Ok here's the scoop. I completed my entire arcade project for approximately $175. This was the cost of a 17" monitor, the keyboard to arcade controls adapter, a roll of wire, a couple adapters, and the arcade controls (new btw). The other hardware involved would add to the price (PC), but I already had it laying around anyway. I acquired the cabinet by calling around to arcade shops and asking if they had any old broken down arcade machines they'd like to sell or get rid of. I found one guy that said he has an old Defender cabinet that has been nearly stripped, and if I came and did the work to move it, I could have it for free. I ran into another gentleman who had an old Metal Slug cabinet he'd sell for $50, so it's definitely something that can come cheap. I took the free one btw.
The computer I built inside the cabinet consists of a PII 350 processor, a 60 gig drive, a network card (for downloading new games, new mame versions, mp3's etc), an ATI All-In-Wonder video card, 128 megs RAM (definite overkill on RAM, but hey, it's the smallest DIMM I had), and a sound card.
I purchased the controls brand new from a company called 'Rocky Mountain Arcade Supply'. An arcade supply company local to Denver, the prices were extremely reasonable. I purchased two competition joysticks ($10.50 each), and 16 arcade buttons of various colors ($2.25 each). The controls that came on the board for the defender game were inadequate, and antiquated, and only allowed for one player at a time anyway (if you remember Defender you remember that the joystick only went up and down, no angles, no sideways). I used the old control board as a guide to build a new one, with two player controls. Each player has a joystick, 6 buttons for games (street fighter II!), a start button, and a coin button (no quarters thank God!).
The old controls on the board used a method akin to that of the 'points' in a vehicle engine. Pressing the button pushed one piece of metal against another piece of metal, circuit complete, bingo. That style of button wears out tremendously quick. The new ones I bought are based on microswitches. I would definitely advise you to use this technology over the other.
To interface the controls to the computer, there are a couple options. The cheapest of which is to hack a keyboard. I used this method initially, and can testify to it's difficulty. By soldering wires to keyboard 'contacts' you can get the desired results, but there's a lot of issues that arise by doing it this way. I won't go too deep into it, but suffice it to say that 'key ghosting' is a serious problem. When you push a button for instance - B - you will generate a code. I don't have the information in front of me, but let's say the code is '4'. If you push A, you might get 3. But when you push B and A together you could get 78. Extremely high level description, but you get the point. Now, another other option, which is more expensive than the keyboard hack, but damn near flawless, and definitely worth the money is the I-PAC.
http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html
I would advise this route. As you can see in the pictures on that page, it's extremely easy to use. The distribution of these has changed a lot since I ordered mine. It appears to be more readily available. There is software for the I-PAC (probably sent with it now, used to be downloadable only) that allows you to program what keyboard button you want each arcade button to emulate. Extremely hard to mess this one up.
For the monitor, there's a lot of ways to do this, none of them cheap or easy. If you don't have an extra computer monitor, I'd advise buying one and using it. It's not the 'purist' way of building the arcade machine, as the resolutions on the games won't be as crappy as they were originally, and some of them don't take up the entire screen, but I can attest that it works great. The purists contend that using an arcade monitor is the only way to do it, and I see their point. If you're going to build an arcade machine, why not build it with an arcade monitor right? I mean after all, this is a project meant for fun and enjoyment. In truth you'll enjoy the cabinet more while you're building it than when it's done . . . then you're friends enjoy it more than you do. But here's the skinny: Arcade monitors cost a lot of money. Arcade cabinets do not accept standard VGA (like LCD's eh?), Arcade monitors don't like the Windows OS, etc. I went the arcade monitor route the first time, and I liked it. It was a lot of work, but it was nice. The software is designed to vary the signal for the monitor, and the circuits are fairly easy to build (or buy I suppose), but it is easy, and I do mean easy to mess up and blow the arcade monitor. I did it, and I decided against doing it again. At $250 a shot, I don't need that added bit of realism to Pac Man. In fact, I like the computer monitor better for many reason. One, it's easy. Two, it's reliable. Three, I can use windows on the machine. Four, I can use Playstation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Sega, etc emulators as well as mame on the same machine.
This being said (long winded I know), here are some recommendations:
www.mameworld.net (you know this one, get real familiar with it
Use ArcadeOS as the frontend, it's a tremendous program, and it has support for the console emulators as well as mame.
To get the games, go to:
www.mame.dk (Download the roms, but make sure you get the 'parent rom' if one exists. You'll know what I mean when you get there.
Keep a detailed log of everything you're doing, all the drivers you've used, and draw detailed pictures of your control boards, and the keys assigned to each button.
http://www.9thtee.com/arcadeparts.htm
Appears to be a good site for purchasing arcade controls. I didn't use this company, but these are the same style parts I have.
Some other ideas:
I purchased a set of Cambridge Soundworks speakers (long after it was finished), and installed them in the cabinet. Four cube speakers and one sub. I cut squares the size of the speakers out of the cabinet on the sides, and mounted the speakers in the holes (looks great), and set the subwoofer in the bottom. Now I have a jukebox as well. Over 9000 mp3's on that baby! I mounted the volume control on the outside of the box for constant easy access.
I cut another hole for a DVD drive, which allows me to watch movies on the thing (it's in my home office, so by looking sideways once in awhile while I'm working I can see the screen easily).
Split my DSS cable after the receiver and ran one to the TV in on the video card, so I can watch satellite TV on it.
It also serves as a fileserver and storage machine, as it is always on, always stable (cause it's never messed with), and has a HUGE drive.
Infrared keyboard and mouse are wonderful additions.
Last tip: Use the 'ctrl +' option in the I-PAC software and create yourself an escape key. I would recommend 1 player start + 2 player start if you don't purchase a button specifically for this. You'll know what I mean by the time you get there.
ICQ ~ 1183342
Email ~ jeffrey_tackett@yahoo.com
Contact me if you have any more questions, and sorry for the length, I tried to keep it down.
Jeffrey.
Standard Distance Limitation of 15-pin VGA.
Linear Mode
