MAME, DC, PS2, all-in-one cabinet.... my planned attempt

[Sephroth57]

Well if i had the choice id like to have 1 console cab and 1 MAME cab but i really dont have the room for that along with my massive gauntlet DL machine. so im going to try and combine all that into 1 cab. As some of you know Ill be getting a robocop cab soon from basement arcade and I decided that taking that CP out would be the best option. this way i can build 2 switchable wood CPs for different setups.

on 1 CP i plan on having 2 player 7 button setup, coin1&2,start1&2, and maybe pause.
#2 will be my dedicated Pop N Music panel which i will custom make with wico dome buttons and a hacked PS PCB. also on the side of the cab i will have pegs to hold on my PSX guitar for guitar freaks =)

i still need to make a computer for this im aiming for something in the 2400xp athlon range.


so, heres my questions.
1. should i use a TV or VGA monitor, based on cost vs picture quality
2. does anyone have any links to documented construction of swapable panels? what holds them in, how do they come off, etc
3. say i have a hacked PS2 pcbs, hacked DC pcbs, and my Ipac. will i be able to leave them all hooked up all the time? or will i have to do molex connectors with them?
4. if i had as much money as i had time on my hands, this would be a lot easier, so feel free to donate! =P

[jr76]

1. I think that's up to you and totaly a preference issue. I'm going with a TV because my cab will be in my finished basemnt next to my widescreen. How sweet would it be to be able to watch to sporting events at once?

2. I've seen plenty of swapable panels in the examples page. Some don't even come off and rotate instead.

3. I can be of more help with this question. I haven't built my full cab yet, but I did build a trial control panel. I have mine hooked up to a PC, PS2, Xbox, and DC. All stay plugged in at all times. I wired the buttons and joysticks to wire terminals. From the terminals I wired to a db25 connector. That then plugs into the output of a 4 port parralel printer switch box. The inputs of the switcher box go to the respective console. Just wire your console pad hacks to db25's. You'll need a switcher for each player. It pays to come up with some wiring diagrams in regards to wiring the db25's to your  pads so there is some consistency.

4. Pass any of the extra mula this way!

What system is pop 'n music on? I don't know much about it, but that sounds like a fun game.

[Generic Eric]

What system is pop 'n music on? I don't know much about it, but that sounds like a fun game.

dreamcast & PS2

[Sephroth57]

i use the PS2 version since theyre newer and DC is no longer supported. but for the price to get into pop n music DC is a good start. I have a friend who bought a japanese PS2 when he was in japan and he hardly uses it now so im gonna borrow it from him till I can get my PS2 modded.

[Sephroth57]

1. I think that's up to you and totaly a preference issue. I'm going with a TV because my cab will be in my finished basemnt next to my widescreen. How sweet would it be to be able to watch to sporting events at once?

2. I've seen plenty of swapable panels in the examples page. Some don't even come off and rotate instead.

3. I can be of more help with this question. I haven't built my full cab yet, but I did build a trial control panel. I have mine hooked up to a PC, PS2, Xbox, and DC. All stay plugged in at all times. I wired the buttons and joysticks to wire terminals. From the terminals I wired to a db25 connector. That then plugs into the output of a 4 port parralel printer switch box. The inputs of the switcher box go to the respective console. Just wire your console pad hacks to db25's. You'll need a switcher for each player. It pays to come up with some wiring diagrams in regards to wiring the db25's to your  pads so there is some consistency.

4. Pass any of the extra mula this way!

What system is pop 'n music on? I don't know much about it, but that sounds like a fun game.

thanks for the info on my multi controller hacking, where would i find one of these printer switchers? if i went to radioshack and asked would they know what i was talking about if i said i need to switch between a couple DB25 connectors?

[jr76]

Thanks for the Pop'n info!

Here is a link to the switch I bought

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10007724&hdwt=31106&loc=101&sp=1

Don't worry about the big footprint. You can remove everything from the box to fit it in your cab. What I plan on doing is having an area between my control panel and TV that is hinged to hide admin buttons, this is where I will be putting the selector knob for the switch.

