Update 9/26/2012:
There have been some major changes to this project in the works for quite some time, so I thought it was about time to update this thread. The major difference is that the cabinet will no longer use an LCD TV, it will use a 15kHz tube TV running games in native res RGB. Furthermore there will have to be two cabinets, one for horizontal games, one for vertical. More details in boxes like this below.
I've been a member for a couple years, reading and lurking, sometimes posting, but I don't think I've properly introduced myself.
Uhhh... Hi!
Anyway, I've built a couple of controllers, and I've been planning a cabinet for years, so I thought I'd share that. Also, all my stuff uses Japanese parts, curved button layouts, and MC Cthulhu controller boards, all of which I just made a thread about here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=118842.0Here's one I made a while ago:
Sanwa parts, Astro City layout, MC Cthulhu, Dreamcast PCB. I wish the pictures showed off the wood grain better, it's walnut with a cabernet stain, gloss clear buffed to a shine with 3M auto polish. I'm not the best artist, so the art took me three times as long as everything else combined to get it how I wanted. I drew it in pencil and ink, and colored it in photoshop.
By plugging different cables in it, it works on the following systems:
Nintendo
Turbografx16/PC-Engine
Super Nintendo
3DO
Sega Saturn
Playstation
Dreamcast
Playstation 2
Gamecube
XBox
Wii (using Gamecube controller slots)
Playstation 3
Cables for USB and Dreamcast:
Where they plug into:
I put a Dreamcast PCB in because I made it before DC support was added to the MC Cthulhu, but it's nice to have the memory card in there instead of having to connect another controller and telling the game to load or save on port two or three every time.
Here's another one, it's the same thing, but with different artwork and Cherry Wood:
I've also made others for and with friends.
I've been planning an arcade cabinet since before I even conceived of the portable controllers. I've renewed my efforts and hope to actually get it done this year sometime. The plans have been ever evolving, but here are my current plans.
The control panel will basically be like two of my controllers on one panel, with a trackball in the middle and a few admin buttons. It will be a sit-down cab. Players 3 and 4 can either plug in portable arcade controllers or Playstation controllers.
I'm going to use a 32" LCD TV for the display, which will be on a bracket that let's it rotate quickly for vertical games. I bought an LG 32LD450, which has only 15ms of input lag in game mode (miles faster than most digital TVs/monitors). I'll be using an SLG-3000 for scanlines.
Update:
After playing around a lot with arcade games in native resolutions on a real 15kHz CRT, I've decided that there's just no substitute. The cabinet will no longer use the LCD TV, but maybe I'll make one for modern games with it someday. Instead I'll being using a 15kHz 27" Sony CRT TV. The computer will be running CRT_Emudriver and GroovyMAME to output native resolutions, which will get to the TV through a VGA to component transcoder. A "transcoder" means it translates colorspace only, resolution will be untouched. This creates an image that's comparable to a CRT arcade monitor. There's a lot more info on this here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,121491.0.html
All the systems listed below will also be running in RGB, and transcoded to component.
Of course, a big CRT cannot be rotated easily for vertical games, so I'll just have to make two cabinets!
The cabinet was originally planned be in the style of a Vewlix, due to the LCD screen. Since the plan is now to use big CRT's, they will be more like an Astro City cabinet, which I like much better.
It will use a custom front-end. I already finished writing one version of it in Visual Basic, but already want to make a lot of changes to handle different controllers being plugged in.
In addition to a very fast PC inside, it will also be hooked up to the following consoles:
PC
Nintendo
PC Engine
Sega Genesis
Super Nintendo
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast
XBox 360
Nintendo Wii
Playstation 3
Update:
The horizontal cabinet is now planned to support all of these consoles plus Playstation 2 and Gamecube. PS3 is no good for PS1 and PS2 games because it adds some input lag (something I'm going to be monitoring closely with MAME games as well). The Gamecube was added to use the Game Boy Player.
The vertical cabinet is currently planned to support the PC, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, and XBox 360; "slots" will be left open to allow for later additions.
All of these will be hooked up at the same time, selectable with a rotary switch. Right now, I'm working on the circuit to do the switching, that's currently the big hold-up.
Soon I should be in the process of mocking everything up and getting a prototype working before making the final cabinet.