how to power 4 7-segment displays

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

i finished programming my ping pong scoreboard project last night, and then i was thinking what would be a good way to supply power to it and i thought you guys here would know best.

so my plan is to mount the arduino and 4 74ls164 chips onto a perf board and from those chips would display the score using 4 7-segment displays.

is it better to power it with 4 double A batteries or a 9 volt battery with a 7805 5 volt regulator?
also would running multiple wires about 4-5 feet long used for High and Low on buttons cause more battery drain?
thanks

2

Do not use small square 9V batteries, they can give very little current.
Long wires on inputs do not affect battery durian, although they can pick up more interference.

3

Thanks!