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Author Topic: The Budget Arcade machine  (Read 5278 times)

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znedd

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The Budget Arcade machine
« on: April 08, 2013, 03:36:12 pm »
Hello
this is my first arcade machine and I'll update you on this with pictures later.
I am making an arcade. BUT... I don't really want to spend very much.
First. It will be a mame build in the form of a cost-effective WEECADE.

The computer is Linux based. I found an old computer lying outside an old charity shop.
They can't take computers because they don't know whats on the hard drive
It was running win-xp with 512mb RAM. I changed it to lubuntu because of better
graphics performance. 


As for the case. I had some very old, very thick mdf wood which I shaped into
a weecade case. That is pretty much all I've did so far.
I've bought the controls - 6 buttons and a joystick.
I'll hack a keyboard to fit the controls.
Just to say I will use cabrio-FE front-end.

Please comment below! :blank:

Unstupid

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2013, 03:38:43 pm »
Pics or it didn't happen!   :D

Termin8tor

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2013, 03:40:38 pm »

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2013, 03:44:00 pm »
All in good time...
It's 8:45 here in England and I can't be bothered to take pics

Unstupid

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2013, 03:58:39 pm »
I'm just messing with you....  Welcome to the forums!   ;)

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2013, 04:04:14 pm »
Thanks. I'll upload some photos tomorrow.  :cheers:

yotsuya

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2013, 06:37:59 pm »
I'm quite chuffed you found us!  :cheers:
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2013, 03:26:09 am »
Ok... I've got some Photos. I'll have to send Them in 2 posts
Sorry about the quality. Hope you like them. :applaud:

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2013, 03:29:25 am »
These ones are of the computer to be fitted.

EMDB

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2013, 03:37:21 am »
Are those pictures taken underwater!?   ::)

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2013, 03:43:24 am »
No. just an old Iphone.

Drnick

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2013, 10:28:53 am »
Looks like condensation on the lens :) Other then the blurry pics it looks like you are off to a good start.

Nacimroc

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2013, 11:42:56 am »
Are those pictures taken underwater!?   ::)

I thought he took them from a dream

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2013, 03:07:13 am »
Just to say. I've decided not to use Lubuntu because of lack of support. Instead I'm going to use vista.
You just can't refuse hyper-spin...

Dekieon

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #14 on: April 10, 2013, 04:14:49 am »
Vista? I would advise on going to either XP or 7, vista is a resource hog, and if you are using hyper-spin any extra resoures you can save the better.

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #15 on: April 10, 2013, 05:36:00 am »
I know. But win7 needs  more (unsupported) RAM graphics Drivers never work on XP.
I'm going to remove everything i don't need off vista (Apps etc.)

EMDB

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #16 on: April 10, 2013, 06:55:27 am »
I know. But win7 needs  more (unsupported) RAM graphics Drivers never work on XP.
I'm going to remove everything i don't need off vista (Apps etc.)
Win7 needs less resources than Vista.

Brian74

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #17 on: April 10, 2013, 12:17:59 pm »
+1 for Win7! Only thing that was good about Vista was the live desktop background..
         

mcseforsale

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #18 on: April 10, 2013, 02:53:01 pm »
subscribed

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2013, 04:30:43 pm »
Hmm. I knew I was going to get some criticism for choosing vista.

Here's an extract from the windows website.

  If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver


...And here's the vista requirements:
800-megahertz (MHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 800-MHz 64-bit (x64) processor
512 megabytes (MB) of system memory
DirectX 9-class graphics card
20-gigabyte (GB) hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space


So anyway, I've loaded hyperspin on my computer.
Changed it to lowest settings.
It works very smoothly with amazing graphics.

One thing I've noticed is that the windows performance is 1.0!
I guess its not that bad - My touchscreen laptop is 3.4.

So. Now its the job of renaming all the ROM files.
Does anyone know a way of Doing it faster?

Thanks for thhe feedback ;D

Vigo

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #20 on: April 10, 2013, 05:22:43 pm »
Regarding the system requirements. The Windows vista requirements are only of Windows 8 Home Basic. The requirements for Vista in general is identical to the requirements of windows 7. I know you are probably thinking that you are using the home basic edition anyway, but just bear in mind that system requirements are not the same as the system resources used. You could potentially get far better performance than vista with a windows basic edition. It's all up to you though.  8)

How do you need to rename the roms files? Do you mean the files themselves have the wrong name, or you need to change the names as you see them in your front end?

