monitor

2008-11-03T03:51:31Z

Fronty: /* Rotating Mechanism Mechanics */ spell/grammar checks

__NOTOC__
The '''Monitor''' is the player's display. The most commonly found monitors are fixed: They are installed in the cabinet either horiztonally , or vertically according to the Game the cabinet was designed to play. In general this makes newer, 16:9 widescreen displays a bad choice for a cabinet. There are some games that used different aspect ratios, including 1:1, but most used either 4x3 or 3x4.

On a Mame Cabinet, many different Arcade games are played. Mame can be configured to display black bars on the sides of a 4:3 ot the top of a 3:4 oriented fixed monitor so that the games will appear and can be played in their proper aspect. Mame also can be configured to rotate its display of the games so that they use the full display area, while still retaining the proper aspect. This has lead many people to designed mechanisms for Rotating the monitor within a cabinet.
 

== Types of Displays ==
[[Image:Cabinet1.jpg|right]]
In general there are two types of displays: CRT or Flat Panel. Purists prefer CRT screens, which have a number of advantages over Flat Planel displays: CRT based displays have high contrast, greater viewing angle, and are the type of display found in nearly all commercial gaming cabinets. They have the disadvantages of being heavy, and sometimes difficult to mount. When used in a cabinet with a rotating display, a fairly robust motor and power supply is required to attain the needed force to achieve the rotation. In addition, CRTs are sensitive to the Earth's Magnetic field and will therefore require degaussing each time their orientation is changed.

An LCD display is light, and very easy to mount, but suffers from a lower contrast ratio, reduced viewing angles, and possibly ghosting depending on the age of panel. (Most modern panels update every 5-10ms). Flat Panel displays are relatively easy to rotate, as they can be mounted and supported on a single pivot point. A Small hobby motor and the PC power supply are sufficent to achieve rotation, and there is no need to degauss the display. It is very importnat to select a monitor with a wide viewing angle, with both horizontal and vertical positions being easily viewed over at least 130 degrees. Some of the best LCDs offer 170 degree viewing in both oritentations, and these make the best rotating LCD displays.

== Rotating Mechanism Mechanics ==

In order to rotate a Monitor, even a flat panel display, a fair amount of torque is required. While there are literally dozens of variations of different methods available, almost all rely upon a motor driving a large pulley. Typically, the pulley is manufactured from a MDF or plywood circle with a cutout in which the monitor is embedded. Often, a motor drives a wheel along the edge or a side near the edge of this cut out to achieve the rotation, although many projects use a mechanism which requires a manual rotation by the user. One common variation is the use of a bicyle chain mounted around the outside of a wheel containing the monitor, driven by a cheap sproket attached to the motor.

== Rotating Mechanism Electronics ==

As with the mechanics, there literally dozens of variations of different methods available for activating and driving the motor. In general, the Motor is driven in a particular direction via the use of Relays or an H-Bridge Circuit under control of a lower voltage logic signal. The Logic Signal can be provided by something as simple as a toggle Switch with a neutral position. When set to the left, it sends the signal for CCW roatation, and when set to the Right for CW. When in neutral, no logic signal is sent.

In some cases, limit switches (typically a reed switch) are used to detect when a display has reached its desired position. When this is detected, additional logic deactivates the Motor.

== Programmatic Interaction ==

While all of the logic for Rotating a display can be provided by manual control, or by semi-automatic control, it is highly desirable to have the display adjust to a new orientation under programatic control, or to have the PC adjust its behavior based on the screen's orientation.

Many front-ends allow an adjustment of orientation when a button is pressed. This can be simulated via the use of mercury switches fixed to the monitor such that they trigger briefly as the monitor is rotated, and thus indicate to the front-end that it should adjust its display.

Alternatively, a more complex mechanism can be used that allows the monitor to rotate under programmatic control. Often this is accomplished by using Software called via a Frontend as a Game is selected. This software then provides the logic signals required by the Rotating mechanism via a data port on the PC, often the Parallel or serial port. These same ports can be used to get feedback from the rotating mechanism so that it can determine when to stop the motor, etc.

=== Specific Implementations ===

Below are some examples of specific implementations for a Rotating Monitor - both for LCD and CRT based cabinets.

[[Weisshaupt's LCD Mechanism]]

== See Also ==
* [[Arcade Cabinet]]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Basics]]

Rotating Monitor

2008-11-03T03:49:12Z

Fronty: /* Types of Displays */ spell checks

__NOTOC__
The '''Monitor''' is the player's display. The most commonly found monitors are fixed: They are installed in the cabinet either horiztonally , or vertically according to the Game the cabinet was designed to play. In general this makes newer, 16:9 widescreen displays a bad choice for a cabinet. There are some games that used different aspect ratios, including 1:1, but most used either 4x3 or 3x4.

On a Mame Cabinet, many different Arcade games are played. Mame can be configured to display black bars on the sides of a 4:3 ot the top of a 3:4 oriented fixed monitor so that the games will appear and can be played in their proper aspect. Mame also can be configured to rotate its display of the games so that they use the full display area, while still retaining the proper aspect. This has lead many people to designed mechanisms for Rotating the monitor within a cabinet.
 

== Types of Displays ==
[[Image:Cabinet1.jpg|right]]
In general there are two types of displays: CRT or Flat Panel. Purists prefer CRT screens, which have a number of advantages over Flat Planel displays: CRT based displays have high contrast, greater viewing angle, and are the type of display found in nearly all commercial gaming cabinets. They have the disadvantages of being heavy, and sometimes difficult to mount. When used in a cabinet with a rotating display, a fairly robust motor and power supply is required to attain the needed force to achieve the rotation. In addition, CRTs are sensitive to the Earth's Magnetic field and will therefore require degaussing each time their orientation is changed.

An LCD display is light, and very easy to mount, but suffers from a lower contrast ratio, reduced viewing angles, and possibly ghosting depending on the age of panel. (Most modern panels update every 5-10ms). Flat Panel displays are relatively easy to rotate, as they can be mounted and supported on a single pivot point. A Small hobby motor and the PC power supply are sufficent to achieve rotation, and there is no need to degauss the display. It is very importnat to select a monitor with a wide viewing angle, with both horizontal and vertical positions being easily viewed over at least 130 degrees. Some of the best LCDs offer 170 degree viewing in both oritentations, and these make the best rotating LCD displays.

== Rotating Mechanism Mechanics ==

In order to rotate a Monitor, even a Flat Panel display, a fair amount of torque is required. While there are literally dozens of variations of different methods available, almost all rely upon a motor driving a Large Pulley. Typically, the pulley is manufactured from a MDF or Plywood Circle with a cutout in which the Monitor is embedded. Often, a Motor drives a wheel along the edge or a side near the edge of this cut out to achieve the rotation, although many projects use a mechnism which requires a manual rotation by the user. One comman variation is the use of a bicyle chain mounted around the outside of a wheel containing the monitor, driven by a cheap sproket attached to the motor.

== Rotating Mechanism Electronics ==

As with the mechanics, there literally dozens of variations of different methods available for activating and driving the motor. In general, the Motor is driven in a particular direction via the use of Relays or an H-Bridge Circuit under control of a lower voltage logic signal. The Logic Signal can be provided by something as simple as a toggle Switch with a neutral position. When set to the left, it sends the signal for CCW roatation, and when set to the Right for CW. When in neutral, no logic signal is sent.

In some cases, limit switches (typically a reed switch) are used to detect when a display has reached its desired position. When this is detected, additional logic deactivates the Motor.

== Programmatic Interaction ==

While all of the logic for Rotating a display can be provided by manual control, or by semi-automatic control, it is highly desirable to have the display adjust to a new orientation under programatic control, or to have the PC adjust its behavior based on the screen's orientation.

Many front-ends allow an adjustment of orientation when a button is pressed. This can be simulated via the use of mercury switches fixed to the monitor such that they trigger briefly as the monitor is rotated, and thus indicate to the front-end that it should adjust its display.

Alternatively, a more complex mechanism can be used that allows the monitor to rotate under programmatic control. Often this is accomplished by using Software called via a Frontend as a Game is selected. This software then provides the logic signals required by the Rotating mechanism via a data port on the PC, often the Parallel or serial port. These same ports can be used to get feedback from the rotating mechanism so that it can determine when to stop the motor, etc.

=== Specific Implementations ===

Below are some examples of specific implementations for a Rotating Monitor - both for LCD and CRT based cabinets.

[[Weisshaupt's LCD Mechanism]]

== See Also ==
* [[Arcade Cabinet]]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Basics]]

Front-Ends

2008-07-23T04:02:28Z

Fronty:

== Front-end Software ==
Below is the front-end software comparison table. Click on the software's name for detailed information about that software. Please be aware that this may be incomplete! The individual pages will have the software's homepage for you to verify any information or questions you may have!

''Note: Any unknown information in the table is filled with placeholders (placeholders are shown in italics).''
''Note: To be listed as Cabinet friendly, it needs to be able to be used with joysticks and buttons only (CAB).'''

{| Width="100%" valign="top" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" style="background:white; color:black; border:1px solid silver;"
|- style="background:navy; color:white"
| '''Software'''
| '''BYOAC User'''
| '''OS'''
| '''Type1'''
| '''Monitor Orientation'''
| '''Emulators3'''
| '''Other Features4'''

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Typical recommended frontends by BYOAC users:</center>'''

|-
| [[AtomicFE]]
| Youki
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB JB LED LR MR ST VID

|-
| [[MaLa]]
| Loadman (previously Swindus)
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Mamewah]]
| Minwah
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB LR MR ST VID

|-
| [[Maximus Arcade]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Shareware ($25)
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| 39+ arcade and console emulators
| CAB JB MR ST VID

|-
| [[GameEx]]
| TSpeirs
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Shareware ($25)
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Recommended for Linux (both active and discounted):</center>'''

|-
| [[AdvanceMenu]]
| %
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LR MR VID

|-
| [[Wah!Cade]]
| Balki
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| DEV CAB LR MR ST VID

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Other cabinet friendly frontends:</center>'''

|-
| [[Emulaxian/3D Arcade]]
| )p(
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB MR SW

|-
| [[HyperSpin]]
| BadBoyBill
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Not released yet
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Khameleon]]
| Cakemeister
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB DEV LR MR SW VID

|-
| [[MAMELOAD TNG]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD (MAME-BASED), M1, Final Burn Alpha
| CAB DEV MR SW

|-
| [[UltraMame]]
| r.cade
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| CAB DEV MR VID

|-
| [[Fronty]]
| FrontyDev
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV LCD MR ST

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Mouse based frontends:</center>'''

|-
| [[EmuLaunch]]
| %
| [[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| Freeware for personal use
| Emulator dependent
| Uses Finder to open ROMS in 15 arcade and console emulators
| SW

|-
| [[MAME32]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| DEV MR

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Discontinued and/or unsupported frontends5:</center>'''

|-
| [[ArcadeOS]]
| %
| [[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LCD LR MR

|-
| [[ArcadEpic]]
| chowny
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB JB MR VID

|-
| [[Dragon King]]
| Howard_Casto
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB LR MR SW VID

|-
| [[GameLauncher]]
| Dave Dribin
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB LR MR

|-
| [[Kymaera]]
| PacManFan
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Ultrastyle]]
| ultrastyle
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| CAB MR SW VID

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Frontends with missing "other features" tab:</center>'''

|-
| [[CabFE]]
| %
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[PyreCade]]
| flemming
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| OpenSource
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| Mame <.106uq2
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[XMAME-GUI]]
| %
| [[Image:Java.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| SDL-MAME Only
| ''Placeholder''

|}

''Homepages for these FEs are gone, and are (might?) not active anymore:''

* ''[[Arcade.EXE]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''
* ''[[ArcadeFE]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''
* ''[[ArcadeFX]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''

'''1)''' Type:
* '''Open Source:''' is fully functional software with source code included.
* '''Freeware:''' is fully functional without payment and without nag screens and ads.
* '''Shareware:''' has limited functionality (or has nags) until payment is made.
* '''Commercial:''' software is fully functional for a limited time, after which payment must be made.

