MegaClassics or MegaWilliams ? Familiarity

[General Zod]

I was just curious if anyone has had the opportunity to work with one of these boards? I'm looking for a little info on some specifics if you have.

Also, anyone familiar with DOMs ? Like read/write capability, or image preservation?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[2600]

Looks like a standard PC.  Unless the BIOS is custom, remove the DOM, put on a hard drive and boot your OS of choice.  That should help you find out  what is on the board.  Or  you could remove the heatsinks and find out which CPU and Northbridge is on it.  My bet is Via northbridge, can't be positive about the CPU though.  No fan though, so I imagine either a Via CPU or a low voltage Celeron or P3.

As for the DOM, I can't see which brand it is, but some have protection on them some don't.  Take it to your PC or whatever, and put it on the secondary channel, again boot your OS of choice and you'll find out if you will be able to access the drive and preserve the image.

If you take another image, of the DOM I could help some more.

[General Zod]

Unfortunately, right now I'm missing the molex connector to give juice to the DOM. I should have it tomorrow though.

If I had my thinking cap on I would have realized before I left there, that I was missing power to it.  

Not a bad little setup, but I like Ultimarc's J-Pac much more than this PCtoJamma board.

[Jakobud]

Interesting...  looks remarkably similar to a Via Epia 800 Mini-itx mobo...

http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_mini_itx_spec.jsp?motherboardId=21

Looks like the blue thing is just some sort of proprietary IDE flash drive or something... i have never seen anything like that.

[General Zod]

Interesting...  looks remarkably similar to a Via Epia 800 Mini-itx mobo...

That's exactly what it is. All this goes back to the Galaga question I was asking a few days ago. This is the new PCB taking the place of the former one.

I was quite surprised when I picked it up this afternoon and it turned out to be a little board.   It's kinda cute !!

I've never messed around with any of these DOMs though. That's what I'm wondering about. I know it boots to this little card when it's turned on, and actually starts MS-DOS. LOL

So now, I have made it this quest to figure out just what the hell I have here. I want to learn more about it and see how she runs.

[2600]

From the first picture I thought the Jamma board was on the MB.  Looks like Jakobud, found your MB.  As far as the DOM being proprietary, I doubt it.  If they were going to to build there own DOM, they would of at least paid some one to design the MB.  The DOM could be anybody M-Systems, Advantech, etc. just with a sticker on it.  It looks like it has limited controls, some have the master/slave switch(Sorry California).  Other have a write protect switch.  Because of this it may have to be configure as Master, so if you boot it on a seperate PC make sure there is no other drive on that channel.  Hell I'd boot this thing up and just to see what OS is on it.

[General Zod]

Yeah, I'm curious now, big time !!

I still need to pick up the power cable tomorrow though.

If I had the patience , I could make one, but I'd rather get the real deal. The DOM takes the same connector as the tiny cooling fan on my nVidia card, and I have a few left over connectors from some case fans.... but I'm still best to wait until tomorrow.

I did see DOS, and with that comes possibilities. ENDLESS ones to be exact. These are known for having problems, or so I'm told, but I think that stems from the board, not the DOM.

I had a DOS drive from my other PC connected using MAME v.36, and she ran pretty bad. Couldn't even handle Ms.Pac at all.

[SirPeale]

Interesting...  looks remarkably similar to a Via Epia 800 Mini-itx mobo...

I believe it is.  It has a separate JAMMA card which kind of piggybacks to the unit.  All the DOM is is a flash unit with basic OS, MAME and other related goodies.

Edit: all these replies _after_ I started typing.  You gus move fast.

[Edgedamage]

Hmm after seeing this thread I am really starting to think about those mini itx boards.

[General Zod]

The only connections to the JAMMA board from the EPIA are the ps2 cable and a VGA connector, otherwise she just rests on mounting feet attatched to the jamma.

Definitely, and I'll say it again ... not as user-friendly as the Jpac

[Edgedamage]

BTW where did you get the board? Evil bay?

[General Zod]

It was a special order from Japan, and then I picked it up from a guy in Daytona, but only for a restoration. Where he got it originally is beyond me.

Somehow, it started in Japan, made its way to about 3 people, and then to me ... when I finish the cab, its going to another guy in Orange City,FL.

Quite a bit of road time for that lil' board. My mind just starts thinking though, and seeing the same PC as everyone else's, but only smaller ... gave me a few ideas.

I've had the opportunity to see these in action, and it really is a cool setup. There's a menu like ArcadeOS, but way different, and small animations for each game .. 24 in all.

I just wonder if the animations are indeed video files playing along with the emulator. If so, what format, and how so in DOS?