Here's were I got my idea and expanded on it. He's got some great diagrams on wiring up db25's.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jdpyle1/arcade_sticks.htm

[dema]

3. I can be of more help with this question. I haven't built my full cab yet, but I did build a trial control panel. I have mine hooked up to a PC, PS2, Xbox, and DC. All stay plugged in at all times. I wired the buttons and joysticks to wire terminals. From the terminals I wired to a db25 connector. That then plugs into the output of a 4 port parralel printer switch box. The inputs of the switcher box go to the respective console. Just wire your console pad hacks to db25's. You'll need a switcher for each player. It pays to come up with some wiring diagrams in regards to wiring the db25's to your  pads so there is some consistency.

I'm in the process of attempting the same type of project, adding consoles to my cabinet project. I like your idea of having the same set of controls working for the PC and each of the separate consoles, however I'm not sure how to get started on this. One of the websites you referenced cannot be found anymore so I'm kinda lost. My goal is to get my PC, Xbox, and Dreamcast working together in the same arcade cabinet. I was planning on getting a 4 input A/V switch, hooking each console up to the switch and then branch it off to the TV I'm using. I was then going to try wiring the switch buttons up to the cabinet itself so I can swap between consoles on the same input channel without opening up the cabinet. I want to have the controls work for all of the consoles without having to swap out panels or cables, so your approach sounds perfect. How do I get the arcade controls to read the console controls? Do I need to do some controller hacking? I care more about the XBox so any advice to get that to work would be a tremendous help and I'd be eternally grateful.

[Negativecreep0]

Hey I also planned on putting a DC in my mame cab using a multi port switch. That way i can switch between dc and mame with ease without opening my Control panel. My question is is it possible to hack the turning knob on the multi port box? so that i can have it connect to some knob on the top of my machine?



By the way check out this page , its in spanish but translate it with altavista or something. Here is where i got the idea about the multi port switch and all

http://profesional.terra.es/personal/dapargelsl/cabinet/idiomas/english/controles2.htm

[Rawker]

would an auto switch work?

example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1246&item=3473738877&rd=1

[Negativecreep0]

I would also like to know that too. What does teh auto switch do? WHen it senses energy flow from a certain cable it turns that port on? What if the dreamcast is on and the pc is on on? what happens? EXPLOSION?

[Lilwolf]

Nope... its basing the 'auto' on information being sent... from the multi -> one.  The multi will probably be the joysticks... and no power comes from that direction.

Also... printers doen't use all 25 pins.  So the smarter the box... the better chance some are not sent throught.

would an auto switch work?

example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1246&item=3473738877&rd=1

[Luxury]

might want to try some tests on the switchers though...i think i remember that snaaake said that there was definate slowness caused by a d25 switcher he was using.  

[Negativecreep0]

Actually no the multi represents the DC controls/ps2/or whatever and the IPAC board


take a look at the diagram, the single goes to the joystick. So would the auto work now possibly? I might be one off ebay cheap and try it out.

[Luxury]

negative:
if i were you (and i did something very similar - just without the switch boxes and 1 ipac4), i would have the first switch control players 1&2, and the second control 3&4.  so most of the time you only use 1 knob to change systems.

why are you planning on using 2 ipacs anyways?

[Negativecreep0]

Hey that is just a example pic i took from someone's page, i plan to have a 4 player control panel for mame. I will also connect 2 dreamcast controls (just 2) using one 2-1  switch box. My prolem is I dont want to have to open the control panel to turn the knob. and i dont want to mount that ugly knob in the front of my control panel. The auto switch would have been great as I wouln't have to turn any knobs or oben the control panel. Is there anyway to open the switch box and somehow connect the knob's conenctor to a pushbutton? or something like that

[dema]

I'm going to look into mounting an oscar spinner knob onto the switch in place of the ugly knob that comes standard. That seems like an easy solution. I'm going to get the one that reads MAME on the metal.

[Rawker]

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2033

found that, it should work as it's reversable and has a manual override.