'''2)''' Skinnable:
* '''Basic: ''' change only the background, and maybe text size and/or color
* '''Advanced: ''' change all artwork. The interface elements are locked in place, although buttons may be able to be resized
* '''Full: ''' change all artwork, all interface elements can be changed (resize, moveable and resolution).

'''3)''' Emulators:
* If '''CMD''' is shown, this front-end can run all command line based emulators.
* If '''PC''' is shown, it can run PC games as well (using bat and/or shortcuts files).

'''4)''' Other Features:
*'''DEV''' - Still in developing for fixing bugs or/and supported.
*'''AM''' - Native arcade monitor support without ArcadeVGA card
*'''CAB''' - Mouse and keyboard-free operation (for cabinets)
*'''JB''' - Integrated jukebox
*'''LCD''' - LCD screen, such as those found at http://www.seetron.com/
*'''LED''' - Front-end can control a LED controller
*'''LR''' - Low Resolutions (below 640 pixels wide)
*'''MR''' - Multiple Resolutions
*'''ST''' - Skin tool included
*'''SW''' - Skinnable without tool
*'''VID''' - Video snapshots (movies)

'''5)''' About Discontinued Frontends (no DEV in the Other Features list):

Just because a frontend is discontinued does not mean that it is a bad frontend.
Either there is no more need to update it, or the author just left the project.
Discontinued frontends are still used in cabinets today, and most run on both older and newer machines, though some may have some issues with newer versions of MAME.
So check these out as well.

Front-Ends

2008-07-23T04:01:45Z

Fronty: Moved fronty out of the discontinued list.

== Front-end Software ==
Below is the front-end software comparison table. Click on the software's name for detailed information about that software. Please be aware that this may be incomplete! The individual pages will have the software's homepage for you to verify any information or questions you may have!

''Note: Any unknown information in the table is filled with placeholders (placeholders are shown in italics).''
''Note: To be listed as Cabinet friendly, it needs to be able to be used with joysticks and buttons only (CAB).'''

{| Width="100%" valign="top" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" style="background:white; color:black; border:1px solid silver;"
|- style="background:navy; color:white"
| '''Software'''
| '''BYOAC User'''
| '''OS'''
| '''Type1'''
| '''Monitor Orientation'''
| '''Emulators3'''
| '''Other Features4'''

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Typical recommended frontends by BYOAC users:</center>'''

|-
| [[AtomicFE]]
| Youki
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB JB LED LR MR ST VID

|-
| [[MaLa]]
| Loadman (previously Swindus)
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Mamewah]]
| Minwah
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB LR MR ST VID

|-
| [[Maximus Arcade]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Shareware ($25)
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| 39+ arcade and console emulators
| CAB JB MR ST VID

|-
| [[GameEx]]
| TSpeirs
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Shareware ($25)
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Recommended for Linux (both active and discounted):</center>'''

|-
| [[AdvanceMenu]]
| %
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LR MR VID

|-
| [[Wah!Cade]]
| Balki
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| DEV CAB LR MR ST VID

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Other cabinet friendly frontends:</center>'''

|-
| [[Emulaxian/3D Arcade]]
| )p(
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB MR SW

|-
| [[HyperSpin]]
| BadBoyBill
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Not released yet
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Khameleon]]
| Cakemeister
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB DEV LR MR SW VID

|-
| [[MAMELOAD TNG]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD (MAME-BASED), M1, Final Burn Alpha
| CAB DEV MR SW

|-
| [[UltraMame]]
| r.cade
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| CAB DEV MR VID

|-
| [[Fronty]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV LCD MR ST

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Mouse based frontends:</center>'''

|-
| [[EmuLaunch]]
| %
| [[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| Freeware for personal use
| Emulator dependent
| Uses Finder to open ROMS in 15 arcade and console emulators
| SW

|-
| [[MAME32]]
| %
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| DEV MR

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Discontinued and/or unsupported frontends5:</center>'''

|-
| [[ArcadeOS]]
| %
| [[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LCD LR MR

|-
| [[ArcadEpic]]
| chowny
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB JB MR VID

|-
| [[Dragon King]]
| Howard_Casto
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB LR MR SW VID

|-
| [[GameLauncher]]
| Dave Dribin
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB LR MR

|-
| [[Kymaera]]
| PacManFan
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Ultrastyle]]
| ultrastyle
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| CAB MR SW VID

|- style="background:gray; color:white"
|colspan="7"|'''<center>Frontends with missing "other features" tab:</center>'''

|-
| [[CabFE]]
| %
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[PyreCade]]
| flemming
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| OpenSource
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| Mame <.106uq2
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[XMAME-GUI]]
| %
| [[Image:Java.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| SDL-MAME Only
| ''Placeholder''

|}

''Homepages for these FEs are gone, and are (might?) not active anymore:''

* ''[[Arcade.EXE]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''
* ''[[ArcadeFE]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''
* ''[[ArcadeFX]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''

'''1)''' Type:
* '''Open Source:''' is fully functional software with source code included.
* '''Freeware:''' is fully functional without payment and without nag screens and ads.
* '''Shareware:''' has limited functionality (or has nags) until payment is made.
* '''Commercial:''' software is fully functional for a limited time, after which payment must be made.

'''2)''' Skinnable:
* '''Basic: ''' change only the background, and maybe text size and/or color
* '''Advanced: ''' change all artwork. The interface elements are locked in place, although buttons may be able to be resized
* '''Full: ''' change all artwork, all interface elements can be changed (resize, moveable and resolution).

'''3)''' Emulators:
* If '''CMD''' is shown, this front-end can run all command line based emulators.
* If '''PC''' is shown, it can run PC games as well (using bat and/or shortcuts files).

'''4)''' Other Features:
*'''DEV''' - Still in developing for fixing bugs or/and supported.
*'''AM''' - Native arcade monitor support without ArcadeVGA card
*'''CAB''' - Mouse and keyboard-free operation (for cabinets)
*'''JB''' - Integrated jukebox
*'''LCD''' - LCD screen, such as those found at http://www.seetron.com/
*'''LED''' - Front-end can control a LED controller
*'''LR''' - Low Resolutions (below 640 pixels wide)
*'''MR''' - Multiple Resolutions
*'''ST''' - Skin tool included
*'''SW''' - Skinnable without tool
*'''VID''' - Video snapshots (movies)

'''5)''' About Discontinued Frontends (no DEV in the Other Features list):

Just because a frontend is discontinued does not mean that it is a bad frontend.
Either there is no more need to update it, or the author just left the project.
Discontinued frontends are still used in cabinets today, and most run on both older and newer machines, though some may have some issues with newer versions of MAME.
So check these out as well.

Front-Ends

2008-02-14T03:36:49Z

Fronty:

A '''front-end''' is a menu system that allows players to select from a list of games. Once a game is selected from the list, the game is launched using an appropriate emulator. Here is a list of the various emulators and a brief description of each. If needed, further information will be found on the individual page for that emulator.

Many front-ends make use of a collection of [[Screens, Titles & Extras|screenshots, photos of cabinet and scans of flyers]]. These additional files can add extra information on the history or appearance of the original arcade cabinet or console game.

== Front-end Software ==
Below is the front-end software comparison table. Click on the software's name for detailed information about that software. Please be aware that this may be incomplete! The individual pages will have the software's homepage for you to verify any information or questions you may have!

''Note: Any unknown information in the table is filled with placeholders (placeholders are shown in italics).''

{| Width="100%" valign="top" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" style="background:white; color:black; border:1px solid silver;"
|- style="background:navy; color:white"
| '''Software'''
| '''OS'''
| '''Type1'''
| '''Monitor Orientation'''
| '''Emulators3'''
| '''Other Features4'''

|-
| [[AdvanceMenu]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LR MR VID

|-
| [[Arcade.EXE]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[ArcadeOS]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LCD LR MR

|-
| [[ArcadEpic]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB JB MR VID

|-
| [[AtomicFE]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV JB LED LR MR ST VID

|-
| [[CabFE]]
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[Dragon King]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB DEV LR MR SW VID

|-
| [[EmuLaunch]]
| [[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| ''Placeholder''
| ''Placeholder''
| 15 arcade and console emulators
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[Emulaxian/3D Arcade]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB MR SW

|-
| [[Emuloader]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME Daphne Zinc AGEMAME PinMAME
| None

|-
| [[Fronty]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV LCD MR ST

|-
| [[GameLauncher]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB LR MR

|-
| [[GameEx]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Shareware ($25)
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Khameleon]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB DEV LR MR SW VID

|-
| [[Kymaera]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD
| AM CAB LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[MaLa]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|-
| [[Maximus Arcade]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Commercial ($25)
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| 39+ arcade and console emulators
| CAB DEV JB MR ST VID

|-
| [[MAME32]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| DEV MR

|-
| [[Mamewah]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Freeware
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD PC
| CAB DEV LR MR ST VID

|-
| [[PyreCade]]
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| OpenSource
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| Mame <.106uq2
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[Ultrastyle]]
| [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| MAME only
| CAB DEV MR VID

|-
| [[XMAME-GUI]]
| [[Image:Java.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| SDL-MAME Only
| ''Placeholder''

|-
| [[Wah!Cade]]
| [[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
| Open Source
| [[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
| CMD
| CAB DEV LR MR ST VID
|}

''Homepages for these FEs are gone, and are not active anymore:''

* ''[[ArcadeFE]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''
* ''[[ArcadeFX]] - Windows-only MAME front-end''

'''1)''' Type:
* '''Open Source:''' is fully functional software with source code included.
* '''Freeware:''' is fully functional without payment and without nag screens and ads.
* '''Shareware:''' has limited functionality (or have nags) until payment is made.
* '''Commercial:''' software is fully functional for a limited time, after which payment must be made.

'''2)''' Skinnable:
* '''Basic: ''' change only the background, and maybe text size and/or color
* '''Advanced: ''' change all artwork. The interface elements are locked in place, although buttons may be able to be resized
* '''Full: ''' change all artwork, all interface elements can be changed (resize, moveable and resolution).

'''3)''' Emulators:
* If '''CMD''' is shown, this front-end can run all command line based emulators.
* If '''PC''' is shown, it can run PC games as well (using bat and/or shortcuts files).

'''4)''' Other Features:
*'''AM''' - Native arcade monitor support without ArcadeVGA card
*'''CAB''' - Mouse and keyboard-free operation (for cabinets)
*'''DEV''' - Under active development
*'''JB''' - Integrated jukebox
*'''LCD''' - LCD screen, such as those found at http://www.seetron.com/
*'''LED''' - Front-end can control a LED controller
*'''LR''' - Low Resolutions (below 640 pixels wide)
*'''MR''' - Multiple Resolutions
*'''ST''' - Skin tool included
*'''SW''' - Skinnable without tool
*'''VID''' - Video snapshots (movies)

== See Also ==
* [[Software]]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Software]]

Fronty

2008-02-14T03:19:46Z

Fronty:

[[Image:fronty_sample.png|thumb|Fronty Screenshot|330px|right]]

Fronty is a menu front end for Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP. It uses a database to keep tab of your games, lists and emulators. Some of the user benefits are:

* Create lists using any sorting logic you like.
* Mix and match games from different emulators, genres, etc.
* Quickly scan for games and setup lists using Fronty's List Wizard.
* No fiddling with ini/text files.
* Parental Controls Filter by game, game time, day of the week, etc.

