General Arcade Advice/Information

[JoeU]

I am looking for a CP that will run the majority of mame roms.  I was thinking of making a CP with 2-8 way sticks, 6 buttons each, 1-4 way with 2 buttons, a spinner and trackball.   Is this a decent arrangement?  Ideas/Suggestions?

Also I was going to use the i-pac and opti-pac for interfacing with the pc.  But here is where my dilema comes in.  I am not sure which interface to go with.  USB/PS2.  What are the pro's/con's of each?  

Any and all help is appreciated.  Lord knows I need it before I go and start buying parts.  hehe.  Thanks a bunch.

[eightbit]

Read more messages, read the faq. This has been discussed many times and more opinions have been expressed then I could possibly regurgitate. What you need to do is more research and come back with more specific questions.

[Tiger-Heli]

>I am looking for a CP that will run the majority of mame roms.  I was >thinking of making a CP with 2-8 way sticks, 6 buttons each, 1-4 way >with 2 buttons, a spinner and trackball.   Is this a decent >arrangement?  Ideas/Suggestions?

That covers the basics pretty well.  You might want to go with seven buttons, six inputs for the 8-way sticks as described at
http://www.fraggersxtreme.com/arcadepanels/faq.htm#I'm not sold on the multiple panels, is there a recommended button layout for a single HotRod style controller?

PM me before you buy a separate 4-way.

You could have the four-way use some of the same buttons as the 8-way.

You might or might not want dual spinners for racing games, or dual trackballs for Marble Madness.  You also might or might not want rotary joysticks for IKARI type games, or Trigger sticks for Tron or Battlezone.

Just trying to cover all the options.  (Short of SW yoke, Tin Star rotary 8-way, 720-degrees spinner, positional guns, Prop Cycle bike pedals, etc.)

>Also I was going to use the i-pac and opti-pac for interfacing with >the pc.  But here is where my dilema comes in.  I am not sure which >interface to go with.  USB/PS2.  What are the pro's/con's of each?

Opti-pac is good, but I'm kinda partial to OSCAR's USB mouse hack for t-ball/spinners for $9 or $12.50.  He also has info on connecting both a trackball and spinner to a single interface here:  http://www.oscarcontrols.com/DPDTswitch.shtml    

I-PAC is a good product, but if you haven't, you should also consider the KeyWiz from www.groovygamegear.com or the MK64 from www.mk64.com/ron.  Actually the page below will cover any and just about all available options.

Everything I know about USB vs. PS/2 is covered here:
http://www.fraggersxtreme.com/arcadepanels/encoder/#USB Vs. PS/2 Mode

You should also read the comments on the I-PAC, KeyWiz, and MK64 pages linked from that page.

Post back if you have more questions.

[JoeU]

Thanks for all the great information.  Thats exactly what I was looking for!!