[arkowi]

Those little Mini-Itx boards are amazing. Check out www.mini-itx.com I actually ordered one a few weeks back that I will be using in my cab. It has integrated sound, video (VGA and S-video out), ethernet, etc...the only thing you need to add is the ram and a HD. very slick. Check out some of the project on the site I linked to above.

[MinerAl]

It took me a while to figure out what a DOM was.   I figured it stood for Disk On Memory.  I was close.

Here's a definition, in case you are feeling as dumb as I was.

I gotta get back on top of all the acronyms...

[Jakobud]

Those little Mini-Itx boards are amazing. Check out www.mini-itx.com I actually ordered one a few weeks back that I will be using in my cab. It has integrated sound, video (VGA and S-video out), ethernet, etc...the only thing you need to add is the ram and a HD. very slick. Check out some of the project on the site I linked to above.

Do you have this board yet?  Which model did you get?  Perhaps you could enlighten us with what sorts of FPS you get in a bunch of different Mame games?  And also tell us what sort of ram you have in it.

[Sephroth57]

General Zod, you have my icon! this is unacceptable. we must duel for it

[Wade]

General Izod,

   I'm curious how much that setup costs.  I have looked into the emu-jamma boards, which are a very nice, small, integrated solution IMO.   They usually offer 3-in-1 and 6-in-1 kits with a selection of roughly 12 games to choose from.  Usually $300 for a 3/1 and $400 for a 6/1.

Wade

[General Zod]

They usually offer 3-in-1 and 6-in-1 kits with a selection of roughly 12 games to choose from.  Usually $300 for a 3/1 and $400 for a 6/1.

Yeah, that's about the right price, but I'm telling you, the Jpac+a standard pc is indeed the better route.

I've seen these little EPIA boards first hand, and I've already wanted to take the hammer to it. Not to mention the constant troubles of the DOM card.

What I believe to be the case is this ....

A cheap board, + an AMD ( just my opinion ) .... in addition to one hell of a horrible AdvanceMenu setup , makes these little units the wrong choice for anyone on this board looking to do a MAME cabinet.

I was turned on by their size a while ago, and thought they were the coolest little boards .... until I got a chane to work on one first hand.

My advice ... STAY AWAY from those. Or at least have them sell you the hardware and you do the configuration on your own.

[General Zod]

General Zod, you have my icon! this is unacceptable. we must duel for it

No sir !!

Remember Superman, and the evil Bizarro Superman .... Just consider me Bizarro!  

Or, if Superman is not to your liking ... I'll even go as far as GI Joe, and consider the icons to be TOMAX and XAMOT  

[OSCAR]

General Zod, you have my icon! this is unacceptable. we must duel for it

No sir !!

Remember Superman, and the evil Bizarro Superman .... Just consider me Bizarro!  

Or, if Superman is not to your liking ... I'll even go as far as GI Joe, and conisider the icons to be TOMAX and XAMOT  

Nahh, one of you needs a goatee on your avatar.....





Sorry, couldn't help myself.  

[Wade]

I understand the faults with the setup you have, in fact, I wouldn't buy one myself because it is basically a PC that is already set up for you.  I have spare PC's I would use if I wanted to go this route.

But, I have seen OTHER 3/1 and 6/1 kits that are TOTALLY integrated with the jamma board.  VERY small (MUCH smaller than the kit in this thread), not modifiable, and come with a nicer menu setup.  The boards I'm talking about are truly meant to be used in a cabinet on location, and they have all the accomodations needed to do so.  They have a custom menu setup and even cycle through the attract modes of the games installed.  There is no DOM or whatever, it is all stored in ROM as far as I know.  They are very slick (IMO) and have been recommended by a lot of people who have bought them.

Wade

They usually offer 3-in-1 and 6-in-1 kits with a selection of roughly 12 games to choose from.  Usually $300 for a 3/1 and $400 for a 6/1.

Yeah, that's about the right price, but I'm telling you, the Jpac+a standard pc is indeed the better route.

I've seen these little EPIA boards first hand, and I've already wanted to take the hammer to it. Not to mention the constant troubles of the DOM card.

What I believe to be the case is this ....

A cheap board, + an AMD ( just my opinion ) .... in addition to one hell of a horrible AdvanceMenu setup , makes these little units the wrong choice for anyone on this board looking to do a MAME cabinet.

I was turned on by their size a while ago, and thought they were the coolest little boards .... until I got a chane to work on one first hand.

My advice ... STAY AWAY from those. Or at least have them sell you the hardware and you do the configuration on your own.

[Stingray]

ROFL at Oscar's last post! Don't do that, I nearly sprayed Mt. Dew all over my monitor!

-S