I found an empty arcade game cabinet on Craigslist for $20, so that’s kick-started my MAME system build.  Starting out with a fan-less Shuttle XS35 system, with a 16GB compact flash card for storage.  Installing an OS onto a barebones system can be tough without an optical drive, but I cobbled together a functional (but slow) external drive setup using an old IDE drive and external hard drive enclosure.  Did I mention it’s slow?  Well no matter, it’s just for the OS install, then everything will be done over the network.  Stay tuned here for updates as the build progresses.