Fronty comes with three supporting programs: a configuration panel, skin editor and data backup recovery tool. Configure all aspects of Fronty through its setup panel. Create skins that shows game related images, sound effects, and intro/launch videos with the skin editor.

For more information and download links visit's Fronty website at http://www.fronty-soft.com
{{FrontEnd}}
[[Category:Software]]

Fronty

2007-02-08T01:48:58Z

Fronty: Created Fronty page

[[Image:fronty_sample.png|thumb|Fronty Screenshot|330px|right]]

Fronty is a menu front end for Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP. It uses a database to keep tab of your games, lists and emulators. Some of the user benefits are:

* Create lists using any sorting logic you like.
* Mix and match games from different emulators, genres, etc.
* Quickly scan for games and setup lists using Fronty's List Wizard.

Fronty comes with two supporting programs: a configuration panel and a skin editor. Configure all aspects of Fronty through its setup panel. Create skins that shows game related images, sound effects, and intro/launch videos with the skin editor.

For more information and download links visit's Fronty website at http://www.fronty-soft.com
{{FrontEnd}}
[[Category:Software]]

File:Fronty sample.png

2007-02-08T01:47:48Z

Fronty:

Front-Ends

2007-02-08T01:46:48Z

Fronty: /* Frontend Software */ added 'Fronty' to the FE lists

A frontend is a menu system that allows players to select from a list of games. Once a game is selected from the list, the game is launched using an appropriate emulator. Here is a list of the various emulators and a brief description of each. If needed, further information will be found on the individual page for that emulator.

Many frontends make use of a collection of [[Screens, Titles & Extras|screenshots, photos of cabinet and scans of flyers]]. These additional files can add extra information on the history or appearance of the original arcade cabinet or console game.

== Frontend Software ==

Below is the frontend software comparison table. Click on the software's name for detailed information about that software. Please be aware that this may be incomplete! The individual pages will have the software's homepage for you to verify any information or questions you may have!

''Note: Any unknown information in the table is filled with placeholders (placeholders are shown in italics).''

{| Width="100%" valign="top" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" style="background:white; color:black; border:1px solid silver;"
|- style="background:navy; color:white"
|'''Software'''
|'''OS'''
|'''Type1'''
|'''Monitor Orientation'''
|'''Emulators3'''
|'''Other Features4'''

|-
|[[AdvanceMenu]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD
|AM CAB LR MR VID

|-
|[[Arcade.EXE]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|CMD
|''Placeholder''

|-
|[[ArcadeFE]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|MAME only
|None

|-
|[[ArcadeFX]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|MAME only
|MR

|-
|[[ArcadeOS]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD
|AM CAB LCD LR MR

|-
|[[ArcadEpic]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|CMD
|CAB JB MR VID

|-
|[[AtomicFE]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD PC
|CAB DEV JB LR MR ST VID

|-
|[[Dragon King]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|CMD
|CAB DEV LR MR SW VID

|-
|[[EmuLaunch]]
|[[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
|''Placeholder''
|''Placeholder''
|15 arcade and console emulators
|''Placeholder''

|-
|[[Emulaxian/3D Arcade]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD
|CAB MR SW
|-
|[[Emuloader]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|MAME Daphne Zinc AGEMAME PinMAME
|None

|-
|[[Fronty]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Shareware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD PC
|CAB DEV LCD MR ST

|-
|[[GameLauncher]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD
|CAB LR MR

|-
|[[GameEx]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Shareware ($25)
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD PC
|CAB DEV JB LCD MR ST SW VID

|-
|[[Kymaera]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS DOS icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD
|AM CAB LR MR ST SW VID

|-
|[[MaLa]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]][[Image:Monitor vertical icon.gif]]
|CMD PC
|CAB DEV JB LCD LED LR MR ST SW VID

|-
|[[Maximus Arcade]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Commercial ($25)
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|39+ arcade and console emulators
|CAB DEV JB MR ST VID

|-
|[[MAME32]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|MAME only
|DEV MR

|-
|[[Mamewah]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Freeware
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|CMD PC
|CAB DEV LR MR ST VID

|-
|[[Ultrastyle]]
|[[Image:OS windows icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|MAME only
|CAB MR VID

|-
|[[Wah!Cade]]
|[[Image:OS linux icon.gif]][[Image:OS windows icon.gif]][[Image:OS_apple_icon.gif]]
|Open Source
|[[Image:Monitor horizontal icon.gif]]
|CMD
|CAB DEV LR MR ST VID
|}

'''1)''' Type:
* '''Open Source:''' is fully functional software with source code included.
* '''Freeware:''' is fully functional without payment and without nag screens and ads.
* '''Shareware:''' has limited functionality (or have nags) until payment is made.
* '''Commercial:''' software is fully functional for a limited time, after which payment must be made.

'''2)''' Skinnable:
* '''Basic: ''' change only the background, and maybe text size and/or color
* '''Advanced: ''' change all artwork. The interface elements are locked in place, although buttons may be able to be resized
* '''Full: ''' change all artwork, all interface elements can be changed (resize, moveable and resolution).

'''3)''' Emulators:
* If '''CMD''' is shown, this frontend can run all command line based emulators.
* If '''PC''' is shown, it can run PC games as well (using bat and/or shortcuts files).

'''4)''' Other Features:
*'''AM''' - Native arcade monitor support without ArcadeVGA card
*'''CAB''' - Mouse and keyboard-free operation (for cabinets)
*'''DEV''' - Under active development
*'''JB''' - Integrated jukebox
*'''LCD''' - LCD screen, such as those found at http://www.seetron.com/
*'''LED''' - Frontend can control a LED controller
*'''LR''' - Low Resolutions (below 640 pixels wide)
*'''MR''' - Multiple Resolutions
*'''ST''' - Skin tool included
*'''SW''' - Skinnable without tool
*'''VID''' - Video snapshots (movies)

==See Also==
* [[Software]]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Software]]

Hiding Windows

2007-02-08T01:43:50Z

Fronty: /* Changing the Cursor Shape During the Logon Screen */

{{DisclaimerSoftware}}

==Introduction==
To add to the illusion that your home arcade machine is a 'real' arcade machine, it would be nice to be able to hide the familiar Windows PC look and feel. Nobody wants to see the Windows logo when your cabinet is turned on; it's kind of like being caught with your pants down. There are several ways of achieving this, let's have a look at your options...

''note: this article deals with hiding various parts of the operating system when the computer is in start-up phase. To hide the windows user interface and select games take a look at the [[Front-Ends|front-end software]] article.''

==Replacing Your BIOS Logo==

Some modern BIOSes support changing the logo that is the very first thing displayed when your computer turns on. It should be noted that there’s not too much to be gained from doing this as most computers are so fast that the image is only momentarily flashed and your display device normally won’t have got up to operating specifications before the BIOS screen disappears. If yours can be changed, there will be an utility to do this on the motherboard manufacturer’s website.

Some (but not all) ASUS brand motherboards support this feature. Support for this feature in other brands is unknown.

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows XP =
== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==

The boot screen is the Windows XP logo on a black background with a little blue progress bar underneath it. Before making any changes, be sure to create a System Restore point before attempting these methods. While not a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, it can save you from yourself. This way, in case something goes wrong, restarting your computer, pressing and holding F8 until the Operating System menu appears and selecting “Last Known Good Configuration” should get you back to your previous state in most cases.

You can modify your boot screen in these ways:

=== '''BootSkin''' ===
: This product inserts a driver file into the XP startup sequence that displays an image instead of actually loading a driver.

:: Pros:
::* It does not patch or access any operating system files.
::* If something goes wrong, it is simple to fix.
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* Relies on BIOS and driver manufacturers strictly obeying certain guidelines.
::* If the system is incompatible, you'll likely get a "blue screen of death".

=== '''BootXP''' ===
: This alters resources and some other bits in a file called “ntoskrnl.exe”.

:: Pros:
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* '''''If something goes wrong, you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right and knowledge of how to use the recovery console.'''''
::* It accesses and patches a critical operating system file.
::* You get really ugly and slow nag screens every time you want to change your boot screen if you don’t pay for it.

=== '''Slimm Boot-Logo / The Microsoft Way''' ===
: There is an undocumented switch in Microsoft Windows XP’s operating system settings file. Slimm Boot-Logo simply flicks the switch.

::* '''''You can also set this switch manually. Go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. Select “Edit startup options file”. Add “ /bootlogo /noguiboot” to your default operating system (there must be a space between each switch) and add a 16-color 640 x 480 pixel BMP file called "boot.bmp” to your Windows directory.'''''

:: Pros:
::* Simple, safe, simply asks the operating system to use a custom boot screen.
::* No illegal or unrecommended patching of any file.
::* Least chance of anything going wrong (your changed settings can be checked before you reboot. After performing the change, go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. If you still have “Microsoft Windows XP” in the combo box at the top, everything should work fine next time you boot.

:: Cons:
::* No progress bar on custom boot screen.
::* Have to convert your image to 640 x 480 pixels and 16 colors yourself.
::* If it goes wrong you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right.

:::* '''If something goes wrong: You need to rebuild the “boot.ini” file using the instructions in [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184 this knowledge base article]'''

=== Makeing Your Own Bootskin for XP using Bootskin_Free ===
This may work for other "skinning" softwares but I have only used Bootskin. 
This is a description of how to make your own Bootskin for win XP.

The bootskin is composed of 3 parts. The main image, the progress bar, 
and a little script (for lack of a beter term) to tie the two together. 
These are then placed into a folder and zipped.

*Start by making a folder for your bootskin.
*Rename it to Whateveryoulike.bootskin

I use Photoshop to make my images, but you can use any program that will allow
you to change color modes and save a profile of an indexed color palet.

*Main Picture is 640 x 480 (72dpi)
*Make it "Indexed color" - 16 Colors
*Save color loader table (Image->Modes->Color table->Save)
*Save as BMP - 4 bit - Imagename_Bootskin.bmp (Imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Make sure that you save this in your new bootskin folder.

*Progress bar is 22 x 9 (72dpi)
*Index color - load color table from BKG image (Image->Modes->Color table->load)
*Save as bmp - 4 bit - Imagename_Progress.bmp (imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Save this in your bootskin folder.

Next you will need to open notepad and make a description for the bootskin program
to know how to put your bootskin together. Here is a description of what needs to be inside. 

[BOOTSKIN] = what it is 
Type = (I do not know what this is for. When I read about this it said to use 0 and it works) 
Name = title of Bootskin (inside quotes) 
Author = You (inside quotes) 
Description = Description (inside quotes) 
Progressbar = the name of the progress bar file +.bpm 
Progressbarx (y)= X & Y Coordinates (in pixles) for where the progress bar is on the screen 
Progressbarwidth = How wide (in pixles) do you want your progress bar to be. 
Screen = The name main image + .bmp 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the last one that I did. You can use it to get yourself on track. 
Open notepad and copy - paste the script below. 

[BootSkin] 
Type= 0 
Name = "Blackout" 
Author = "MYX" 
Description = "Blackout Theme based skin" 
ProgressBar= BO_Progress.bmp 
ProgressBarX = 140 
ProgressBarY = 400 
ProgressBarWidth = 360 
Screen= Blackout_Bootskin.bmp 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you have finished filling out your tweaks, save it as bootskin.ini 
You will have to type the .ini. 
This changes it from a txt document into a configuration document.

Make sure all 3 parts are in your Your.bootskin folder. 
Then you have to zip the folder. 
*Right click on the folder.
*When the menu comes up select send to -> Compressed (zipped) Folder

Now that your bootskin is zipped you can put it into the bootskin program. 
In Bootskin, I have found that when I navigate to where the folder is many times the bootskin folder does not show up. In the name box, if you start to type the name of the bootskin folder, it will appear and then you can select it. Not sure why this is.

