How many admin buttons

[greywolf22]

Hey all,

Just thought I'd send a quick note to find out how many administrative buttons you all use on your control panel.  I'm trying to plan out exactly how many buttons I will need on my control panel.  Obviously I'll need the usual (player 1, player 2, coin 1, coin2), but aside from those what buttons do I have to have to run MAME?  I figure I will need one for the TAB key and one for the PAUSE key, but what else?  Any input would be great.  Thanks  

[Apollo]

It' really up to you. You can have none or 20 if you like.
I prefer the none option but to be honest I have, coin up, pause and escape on mine.

[MiKman]

I think I have decided to put PAUSE and EXIT. I don't particularily like the fact that the ipac's default for exit is player 1 start and player 2 start.  it's happend that we have pushed them together in the heat of a game and boom back to the desktop.  I can't see the need for anything else really the shift function of the ipac works ok for these.

[RedSquirrel]

i have 3 on mine. Prob is, I was actually gonna do 2 and then i made the cp and realised i actually had made 3.

Exit, Pause... and i guess I can have either tab, enter etc. whatever.

I think 2 or 3 is a good number. Anymore, hide them away.

[SirPeale]

I think I have decided to put PAUSE and EXIT. I don't particularily like the fact that the ipac's default for exit is player 1 start and player 2 start.  it's happend that we have pushed them together in the heat of a game and boom back to the desktop.  I can't see the need for anything else really the shift function of the ipac works ok for these.

You can change the default for that, you know.

[zzsprade]

On this note I haven't exactly had the chance to play around with many of the front ends available. I seem to find  a certain charm in sticking to the same old Dos set up that is tried and true for me.

Thus, how many require a dedicated enter button to select a title from the list? Is it worthwhile or is a simple button click the only input required to select the appropriate title?

-Alex

[TalkingOctopus]

On this note I haven't exactly had the chance to play around with many of the front ends available. I seem to find  a certain charm in sticking to the same old Dos set up that is tried and true for me.

Thus, how many require a dedicated enter button to select a title from the list? Is it worthwhile or is a simple button click the only input required to select the appropriate title?

-Alex

No it probably isn't.  I use mamewah for an FE and use the white player 1 start button to select a game.

[bionicbadger]

I have zero admin buttons.
If you use the IPAC you can just use the shift functions do do what you need without cluttering up the control panel with a bunch of extra buttons.

That being said, I do have 2 mousebuttons for my trackball.

[slinger]

I just added 5 Admin buttons to mine today.

Esc,Tilde,Tab,Pause and coin.

All of them are inside the door

BTW if any of you remember my keyboard emulator that I am making (open source) it isn't completely finished but it is fully functional now just adding a few bells and whistles to the software.

AND THERE IS NO GHOSTING!!!

[zzsprade]

On this note I haven't exactly had the chance to play around with many of the front ends available. I seem to find  a certain charm in sticking to the same old Dos set up that is tried and true for me.

Thus, how many require a dedicated enter button to select a title from the list? Is it worthwhile or is a simple button click the only input required to select the appropriate title?

-Alex

No it probably isn't.  I use mamewah for an FE and use the white player 1 start button to select a game.

Out of curiousity TalkingOctopus, can Mamewah have its keys edited? In particular to select a title from a list?

Haven't tried it yet, but more then willing seeing the number of people now using it.

-Alex

[DaveMMR]

Being totally redundant here but I also am going with two:  Escape (although I'm labling it as EXIT GAME) and Pause.   Although I would recommend Coin buttons if you're not going the coin door route.

[SirPoonga]

I just have Quit and Pause as buttons on my shelf (and coin buttons if you consider those admin buttons).  Those are the most used buttons.  My friends know what they are, they don't ask what shift key does what  I use the pause key all the time when the phone rings.

[1UP]

If your friends never play it, you don't need any admin buttons, whether or not you have an I-PAC, Keywiz, or gamepad hack.  You can program key combinations into MAME itself for any of the admin options.  I used to do this before I got my I-PAC.

For friends though (or kids), it's nice to have a user-friendly interface.  Most good FE's use the 1P start button to enter a game, so that's pretty self explanitory, but it'd be nice to also have buttons for Pause, Exit, and Coins.  Friends really have a hard time using those shift keys...  

