Re: Advice from experts

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: Hey Bugfinder! Welcome to the fray! : I should qualify this by saying that I am by no means an "expert" at this. This board has a lot of talented people lurking on it, and I just do what I can to even understand what they're doing! That said... : PC2JAMMA is important to know if you plan on mounting JAMMA PCBs into your cabinet (for some REAL authentic arcade action) but it's not a requirement, especially if you opt to build you own cabinet (which obviously won't be pre-configured for any kind of JAMMA interface). : I used a PC monitor for my cab, so I'm not much help in the arcade monitor arena. Andy Geez would be the man to talk to about this. Have you already made up your mind as far as going with the arcade monitor goes? Have you given any consideration to using a PC monitor or a TV? All of them have advantages and disadvantages over the others... : : I must confess I don't even know the difference between a digital and an analog joystick... Many sites talk about it but I still haven't figured it out yet :o( : Go for an anolog joystick. Much less fuss. Besides, pretty much all of the classics used 'em, so you'll be getting that authentic feel. I used the Super Joysticks from Happ Controls, and I'm very happy with it. : :My idea is to put the minitower inside the arcade cabinet, fixed in a way it can't be damaged by moving the cabinet around. : Like Davis said, you might want to consider mounting the innards of the PC somewhere inside the cabinet. Either that, or somehow fasted the PC case to the inside of the cab. You could also go my route: I have the PC in a normal case but it's VERY acessable, meaning that if I really had to move the cabinet around a lot I could just unplug a few cords and just take the PC out of the cabinet. : : My main problems at this moment is to decide 4 things: : : 1) I've opted for using an AMD processor; how much horsepower to put into the PC? : : 2) Same question applies to memory. Is 128 Mb PC-133 enough to play everything with sound or should I buy 192 Mb, 256 Mb? : Yeah, a K6-II 500Mhz with 128MB RAM will be plenty for what you want to with it. : : 3) Which are the recommended video cards to use with arcade monitors? : Check out Andy's Mon-ARC page at http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/xng75/arcade/monarc.htm . It supports Voodoo Banshee/Voodoo 3 videocards, SIS6326/SIS300 and series videocards, and Matrox G400 series videocards. : : 4) The most troublesome aspect of all this: to hack a keyboard or not to hack a keyboard. : I am totally with Agent Davis on this one: time=money. Get an encoder. The amount of time that you'll spend hacking apart the keyboard - especially since (as you said) you have no experience with it - will make an encoder the best purchase of your life. Since you said that you're looking to do multiple emulators with this machine, I would recommend a programmable encoder for you versus the IPAC. Based on the control panel that you say that you want to build (no trackball, etc.), the Hagstrom LP24 looks perfect for you. Check it out at http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/modules.html . I have no idea what kind of shipping fees they would charge to ship to Brazil, but you could always call them and ask! They have been very friendly on the phone to me. : More information on keyboard encoders can be found right here on this site. Click on the "Interfaces" button on the left. : Good luck with your project, Bugfinder! And if you need any additional help, you know where to find us! : -JP4

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