Clear as mud? Good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=== '''A Hardware Solution For Hiding BIOS & Boot Screens''' ===

: This may be set-up dependant thus it may or may not work for your setup. In the first step, a cheap or even free part is recommended. This will make testing this method easier on the wallet.

:# You must be using an AGP video card in your PC. Add a PCI video card to your system (use the cheapest model you can find - it may not even have to work, so you may be able to find a free card!)
:# Go into the BIOS setup screen of your PC, and find the "Video Card" setting. Change it to "PCI" instead of AGP.
:# Reboot your PC

: The BIOS messages and boot screen should now be output only to the PCI card. The monitor, still plugged into the AGP card, should stay blank until Windows starts. If any BIOS changes are needed, you'll have to plug the monitor into the PCI card, so ensure your PC's BIOS settings are configured prior to attempting this step.

== Replacing Explorer With Your FE In XP ==

To almost completely bypass Windows and its trimmings, you may want to set up your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell.

: '''Note: To do this automagically during startup in XP your computer may be a part of a workgroup, but it CAN'T be part of a domain.'''

Here is the process to follow in order to set up your front end as a shell:

*You must have at least 2 users with admin privileges
*Open the user that will be auto logged in to the account that will be running your front end as a shell. This user should have admin rights.
*Set XP to automate the login process.
*#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
*#Deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
*#Click '''Apply'''
*#Enter the user & pass you want to login with & click '''OK'''
*#Click '''OK''' again
* Configure your front end... this is not a trial run, so make sure it's the way you want it. You can always get the explorer back, but it will take a minute or two to do so.
* Open '''regedit''' and find
<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot</pre>
* Find a string entry called '''Shell.'''
* Change the first 3 letters (which should read SYS) to USR. The path after USR will look different for your system, but it should appear similar to this: USR:BLAH\BLAH\BLAH. This tells windows to ignore the system’s shell values and load up a shell value on a user by user basis. If you don’t do this it will never even look for the shell value in the current user key, meaning the next part won’t ever be seen.
* Now (still in regedit) open these registry folders as follows:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon</pre>
* If you can't find '''Shell''' create a string entry and name it '''Shell'''.
* Set the string entry to the name and directory location of your front end, for example <pre>C:\arcade\mamewah.exe</pre> YOURS may be different, use YOUR OWN path to the exe!
* Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights. (You DID create 2 accounts with adminstrative priveledges as was suggested, right? )
* If you want to limit the access of the auto log-in user set the auto-login user to a '''standard user'''

===What to do if you removed the taskbar and want it back===

Should you ever care to go back to the way things were, after firing up your front end, simply hit ctrl alt del and run regedit again, and delete the shell entry you created. POOF! Everything’s back to “normal” again!

If you just want the taskbar back temporarily then do the following:

# Exit your front end and go back to your taskbar-less desktop.
# Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
# In Windows XP the task manager appears. On Windows 2000 you need to press the "Task Manager" button as an extra step.
# Click on the "New Task" button.
# At the "Create New Task" window type "explorer" and hit OK.

===Launching Programs/Utilities in the background===

If you set your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell you may notice that other programs you had set to startup on Boot are no longer loading in the background.
* [[Other_Software#Utilities | XYNTService]] will allow you to continue to load any programs that don't already support launching as a System Service.

===Alternate Method Without Messing With The Registry===

You can achieve a similar affect as the above (although not as "complete", and may or may not be acceptable to you) with the following steps:

# Put a shortcut to your FE's .exe file in “Startup” folder.
# Hide all windows desktop icons. You will need to [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx download and install the Microsoft PowerToy TweakUI] and change the Desktop settings.
# Set desktop to black or use a wallpaper image of your choice
# Auto hide task bar.

==Returning to Explorer once FE Quits==

* If you would like the Explorer shell to start up after you quit your frontend, this is possible. Here is how to do it using Mamewah as an example. Keep in mind, that this is only possible if the frontend that you use supports launching an application on exit. Also, the location of the option to do this won't be in the same place everytime, Mamewah is just used as an example.

# Go to your Mamewah folder and edit your mamewah.ini file
# Near the bottom of the list of options is app_to_run_on_exit enter explorer.exe next to it and save the file.

Now, everytime you quit Mamewah, it will exit back to the Explorer shell.

Edit:
From
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=22da901a92d294b12067b40fa135b06e&topic=53467.40
posted there by Capthowdy

Edit your mamewah\ctrlr\default.ini

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

guess where "DIK_ESCAPE" needs to be! That's right...make it look like this:

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

== Getting rid of the "Loading settings" Popup screens ==

* The following will hide the dialog box that appears that the beggining of Windows startup informing you that the system is "Loading Settings".

To do this,follow these steps:

# Go to, Start Menu -> Run and enter regedit
# Navigate to entry: <pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System</pre>
# If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one)

* If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).

==Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows==

*After having everything else stripped out of Windows, seeing the cursor briefly while Windows boots up is a real experience killer. Here is how to get rid of it! Please make sure you read this thoroughly before you start, as you might get stuck with an invisible pointer, and that won't be fun to get back to normal!

# Download this version of TweakUI, it has a special option that we are going to need. http://www.systemsmedic.com/DownloadFiles/TweakUIXP.exe
# Once this is installed, go to Control Panel>Mouse>Pointers and change all of your cursors to a cursor file that is invisible, and save this to a scheme of your choice, Ex. "Mame cursors". See TIP at the bottom for some extra info on the cursor.
#Save the scheme, but don't apply it yet, as it will be hard to navigate Windows with an invisible pointer.
#The last thing to do is to apply the settings to make the cursors invisible. Go back to the cursor screen in the Windows Control Panel, load your scheme and hit apply. It'll be hard, if not impossible to see your cursor, depending on which type of cursor you made, which is why this is the last step. Squint your way into your start menu and open TweakUI. If you can't see the cursor, just hit the Windows key on your keyboard to bring up the start menu. (If your keyboard doesn't have a "Windows key", you can alternatively get the start menu by pressing '''Ctrl + Esc'''.) Go to the LOGON option, and somewhere there is the option to copy your wall paper etc. across to the Logon Screen. Check that, and hit apply or press Alt+A.

*If you have made an invisible cursor and you can't seem to get around Windows once you exit your FE, you can just log out of the current user and log into the computer as an administrator and all those settings should be untouched. To do this without a mouse, just hit Win+L and it will bring up the login menu (Win is the windows key on the keyboard, right between Ctrl and Alt. Another useful hotkey is Win+R which brings up the Run menu.

TIP: When you download Mamewah, the zip contains an invisible cursor, so you can use that one if you'd like. Also, you can make a cursor that is just a dot, so that it is almost invisible but it can be used to navigate if needed.

===Alternate Change Cursor Method (Without TweakUI)===

NOTE: This method was tested to work with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

1. Open up regedit.exe

2. Go to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Cursors
3. Here you can change the assigned mouse cursor files for your the current user. You can change them all but in my experience the following three do the job for cursor concealment:

::* "AppStarting"
::* "Arrow"
::* "Wait"

NOTE: At this point it is a good idea to backup this branch in case you change your mind.

4. Change the values you wish to replace with the name of the cursor you wish to have instead. Write it using a FULL PATH, for example: ''"c:\temp\my_special_cursor.cur"''

Make sure what you writing is correct and prefer changing spaces to something else if your cursor file is using them.

5. Close regedit.exe and reboot your machine.

===Changing the Cursor Shape During the Logon Screen===

For this you need to change the assigned cursor values for the ".DEFAULT" user account. The registry key is:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Cursors

If the "Cursors" key does not exist then create it yourself. At the "(Default)" value type a title for the cursor scheme (e.g. "My Special Cursors"). Create REG_EXPAND_SZ entries for the cursor types you wish to change. Use the values mentioned in the previous section as a guide. Reboot your machine for changes to take effect.

== Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color ==

* To hide the Welcome Screen (where you'd normally log in) you'll need to change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.

* To change the login background color from blue to black (to better hide it), use regedit again and navigate to
<pre>HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background</pre>
The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.

* If this causes the "Classic" login screen to appear that prompts for a password, the login can be automated as follows:

#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
#Highlight the user you want to log into automatically, then deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
#Click '''Apply''' and you'll be asked to verify the username and password to log in automatically
#Click '''OK''' again and the next time you restart your computer, you'll automatically be logged in without having the classic prompt or Welcome Screen.

== Removing pop-up bubbles ==

* In Windows XP, you occasionaly get pop-up bubbles with all kinds of useful (or less useful) information. In the application of running an arcade machine, we use low resolutions, like 640x480 or even 640x288. In these resolutions Windows XP tries to be helpful and lets you know via a pop-up bubble that your resolution setting is not ideal for this videocard. (Another bubble that can come up because of the low resolution is from the Start menu indicating it cannot show all items on the Start menu because of the low resolution.
We need to live with this, so there is no point in these bubbles coming up everytime.)

* To turn ALL (!) bubbles off follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

2. Navigate to the following subkey:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced</pre>

3. Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips.

4. Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0.

5. Quit Registry Editor. Log off Windows, and then log back on.

These steps disable all Notification Area balloon tips for this user. There is no way to disable balloon tips for specific programs only.

==Hide Desktop Icons==

To hide all of your desktop icons look for the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop

Set it to 1 to hide the icons, 0 to show them (this is the default).

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows 98 =

Hiding Windows 98 is lots easier than hiding Windows XP.

== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==
* Create a black picture with in BMP format, RGB encoded, 320x400 resolution, 256 colors in MS Paint or another paint application
* Do NOT try to save pictures in 16bit or 32bit colors or such, because it may crash Windows.
* Replace logo.sys, logow.sys and logos.sys with your new picture (these are actually bmp files, which were renamed to sys).

Here is more in-depth info about replacing:
[http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-011 Replace the Ugly Startup and Shutdown Screens].

Here is a post with lots of good links to logos and free editing tools:
[http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=38262&st=0&p=314806&#entry314806 Animated/static Win9x/ME logos and free tools to create/edit/manage animated/static logos].

===Special concerns when using the ArcadeVGA===
When using a custom boot screen logo with the ArcadeVGA video card, the boot resolution is 320x200. This results in only the top half of the image being visible. However, Windows still requires an image that is the full 320x400 pixels. A simple way to handle this is to make a standard sized boot screen image, resize it vertically 50%, then paste two copies (stacked vertically) into a new 320x400 BMP image.

== Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows ==
You can doing the same way as Windows XP.

== Hiding The taskbar ==
Coming Soon.

==See Also==
* [[Software]]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Index]]

Hiding Windows

2007-02-08T01:38:46Z

Fronty: Added 'alternate hide mouse method'

{{DisclaimerSoftware}}

==Introduction==
To add to the illusion that your home arcade machine is a 'real' arcade machine, it would be nice to be able to hide the familiar Windows PC look and feel. Nobody wants to see the Windows logo when your cabinet is turned on; it's kind of like being caught with your pants down. There are several ways of achieving this, let's have a look at your options...

''note: this article deals with hiding various parts of the operating system when the computer is in start-up phase. To hide the windows user interface and select games take a look at the [[Front-Ends|front-end software]] article.''

==Replacing Your BIOS Logo==

Some modern BIOSes support changing the logo that is the very first thing displayed when your computer turns on. It should be noted that there’s not too much to be gained from doing this as most computers are so fast that the image is only momentarily flashed and your display device normally won’t have got up to operating specifications before the BIOS screen disappears. If yours can be changed, there will be an utility to do this on the motherboard manufacturer’s website.

Some (but not all) ASUS brand motherboards support this feature. Support for this feature in other brands is unknown.