Everything else maintenance wise can be done with shift keys, or even better, a keyboard inside the coin door!  

[paigeoliver]

On the Artic Mini Mame I opted to have NO admin buttons at all.

I used the time honored method of mapping the player 2 start button to both "Coin 1" and player 2 start, which means I don't need a coin button. It is pretty simple, press player 2 start once to insert a credit, and then you can press player 1 start for a one player game, or player 2 start for two players. So far no one seems to have a problem with it. I used a shift key (down and player 1 start) to exit the game. I actually don't like people to work the menus on their own. I tend to just load Galaga, Dig Dug, or one of the Pac-games if people are coming over.

On my Amazing Mame I am using a "Power Point remote" for admin purposes. It can pause, insert credits, and exit the game (i basically only use it for mouse functions and to exit). I also have the actual coin mechs wired, and have pause and tab buttons located inside the coin door.

If you let people pick their own games then they will pick something completely stupid, say "This sucks" and then lose interest. Sure, knowledgeable gamers will load up City Connection, Robotron or Street Fighter 2, but the average person will end up playing Logger, Mikie or Wall Street.

That is why I picked a non-intuitive way to exit the games on both machines. In fact, I doubt ANYONE would ever figure out that in order to exit game on the Amazing Mame that you have to pick up a remote control off a nearbye shelf and press the left button!

Basically, I don't trust my friends to know what to pick at first. Once they get used to a few games then they start asking for them, and then I load those up. Current favorite title on the Artic Mini seems to be Junior Pac-Man (Speed up), and favorite on the Amazing Maze seems to be Money Puzzle Exchanger.

[Smittydc]

I have credit and quit.  And a wireless keyboard nearby if needed.
Pause is for sissies.  

Artic -- regarding lousy games, that's why you set up a favorites list in your front end of choice -- then they only see the good classics.

[abrannan]

Well, I have four, not counting two coin buttons (no coin door).


Shift

Esc (f2 when shifted)
Tab (tilde when shifted)
Pause (f3 when shifted)

I didn't like the P1 as shift on the Ipac, so I programmed a dedicated shift button.  The Control panel also hooks into two PSX controllers (the coin buttons become select), and the admin buttons are rapid fire and clear, since they were on the cheap controllers I hacked.  

Too many admin buttons?  Probably, but I'd rather have too many than not enough.

[tmasman]

abrannan,

How did you wire you PSX controllers & IPAC at the same time? & does it work well? Any major problems having them both hooked up at the same time (do you have the PS on at the same time?)

Thanks...

[zero-one]

I have 4 small admin buttons on my testing/prototype panel.

Menu (tab)
Select (enter) - didn't know about the 1P button trick
Exit (esc)
Pause (p)

Having gained much experience over the months of using it I will going with only 2(or3) admin buttons on the real control panel.

Exit (esc)
Pause (p) - That damn phone rings often and 'the wife' always comes down to 'chat' at the most critical spots.
Select(Enter) - I'm going to test the usablility without it first.

All other functions will be handled via the pull out keyboard.

[JackTucky]

How do you do dedicated buttons with an Ipac?  Find some unused inputs and use WinIPac to set'em up?

Thanks.

[SpAwN]

yup, you can use p4  buttons 7 & 8 and p3 7 & 8

[abrannan]

abrannan,

How did you wire you PSX controllers & IPAC at the same time? & does it work well? Any major problems having them both hooked up at the same time (do you have the PS on at the same time?)

Thanks...

I didn't.  I've got d-sub connectors that connect the controls to the encoders.  When I want to switch from PC - PS2, I disconnect the IPAC and connect the PSX controllers.  Sorry if I gave the impression they were all hooked up at the same time.

[abrannan]

yup, you can use p4  buttons 7 & 8 and p3 7 & 8

Precisely what I did.

[Luxury]

Besides the coin buttons - I have 1.  ESC.  I placed this on the backside of my control panel (it extends out past the cabinet by 4 inches) so it is out of the way and wont ever be accidentally hit.  Keeps the panel clean as well.  
The rest are all using a shift function.  Pause is P1 start and P2 start.  Works like a charm, and everybody can remember that one combo if they need to.