Posted by Tiger-Heli on 14, 2000 at 7:32 AM:
In Reply to: Re: Interface>Platform>Speed posted by Darren Harris on 13, 2000 at 5:04 PM:
I'm going to answer both questions and if MameMole want to respond to mine, feel free.
As far as being a newbie, read all the docs, experiment with all the settings. Read the posts on this message board and read through the main site. This isn't rocket science, but there's a lot to learn.
: I know nothing about these keyboard encoders.(I'm assuming you were referring to the Hagstrom KE18?). But if the sidewinders I already have will allow me to run the games exactly the same as the actual arcade versions, then would there be any advantage in pure DOS?
I prefer the I-PAC to the KE-18. See www.spaceinvaders.uk.com You will see an advantage in an actual arcade joystick (Happ Controls Super) www.happcontrols.com and follow links to interactive and joysticks over the sidewinder joystick itself. If you're only using the PCB of the joystick, there's a speed advantage in the kb port or USB over the gameport. Also, there's a speed advantage in the I-PAC chip speed, but probably not enough to make a difference. Mainly, an I-PAC is a he** of a lot easier to set-up. More about that further done.
: Also, two of the control panels I have are the original "Millipede" and "Star Trek" CPs. Will there be any issue I need to concern myself with since they have a trackball and a spinner?
You need an interface board to connect a trackball or spinner to the PC. I recommend the opti-pac plus from the same guy as the I-PAC. The opti-pac plus requires +5 VDC which can be provided from the I-PAC (another good reason to buy one.)
Personally, I plan to run a 40-wire IDE cable to the I-PAC and Opti-PAC. Then I can use a split hard drive cable connected to each control panels to swap them out without disconnecting any wires. E-mail for details.
:
: Tiger-Heli,
: Since I'm a total newbie. Would you still recommend arcade@home and DOS MAME in a Windows DOS Box as my best options?
MAME32 is probably easier to set up. If you are familiar with computers, DOS MAME is not that hard though. Personally, I only use arcade@home for the game names and to remember what a game that I haven't played in a while is like and to set-up a game for the first time. After that, I run the game with the appropriate command line options from a shortcut on the Windows start menu. Arcade at home is a fairly straight forward front-end.
I would probably start by installing MAME DOS and Arcade@home. Play the games and adjust all the options in Arcade@home (try different things and see what you like). Then try adjusting the mame.cfg file settings.
Again, e-mail if you have questions.