Mame Cabinet/setup

[kojack]

There's some cool info at http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/introduction.html for building an arcade controller for a pc. Tons of info on available joystick and button brands and printable templates for 20 common button/joystick layouts.

 

[dgame]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/

 

[skeezix]

The actual electronics work in producing a cab from scratch even, is pretty easy stuff; remember, these machines were designed to take a beeting (lots of heavy wood) and be repaired by total amateurs.. the operators; old games came with schematics, but no one used them anyway The onyl things to watch for are the high voltage bits -- a 30 year old CRT will pack a wallop if you grab it by the painted black part of the CRT .. don't do that (And what I found out is.. a CRT that you discharge and then leave lieing under a stairway for 10 years will absorb a craptonne of electrons from the air, and you better picm it up by the carry frame lest you get 10,000V up the rear


Likewise, the power supply is.. a power supply, be mindful.


But its quite easy, stringing the wire to the joysticks and buttons back to a JAMMA harness (say), etc.


Or just build a machine using a PC as heart, with a real=-controls to USB adapter (say), or an xarcade or somethig if you want to spend $$. And get an ArcadeVGA card, so your PC can talk to an authentic old CRT.. looks way better than some LCD you can buy cheap now; a nice 30 year old 19" CRT looks beautiful after a degaussing, way better than some too-sharp LCD


jeff

 

[kojack]

The lazy option is getting the iCade, a mini arcade cabinet that is really an ipad dock.


http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/retro-gaming/e762





(Note: in no way am I condoning the ownership of an ipad)

 

[Gruntfuggly]

Have a look at http:://www.ultimarc.com - there some great stuff on there for building your own cabinet. Wiring up an IPAC board is simple...

 

[Fzero]

ok this is one of those milestone projects that i just have never reached ... or got off the first rung tbh.


That coinslag is a great website btw, really nice info put there and i like the look of the site and i like the URL.


ive always wanted a cabinet, but my flat is too small for one really, as i would have to keep it in "the game room" which has low ceiling, its a loft flat so the ceiling is all mad angles. Not ideal for a 6 foot standing cabinet as the only place it could reside is smack bang in the middle of the room.


have been thinking for a while now about having one of the coffee table style ones, i liked the Zombie Slim cab which is a flat pack kit from gremlins, but although its slim against the wall it still is too tall.


i did look into IPAC boards ages ago and they did seem simple, simple pairing process it seemed.


also looked into those x-arcade, as they could be dropped into a table of sorts i guess, providing i cut the table right.


i got a coinops xbox sitting in my room, i recently found an article online too which explained how to get the xbox to boot straight into coinops - the closest thing to something like hyperspin frontend i guess - which is begging to be linked up to some arcade controls and used properly.


so, with a plan to use an original xbox rather than a PC, any good pointers for arcade controls?


the x-arcade have adapters but [i think] only for PS3 and xbox360.


can i somehow hook up an IPAC board to an original xbox rather than PC? If i could, i think that would be the best thing for me, i could - with some diagrams downloaded from that coinslag site - cut up a wooden box and then buy Sanwa sticks and buttons to use in it. I would definately want to get some nifty looking LED stick and buttons, and seen loads of nice ones on gremlins site.


im just stuck on 'if' i can even connect arcade controls to an original xbox, using IPAC. If i could then i think i would just try my hand at that ... also wouldnt need to mess with monitors as i would just have the lead from my xbox which id connect to my LCD, so not really a cabinet at all, more of a mini table what has an xbox in it and full size arcade controls built onto it.


give me advice please

 

[Fzero]

if it helps, this is what i want to acheive ... me in my chair in my room with the low ceiling, enjoying some arcade stick action on some form of wooden box that is housing my original xbox along with whatever-else-is-needed to get the Sanwa controls working.

 

[mcobit]

Then rip apart a xbox gamepad and wire your buttons to it there are tutorials on how to so so on the net.

 

[Fzero]

Ahaa., i did actually see something about that on the coinslag site but it didnt click --- doh!


nice one mcobit, i think that is the way forward for me.


I;ll do some more reading of that article later and get planning.

 

[TDT]

if it helps, this is what i want to acheive ... me in my chair in my room with the low ceiling, enjoying some arcade stick action on some form of wooden box that is housing my original xbox along with whatever-else-is-needed to get the Sanwa controls working.

I like the hair in this photo, very realistic and stylish You also look at least 10 feet tall....if you were to stand up. crawling around your apartment - ugh

 

[Fzero]

I'm afraid to say although I'm not 10' tall the pic is to 1:1 scale


It's not ideal for the old posture but it's where the machines all get banished to, I simply follow

 

[skeezix]

Sounds like you want a Supergun or equivalent..


a supergun is an arcade harness that plugs into a TV, and has arcade controllers. ie: You stil use real arcade pcbs or the like, and real arcade controls, but in a more console layout. Tjhey're not hard to make really, but usually peopel just buy them.


Check google images etc. In essence, think of it as any old console, where inmstead oc carts or CDs, you use arcace pcbs as the game. My supergun has little units you sit on your lap that have the arcade joystick and buttons on them, but the unit has svideo out so jacks into my HDTV, and good to go. (yes, I have real machines, a supergun, you name it


jeff

 

[Fzero]

Nice one jeff, i cant believe ive never even seen or heard of the Supergun.


I watched a load of vids on YT of people showing their ones and they do look interesting.


Can you get any of these that can hook up to an old xbox though, or do they only work with putting in the Jamma boards?


If they done ones which could run both, that would be perfect and definitely what i want.


I see that you basically insert the Jamma boards of arcade games and play them, and that you can get a harness what has an adapter on one end which then allows you to play Neo-Geo boards too.


This is good, but id suspect that some games i want would either be too rare to pick up on a board, or available but very expensive - though i did see a lot of boards like Mortal Kombat go for only about 15 quid which is reasonable id say.


Are there other harnesses or such which would allow for this to connect up to my old xbox?


I have all my fav games running on that and if i could hook up something like this Supergun:

...that would be the perfect thing.


I would of course take the Supergun case off and swap over the joystick and buttons to top quality ones that suit me, Sanwa LED ones I have my eye on, but that id imagine is pretty simple to do especially with all the info on the coinslag site.


I couldnt see any info though where people have these Superguns hooked up to consoles though, just people using them with the original arcade game boards.