Posted by Retrocactus on 10, 2000 at 12:39 AM:
In Reply to: I can definitely help, I've been through exactly what you've been through. posted by Agent Davis on 9, 2000 at 5:47 PM:
: Now that was one big ass post. Here goes:
: My initial build (and current build) for a cabinet was/is 2 joysticks with 6 buttons per player plus 1 each player for 1up/2up and the 2 coin slot buttons as well. In my case, I was able to land a converted SF2 cab so everything I needed was wired jamma style. I made the pc2jamma project and wired my controls via IPAC. If you can land a cab with jamma already wired in that's great so you can plug everything into a jamma fingerboard. A note on this: If you ever want to actually use the jamma again then go ahead and wire the 1-3 buttons of each player from the fingerboard to the encoder. If not, then just wire up all your buttons and joys straight to the encoder and use the jamma fingerboard for video only. Now, If you DO NOT have a jamma cab to start then just wire up the video to the arcade monitor. Use a multimeter or a continuity tester from Radio Shack or other to figure out what pins are what wires on the VGA cable. I went through hell for this. I actually ended up cutting off just the connector and resoldering all the wires to the back sides of the pins!!! Anyway, for the encoder, get off of the keyboard hack train. Time is money man, and the money you save using a keyboard is lost in the time you spend with the hassle of it. Go with the IPAC. It's only $49 shipped, which is half or less of what other encoders cost. Plus, you can use your keyboard still, because of the keyboard pass through. There are inputs for everything you need with 4 inputs left over and everything is already set up for MAME!!! The IPAC uses Shift functions for buttons like Tab, Enter, Tilde (~) and others. (IE: P1 Start + Left = Enter, or whatever). For what you need the IPAC is perfect. Trust me. Now as for your pc. 500mhz is great. I have a PII 350mhz right now with a ATI Rage IIc card and Neo Geo games run great on it. They run great through Neo Rage X on my PC monitor but I do have problems running them in DOS with Mame on my arcade cab. This is because of a lack of memory. I have 64 mb and I think Dos Mame needs more for games like Metal Slug 2 and KOF 99 and others. 128 will be plenty enough. Its really wierd. I'm going to get a pc myself that is 500mhz with 128mb of ram and the cab you want to build is just like my current one (But not for long as mine is going to be totally wacked out soon). Anyway as for video cards. Half-Life runs great on my weak little Rage IIc card. Just about any card will run 2d at full speed anymore. For 3D I guess I'd suggest one of the newer ATI cards. ATI works so great with arcade monitors and mame that it is the number one choice for mamers. I did buy an Xpert 98 card that I've yet to use. For 3d and mame on arcade cab, any of the new ATI cards would be great. The All In Wonder 128 would probably be an excellent choice. As for mounting your pc so you can leave it in when you move it, I suggest ditching the case and screwing the power source and motherboard onto a board inside your cab or something like that. You could probably bolt your case itself to a board as well and access the pc through a coin door. I just leave my pc externally. It's much simpler that way and you don't contiously think about the pc that's next to the cab as being the source for the game you are playing. Good luck man!! Just my expert advice!!! hehe :)
: Agent Davis
: Coming soon: Arcade Command!!! Stay tuned.....