Who's built a vertical monitor Mame machine

[pathdoc2]

I'm thinking of making my next mame cab with a vertical monitor.  Who else has done this?  

[MinerAl]

My cocktail is a vertical screen.

The thing about a vertical screen is that fighters and other horizontal games have the "letterbox" effect of big (12.5% of the screen each) blank areas above and below the game.

Personally I am more of a classics player and this doesn't bother me at all.  On my 24" screen the horizontal games are still the same size as they would be on an 18" horizontal screen.  27" verticals have about 20" horizontals.

Once your screen is above 25" or so, both aspects are huge enough at point blank range to almost negate the issue.

On smaller screens, you need to remember that horizontal games on a vertical screen will be 75% the size of the screen (and vice versa) and that might become too tiny to stand.  You need to decide which aspect is your favorite and plan for that.

I dunno if that's what kind of comment you were looking for, but...

Good luck,

[SirPeale]

Yep, I've got one.  I'm not sure whether or not I'm keeping it vertical however.  When it's vertical, I can't put the back door on.  It's a converted Moon Patrol cabinet.

I may just make a new back door, and be done with it.

[Zeitgeist]

Doc,
Lots of people have done this.
Best suggestionI have is to use a video card that supports OS rotation if possible, if you are planning to use Windoze.
If you're sticking to DOS, the ArcadeOS front end will do the trick for you.
Goodluck!

Peal,
Any chance of you posting the dimensions for your MoonPatrol Cab?
Please & thanks.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread Doc.
Z

[Apollo]

My main cab is a 27" horizontal ( in the works at the moment ) but sitting next to it in the garage is a cool little 19" cab which I am going to make into a vertical at some stage. PacMan, 1942, Donkey Kong etc. It's going to rock plus only needs low processing power, probably get away with 300MHz and 64MB RAM if it's just running DOS MAME ( cheap! ). My wife says it's her machine coz it's cute I guess lol.

[pathdoc2]

I was thinking of using a 19 computer monitor or a slighter larger tv.  Not sure if the videocard supports this function or not.  It just seems better to have a vertical monitor for the classics, which I prefer over the newer fighting games.
I'll probably set this machine up a single player control panel and use a Galaga theme.  I'll post a few pics in the next few weeks.

[Apollo]

I'll be using a 19" low res arcade monitor with ArcadeVGA.
I don't think I would make a cab without aracde monitor and ArcadeVGA ever now. More expensive but totally authentic ( which is the whole idea after all ).

[Superdude]

I'll be using a 19" low res arcade monitor with ArcadeVGA.
I don't think I would make a cab without aracde monitor and ArcadeVGA ever now. More expensive but totally authentic ( which is the whole idea after all ).

Apollo, I have built 2 verticle mame cabs.  I would not waste the money on an ArcadeVGA Card.  Since most of the games do not need any real cpu power except Strikers I and II, I would go with a cheap Trident Blade T64.  That is the Best Card to use for verticle.  I also found using DOS, Advance Mame and Menu is the best solution for verticle cabs. I can help you with anything verticle if you need some help.

[paigeoliver]

My Artic Mini has a vertical monitor.

I totally recommend vertical monitors for either your second machine, or for a low cost first machine.

The reason I say it is low cost is because a HUGE percentage of the classics are vertical (and most were alternating play instead of simultaneous play), which means you can get by with a $40-$50 surplus computer, a single joystick, and 2 or 3 buttons. The low number of inputs needed means you can do a cheap and easy joystick hack rather than shelling out the cash for an I-Pac.

My Artic Mini hardly cost a thing to build at all. (Free cabinet, $75 21" kiosk monitor, traded about $30 worth of stuff for the computer, joystick I hacked was $3, overlay was $2, and then $20 worth of new controls for a grand total of about $130).

[Apollo]

I'll be using a 19" low res arcade monitor with ArcadeVGA.
I don't think I would make a cab without aracde monitor and ArcadeVGA ever now. More expensive but totally authentic ( which is the whole idea after all ).

Apollo, I have built 2 verticle mame cabs.  I would not waste the money on an ArcadeVGA Card.  Since most of the games do not need any real cpu power except Strikers I and II, I would go with a cheap Trident Blade T64.  That is the Best Card to use for verticle.  I also found using DOS, Advance Mame and Menu is the best solution for verticle cabs. I can help you with anything verticle if you need some help.

Cool thanks Superdude, I didn't really think that out properly. What kind of monitor would you use?

[Superdude]

I would ONLY USE arcade monitors.  Sticking a computer monitor in looks fake.  A Pentium III 450 with 192 Megs will work just dandy except for Strikers for verticle cabs. I sold my Super Pacman Vert Mame cab just last night.

You might need help with Advance Mame and Menu. Just PM if you need help setting it up.  It is fairly difficult at first but it's the best setup.

[Superdude]

BTW a Trident TBlade64 is on sale for 36 bucks shipped. This card is a must for Advance Mame.  (check easy mame cab website for more info)

[Apollo]

What about res incompatabilities? How do get around the fact that the arcade monitor needs low res? Is that an Advance Mame setting?
Thanks for your advice by the way.
Ooops seems we have hijacked this thread a little, sorry.

[JoyMonkey]

Trident Blade and Ati Rage cards are the most common cards that handle low-res video modes needed by Mame.

I've always used Ati Rage cards when using AdvMame, it has two seperate programs that configure all the different graphics modes. It may be a little time consuming, but in the end you'll have a perfect arcade monitor setup.
Have a look at Las Vegas' Purple Mame Page at http://mame.how.to/ for great step-by-step instructions on getting AdvMame up and running on an arcade monitor.

I've used Dell Optiplex P3 450-550Mhz machines with onboard sound and onboard Ati Rage graphics no problem with Sanyo and WG arcade monitors using AdvMame - you can probably pick one up for about $90 on eBay. I know people say don't go with onboard anything, but if you're running from DOS there's nothing else to hog the resources.
They're ideal for most vertical games; like SuperDude says, it'll play  them all perfectly apart from Strikers, which I don't really care for anyway.

[pathdoc2]

I'd like to run a computer in DOS but I'm a computer idiot.  Anything but window seems to scare me.
I'm still considering which monitor to use.

[bdsjake]

Sounds like a lot of work to  set up advancemame.  I think $100 for the Arcadevga would be worth it in time saved and less frustration.

[Superdude]

Sounds like a lot of work to  set up advancemame.  I think $100 for the Arcadevga would be worth it in time saved and less frustration.

Yes and No.   Yes it's easy to setup from "scratch", but you cannot run AdvMenu with it.  You can Only run ArcadeOs.

Now the Trident is difficult to setup from scratch.  However you can download the .RC files from Easy Mame Cab.  You can also run AdvanceMenu which in my opinion is a alot better than ArcadeOS.

I own the ArcadeVga Card and I love it.  But it is only good if your going to run Windows.