Back after LONG IDLE.. Help?

[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

[robboman]

Thanks for the tips.  I found a dual core PC with serial and PS2 that aught to be fast enough for me.  I went with WinXP 32 just because the only x64 media I had seemed to bluescreen the box trying to install it .  I stripped out some useless OS junk and it seems to boot and run fast.  I got the sticks, buttons and trackball working.  Spinner doesn't work yet.. WIP.   

I also found an ATI Radeon 4650 vid card which works with Calamity's CRT Emudriver.  I have to say, Groovymame is AWESOME with this and the D9200.  Really no hassle at all getting original arcade resolutions here.

I started playing with Hyperspin, looks pretty cool so far!

Having fun!   

[TopJimmyCooks]

I love it when the system works:

1.  Solicit advice on BYOAC
2.  Receive advice
3.  Implement advice
4.  Enjoy fun and profit aplenty

 

[CoryBee]

I love it when the system works:

1.  Solicit advice on BYOAC
2.  Receive advice
3.  Implement advice
4.  Enjoy fun and profit aplenty

 

 

[ahofle]

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.

Hmmm, I have a D9400 and never have to adjust anything because it saves geometry settings in memory
I can't imagine having that rare-as-gold monitor and only using it for VGA!

To the OP, I would highly recommend investigating GroovyMAME + CRT Emu driver (see the groovymame forum here).  IMO it's probably the biggest breakthrough in emulation since you left the scene.  There is a built-in setting specifically for the D9200 specs too.  It's now possible to get perfect refresh rates and resolutions with no annoying screen tearing for all games in MAME.

[TopJimmyCooks]

he did do that. 

[ahofle]

Oops how did I miss that. 

[paigeoliver]

I have a bunch of original machines too, so I guess the magic of the original video modes didn't seem all that unique to me.

I actually have 2 D9200s. One in my main mame cabinet and a spare one in storage in case something goes horribly wrong with the one in the cabinet.

I also have two 25" standard res monitors, six 19" standard res monitors and an assortment of picture tubes in storage. I started hoarding them this year, because they are out of production but still easy to find. I have a feeling that won't be the case five years from now.

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.

Hmmm, I have a D9400 and never have to adjust anything because it saves geometry settings in memory
I can't imagine having that rare-as-gold monitor and only using it for VGA!

To the OP, I would highly recommend investigating GroovyMAME + CRT Emu driver (see the groovymame forum here).  IMO it's probably the biggest breakthrough in emulation since you left the scene.  There is a built-in setting specifically for the D9200 specs too.  It's now possible to get perfect refresh rates and resolutions with no annoying screen tearing for all games in MAME.

[JoeB]

I'm surprised by the bad suggestions you got thus far on this thread..   

You're on the right path.  Stick with Calamity + GroovyMame, much easier to setup than ArcadeVGA, supports more modes than ArcadeVGA and much faster video (for non-MAME games).  I've owned multiple different ArcadeVGA's over the years .. even my last setup had an ArcadeVGA card running Calamity drivers rather than Andy's (easier to setup and get things running correctly)

Use Windows XP 64 bit .. it is faster than 32 bit XP and supports >3GB of RAM (Not that hard to do.. my macbook pro has 16GB of RAM in it, and cost me less than 100$ to go this much.. 32 bit OS is so 1990's)

Go with Core 2 Duo as min system .. preferably get an i3/i5 system (can be had for a song on places like craigslist)  Then, get HyperSpin running .. it's like eye candy for your cab.  All your friends/family would be drawn to it.  Pay the donation to Hyperspin as well as arcadeVideos .. this will allow you access to the FTP sites to download the great themes + videos (~30$ in total)

I think that you're 75% there with the hardware pretty much done .. all you need to do is bring up the software to 2010+

Enjoy!

[robboman]

Thanks for all the advice.   I have a core2 machine now that is working out well, am just working through some Groovymame video driver issues (Calamity is helping sort me out there.  Hyperspin is really really cool!  I have several emulators running besides Mame, looks great with the into videos. 

This is all a lot of admin work, I can see how it could get technically overwhelming.  But I'm having fun