Afcade (working title)

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EssexMame:
Coming up for the years anniversary of this project. Which just goes to show how lame I've been!

Still, I got a circular saw for Christmas so I don't need to borrow a friends which I was very unsure of - rusty and a blade with 3 cutting blades on it - it looks lethal!

I also got some time over the Christmas break to finalise (nearly) the software. It's going to run Mame, Electrem (Acorn Electron) and Winuae/loader (Amiga) initially - 60 games in mame, 35 in Electron and 40 in Amiga. I've used Mala and the TypeR layout with some (very) minor adjustments to show box art well in the "marquee" area. I like the simple/clean design of it and although my cabinet won't have a car theme, as such, it is just a black leather/ red trim look so it fits with the basic colours (I have red/white buttons as j/sticks, red t-molding and expect to paint it black, initially at least).

Oh, and I got a 2 player PS2 controller USB. This will be for players 3 and 4 in the finished cab (or slightly later revisions) but also allows me to play-test the setup when the weathers not so good and I can't do the woodwork so easily.

One issue I have here is that the Electron uses Autohotkey to map original keyboard control to the mame key setup (and then joysticks mapped to these keys in the USB utility for the PS2 controllers). WinUae works with a setup for the controllers either to the joysticks or keyboard (and again the USB utility mapped to these keys) and mame works with joystick=1. However, I can't seem to get ALL to work via Mala with JoyToKey running to do the mapping.

Ideally, JoyToKey would run to map the joysticks to the keypresses but although this works for Mala, it then seems to stop/be ignored once mame or Electrem are running (winuae does seem to work but I wonder if I've still got it as joystick setup). Anyone come across this? I will fiddle some more but if there's an instant solution - great!

If I run

EssexMame:
My mame version is 0.149 and I think in later versions direct input is ignored (at least a second "keyboard" usb). I could apparently set src\osd\windows\input.c and set #define FORCE_DIRECTINPUT 1. However, its probably as simple to set the joystick 1 and define the buttons accordingly. I don't want to mess it up for when I've got the iPac controls done though, so will leave for now I think.

EMDB:

--- Quote from: EssexMame on January 06, 2014, 11:45:27 am ---My mame version is 0.149 and I think in later versions direct input is ignored (at least a second "keyboard" usb). I could apparently set src\osd\windows\input.c and set #define FORCE_DIRECTINPUT 1. However, its probably as simple to set the joystick 1 and define the buttons accordingly. I don't want to mess it up for when I've got the iPac controls done though, so will leave for now I think.

--- End quote ---
Stop talking and start building... >:D

EssexMame:
Well, Easter weekend has come and gone so did I get anything done? Yes and No...

I spent most of the time Good Friday and Saturday gardening and garage clearing. All well and good, it needed doing, but none of it is Arcade building is it.

Then unfortunately Sunday was wet. All day. Though I had a family meal anyway I had hoped to do some arcade work in the afternoon/evening. But as I need to do the work outside - I don't yet have enough space indoors (specifically the garage, though it's getting there) Saturday was a no-go. With more rain forcast for Sunday I wasn't hopeful. Yet in the afternoon at last I had good weather AND time to do something.

Unfortunately the neat sawboard I'd built was for a borrowed circular saw (since returned) and it was too thin for my new one. No matter, I took it apart (despite having glued it and wood-filled over the screws) and rebuilt it to the right dimensions for the new saw. It's not as neat now (undoing the glue was hard work!), BUT it does have a straight edge and it works for my saw.

I then set about marking out carefully the measurements from the Metropolis plans. One of my angles at the top didn't match those on the plans but I figured it doesn't really matter - side one will be the template for side two so they will match anyway I'll just have to be careful with the top section panels and sizings. I'm pretty sure I wasn't wrong here - I'd checked and double checked all measurements.

I extended the front-to-back size of the cabinet as I want my CP integral (I will also increase the width to 28") to allow the CP to be 28x11" and sit within the cabinet dimensions. Those are the only changes I've deliberately made to an excellent cab design (and I like the slimline look too, I just wanted an integral not box type control panel.

For the non-deliberate changes that is on my cutting. I cut the top "inwards" curve right to the line in a haste to get the cutting done. Hopefully not a problem as I can take that part of the cabinet inwards slightly more and curve onto the correct line. I'm at least pleased with the cuts - they are straight and I've not blown out the wood or caused any extra damage (yet!) I was just a little keen to get things done as the skies darkened.

Alas, the rain then came and I rushed the wood back into the garage ready for next weekends glorious sunshine (please!). I did at least take a picture or two just before the rain came though. Doesn't really show a lot except for the one long cut to the width of the cab and the top diagonal cut where I cut too far.

So, not as great as I'd hoped but AT LAST I've started sawing wood that will become my arcade cabinet. Phew! Its been enough to give me the confidence I can do this, in some form, even if it doesn't exactly match OND's or my plans totally as I'd wish :-)

Malenko:
some people can get a project done in days, for the rest of us it takes a lot longer. Just work on it when you can and we'll be here eagerly waiting to watch your progress :cheers:

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