Thanks guys, I really appreciate the help.
Retro808 - good to know thanks. bummer about it not being able to do the bios.
faeran - I have Retroarch installed and I have picked it as the emulator for all but mame, but it is not configured at all and i have no cores downloaded.
I May uninstall and install again to point the systems at it, then add the bios's manually.
I now have a plan! thanks again.