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Nervous noob, (k)nows nothing, needs (k)nowledge
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ubermick:
Right, let's get one thing out of the way. I hate you all. That's right, I hate ye. And if you think I detest you, wait'll my wife gets a load of what your evil influence is doing to me.*

See, there was I, thinking about getting a MAME system. They had 'em at Costco, $2,000 or so. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!" the boss shouts, putting her foot down. Ah well, worth a try.

A few months pass, and I think "Y'know, all I really need is an old PC, and an arcade stick. I don't need the fancy cabinets!"

So I look around, trying to find a decent stick, and spotted the X-Arcade. Which, apparently, everyone LOVED. Apart from one google result which pointed me here.

I'm ruined. Destroyed. I started seeing things like Knievel's Woody (Well, I didn't see THAT woody... you know what I mean!), Martijn's Street Fighter cab, and my fellow Irishman Lumberjackass' fine system (along with his excellent tutorials. Maith an buachaill!!). Obviously, my plans of just having a computer on a desk with a joystick are in tatters, and now I **MUST** have a cab!

So here goes nothing. Hopefully down the road I'll have something worthy of showing everyone, but before I get started, a couple of questions...

First, the computer. I know people have asked something along these lines before, but I can't say I've seen a definitive answer on "What's the minimum system requirements?" It doesn't help that I know NOTHING about pee-cees, having used Macs all my life. But to sum up what I'd like to run, it's basically MAME with the older games (I've got a PS3 and a Wii for anything demanding!) from my childhood with maybe some Golden Tee action for drunken evenings in the Man Cave. I'd like the old consoles - Amiga would be FANTASTIC, Sega, SNES, and maybe some old Playstation stuff. In terms of computers, a friend of mine has an old E-Machines D2046 I might be able to scrounge from him, which comes with (I'm assuming): 2ghz Celeron Processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD (I'm already assuming this needs to be replaced with something 10 times bigger), and Intel Extreme Graphics 3D video (built into the motherboard, I assume). Would that be enough for what I want, or am I going to need to go bigger?

Second, the control panel. I've looked at some builds, and putting them together seems fairly straightforward. One wire from the button to something like an ipac, and then one wire going around acting as a ground, then the ipac plugs into one of the computer's USB ports. Joysticks have me scratching my head, tho. I'm assuming all I'd want is 8-way, I don't really need anything analog, but the selection of just 8 way sticks has me overwhelmed. I like the idea of the Ultimarc Mag Stick Plus, but is it really worth the money, given that one of those is four times the price of other sticks I see used? So do folks have a "preferred standard stick"?

The trackball is something that has me wondering, too. I'm assuming that folks are using something like Ultimarc's U-Trak, or one from Twisted Quarter which goes directly into a USB/PS2 port? If so, is one better than the other? And if not... well, got any recommendations?! (I gravitate towards Twisted Quarter for some stuff, since I have a bunch of ebay gift cards I can use for their stuff!)

Thanks in advance for all your help - which I'll be asking for on a regular basis, because God help me, I'm just not that bright. Keep up the mind blowing work, your stuff is amazingly inspirational - and has caused even someone like me to attempt a build!





* Actually I don't. I'm massively impressed by the work here, as well as by people's willingness to help. Can't wait to get started!
Donkbaca:
These questions come up all the time. " I have x-computer, will it run y"?. Well get a 500gb or bigger external drive, load MAME up on it and see how it runs. The computer is free, you are going to need to set up MAME anyway, see if runs what you want. If it does you are set, if it doesn't then you already have it set up to move to your new computer.

As for joysticks, that's like asking where the best pizza is. Ask 10 people you get 10 different answers. Let me ask you this. Do you like your x-arcade?  If so then just use those joysticks and buttons. Itll save you some money to. Personally I like the x-arcade sticks.

Most people don't like the magstick. I would get u360s from ultimarc if I were to start over
SavannahLion:

--- Quote from: ubermick on March 01, 2011, 09:34:29 pm ---Right, let's get one thing out of the way. I hate you all. That's right, I hate ye. And if you think I detest you, wait'll my wife gets a load of what your evil influence is doing to me.*

--- End quote ---

That's why we have a politics and religion forum, so we can openly vent our hatred for each other.
Donkbaca:
Oh yeah, and as for trackballs, I don't think there is a strong preference for one over the other. just get a ps2 one so you don't have to buy an oPtical encoder.
mgb:
Hey Ubermick,
  Welcome to the forums. It's a wonderful addiction. don't forget that mame is a gateway drug. You may even stray into the dark underworld of classic game collecting. Oh won't wifey be glad.
Yeah alot of those things are preferences. I like Sanwa JLWs and GGG Electric Ice buttons while another guy may like Ultrasticks (very popular) and Happ buttons.
You try some stuff and figure out what you like.
If you can get a free pc with 2ghz and a 40 gig harddrive, why not.
That will take care of alot of classics. I would recomend 512MB of memory but even the 256MB will be a great start.
I ran my Mame for a few good years on P3 900Mhz with 512MB memory and a 40 Gig hard drive and I had no problems running all of the classics plus the fighters from the 90s.
Now I couldn't run Hyperspin but it was a decent cheap setup.
So keep looking at the forums and you'll see some patterns of what seems to work for guys and what seems to be common problems.

By the way, I use Twisted Quarter a lot my self, a very good dealer. never had a problem.
Good luck
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