And so the hard part begins .....:-)

[Bobby115]

Ok..........My cabinet is painted.......Marquee is finished............Art is being printed up and NOW THE HARD PART.........CONTROL PANEL AND ARCADE VGA CONNECTION...............

Here are some questions I hope I can get answered...........

I'm putting in my order tomorrow morning for the ARCADE VGA and IPAC (4 Player )

The PC I'm using is a

P4 1.6 Ghz
736 Megs of Ram
60 GIG Hard drive to start

I'm wondering what I should install on this PC.........Windows 98 or XP.....also what version of MAME.........Heard so many different stories so I'm thinking on this. Does the ARCADE VGA work better with certain Windows and MAME versions?

Just measured my control panel (Gonna give it a try building one myself) now I have to see what goes where.

Its a 4 Player so I think the 2 front players I will have 6 buttons and the 2 on each side will have 4 buttons. In the middle I'd like to install a trackball with buttons that also acts as my mouse in windows (What is a good trackball with buttons)..........then to finish it off 1-2-3-4 player start buttons and buttons to add coins and pause button is possible...

Thats about it for now..........Here is a pic of my cab with what the measurements are....I need to find out a program or maybe someone here can help me map this out.................any help at all is much appreciated

Dont laugh at the photo.........i was at work...no graphic programs except PAINT......lol

Thanks

[jerryjanis]

Install Windows XP.  Basically, newer=better, particularly when you have a newer machine.  Windows XP is fantastic compared to Windows 98.

Windows98:
Flaky hardware/driver support - everything works in the end, but it's always a bit of a nightmare
I don't know, there's just something that's very klunky about it.

WindowsXP:
Hardware/driver support has really come together
Not klunky.

I have an older PIII 600 Mhz machine w/512 megs ram, and I recently upgraded from Win98 to XP.  With Win98 it seemly like a klunky old computer, but with XP I can't really tell the difference between it and my 1.3 ghz machine (except with emulating the newer games, of course).

[DaveMMR]

I don't know -- definately go with XP if you can get it free with the computer or on the cheap.   I would go with XP but in the end I already have 98 and I'll use the $100 for something for the cab.

I don't know.  I have absolutely no troubles with 98 (SE I'm speaking of).  Then again you may have to run Windows Update a couple of times.

[JackTucky]

Thing work great with my Win98 setup.  I agree with DaveMMR.  No way I'm spending bucks on windows unless I HAVE to.

Art

[Bobby115]

Thanks for the help so far........I have licensed copies of both Win98 and Win XP PRO....so the money part is not an issue :-)

Thanks

[DaveMMR]

I said this in my original post that I accidentally deleted before posting.   Anyway, I would suggest setting up two partitions on your clean harddrive, minimal install 98 on the boot partition and XP on the other, and install identical hardware onto each before throwing it in the cab.  This includes different versions of MAME, Front Ends, drivers, etc.   Then take 'em both for a test drive, compare and contrast and see which works best.

Although in all honesty, I'm betting that you're not going to find a dramatic difference.   So if you have XP maybe that's the way to go.

P.S. - Be careful with the Newer=Better mantra.  Keep in mind:

Windows ME is newer than Windows 98
New Coke was newer than the original formula
and so on...

But I know what you meant   - yes XP is a stronger OS than 98.

[jerryjanis]

P.S. - Be careful with the Newer=Better mantra.  Keep in mind:

Windows ME is newer than Windows 98

Ooooh, right...  I stand corrected.  I'll shut up now.

[Bobby115]

What version of MAME runs best with XP and an ARCADEVGA card installed?

[Bobby115]

Can someone help me out making a visio drawing on my control panel full size?

I'm installing Visio 2002 Pro now.......

If someone can design it for me I will $$ :-)

[DaveMMR]

Check out the downloads (man everytime I type that word I keep hearing Homestar Runner saying "Downloads" in that funny voice on the menu -- heh heh -- that site cracks me up.... hmmm... where was I?.. oh yeah...)

Check out the downloads (heh heh) section for Visio stencils for controls and whatnot.  I haven't used them personally, but I've heard nothing but good things.

Of course, if you already $$$'d (dollar signed?) somebody to make it for you, then you can ignore my suggestion.

[Bobby115]

Tried playing around with VISIO and I'm lost...........Can someone create my control panel in Visio for a few bucks?

The Pic above has the measurments

[Bobby115]

I'm looking for someone to maybe help me create my control panel in visio....................the dimensions are above.......

What I want to do is have 4 buttons for each outside player and 6 buttons for each player in front. I also want to add a 3 IN Trackball in the middle.............

On the top I would like to keep the 1-2-3-4 player start buttons and would also like to add a Pause and Esc Button.......

If someone can design this for me in Visio of help me out in any way....I HAVE PAYPAL waiting............Thanks again for all the help so far



Bobby
Bobby115@aol.com

[zero-one]

Hi Bobby115,

Okay. I'll do it for you free. It will take me a few days to find the time slices to do it though. Have patience. I'm sure you'll be happy with my design skills.

Cheers.