[dema]

Wouldn't we need to use a greater-pinned cable, like a db37 instead of a db25, in order to accomodate the controls necessary to run both consoles and IPac controls? I was just totalling the directions and buttons and there aren't enough to run MAME or two player console controllers using a db25. I'm guessing that the number of cable pins is irrelevant as long as it's wired up properly and you use the corresponding switch box.

[Rawker]

depends which console i guess, dreamcast is 23 for 2 controllers 11 each plus ground so it should work.

[dema]

depends which console i guess, dreamcast is 23 for 2 controllers 11 each plus ground so it should work.

Yeah, I should have clarified that. I'm going to use the XBox for my console. I haven't looked into the IPac needs yet, so I'm guessing that it will need a lot more to accomodate two players, 7 buttons each, coin buttons, a trackball and spinner, and maybe some admin buttons.

By the way, did I mention I want to make my CP rotating, with three different panels? I like the idea of having space, so I'm hoping to make one panel my fighting CP, another my trackball and spinner CP, and the last my 4 way and rotating stick CP. I may be in over my head, but if I can pull it off I'll be ecstatic!

[Negativecreep0]

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2033

found that, it should work as it's reversable and has a manual override.

You sure those auto switches will work guys? cause they way they work they give control to a device for like a certain time 9,20 or 30 seconds then it looks again for who is supplying the juice. I don't want any lagging going on or anything like that in my play.

[dema]

I thought about an auto-switch but I realized that there would probably be some recognition issues, especially because I plan to have the console and the PC powered on at the same time.  Don't give up on the idea of swapping out the switch's dial or extending it to a different part of the cabinet. I think I'm going to go with Oscar Controls' MAME engraved spinner (which can be found at http://www.oscarcontrols.com/index_knobs.htm). It seems as easy as powering one unit on and the other off every time you want to play a game on another console or on the PC, probably even more so.

[Rawker]

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2033

found that, it should work as it's reversable and has a manual override.

You sure those auto switches will work guys? cause they way they work they give control to a device for like a certain time 9,20 or 30 seconds then it looks again for who is supplying the juice. I don't want any lagging going on or anything like that in my play.

my understanding is that it sends the information to both, like one computer printing to two printers at the same time so the only conflict could be in what the buttons your pressing do on your computer.

[Negativecreep0]

what do you mean by "by the buttons you press" ??  I would think that even if your pc is on at the same time as a DC or PS2, as long as your not running an emulator or anything like that has button presses, then the signal from the vid system will come through? I really want to get this issue resolved!!!    So i know which data switch to buy. I really Don't want to mess up my control panel by drilling a hole so that the knob can poke out.

[Rawker]

i'm saying it'll work and if by some crazy chance it doesn't there is a manual override. i'm ordering one for my cp which goes to a dc and pc.  

the button press thing is based on your key mapping and what's running on your computer, it's not like something bad could happen but when you switch back to your pc something could be running or you could have typed a letter to your grandma.

if you can wait say 2 weeks i will have physical proof.

[Negativecreep0]

beautiful let us know how it goes, I can wait.

[dema]

If you are wiring an IPac and an XBox (or Dreamcast) to a switch box and then running a single db cable out to the control panel, swapping between the two with the dial, how do you deal with the ground wire? I am guessing you wire them up to the same pin in the cable, to ensure that they both utilize the same ground on the arcade controls. I want to make sure that sharing the same ground wire won't cause it to fry, but I'm guessing it will be okay if you switch between the two with the switch box.

[Dave_K.]

Each system (PC and Xbox) must use its own dedicated ground...just include it in your db connector.  

[dema]

Each system (PC and Xbox) must use its own dedicated ground...just include it in your db connector.  

So I'd include a ground pin in the db cable from the Xbox controller hack to the switch box and I'd map out the same pin in the db cable from the Ipac to the switch box. Then on the output from the switch box to the controls I could just have the one ground wire running to the controls, right? They'd share the same pin on the connector, but the switch box would give each connector its own ground? I'd need two grounds to handle the 1p and 2p controls, right?

[Dave_K.]

You had it right, one ground from switchbox to control panel, and a seperate ground for each system going to the switchbox.  P1 and P2 sides can share the same ground since they ultimately go to the same system (either the PC or the Xbox).