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows XP =
== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==

The boot screen is the Windows XP logo on a black background with a little blue progress bar underneath it. Before making any changes, be sure to create a System Restore point before attempting these methods. While not a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, it can save you from yourself. This way, in case something goes wrong, restarting your computer, pressing and holding F8 until the Operating System menu appears and selecting “Last Known Good Configuration” should get you back to your previous state in most cases.

You can modify your boot screen in these ways:

=== '''BootSkin''' ===
: This product inserts a driver file into the XP startup sequence that displays an image instead of actually loading a driver.

:: Pros:
::* It does not patch or access any operating system files.
::* If something goes wrong, it is simple to fix.
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* Relies on BIOS and driver manufacturers strictly obeying certain guidelines.
::* If the system is incompatible, you'll likely get a "blue screen of death".

=== '''BootXP''' ===
: This alters resources and some other bits in a file called “ntoskrnl.exe”.

:: Pros:
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* '''''If something goes wrong, you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right and knowledge of how to use the recovery console.'''''
::* It accesses and patches a critical operating system file.
::* You get really ugly and slow nag screens every time you want to change your boot screen if you don’t pay for it.

=== '''Slimm Boot-Logo / The Microsoft Way''' ===
: There is an undocumented switch in Microsoft Windows XP’s operating system settings file. Slimm Boot-Logo simply flicks the switch.

::* '''''You can also set this switch manually. Go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. Select “Edit startup options file”. Add “ /bootlogo /noguiboot” to your default operating system (there must be a space between each switch) and add a 16-color 640 x 480 pixel BMP file called "boot.bmp” to your Windows directory.'''''

:: Pros:
::* Simple, safe, simply asks the operating system to use a custom boot screen.
::* No illegal or unrecommended patching of any file.
::* Least chance of anything going wrong (your changed settings can be checked before you reboot. After performing the change, go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. If you still have “Microsoft Windows XP” in the combo box at the top, everything should work fine next time you boot.

:: Cons:
::* No progress bar on custom boot screen.
::* Have to convert your image to 640 x 480 pixels and 16 colors yourself.
::* If it goes wrong you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right.

:::* '''If something goes wrong: You need to rebuild the “boot.ini” file using the instructions in [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184 this knowledge base article]'''

=== Makeing Your Own Bootskin for XP using Bootskin_Free ===
This may work for other "skinning" softwares but I have only used Bootskin. 
This is a description of how to make your own Bootskin for win XP.

The bootskin is composed of 3 parts. The main image, the progress bar, 
and a little script (for lack of a beter term) to tie the two together. 
These are then placed into a folder and zipped.

*Start by making a folder for your bootskin.
*Rename it to Whateveryoulike.bootskin

I use Photoshop to make my images, but you can use any program that will allow
you to change color modes and save a profile of an indexed color palet.

*Main Picture is 640 x 480 (72dpi)
*Make it "Indexed color" - 16 Colors
*Save color loader table (Image->Modes->Color table->Save)
*Save as BMP - 4 bit - Imagename_Bootskin.bmp (Imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Make sure that you save this in your new bootskin folder.

*Progress bar is 22 x 9 (72dpi)
*Index color - load color table from BKG image (Image->Modes->Color table->load)
*Save as bmp - 4 bit - Imagename_Progress.bmp (imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Save this in your bootskin folder.

Next you will need to open notepad and make a description for the bootskin program
to know how to put your bootskin together. Here is a description of what needs to be inside. 

[BOOTSKIN] = what it is 
Type = (I do not know what this is for. When I read about this it said to use 0 and it works) 
Name = title of Bootskin (inside quotes) 
Author = You (inside quotes) 
Description = Description (inside quotes) 
Progressbar = the name of the progress bar file +.bpm 
Progressbarx (y)= X & Y Coordinates (in pixles) for where the progress bar is on the screen 
Progressbarwidth = How wide (in pixles) do you want your progress bar to be. 
Screen = The name main image + .bmp 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the last one that I did. You can use it to get yourself on track. 
Open notepad and copy - paste the script below. 

[BootSkin] 
Type= 0 
Name = "Blackout" 
Author = "MYX" 
Description = "Blackout Theme based skin" 
ProgressBar= BO_Progress.bmp 
ProgressBarX = 140 
ProgressBarY = 400 
ProgressBarWidth = 360 
Screen= Blackout_Bootskin.bmp 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you have finished filling out your tweaks, save it as bootskin.ini 
You will have to type the .ini. 
This changes it from a txt document into a configuration document.

Make sure all 3 parts are in your Your.bootskin folder. 
Then you have to zip the folder. 
*Right click on the folder.
*When the menu comes up select send to -> Compressed (zipped) Folder

Now that your bootskin is zipped you can put it into the bootskin program. 
In Bootskin, I have found that when I navigate to where the folder is many times the bootskin folder does not show up. In the name box, if you start to type the name of the bootskin folder, it will appear and then you can select it. Not sure why this is.

Clear as mud? Good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=== '''A Hardware Solution For Hiding BIOS & Boot Screens''' ===

: This may be set-up dependant thus it may or may not work for your setup. In the first step, a cheap or even free part is recommended. This will make testing this method easier on the wallet.

:# You must be using an AGP video card in your PC. Add a PCI video card to your system (use the cheapest model you can find - it may not even have to work, so you may be able to find a free card!)
:# Go into the BIOS setup screen of your PC, and find the "Video Card" setting. Change it to "PCI" instead of AGP.
:# Reboot your PC

: The BIOS messages and boot screen should now be output only to the PCI card. The monitor, still plugged into the AGP card, should stay blank until Windows starts. If any BIOS changes are needed, you'll have to plug the monitor into the PCI card, so ensure your PC's BIOS settings are configured prior to attempting this step.

== Replacing Explorer With Your FE In XP ==

To almost completely bypass Windows and its trimmings, you may want to set up your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell.

: '''Note: To do this automagically during startup in XP your computer may be a part of a workgroup, but it CAN'T be part of a domain.'''

Here is the process to follow in order to set up your front end as a shell:

*You must have at least 2 users with admin privileges
*Open the user that will be auto logged in to the account that will be running your front end as a shell. This user should have admin rights.
*Set XP to automate the login process.
*#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
*#Deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
*#Click '''Apply'''
*#Enter the user & pass you want to login with & click '''OK'''
*#Click '''OK''' again
* Configure your front end... this is not a trial run, so make sure it's the way you want it. You can always get the explorer back, but it will take a minute or two to do so.
* Open '''regedit''' and find
<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot</pre>
* Find a string entry called '''Shell.'''
* Change the first 3 letters (which should read SYS) to USR. The path after USR will look different for your system, but it should appear similar to this: USR:BLAH\BLAH\BLAH. This tells windows to ignore the system’s shell values and load up a shell value on a user by user basis. If you don’t do this it will never even look for the shell value in the current user key, meaning the next part won’t ever be seen.
* Now (still in regedit) open these registry folders as follows:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon</pre>
* If you can't find '''Shell''' create a string entry and name it '''Shell'''.
* Set the string entry to the name and directory location of your front end, for example <pre>C:\arcade\mamewah.exe</pre> YOURS may be different, use YOUR OWN path to the exe!
* Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights. (You DID create 2 accounts with adminstrative priveledges as was suggested, right? )
* If you want to limit the access of the auto log-in user set the auto-login user to a '''standard user'''

===What to do if you removed the taskbar and want it back===

Should you ever care to go back to the way things were, after firing up your front end, simply hit ctrl alt del and run regedit again, and delete the shell entry you created. POOF! Everything’s back to “normal” again!

If you just want the taskbar back temporarily then do the following:

# Exit your front end and go back to your taskbar-less desktop.
# Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
# In Windows XP the task manager appears. On Windows 2000 you need to press the "Task Manager" button as an extra step.
# Click on the "New Task" button.
# At the "Create New Task" window type "explorer" and hit OK.

===Launching Programs/Utilities in the background===

If you set your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell you may notice that other programs you had set to startup on Boot are no longer loading in the background.
* [[Other_Software#Utilities | XYNTService]] will allow you to continue to load any programs that don't already support launching as a System Service.

===Alternate Method Without Messing With The Registry===

You can achieve a similar affect as the above (although not as "complete", and may or may not be acceptable to you) with the following steps:

# Put a shortcut to your FE's .exe file in “Startup” folder.
# Hide all windows desktop icons. You will need to [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx download and install the Microsoft PowerToy TweakUI] and change the Desktop settings.
# Set desktop to black or use a wallpaper image of your choice
# Auto hide task bar.

==Returning to Explorer once FE Quits==

* If you would like the Explorer shell to start up after you quit your frontend, this is possible. Here is how to do it using Mamewah as an example. Keep in mind, that this is only possible if the frontend that you use supports launching an application on exit. Also, the location of the option to do this won't be in the same place everytime, Mamewah is just used as an example.

# Go to your Mamewah folder and edit your mamewah.ini file
# Near the bottom of the list of options is app_to_run_on_exit enter explorer.exe next to it and save the file.

Now, everytime you quit Mamewah, it will exit back to the Explorer shell.

Edit:
From
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=22da901a92d294b12067b40fa135b06e&topic=53467.40
posted there by Capthowdy

Edit your mamewah\ctrlr\default.ini

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

guess where "DIK_ESCAPE" needs to be! That's right...make it look like this:

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

== Getting rid of the "Loading settings" Popup screens ==

* The following will hide the dialog box that appears that the beggining of Windows startup informing you that the system is "Loading Settings".

To do this,follow these steps:

# Go to, Start Menu -> Run and enter regedit
# Navigate to entry: <pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System</pre>
# If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one)

* If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).

==Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows==

*After having everything else stripped out of Windows, seeing the cursor briefly while Windows boots up is a real experience killer. Here is how to get rid of it! Please make sure you read this thoroughly before you start, as you might get stuck with an invisible pointer, and that won't be fun to get back to normal!

# Download this version of TweakUI, it has a special option that we are going to need. http://www.systemsmedic.com/DownloadFiles/TweakUIXP.exe
# Once this is installed, go to Control Panel>Mouse>Pointers and change all of your cursors to a cursor file that is invisible, and save this to a scheme of your choice, Ex. "Mame cursors". See TIP at the bottom for some extra info on the cursor.
#Save the scheme, but don't apply it yet, as it will be hard to navigate Windows with an invisible pointer.
#The last thing to do is to apply the settings to make the cursors invisible. Go back to the cursor screen in the Windows Control Panel, load your scheme and hit apply. It'll be hard, if not impossible to see your cursor, depending on which type of cursor you made, which is why this is the last step. Squint your way into your start menu and open TweakUI. If you can't see the cursor, just hit the Windows key on your keyboard to bring up the start menu. (If your keyboard doesn't have a "Windows key", you can alternatively get the start menu by pressing '''Ctrl + Esc'''.) Go to the LOGON option, and somewhere there is the option to copy your wall paper etc. across to the Logon Screen. Check that, and hit apply or press Alt+A.

*If you have made an invisible cursor and you can't seem to get around Windows once you exit your FE, you can just log out of the current user and log into the computer as an administrator and all those settings should be untouched. To do this without a mouse, just hit Win+L and it will bring up the login menu (Win is the windows key on the keyboard, right between Ctrl and Alt. Another useful hotkey is Win+R which brings up the Run menu.

TIP: When you download Mamewah, the zip contains an invisible cursor, so you can use that one if you'd like. Also, you can make a cursor that is just a dot, so that it is almost invisible but it can be used to navigate if needed.

===Alternate Change Cursor Method (Without TweakUI)===

NOTE: This method was tested to work with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

1. Open up regedit.exe

2. Go to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Cursors
3. Here you can change the assigned mouse cursor files for your the current user. You can change them all but in my experience the following three do the job for cursor concealment:

::* "AppStarting"
::* "Arrow"
::* "Wait"

NOTE: At this point it is a good idea to backup this branch in case you change your mind.

