My cab - WARNING... newbie questions ahead!

[andyshan]

First of all i'd like to say HELLO to everyone on the board, i've been lurking around here for the past few months now trying to gather info on what i need to do to get my cab on the road...

I managed to get a fully working Final Fight Jamma cabinet (complete with 25" Hantarex and original Final Fight PCB) for

[Lilwolf]

1) Can your motherboard be turned to power on with power from the back?  Many new bioses can.

    YES) If so... your in luck... turn it on and your good to go...  One surge suppressor and a switch connected to the back and your done... (assuming #b is ok).
 
   NO) There are 'smart' surge suppressors for about 40 bucks or so.  These you plug into your computer.  And when the computer turns on... the surge suppressor turns everything else on.  Then you plug your monitor into the surge and have it turn on when the computer does.  Keep the power in the back on all the time... and hack the switch in the front to an outside button.

2)  You can't go wrong with an arcadevga.  There are cheaper ways to do it... but none that will be as good.  This gives you windows where all other solutions really don't.  Get it if it's in your budget and you wont regret it.  You also won't have to worry about blowing up your monitor if you !@# up the cable or the mame settings.  It also allows for a TON more frontends... ect...

3) No clue... ebay?

[andyshan]

Thank you for your reply Lilwolf

However could you (or someone else) just explain (1) for me, as i'm not too sure what you mean by 'the back' etc. Also, if i were to leave the PC bits INSIDE the case, which will then also be stuck inside the cabinet, how would the cabinet be turned on at the same time as the PC?

Or am i missing something completely obvious!?

Many thanks again

[Dak-ak]

1) I took a power strip, and replaced one of the jacks with a relay.  Think of a relay as a electrically controlled lightswitch... instead of a lever that turns the light on and off, electricity does...

the relay is hooked up to one of the power plugs on my computer, and the computer is always plugged in.

I turn on the computer, my cab powers up... i hit the "shutdown" button, and my cab powers off...

Not too difficult.  Lots of options though, If you don't appreciate mods like that:  http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_wiring.shtml#wiring_pcpower

2) bump up the 1.4 athlon if you like to player newer games... other than that, it should work great.

3) ...ebay UK?  

[TalkingOctopus]

Easiest solution for question 1:

http://www.smartstrip.net/

I have one and am pleased with it.  This is easy but it is more expensive than the do it yourself method that was mentioned above.

[Lilwolf]

btw.. what I meant in #1 was this.

On all modern cases there are two power buttons.  One on the front to turn it on and off... and one on the back that really turns the power off (right next to the power cord).

many motherboards have a setting inside the bios (when you hit del key on startup or sometimes f1) that will, when it gets power from the back power.... turn itself on.  So you don't need the front switch....  So when it gets power... it turns itself off.

this is the cheap solution.



But the smart power switch mentioned in my B is really the best solution.  Then you rewire the button in the front of your computer to a button on the outside of the cabinet.  And press that to turn the machine on (and it will turn everything else on for you).

[Minwah]

You can get marquees from ebay.co.uk as mentioned.  Also, http://www.coin.demon.co.uk/ sells a selection.  I suppose alternatively, make your own!