Reviving my 2002 MAME cab build

[robboman123]

Hi guys,

I used to have an account on here, but I've been away from this scene for a long long time, I couldn't figure out how to log in so I registered a new account. 

It's been almost 14 years since I originally built my MAME cab.  Can hardly believe that much time has passed!  Some of you might even recognize my old cab, there's a picture and a short blurb in the Project Arcade book. 

I found my old web link among all the project links on arcadecontrols.com (titled "Yet Another MAME Cabinet"), but the links are broken there, even the 'wayback machine' mirror link... but I looked closer and managed to find the correct URL:

http://web.archive.org/web/20090801163444/http://www.robboweb.com/mamecab/

My cab has been sitting dead for several years since the last PC I had in it died.  I've been through this a few times over 14 years.  That last PC was the 3rd or 4th since my original build.  Each time I went through the hassle of setting up a PC, frontend, etc.  Last go round was especially annoying - I'd spent ages setting it all up to perfection with Win\Hyperspin on my old 15khz arcade monitor.. then the monitor died!  After a bunch of failed trial and error attempts to repair it, I came across a very low-mileage WG D9200 27"arcade monitor for sale locally.  Great arcade picture and VGA!  I was thrilled after I mounted it up, but the joy only lasted a few months.. then the damn PC died!  Motherboard dead.. aarrgh! 

So I was faced with replacing the PC and rebuilding all it's config.. PLUS, the controls were still hooked up to PS2 and Serial ports, which were getting hard to find even on used PCs.  I knew I would have to rewire everything to USB interface for the next version.  I only have so much hobby time, so I threw up my arms and said 'BAH', and my cab sat silent for years.

Til very recently.. I stumbled upon Retropie and went "hmmm...", tested it on my version 1 Raspberry PI.  Promising.  Then, just like that, the PI version 3 came out!  10x faster, plus Wi-Fi onboard. 

I ordered a RP3 and a USB IPAC2 from Ultimarc.  I used an adapter and configured it for SVGA output, dialed in the overscan.   I have all my sticks and buttons wired up, had a hell of a time getting my Happ trackball to work (dead opto-interrupt sensor replaced).  My trackball physically works now (in Windows), but my spinner is still dead and I'm still figuring out how to get it to all work with the emulator (Mame4All PI).  Besides that, I'm just in the process of customizing the frontend, setting up gamelists, etc.  It should all be good to go in the next week or two.

At this point I think the Raspberry is the perfect platform for this.  ARM CPU is no issue, I'm mainly interested in the 80's games and it seems plenty fast enough.  It's cheap, 5v power, fanless quiet, robust and tiny - fits in my CP cavity beside the IPAC.  I love that the whole OS, "firmware", and Retropie image is on an SD card!  I'll just keep an image backup, and if the card or the PI dies, either way it's a matter of minutes to swap in a new one.

Game ON!!! 



                       

[PL1]

Hi guys,

I used to have an account on here, but I've been away from this scene for a long long time, I couldn't figure out how to log in so I registered a new account. 

Welcome back.   

Would you like to use your older robboman profile instead? (Pretty sure we can reset the password for you.)

It's been almost 14 years since I originally built my MAME cab.  Can hardly believe that much time has passed!  Some of you might even recognize my old cab, there's a picture and a short blurb in the Project Arcade book. 

I found my old web link among all the project links on arcadecontrols.com (titled "Yet Another MAME Cabinet"), but the links are broken there, even the 'wayback machine' mirror link... but I looked closer and managed to find the correct URL:

http://web.archive.org/web/20090801163444/http://www.robboweb.com/mamecab/

Updated the URL on the wiki page here.   


Scott

[robboman123]

Thanks! 

My former email is probably tied to my old account, which would explain why I never got email from the 'forgot password' routine.

It's cool to see things are thriving around here   

[robboman]

Found my password email in my other email.  LOL!  My brain must be too messed up thinking about arcade controls to think straight today.

[yotsuya]

You lost me at Pi. But welcome back, man!

[monkeybomb]

You lost me at Pi. But welcome back, man!

I grumble about the Pi quite a bit, but it can do golden age games.  I'm also putting any further commentary on hold until there is more feedback on the 3.

To the OP, do you notice any drop off in performance from your most recent pc?  Sound?  Anything?

Also, I remember seeing your cabinet when I got into this around 2004.  Liked it then and still do.

[yotsuya]

I don't have a problem if someone wants to use the Pi, I just lose interest in following Pi projects, because three-fourths of the posts are, "hey how do I do this?" Type of posts, followed by a bunch of code that doesn't interest me. I've played with the Pi, it's got potential, but I just don't want to have to compromise or work really hard when I can get a $20 Windows computer and it just works.


If they work for you, great.

[robboman123]

You lost me at Pi. But welcome back, man!

I grumble about the Pi quite a bit, but it can do golden age games.  I'm also putting any further commentary on hold until there is more feedback on the 3.

To the OP, do you notice any drop off in performance from your most recent pc?  Sound?  Anything?

Also, I remember seeing your cabinet when I got into this around 2004.  Liked it then and still do.

I tested on my old, orig version PI and running Mame4All-Pi it ran every game I'm interested in (vintage 80's ones mostly) at 100%.  Little bit of lag time on just a few games, when you start getting into the late 80's and 90's games.  It was more laggy running AdvMame, but still did all the early 80's classics full speed.

Now I have the RP 3 and it's wicked fast for a credit-card size machine.   Runs everything. Retropie boots and loads the frontend in about 12 seconds.

Yes, I'm still ironing out some issues with my setup, but I'd have to do that on Windows too.  Different issues.