4. Change the values you wish to replace with the name of the cursor you wish to have instead. Write it using a FULL PATH, for example: ''"c:\temp\my_special_cursor.cur"''

Make sure what you writing is correct and prefer changing spaces to something else if your cursor file is using them.

5. Close regedit.exe and reboot your machine.

===Changing the Cursor Shape During the Logon Screen===

For this you need to change the assigned cursor values for the ".DEFAULT" user account. The registry key is:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Cursors

If the "Cursors" key does not exist then create it yourself. Do the same for the cursor values (use type REG_EXPAND_SZ). Use the values mentioned in the previous section as an example. Reboot your machine for changes to take effect.

== Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color ==

* To hide the Welcome Screen (where you'd normally log in) you'll need to change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.

* To change the login background color from blue to black (to better hide it), use regedit again and navigate to
<pre>HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background</pre>
The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.

* If this causes the "Classic" login screen to appear that prompts for a password, the login can be automated as follows:

#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
#Highlight the user you want to log into automatically, then deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
#Click '''Apply''' and you'll be asked to verify the username and password to log in automatically
#Click '''OK''' again and the next time you restart your computer, you'll automatically be logged in without having the classic prompt or Welcome Screen.

== Removing pop-up bubbles ==

* In Windows XP, you occasionaly get pop-up bubbles with all kinds of useful (or less useful) information. In the application of running an arcade machine, we use low resolutions, like 640x480 or even 640x288. In these resolutions Windows XP tries to be helpful and lets you know via a pop-up bubble that your resolution setting is not ideal for this videocard. (Another bubble that can come up because of the low resolution is from the Start menu indicating it cannot show all items on the Start menu because of the low resolution.
We need to live with this, so there is no point in these bubbles coming up everytime.)

* To turn ALL (!) bubbles off follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

2. Navigate to the following subkey:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced</pre>

3. Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips.

4. Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0.

5. Quit Registry Editor. Log off Windows, and then log back on.

These steps disable all Notification Area balloon tips for this user. There is no way to disable balloon tips for specific programs only.

==Hide Desktop Icons==

To hide all of your desktop icons look for the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop

Set it to 1 to hide the icons, 0 to show them (this is the default).

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows 98 =

Hiding Windows 98 is lots easier than hiding Windows XP.

== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==
* Create a black picture with in BMP format, RGB encoded, 320x400 resolution, 256 colors in MS Paint or another paint application
* Do NOT try to save pictures in 16bit or 32bit colors or such, because it may crash Windows.
* Replace logo.sys, logow.sys and logos.sys with your new picture (these are actually bmp files, which were renamed to sys).

Here is more in-depth info about replacing:
[http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-011 Replace the Ugly Startup and Shutdown Screens].

Here is a post with lots of good links to logos and free editing tools:
[http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=38262&st=0&p=314806&#entry314806 Animated/static Win9x/ME logos and free tools to create/edit/manage animated/static logos].

===Special concerns when using the ArcadeVGA===
When using a custom boot screen logo with the ArcadeVGA video card, the boot resolution is 320x200. This results in only the top half of the image being visible. However, Windows still requires an image that is the full 320x400 pixels. A simple way to handle this is to make a standard sized boot screen image, resize it vertically 50%, then paste two copies (stacked vertically) into a new 320x400 BMP image.

== Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows ==
You can doing the same way as Windows XP.

== Hiding The taskbar ==
Coming Soon.

==See Also==
* [[Software]]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Index]]

Hiding Windows

2007-02-08T01:21:15Z

Fronty: Added "Hide Desktop Icons" tip

{{DisclaimerSoftware}}

==Introduction==
To add to the illusion that your home arcade machine is a 'real' arcade machine, it would be nice to be able to hide the familiar Windows PC look and feel. Nobody wants to see the Windows logo when your cabinet is turned on; it's kind of like being caught with your pants down. There are several ways of achieving this, let's have a look at your options...

''note: this article deals with hiding various parts of the operating system when the computer is in start-up phase. To hide the windows user interface and select games take a look at the [[Front-Ends|front-end software]] article.''

==Replacing Your BIOS Logo==

Some modern BIOSes support changing the logo that is the very first thing displayed when your computer turns on. It should be noted that there’s not too much to be gained from doing this as most computers are so fast that the image is only momentarily flashed and your display device normally won’t have got up to operating specifications before the BIOS screen disappears. If yours can be changed, there will be an utility to do this on the motherboard manufacturer’s website.

Some (but not all) ASUS brand motherboards support this feature. Support for this feature in other brands is unknown.

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows XP =
== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==

The boot screen is the Windows XP logo on a black background with a little blue progress bar underneath it. Before making any changes, be sure to create a System Restore point before attempting these methods. While not a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, it can save you from yourself. This way, in case something goes wrong, restarting your computer, pressing and holding F8 until the Operating System menu appears and selecting “Last Known Good Configuration” should get you back to your previous state in most cases.

You can modify your boot screen in these ways:

=== '''BootSkin''' ===
: This product inserts a driver file into the XP startup sequence that displays an image instead of actually loading a driver.

:: Pros:
::* It does not patch or access any operating system files.
::* If something goes wrong, it is simple to fix.
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* Relies on BIOS and driver manufacturers strictly obeying certain guidelines.
::* If the system is incompatible, you'll likely get a "blue screen of death".

=== '''BootXP''' ===
: This alters resources and some other bits in a file called “ntoskrnl.exe”.

:: Pros:
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* '''''If something goes wrong, you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right and knowledge of how to use the recovery console.'''''
::* It accesses and patches a critical operating system file.
::* You get really ugly and slow nag screens every time you want to change your boot screen if you don’t pay for it.

=== '''Slimm Boot-Logo / The Microsoft Way''' ===
: There is an undocumented switch in Microsoft Windows XP’s operating system settings file. Slimm Boot-Logo simply flicks the switch.

::* '''''You can also set this switch manually. Go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. Select “Edit startup options file”. Add “ /bootlogo /noguiboot” to your default operating system (there must be a space between each switch) and add a 16-color 640 x 480 pixel BMP file called "boot.bmp” to your Windows directory.'''''

:: Pros:
::* Simple, safe, simply asks the operating system to use a custom boot screen.
::* No illegal or unrecommended patching of any file.
::* Least chance of anything going wrong (your changed settings can be checked before you reboot. After performing the change, go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. If you still have “Microsoft Windows XP” in the combo box at the top, everything should work fine next time you boot.

:: Cons:
::* No progress bar on custom boot screen.
::* Have to convert your image to 640 x 480 pixels and 16 colors yourself.
::* If it goes wrong you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right.

:::* '''If something goes wrong: You need to rebuild the “boot.ini” file using the instructions in [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184 this knowledge base article]'''

=== Makeing Your Own Bootskin for XP using Bootskin_Free ===
This may work for other "skinning" softwares but I have only used Bootskin. 
This is a description of how to make your own Bootskin for win XP.

The bootskin is composed of 3 parts. The main image, the progress bar, 
and a little script (for lack of a beter term) to tie the two together. 
These are then placed into a folder and zipped.

*Start by making a folder for your bootskin.
*Rename it to Whateveryoulike.bootskin

I use Photoshop to make my images, but you can use any program that will allow
you to change color modes and save a profile of an indexed color palet.

*Main Picture is 640 x 480 (72dpi)
*Make it "Indexed color" - 16 Colors
*Save color loader table (Image->Modes->Color table->Save)
*Save as BMP - 4 bit - Imagename_Bootskin.bmp (Imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Make sure that you save this in your new bootskin folder.

*Progress bar is 22 x 9 (72dpi)
*Index color - load color table from BKG image (Image->Modes->Color table->load)
*Save as bmp - 4 bit - Imagename_Progress.bmp (imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Save this in your bootskin folder.

Next you will need to open notepad and make a description for the bootskin program
to know how to put your bootskin together. Here is a description of what needs to be inside. 

[BOOTSKIN] = what it is 
Type = (I do not know what this is for. When I read about this it said to use 0 and it works) 
Name = title of Bootskin (inside quotes) 
Author = You (inside quotes) 
Description = Description (inside quotes) 
Progressbar = the name of the progress bar file +.bpm 
Progressbarx (y)= X & Y Coordinates (in pixles) for where the progress bar is on the screen 
Progressbarwidth = How wide (in pixles) do you want your progress bar to be. 
Screen = The name main image + .bmp 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the last one that I did. You can use it to get yourself on track. 
Open notepad and copy - paste the script below. 

[BootSkin] 
Type= 0 
Name = "Blackout" 
Author = "MYX" 
Description = "Blackout Theme based skin" 
ProgressBar= BO_Progress.bmp 
ProgressBarX = 140 
ProgressBarY = 400 
ProgressBarWidth = 360 
Screen= Blackout_Bootskin.bmp 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you have finished filling out your tweaks, save it as bootskin.ini 
You will have to type the .ini. 
This changes it from a txt document into a configuration document.

Make sure all 3 parts are in your Your.bootskin folder. 
Then you have to zip the folder. 
*Right click on the folder.
*When the menu comes up select send to -> Compressed (zipped) Folder

Now that your bootskin is zipped you can put it into the bootskin program. 
In Bootskin, I have found that when I navigate to where the folder is many times the bootskin folder does not show up. In the name box, if you start to type the name of the bootskin folder, it will appear and then you can select it. Not sure why this is.

Clear as mud? Good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=== '''A Hardware Solution For Hiding BIOS & Boot Screens''' ===

: This may be set-up dependant thus it may or may not work for your setup. In the first step, a cheap or even free part is recommended. This will make testing this method easier on the wallet.

:# You must be using an AGP video card in your PC. Add a PCI video card to your system (use the cheapest model you can find - it may not even have to work, so you may be able to find a free card!)
:# Go into the BIOS setup screen of your PC, and find the "Video Card" setting. Change it to "PCI" instead of AGP.
:# Reboot your PC

: The BIOS messages and boot screen should now be output only to the PCI card. The monitor, still plugged into the AGP card, should stay blank until Windows starts. If any BIOS changes are needed, you'll have to plug the monitor into the PCI card, so ensure your PC's BIOS settings are configured prior to attempting this step.

== Replacing Explorer With Your FE In XP ==

To almost completely bypass Windows and its trimmings, you may want to set up your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell.

: '''Note: To do this automagically during startup in XP your computer may be a part of a workgroup, but it CAN'T be part of a domain.'''

Here is the process to follow in order to set up your front end as a shell:

*You must have at least 2 users with admin privileges
*Open the user that will be auto logged in to the account that will be running your front end as a shell. This user should have admin rights.
*Set XP to automate the login process.
*#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
*#Deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
*#Click '''Apply'''
*#Enter the user & pass you want to login with & click '''OK'''
*#Click '''OK''' again
* Configure your front end... this is not a trial run, so make sure it's the way you want it. You can always get the explorer back, but it will take a minute or two to do so.
* Open '''regedit''' and find
<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot</pre>
* Find a string entry called '''Shell.'''
* Change the first 3 letters (which should read SYS) to USR. The path after USR will look different for your system, but it should appear similar to this: USR:BLAH\BLAH\BLAH. This tells windows to ignore the system’s shell values and load up a shell value on a user by user basis. If you don’t do this it will never even look for the shell value in the current user key, meaning the next part won’t ever be seen.
* Now (still in regedit) open these registry folders as follows:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon</pre>
* If you can't find '''Shell''' create a string entry and name it '''Shell'''.
* Set the string entry to the name and directory location of your front end, for example <pre>C:\arcade\mamewah.exe</pre> YOURS may be different, use YOUR OWN path to the exe!
* Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights. (You DID create 2 accounts with adminstrative priveledges as was suggested, right? )
* If you want to limit the access of the auto log-in user set the auto-login user to a '''standard user'''

===What to do if you removed the taskbar and want it back===

Should you ever care to go back to the way things were, after firing up your front end, simply hit ctrl alt del and run regedit again, and delete the shell entry you created. POOF! Everything’s back to “normal” again!