The situation you are trying to avoid here is potentially hooking up the ground from the PC to the ground of the Xbox while both systems are on.  I believe the switchbox will isolate the grounds just fine, as long as you have a dedicated ground wire in the cable (do NOT use the shield ground of the cable as this might be shared inside the switchbox's ground own ground).

[dema]

Thank you so much for all your help and patience. I've ordered the db37 cables and switch box and I'll probably start working on it next week, after I assemble the panel.

[euclidean]

Just wondering if you could clear something up for me please.  I have read a few posts about using MAME, DC, XBOX etc, all in one control panels.  I am working on the same project and just wondering if someone could clear the following up for me.

I have read different views on how to achieve this.  Some people saying to use 22 AWG wire for all the panels and others saying just chop apart DB 25 cables.  I would like to know what people think the best solution is Option 1 or Option 2.  Details below.

# Option 1
1.  Chop a DB25 cord in half so you are left with wires at one end and a female connector at the other end.  The female end will be used for connecting it to a DB 25data switch.  Keep track of color coding mapping.

2.  Map appropriate buttons and solder DB 25 cables to the control panel.

3.  Same as step 1.  Hack Console Pad and map appropriate buttons to cable colors as above.  Plug female end into DB 25 Data Switch

Although where does using the 22 AWG wire come in?  Is it a requirement for control panels?

Would this be a better way to implement the same solution?

# Option 2
1.  Use 22 AWG wire to soldier control Panel buttons etc.  Then soldier other end of wire to a DB 25 Male Connector.

2.  Do the same as step 1, with appropriate console pad ensuring all appropriate buttons are mapped out.

Now you have your Control Panel, DC and X-box all hooked up to a DB25 Male connector.

3.  Use a female to female DB 25 cable to hook control panel to DB 25 Data Switch.

4.  Use a female to female DB 25 cable to hook console pad male connector to DB 25 Data Switch.

And you

[unicron]

I'm starting to wire my cp to db25, only had time today to wire 1 player to a male db25 and a dc pcb to a female. I'm gonna put the dc pcbs into little boxes with the female connector exposed on the side of the box. I'm not gonna use a switchbox as it's bulky, I usually play dreamcast, and I actually enjoy flipping open my cp to switch. heres a picture: http://home.houston.rr.com/lcastles/misc/100_0331.JPG

the white molex connector (goes to j-pac / jamma) will be replaced with a db25 connector, removing the two extra wires I had to run up from the j-pac.

[dema]

I'm starting to wire my cp to db25...

Thank you for the picture. Did you solder the wires to db25 connectors or was that a db25 connector that you hacked? After opening a db37 cable I realized the wires were way too thin so I bought a few db37 solder d-sub and a few db37 crimpable d-subs. I was going to try the crimpable kind first because I don't know how to solder, and hopefully they're good enough to get the job done. Does anybody know how well the crimpable db heads work compared to the solderable heads? Is there a difference in terms of the strength of the signals passing through?

[jr76]

I replied to this a while ago and never followed up, I apologize.

The picture is exactly how I did it. I bought db-25 connectors from radio shack and soldered them myself.

[unicron]

I used crimpable 25 pin d-sub male / female connectors from radio shack. the inserter / extractor is also sold there for about 3 bucks.

edit: yeah it was easy to do and works fine, you can get a specific d-sub crimping tool that will make crimping easier, but I used a needlenose pliars. Soldering is better but I usually use my friends soldering iron and he is out of town. The plug works great, wires do not seem loose at all.

[Negativecreep0]

Sorry for resurrecting an old old thread but i would like to know. If i have 2 psx controllers going to two p360  and i want to connect the two psx controls to one db25 adapter, can i make it happen?      Each control has up down left right (4) + 6 action (6) + start = 11 points, now can i share the ground for both p1 and p2 psx controllers. And I believe i would have to split the two +5v connections from p1 and p2 cause they go to seperate p360s.......... grand total of connections 4+6+1 (x2 controllers) = 22       +2(+5v) +1(ground) = 25 connections


am i right in assuming a shared ground and seperate +5v connections?


can i share the two psx grounds