Vigo

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #21 on: April 10, 2013, 05:23:05 pm »
error post  :gobama

EMDB

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #22 on: April 11, 2013, 10:58:31 am »
[...]
So. Now its the job of renaming all the ROM files.
Does anyone know a way of Doing it faster?

Thanks for thhe feedback ;D
The latest MAME XML files of HyperSpin exactly match the rom names of the latest MAME release (V0.148). I did not had to change a single file name...

ark_ader

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #23 on: April 11, 2013, 11:19:57 am »
I wouldn't bother with all that.  Just get an old Xbox from cash converters (£10) and stick CoinOPS Lite on it.  Snag yourself a KADE encoder for £20 and you will be in business.

I have the same setup as you (weecade etc) but you could possibly put Puppy Arcade on the PC, but it might be cramped depending on the size of the main board and PSU.

Just an idea.

Actually I just got Portable Micro XP 2012 last night.  I haven't tested it but it appears smaller than TinyXP (330mb footprint) and can be run from a pen drive (something to do with Qemu..)  I got it for the project's ITX that will eventually run Fix It Felix, but it is not not legit unless you have a license.  :blah:  I have the older version of Micro XP but it cannot run any games, but this new one does out f the box.

Just another idea.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2013, 11:30:06 am by ark_ader »
If I had only one wish, it would be for three more wishes.

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #24 on: April 11, 2013, 04:00:34 pm »
I've never heard of micro XP before.
Can't get an Xbox- too expensive...
In Fact... the total I've spent on this so far is £10 ($15)
I don't have a source of win7 So I Can't Get it.



How do you need to rename the roms files? Do you mean the files themselves have the wrong name, or you need to change the names as you see them in your front end?

The name of the ROM says (U) instead of (USA) so HS can't recognize it on the menu and I will have to change it.
I need to A:  Find something to automatically change the name.
Or B: Change the hyper-spin names to my own.

Please help  :dunno

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #25 on: April 11, 2013, 04:29:12 pm »
There are a number of free programs out there that can help you rename your files. just search for "batch rename files" in google.

The way most programs work is that you use the "find and replace" function. You navigate to the directory you want to change, and then it has two text boxes. One for what to look for, and one to what to change it to. You would just type (U) in the first box, then (USA) in the second, hit the start button and you are done. :)

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #26 on: April 11, 2013, 04:34:54 pm »
That's really helpful.
There is one problem though.
Some games need to have (en,Fr,Etc) at the and but some don't.
It will take a long time to find out which ones need what.

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #27 on: April 12, 2013, 03:57:39 am »
I've tried the batch rename software. About 10% now work. but as I said:
Some games need to have (en,Fr,Etc) at the and but some don't.
It will take a long time to find out which ones need what.
I still need help with that.
I'll be away for a day or so so work will be slow for a while...

EMDB

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #28 on: April 12, 2013, 04:50:07 am »
I've tried the batch rename software. About 10% now work. but as I said:
Some games need to have (en,Fr,Etc) at the and but some don't.
It will take a long time to find out which ones need what.
I still need help with that.
I'll be away for a day or so so work will be slow for a while...
I guess these aren't MAME ROMS but some kind of console ROMS?

Drnick

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #29 on: April 12, 2013, 08:47:16 am »
All Hyperspin sets are based on no intro naming conventions.  Look up Don's Hyperspin tools.  He has a set of tools that will automate most of it using fuzzy rules.  I did it on my sets and it took a day to do them all.  Ideally you want to have complete no intro sets for your console roms and you then won't need to rename so much.   (Make sure to get the right version of the xml and have it in the right folders etc)

Hope that helps a bit.

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #30 on: April 26, 2013, 02:37:42 am »
Just a recent Update.
My Computer is doing well.
I've looked at the ROM renamer on Don's hyperspin tools.
 :angry: It takes forever... At least it works!
thanks for helping me - I'll put some pictures on tomorrow.

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #31 on: April 26, 2013, 06:39:44 am »
znedd before you continue posting project progression get a new camera of some sort. this one makes in not enjoyable to look at the build at all.
Indie Dev/Custom Arcade Cabinet Hobbyist

znedd

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #32 on: April 26, 2013, 12:41:50 pm »
Well Thats nice. I guess I will use my camcorder then.   :badmood:

jdbailey1206

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Re: The Budget Arcade machine
« Reply #33 on: April 26, 2013, 01:08:58 pm »
znedd,

Have patience with us.  We are like a bunch of impatient kids waiting for story time.  We enjoy the pictures in the book better than the actual story itself.  Good build.  Everything looks like it is coming right along.   ;D