If you just want the taskbar back temporarily then do the following:

# Exit your front end and go back to your taskbar-less desktop.
# Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
# In Windows XP the task manager appears. On Windows 2000 you need to press the "Task Manager" button as an extra step.
# Click on the "New Task" button.
# At the "Create New Task" window type "explorer" and hit OK.

===Launching Programs/Utilities in the background===

If you set your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell you may notice that other programs you had set to startup on Boot are no longer loading in the background.
* [[Other_Software#Utilities | XYNTService]] will allow you to continue to load any programs that don't already support launching as a System Service.

===Alternate Method Without Messing With The Registry===

You can achieve a similar affect as the above (although not as "complete", and may or may not be acceptable to you) with the following steps:

# Put a shortcut to your FE's .exe file in “Startup” folder.
# Hide all windows desktop icons. You will need to [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx download and install the Microsoft PowerToy TweakUI] and change the Desktop settings.
# Set desktop to black or use a wallpaper image of your choice
# Auto hide task bar.

==Returning to Explorer once FE Quits==

* If you would like the Explorer shell to start up after you quit your frontend, this is possible. Here is how to do it using Mamewah as an example. Keep in mind, that this is only possible if the frontend that you use supports launching an application on exit. Also, the location of the option to do this won't be in the same place everytime, Mamewah is just used as an example.

# Go to your Mamewah folder and edit your mamewah.ini file
# Near the bottom of the list of options is app_to_run_on_exit enter explorer.exe next to it and save the file.

Now, everytime you quit Mamewah, it will exit back to the Explorer shell.

Edit:
From
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=22da901a92d294b12067b40fa135b06e&topic=53467.40
posted there by Capthowdy

Edit your mamewah\ctrlr\default.ini

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

guess where "DIK_ESCAPE" needs to be! That's right...make it look like this:

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

== Getting rid of the "Loading settings" Popup screens ==

* The following will hide the dialog box that appears that the beggining of Windows startup informing you that the system is "Loading Settings".

To do this,follow these steps:

# Go to, Start Menu -> Run and enter regedit
# Navigate to entry: <pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System</pre>
# If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one)

* If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).

==Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows==

*After having everything else stripped out of Windows, seeing the cursor briefly while Windows boots up is a real experience killer. Here is how to get rid of it! Please make sure you read this thoroughly before you start, as you might get stuck with an invisible pointer, and that won't be fun to get back to normal!

# Download this version of TweakUI, it has a special option that we are going to need. http://www.systemsmedic.com/DownloadFiles/TweakUIXP.exe
# Once this is installed, go to Control Panel>Mouse>Pointers and change all of your cursors to a cursor file that is invisible, and save this to a scheme of your choice, Ex. "Mame cursors". See TIP at the bottom for some extra info on the cursor.
#Save the scheme, but don't apply it yet, as it will be hard to navigate Windows with an invisible pointer.
#The last thing to do is to apply the settings to make the cursors invisible. Go back to the cursor screen in the Windows Control Panel, load your scheme and hit apply. It'll be hard, if not impossible to see your cursor, depending on which type of cursor you made, which is why this is the last step. Squint your way into your start menu and open TweakUI. If you can't see the cursor, just hit the Windows key on your keyboard to bring up the start menu. (If your keyboard doesn't have a "Windows key", you can alternatively get the start menu by pressing '''Ctrl + Esc'''.) Go to the LOGON option, and somewhere there is the option to copy your wall paper etc. across to the Logon Screen. Check that, and hit apply or press Alt+A.

*If you have made an invisible cursor and you can't seem to get around Windows once you exit your FE, you can just log out of the current user and log into the computer as an administrator and all those settings should be untouched. To do this without a mouse, just hit Win+L and it will bring up the login menu (Win is the windows key on the keyboard, right between Ctrl and Alt. Another useful hotkey is Win+R which brings up the Run menu.

TIP: When you download Mamewah, the zip contains an invisible cursor, so you can use that one if you'd like. Also, you can make a cursor that is just a dot, so that it is almost invisible but it can be used to navigate if needed.

== Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color ==

* To hide the Welcome Screen (where you'd normally log in) you'll need to change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.

* To change the login background color from blue to black (to better hide it), use regedit again and navigate to
<pre>HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background</pre>
The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.

* If this causes the "Classic" login screen to appear that prompts for a password, the login can be automated as follows:

#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
#Highlight the user you want to log into automatically, then deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
#Click '''Apply''' and you'll be asked to verify the username and password to log in automatically
#Click '''OK''' again and the next time you restart your computer, you'll automatically be logged in without having the classic prompt or Welcome Screen.

== Removing pop-up bubbles ==

* In Windows XP, you occasionaly get pop-up bubbles with all kinds of useful (or less useful) information. In the application of running an arcade machine, we use low resolutions, like 640x480 or even 640x288. In these resolutions Windows XP tries to be helpful and lets you know via a pop-up bubble that your resolution setting is not ideal for this videocard. (Another bubble that can come up because of the low resolution is from the Start menu indicating it cannot show all items on the Start menu because of the low resolution.
We need to live with this, so there is no point in these bubbles coming up everytime.)

* To turn ALL (!) bubbles off follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

2. Navigate to the following subkey:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced</pre>

3. Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips.

4. Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0.

5. Quit Registry Editor. Log off Windows, and then log back on.

These steps disable all Notification Area balloon tips for this user. There is no way to disable balloon tips for specific programs only.

==Hide Desktop Icons==

To hide all of your desktop icons look for the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\NoDesktop

Set it to 1 to hide the icons, 0 to show them (this is the default).

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows 98 =

Hiding Windows 98 is lots easier than hiding Windows XP.

== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==
* Create a black picture with in BMP format, RGB encoded, 320x400 resolution, 256 colors in MS Paint or another paint application
* Do NOT try to save pictures in 16bit or 32bit colors or such, because it may crash Windows.
* Replace logo.sys, logow.sys and logos.sys with your new picture (these are actually bmp files, which were renamed to sys).

Here is more in-depth info about replacing:
[http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-011 Replace the Ugly Startup and Shutdown Screens].

Here is a post with lots of good links to logos and free editing tools:
[http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=38262&st=0&p=314806&#entry314806 Animated/static Win9x/ME logos and free tools to create/edit/manage animated/static logos].

===Special concerns when using the ArcadeVGA===
When using a custom boot screen logo with the ArcadeVGA video card, the boot resolution is 320x200. This results in only the top half of the image being visible. However, Windows still requires an image that is the full 320x400 pixels. A simple way to handle this is to make a standard sized boot screen image, resize it vertically 50%, then paste two copies (stacked vertically) into a new 320x400 BMP image.

== Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows ==
You can doing the same way as Windows XP.

== Hiding The taskbar ==
Coming Soon.

==See Also==
* [[Software]]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Index]]

Hiding Windows

2007-02-08T01:14:58Z

Fronty: /* Replacing Explorer With Your FE In XP */ - added "how to recover explorer" subsection

{{DisclaimerSoftware}}

==Introduction==
To add to the illusion that your home arcade machine is a 'real' arcade machine, it would be nice to be able to hide the familiar Windows PC look and feel. Nobody wants to see the Windows logo when your cabinet is turned on; it's kind of like being caught with your pants down. There are several ways of achieving this, let's have a look at your options...

''note: this article deals with hiding various parts of the operating system when the computer is in start-up phase. To hide the windows user interface and select games take a look at the [[Front-Ends|front-end software]] article.''

==Replacing Your BIOS Logo==

Some modern BIOSes support changing the logo that is the very first thing displayed when your computer turns on. It should be noted that there’s not too much to be gained from doing this as most computers are so fast that the image is only momentarily flashed and your display device normally won’t have got up to operating specifications before the BIOS screen disappears. If yours can be changed, there will be an utility to do this on the motherboard manufacturer’s website.

Some (but not all) ASUS brand motherboards support this feature. Support for this feature in other brands is unknown.

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows XP =
== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==

The boot screen is the Windows XP logo on a black background with a little blue progress bar underneath it. Before making any changes, be sure to create a System Restore point before attempting these methods. While not a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, it can save you from yourself. This way, in case something goes wrong, restarting your computer, pressing and holding F8 until the Operating System menu appears and selecting “Last Known Good Configuration” should get you back to your previous state in most cases.

You can modify your boot screen in these ways:

=== '''BootSkin''' ===
: This product inserts a driver file into the XP startup sequence that displays an image instead of actually loading a driver.

:: Pros:
::* It does not patch or access any operating system files.
::* If something goes wrong, it is simple to fix.
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* Relies on BIOS and driver manufacturers strictly obeying certain guidelines.
::* If the system is incompatible, you'll likely get a "blue screen of death".

=== '''BootXP''' ===
: This alters resources and some other bits in a file called “ntoskrnl.exe”.

:: Pros:
::* You can customize both the screen and the progress bar.

:: Cons:
::* '''''If something goes wrong, you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right and knowledge of how to use the recovery console.'''''
::* It accesses and patches a critical operating system file.
::* You get really ugly and slow nag screens every time you want to change your boot screen if you don’t pay for it.

=== '''Slimm Boot-Logo / The Microsoft Way''' ===
: There is an undocumented switch in Microsoft Windows XP’s operating system settings file. Slimm Boot-Logo simply flicks the switch.

::* '''''You can also set this switch manually. Go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. Select “Edit startup options file”. Add “ /bootlogo /noguiboot” to your default operating system (there must be a space between each switch) and add a 16-color 640 x 480 pixel BMP file called "boot.bmp” to your Windows directory.'''''

:: Pros:
::* Simple, safe, simply asks the operating system to use a custom boot screen.
::* No illegal or unrecommended patching of any file.
::* Least chance of anything going wrong (your changed settings can be checked before you reboot. After performing the change, go to My Computer >Properties >Advanced >Startup and Recovery >Settings. If you still have “Microsoft Windows XP” in the combo box at the top, everything should work fine next time you boot.

:: Cons:
::* No progress bar on custom boot screen.
::* Have to convert your image to 640 x 480 pixels and 16 colors yourself.
::* If it goes wrong you will need an original Windows XP CD to put it right.

:::* '''If something goes wrong: You need to rebuild the “boot.ini” file using the instructions in [http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184 this knowledge base article]'''

=== Makeing Your Own Bootskin for XP using Bootskin_Free ===
This may work for other "skinning" softwares but I have only used Bootskin. 
This is a description of how to make your own Bootskin for win XP.

The bootskin is composed of 3 parts. The main image, the progress bar, 
and a little script (for lack of a beter term) to tie the two together. 
These are then placed into a folder and zipped.

*Start by making a folder for your bootskin.
*Rename it to Whateveryoulike.bootskin

I use Photoshop to make my images, but you can use any program that will allow
you to change color modes and save a profile of an indexed color palet.

*Main Picture is 640 x 480 (72dpi)
*Make it "Indexed color" - 16 Colors
*Save color loader table (Image->Modes->Color table->Save)
*Save as BMP - 4 bit - Imagename_Bootskin.bmp (Imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Make sure that you save this in your new bootskin folder.

*Progress bar is 22 x 9 (72dpi)
*Index color - load color table from BKG image (Image->Modes->Color table->load)
*Save as bmp - 4 bit - Imagename_Progress.bmp (imagename is whatever you want it to be called)
*Save this in your bootskin folder.

Next you will need to open notepad and make a description for the bootskin program
to know how to put your bootskin together. Here is a description of what needs to be inside. 

