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| robboman:
Welcome to my 1st post! I discovered MAME in 1998, built my first and only MAME cab back in 2001 or so (it is pictured in the first edition of the Project Arcade book.. called "Yet Another MAME". Look it up :)) Around 2007 my 15khz monitor died, never got around to fixing, got busy with real life and just completely forgot about retro gaming for a long time. "Are you EVER gonna fix that thing?" my wife finally asked a few weeks ago. The big obstacle in my mind was the monitor, since CRTs are almost gone and the thought of putting a 16:9 LCD into my beautiful retro upright cab made me cringe. Besides, I knew this project was gonna take some effort due to changes in software and PCs. Plus I forgot all the things I used to know by now. Surprisingly, the wife was willing to allow me put some time into this! I'm back, on a mission to restore my cab to it's former glory (and then some). I did some digging and I quickly found a low-mileage Wells d9200 monitor tri-sync for sale in my hometown. Picked it up last night - Wooo! 1st major obstacle overcome. Now I just need a PC and some software (the old cab PC is long gone). Last time I did this none of today's popular front-ends even existed yet (Hyperspin, Mala, Maximus, GameEx). I used AdvanceMame with a standard videocard. Later I got the 1st-gen ArcadeVGA from Ultimarc. I also have original Optipac and JPAC boards still wired up to my controls. (neither has USB output). So here in 2012, based on what I've gathered so far, I think the way to go for my WG9200 based cab will be: * WinXP x64 OS * Calamity drivers on a supported ATI card * GroovyMAME Frontend is TBD. I'll get into that once I get all the basics working well. Any shortcuts? Tips? Recommendations? I know probably all the help I'll need is spread around this forum.. and the internet at large.. but I'd still appreciate any input. Thanks. |
| robboman:
I have a specific question already.. can you tell me if my 1st gen J-PAC and Opti-PAC will work with newer PCs? I have a Happ trackball, an Oscar spinner, buttons and sticks. The problem is the old Opti-PAC has a DB9 Serial output and the old J-PAC is PS-2. I have yet to buy a PC for this project, but of course nothing has serial ports these days and many don't even have PS-2 anymore. Only USB. Can someone tell me if USB converter adaptors will work? Or should I order new Ultimarc stuff? I'm more concerned about DB9 to USB.. |
| TopJimmyCooks:
Get a 2-3 Y/O pc that has PS2 and serial. I'd do serial to PS2 conversion before messing with USB conversion. Unless you want to run '94-on 3d games you'll have plenty of power to run mame and an FE. |
| paigeoliver:
Get an older PC so you can use the serial port gear and your first gen arcadevga card. Also, I own both a D9200 and an older generation arcadevga card, so I can run it either 15khz or vga and you know what, I just run it VGA 60hz, as I was tired of readjusting the darn monitor all the time for all the original video modes. |
| demetris:
I would recommend to you to ditch XP 64bit and use Windows fundamentals! Is 32bit but nothing can beat the speed of it, is like a true arcade cabinet with zero load time :) |
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