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What should I avoid?
ark_ader:
--- Quote from: JeffferysGhost on January 01, 2014, 02:05:24 pm ---Thanks for the responses, hmmm... Al the craigslist computers seem to be Vista, the games I'm going for are really vintage, like Space Invaders and Asteroids, but I'm sure once I get into it, that list will become more diverse (my kids think those vintage arcade games are the "coolest things ever").
--- End quote ---
Just pick yourself up a cheap xbox, soft mod it and run CoinOPS. If it is just the classics, it is a real solution that should cost you $15-$50 depending where you get your Xbox. Want to add some Joysticks and make a cab? Buy two Kades, but your costs will increase accordingly. There are plenty of examples on this site.
BadMouth:
Some of the processor hogs in MAME(90's 3D games) benefit greatly from a 64 bit OS, but the vintage games you seem to be interested in will run on just about anything.
If you plan to run Hyperspin for the front end, you'll need a fairly powerful PC.
I'm running Vista in my latest cab because I had a copy and I wanted Directx10 for newer pc games and emulators (XP is limited to Dx9).
After turning "User Account Control" off to get rid of all the nagging, I don't see where it has any shortcomings for emulation other than not being able to hide the windows bootup completely. With XP and Win7, there are ways to hide everything so you'd never even know your cab was running windows.
It doesn't take much of a PC to run the classics, but my focus would still be on getting the fastest processor for the cheapest price.
If I was only interested in the early 80's classics, I'd hold out for something free ($20-30 at most).
If you pay $100 for an old PC and then the hard drive or power supply dies, you'll have sunk enough money into it that you could have been halfway to a brand new PC.
I've never seen a PC monitor that didn't automatically turn on and off with the PC.
For your speakers and other accessories, the smart strip is the way to go.
pbj:
Europeans
Yellow snow
JeffferysGhost:
Thanks Badmouth, I never considered free (just a few years ago, I grew away a perfect "donor" computer). I'll check there next! And I do have an old xbox 360, I'll have to check into that saw well.
paigeoliver:
Avoid all of the following, they either ruin your project, give terrible results for the money or needlessly complicate things.
Raspberry pi.
Running mame on a console instead of a computer.
Running mame on anything that isn't a windows computer.
Widescreen displays and flat panel displays. Exception is large pedestal type cabinets, in which case you won't have a lot of other practical options.
Angled joysticks.
4 player control panel.
Anything from X-Arcade
Console emulators past the Genesis (consoles with shoulder buttons and analog controls generally don't map well onto arcade controls, there are of course some notable exceptions).
The vast majority of the games that have CHD files (many perform poorly even on powerful systems and the vast majority of them require specialty analog controls that you won't have).
And finally.....
Cabinet design.
Control panel shouldn't poke out past the front of the cabinet more than a couple inches, nor should the control panel top overhang the control panel box by more than about an inch.
Games don't have internal frames made out of 2x4's. The sides are also the load bearing part of the design.
2 piece design on the main cabinet, worthless every time. It makes the cabinet harder to build, heavier and weaker. The most common design used for this leaves a super awkward top section that has most of the cabinet weight and is harder to move than it would have been if you didn't take it apart. If it can fit through a doorway in one piece than there is no reason for it to be in 2 pieces. I rarely go a week without moving a game up or down the steps by myself, usually more than once a week. When moving day comes just get some more muscle on the thing and move it. It is no harder to deal with than your fridge or washing machine. If ease of movement is really a priority then build out of plywood instead of particle and make sure the monitor is easy to pull.