Rebuilding cabinet

[SirPoonga]

Man, it's been a while since I have been here.

I am rebuilding my cabinet.  I moved around a lot.  It was in storage for many years.  The plexi is in horrible shape.  I need a monitor as it use to have an old 21" CRT that was really heavy.  So, here's my questions to get up to speed with modern times.

1) What's a good monitor to use now?
2) What are the good places to get controls?
3) What's the control interface of choice these days for buttons, joys, trackball, and spinner?

I have an old PS/2 ipac so that's not going to work anymore.  I know there are now controls that do not have the bolt heads on top of the control panel, so I will probably want to update those.  Though if that is the case I might not put poly carb on the control panel.  I might spray it with a coat of polyurethane.

Is there a place to get a custom marquee?  Though I might make an infinity mirror marquee with some WLED led strips in it.

Also, is a raspeberry pi good for playing?  Otherwise what is a good frontend?

Edit:

So far reading through the forums it looks like the ipac is still the way to go.  I just need to get a newer one with usb.

[bobbyb13]

Can't lose with an I-PAC.
And if you have a functional crt why abandon it?  Does it have component inputs?
LCDs are not only disposable they don't display properly anyway.

A decent PC and graphics card, groovymame and CRTEmudriver and you're all set with that old tube.

[SirPoonga]

I no longer have the monitor.  Also, it was insanely heavy.  So I am looking for good alternatives.

[Fursphere]

I am not a purist.  I don't care about CRTs (because they're insanely heavy for one).   I use ASUS LCD panels with VESA mounting.  Usually in the 2k resolution range (2560x1440).   Nothing special, but I do make sure they are IPS panels to give better viewing angles. 

In MAME I turn on the HLSL effects to get a decent CRT emulation (scan lines and such).  I use bezels to fill in the 16:9 vs 4:3 "extra space", usually giving a feel of the original machines to some degree.  For most console games, I use the Mega Bezel Reflection Shader project to give a very good CRT emulation.  https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-introducing-the-mega-bezel/  if you're curious. 

For the control panel - I use Sanwa JLFs with octogon restrictors and with 'blind hole' mounts to mount the sticks underneath.    I use an Ultimarc Ultimate I-Pac for the input encoder, and use the LED drivers to light up my buttons with LEDBLinky to mostly match the original arcade machines on a per game basis.   

Windows 10 is the OS I use.  Launchbox/BigBox for the front end.    I have all this running on an older Intel i5 2500k system, with a Geforce GTX 1650 video games (way overkill).  I used to have a GTX 660Ti in it that was more than enough as well.  Only upgraded because I had an extra laying around.

[bobbyb13]

I'm not sure why weight of a crt is important, unless you are carrying your cabinet around regularly.
No LCD will ever look right or play with proper timing.

I would refer you to one of the dozen plus machines I've built but those details don't seem relevant here.

[PL1]

I know there are now controls that do not have the bolt heads on top of the control panel, so I will probably want to update those.

If you're looking to hide the hardware for joysticks, threaded inserts are your friend.

Check out "Under mount (threaded inserts)" for long-shaft sticks and "Under mount (support blocks)" for short-shaft sticks in the Joystick mounting section of the FAQ.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#Joysticks

 

If you're looking to hide the hardware for a trackball, Ultimarc's U-Trak is the easiest option.
- If you use the optional trim bezel on a 3/4" CP, you might want to route out a 1/8" pocket on the backside of the panel so the lip of the U-Trak is level with the top of the bezel.


Scott

[Mike A]

If I can carry around a CRT with one hand then it is not insanely heavy.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

SirPoonga!? Who's next? Is Saint actually going to come out of the woodwork and say hello? 

Regarding monitors/gpus:

If I'm understanding the tech correctly, if you want MAME games to display at something close to their "proper" timings while on an LCD (i.e. no tearing or stutter) you will want to have a panel that can handle 48-144khz refresh rate range, and also support for Gsync (nvidia) and/or Freesync (AMD) (especially including support for LFC = low framerate compensation).  Of course, you'll also need a modern-ish GPU (like, last 8 years?) that also supports Gsync or Freesync.

Apparently recent MAME releases support either (X)sync tech natively now ... someone correct me if I'm wrong or not explaining this well enough!

Adjacent to this, as also mentioned, there are software based overlay options (HLSL, BGFX) now baked into MAME to get a more CRT-like appearance. If you're on a modern GPU, you'll probably have enough grunt for most of this. An RPi probably won't cut it for this.

Controls? It's still Andy (ultimarc) Randy (GGG) and the guy with candy (Paradise)... heck I think Divemaster still runs arcadeemulator.net -- and there are some new guys out like Thunderstickstudio.com, the fighting game community, etc.

Custom marquee, I've used GameOnGrafix.com many times for custom designs (CP overlays, marquees, etc.) and have never had an issue with them.

Frontend I use: AttractMode. It's not the deepest or flashiest, but if you want to customize the look of your layout, I think it has the shortest relative learning curve. Better than Mala ever was, and I loved Mala.

[SirPoonga]

Cool. At minimum I just need a monitor and replace the plexi. I have some poly carb to replace the plexi. But after seeing the no exposed hardware look I want that.

I might find a monitor, decase it, then print some mounting brackets.

I will also need new speakers but I think I might just get a cheap amp and speakers from parts express.

I think I will just get some ws2811 led strips and a wled controller to make an infinity marque.

Not sure if I want to replace the buttons with translucent and do the ldeblinky thing.

[leapinlew]

If you are thinking of buying an amp, spring for a 2.1 and add a subwoofer at some point. It makes a difference and worth the upgrade. I've picked up plenty of subwoofers over the years and have added them to my cabinets.