Hi all, been in a bit of cabaret building mode lately and with 720 prices going out of control, I wanted to see if I could scratch build a 720 mame cabaret in the style of what Atari might have built back in the day. Like in the form of a Tempest or Centipede cabaret. I know the Missile Command or Battle Zone have horizontal monitors but they both make it feel like you are looking into a claustrophobic tunnel.
I'll be using an 19" PC CRT monitor, an old SFF PC to run Groovymame. I tried every version of mame on my Pi 3B+ but they always seemed sluggish when I played them and that's why I'm gonna just use a PC. I'm trying the Read Only Windows image from the UKVac forums on an SSD so hopefully I don't have to worry about issues resulting from cutting the power when off.
To connect the actual arcade 720 joystick, I'll be using an Optipac as well as an Arduino Micro Pro in gamepad mode to connect the buttons.
One of my early concerns is that the circular path that the angled 720 arcade joystick takes may be too big for the footprint of the control panel to be comfortably used. I've watched as many Youtube videos of people playing 720, especially Jeff from the 720zone (I never knew back in the day you could play the game the way he does) spinning the joystick. Once I finished the actual woodworking I was able to physically layout where the controller would fit and play the best on the metal control panel. I realized that would have still 1-1/2" clearance from the glass at the worst when I spun the joystick as hard as I could. Thanks to everybody who answered my questions in the main part of this forum.
After building my Donkey Kong cabaret I wasn't so keen on the wood grain vinyl and its application so this time I bought some higher quality maple plywood from Home Depot that I would actually stain to get that similar look. I figure the higher price of the plywood and stain would be offset by the price of the cheaper ply and vinyl.
At this point, I'm modifying the artwork for the control panel and the marquee. The hardest part of the marquee is that the aspect ratio of the real 720 cabinet boombox isn't an easy transition to the longer aspect ratio. I thought instead that I should make it into an image of a 2 deck boombox so that it stretches out the image more while maintaining the large 720 logo in the middle. Here's what I got so far. Would love some feedback or other ideas on this!