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using a mac for mame cabinet
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gnateye:
i have built 3 Mame cabs that use old 300mhz (system 8.6, Mame .59) mac desktops as the computer. i max out the ram and put a new hard drive in them and they work great for the classics(and some newer ones, though don't expect mortal combat to work) like everyone has said, the main drawback is the lack of front ends in my opinion (as everyone said above).

otherwise i love them, they work with the ipac, usb spinners and trackball, have built in speakers (that i am able to wire my cab speakers into with no problem, are easy to upgrade and parts are cheap. luckily for me i tend to attract these old mac so i have a few lying around. if i had a bunch pf PCs lying around i would prolly have built every cab with them. but i am a cheapskate and love to use what i have...

 i have tried upgrading to newer mac running 10.4 and had nothing but problems, i went back to my old faithful setup that never disappoints.

www.cosmicbreaks.com/arcade for pics of my cabs
alfonzotan:

--- Quote from: gnateye on August 13, 2010, 11:41:08 am ---i have built 3 Mame cabs that use old 300mhz (system 8.6, Mame .59) mac desktops as the computer. i max out the ram and put a new hard drive in them and they work great for the classics(and some newer ones, though don't expect mortal combat to work) like everyone has said, the main drawback is the lack of front ends in my opinion (as everyone said above).

otherwise i love them, they work with the ipac, usb spinners and trackball, have built in speakers (that i am able to wire my cab speakers into with no problem, are easy to upgrade and parts are cheap. luckily for me i tend to attract these old mac so i have a few lying around. if i had a bunch pf PCs lying around i would prolly have built every cab with them. but i am a cheapskate and love to use what i have...

 i have tried upgrading to newer mac running 10.4 and had nothing but problems, i went back to my old faithful setup that never disappoints.

www.cosmicbreaks.com/arcade for pics of my cabs

--- End quote ---

This thread inspired me... just picked up a G4 tower ($20!) to add to my Mac multicab-in-progress.

Now to re-learn OS9...
PixelPaul:

--- Quote from: gnateye on August 13, 2010, 11:41:08 am ---l, have built in speakers (that i am able to wire my cab speakers into with no problem.

--- End quote ---

Can you expand on your comment about speakers? I was wondering what the options were for speakers.
taylormadelv:
I use old Macs all the time as mostly "dedicated" mames. There are work arounds when I work with old macs. The first is attempting to run the game(s) I want on OS 9 and an old version of macmame os 9. Everything will run much, much faster on OS 9. Vector games emulate very well on macmame OS9, better than any PC emulator besides AAE; but again, no real front end and limited encoder options. Right now I'm building a Midway mini/cabaret cabinet that runs all the vector hacks for Galaxian, Galaga and the Pacman games. It turns out that Mistfitmame for mac only runs on OSX and the games only turn to the RIGHT vertically. So now I have to unmount the imac G3 400 I installed and flip it upside down so all the games look correct. ACK!
Some games like Neo Geos and Topgunner will only run on Macmame OS X as far as I know. Macmame OS 9 can give that nice "soft" look to the classics and like I said before, OS 9 is KING for emulating vectors IMO.
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