[BOOTSKIN] = what it is 
Type = (I do not know what this is for. When I read about this it said to use 0 and it works) 
Name = title of Bootskin (inside quotes) 
Author = You (inside quotes) 
Description = Description (inside quotes) 
Progressbar = the name of the progress bar file +.bpm 
Progressbarx (y)= X & Y Coordinates (in pixles) for where the progress bar is on the screen 
Progressbarwidth = How wide (in pixles) do you want your progress bar to be. 
Screen = The name main image + .bmp 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the last one that I did. You can use it to get yourself on track. 
Open notepad and copy - paste the script below. 

[BootSkin] 
Type= 0 
Name = "Blackout" 
Author = "MYX" 
Description = "Blackout Theme based skin" 
ProgressBar= BO_Progress.bmp 
ProgressBarX = 140 
ProgressBarY = 400 
ProgressBarWidth = 360 
Screen= Blackout_Bootskin.bmp 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you have finished filling out your tweaks, save it as bootskin.ini 
You will have to type the .ini. 
This changes it from a txt document into a configuration document.

Make sure all 3 parts are in your Your.bootskin folder. 
Then you have to zip the folder. 
*Right click on the folder.
*When the menu comes up select send to -> Compressed (zipped) Folder

Now that your bootskin is zipped you can put it into the bootskin program. 
In Bootskin, I have found that when I navigate to where the folder is many times the bootskin folder does not show up. In the name box, if you start to type the name of the bootskin folder, it will appear and then you can select it. Not sure why this is.

Clear as mud? Good.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=== '''A Hardware Solution For Hiding BIOS & Boot Screens''' ===

: This may be set-up dependant thus it may or may not work for your setup. In the first step, a cheap or even free part is recommended. This will make testing this method easier on the wallet.

:# You must be using an AGP video card in your PC. Add a PCI video card to your system (use the cheapest model you can find - it may not even have to work, so you may be able to find a free card!)
:# Go into the BIOS setup screen of your PC, and find the "Video Card" setting. Change it to "PCI" instead of AGP.
:# Reboot your PC

: The BIOS messages and boot screen should now be output only to the PCI card. The monitor, still plugged into the AGP card, should stay blank until Windows starts. If any BIOS changes are needed, you'll have to plug the monitor into the PCI card, so ensure your PC's BIOS settings are configured prior to attempting this step.

== Replacing Explorer With Your FE In XP ==

To almost completely bypass Windows and its trimmings, you may want to set up your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell.

: '''Note: To do this automagically during startup in XP your computer may be a part of a workgroup, but it CAN'T be part of a domain.'''

Here is the process to follow in order to set up your front end as a shell:

*You must have at least 2 users with admin privileges
*Open the user that will be auto logged in to the account that will be running your front end as a shell. This user should have admin rights.
*Set XP to automate the login process.
*#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
*#Deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
*#Click '''Apply'''
*#Enter the user & pass you want to login with & click '''OK'''
*#Click '''OK''' again
* Configure your front end... this is not a trial run, so make sure it's the way you want it. You can always get the explorer back, but it will take a minute or two to do so.
* Open '''regedit''' and find
<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot</pre>
* Find a string entry called '''Shell.'''
* Change the first 3 letters (which should read SYS) to USR. The path after USR will look different for your system, but it should appear similar to this: USR:BLAH\BLAH\BLAH. This tells windows to ignore the system’s shell values and load up a shell value on a user by user basis. If you don’t do this it will never even look for the shell value in the current user key, meaning the next part won’t ever be seen.
* Now (still in regedit) open these registry folders as follows:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon</pre>
* If you can't find '''Shell''' create a string entry and name it '''Shell'''.
* Set the string entry to the name and directory location of your front end, for example <pre>C:\arcade\mamewah.exe</pre> YOURS may be different, use YOUR OWN path to the exe!
* Log out as the auto-login user and log back in as another user with administrative rights. (You DID create 2 accounts with adminstrative priveledges as was suggested, right? )
* If you want to limit the access of the auto log-in user set the auto-login user to a '''standard user'''

===What to do if you removed the taskbar and want it back===

Should you ever care to go back to the way things were, after firing up your front end, simply hit ctrl alt del and run regedit again, and delete the shell entry you created. POOF! Everything’s back to “normal” again!

If you just want the taskbar back temporarily then do the following:

# Exit your front end and go back to your taskbar-less desktop.
# Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
# In Windows XP the task manager appears. On Windows 2000 you need to press the "Task Manager" button as an extra step.
# Click on the "New Task" button.
# At the "Create New Task" window type "explorer" and hit OK.

===Launching Programs/Utilities in the background===

If you set your [[Front-Ends| front end]] as a shell you may notice that other programs you had set to startup on Boot are no longer loading in the background.
* [[Other_Software#Utilities | XYNTService]] will allow you to continue to load any programs that don't already support launching as a System Service.

===Alternate Method Without Messing With The Registry===

You can achieve a similar affect as the above (although not as "complete", and may or may not be acceptable to you) with the following steps:

# Put a shortcut to your FE's .exe file in “Startup” folder.
# Hide all windows desktop icons. You will need to [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx download and install the Microsoft PowerToy TweakUI] and change the Desktop settings.
# Set desktop to black or use a wallpaper image of your choice
# Auto hide task bar.

==Returning to Explorer once FE Quits==

* If you would like the Explorer shell to start up after you quit your frontend, this is possible. Here is how to do it using Mamewah as an example. Keep in mind, that this is only possible if the frontend that you use supports launching an application on exit. Also, the location of the option to do this won't be in the same place everytime, Mamewah is just used as an example.

# Go to your Mamewah folder and edit your mamewah.ini file
# Near the bottom of the list of options is app_to_run_on_exit enter explorer.exe next to it and save the file.

Now, everytime you quit Mamewah, it will exit back to the Explorer shell.

Edit:
From
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=22da901a92d294b12067b40fa135b06e&topic=53467.40
posted there by Capthowdy

Edit your mamewah\ctrlr\default.ini

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

guess where "DIK_ESCAPE" needs to be! That's right...make it look like this:

EXIT_WITH_CHOICE

EXIT_TO_WINDOWS

EXIT_AND_RUN_APP "DIK_ESCAPE"

EXIT_AND_REBOOT

EXIT_AND_SHUTDOWN

== Getting rid of the "Loading settings" Popup screens ==

* The following will hide the dialog box that appears that the beggining of Windows startup informing you that the system is "Loading Settings".

To do this,follow these steps:

# Go to, Start Menu -> Run and enter regedit
# Navigate to entry: <pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows>CurrentVersion>Policies>System</pre>
# If there is an entry for "DisableStatusMessages" set it to 1 (the digit one)

* If there is no entry, right-mouse click the "System" word, and select New->DWORD value, and enter "DisableStatusMessages", right-mouse to edit the value of it, and enter 1 (the digit one).

==Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows==

*After having everything else stripped out of Windows, seeing the cursor briefly while Windows boots up is a real experience killer. Here is how to get rid of it! Please make sure you read this thoroughly before you start, as you might get stuck with an invisible pointer, and that won't be fun to get back to normal!

# Download this version of TweakUI, it has a special option that we are going to need. http://www.systemsmedic.com/DownloadFiles/TweakUIXP.exe
# Once this is installed, go to Control Panel>Mouse>Pointers and change all of your cursors to a cursor file that is invisible, and save this to a scheme of your choice, Ex. "Mame cursors". See TIP at the bottom for some extra info on the cursor.
#Save the scheme, but don't apply it yet, as it will be hard to navigate Windows with an invisible pointer.
#The last thing to do is to apply the settings to make the cursors invisible. Go back to the cursor screen in the Windows Control Panel, load your scheme and hit apply. It'll be hard, if not impossible to see your cursor, depending on which type of cursor you made, which is why this is the last step. Squint your way into your start menu and open TweakUI. If you can't see the cursor, just hit the Windows key on your keyboard to bring up the start menu. (If your keyboard doesn't have a "Windows key", you can alternatively get the start menu by pressing '''Ctrl + Esc'''.) Go to the LOGON option, and somewhere there is the option to copy your wall paper etc. across to the Logon Screen. Check that, and hit apply or press Alt+A.

*If you have made an invisible cursor and you can't seem to get around Windows once you exit your FE, you can just log out of the current user and log into the computer as an administrator and all those settings should be untouched. To do this without a mouse, just hit Win+L and it will bring up the login menu (Win is the windows key on the keyboard, right between Ctrl and Alt. Another useful hotkey is Win+R which brings up the Run menu.

TIP: When you download Mamewah, the zip contains an invisible cursor, so you can use that one if you'd like. Also, you can make a cursor that is just a dot, so that it is almost invisible but it can be used to navigate if needed.

== Welcome/Startup/Shutdown/Background Color ==

* To hide the Welcome Screen (where you'd normally log in) you'll need to change from the default windows XP welcome screen to the other style by going to Control Panels >User Accounts >Change the way users logon or off. Deselect the “Use Welcome Screen” checkbox.

* To change the login background color from blue to black (to better hide it), use regedit again and navigate to
<pre>HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors\Background</pre>
The 3-digit RGB color for black is 0 0 0.

* If this causes the "Classic" login screen to appear that prompts for a password, the login can be automated as follows:

#Click start >run >type <pre>control userpasswords2</pre>
#Highlight the user you want to log into automatically, then deselect the '''Users must enter a username and password...''' checkbox.
#Click '''Apply''' and you'll be asked to verify the username and password to log in automatically
#Click '''OK''' again and the next time you restart your computer, you'll automatically be logged in without having the classic prompt or Welcome Screen.

== Removing pop-up bubbles ==

* In Windows XP, you occasionaly get pop-up bubbles with all kinds of useful (or less useful) information. In the application of running an arcade machine, we use low resolutions, like 640x480 or even 640x288. In these resolutions Windows XP tries to be helpful and lets you know via a pop-up bubble that your resolution setting is not ideal for this videocard. (Another bubble that can come up because of the low resolution is from the Start menu indicating it cannot show all items on the Start menu because of the low resolution.
We need to live with this, so there is no point in these bubbles coming up everytime.)

* To turn ALL (!) bubbles off follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then press ENTER.

2. Navigate to the following subkey:
<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced</pre>

3. Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips.

4. Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0.

5. Quit Registry Editor. Log off Windows, and then log back on.

These steps disable all Notification Area balloon tips for this user. There is no way to disable balloon tips for specific programs only.

= [[Image:OS windows icon.gif]] Hiding Windows 98 =

Hiding Windows 98 is lots easier than hiding Windows XP.

== Replacing Your Boot Screen ==
* Create a black picture with in BMP format, RGB encoded, 320x400 resolution, 256 colors in MS Paint or another paint application
* Do NOT try to save pictures in 16bit or 32bit colors or such, because it may crash Windows.
* Replace logo.sys, logow.sys and logos.sys with your new picture (these are actually bmp files, which were renamed to sys).

Here is more in-depth info about replacing:
[http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-011 Replace the Ugly Startup and Shutdown Screens].

Here is a post with lots of good links to logos and free editing tools:
[http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=38262&st=0&p=314806&#entry314806 Animated/static Win9x/ME logos and free tools to create/edit/manage animated/static logos].

===Special concerns when using the ArcadeVGA===
When using a custom boot screen logo with the ArcadeVGA video card, the boot resolution is 320x200. This results in only the top half of the image being visible. However, Windows still requires an image that is the full 320x400 pixels. A simple way to handle this is to make a standard sized boot screen image, resize it vertically 50%, then paste two copies (stacked vertically) into a new 320x400 BMP image.

== Hiding The Mouse Pointer While Logging Into Windows ==
You can doing the same way as Windows XP.

== Hiding The taskbar ==
Coming Soon.

==See Also==
* [[Software]]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Index]]