"Dedicated" Mame Cab.

[PacManFan]

This is what I want to do:

Because I'm way to cheap to buy a Ms.Pac / Galaga combo jamma board, I want to find an embedded solution to run just these 2 games on a Cocktail table. I'm thinking I could get a motherboard with sound/video built in, and a compact flash IDE drive. What I'm concerned about is the boot sequence.

I want this machine to be indistinguisable from a "real" Ms. Pac / Galaga pcb. I want to hide the boot sequence in some way, maybe through turning on the monitor only after the game is launched, or embedding a version of mame into the DOS kernel. My real concern is the boot/bios screen showing up at all. Does anyone know how to turn off the bios screen, or a motherboard that has the option to turn it off?

Has anyone done this before?

-PMF

[Edgedamage]

Well I am almost going to do the same thing. Here's what i have planed. I have timed relay that came from a poker machine after power on the monitor switches on 10 sec later. I am planing on using it in my cocktail cab. As for hiding the bois screen I don't think that is something that can be done. Also I heard using CF/IDE is good for fast boot times. Also look into setting your system up with Fraggals Boot CD. If you are using pure DOS.

[WonderMellon]

This was posted yesterday.  He mentions just this sort of thing.  Hope this helps

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=16951

[Wade]

You should look into the different 3/1, 6/1, and 8/1 boards.  Some of them are very slick, Jamma interface, menu, probably hide the boot screens, VGA & CGA output. I've seen them for $250-450.  Much more elegant solution than a PC board with a DOM.

Wade

[Blakey]

If one of those multi JAMMA boards isn't the way you want to go, consider buying an ASUS motherboard which has MyLogo. You can hide the boot screen and replace it with a 256 colour 640x480 image of your choice (test grid/blank screen)

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/mylogo.htm

I'm considering using a A7N8X-VM microATX board, and this feature is a nice bonus.

[Wade]

Interesting!  So does it  hide all of the BIOS bootup information?  E.g., if using DOS will the image be displayed all the way up to the point when the C: is available?  This could be a real slick addition.

Wade

[SirPeale]

I'm considering using a A7N8X-VM microATX board, and this feature is a nice bonus.

I did not see that board on the list.

[JoyMonkey]

I'm considering using a A7N8X-VM microATX board, and this feature is a nice bonus.

I did not see that board on the list.

I've put together a few home PC's using that motherboard and it definetly has the MyLogo feature. You can also get a TV-out module for it from Asus for only $10!

[Bitnerd]

You should look into the different 3/1, 6/1, and 8/1 boards.  Some of them are very slick, Jamma interface, menu, probably hide the boot screens, VGA & CGA output. I've seen them for $250-450.  Much more elegant solution than a PC board with a DOM.

Wade

Where can you find these multi game jamma boards at?  Sounds like the way I want to go.


Bitnerd.

[SirPeale]

I'm considering using a A7N8X-VM microATX board, and this feature is a nice bonus.

I did not see that board on the list.

I've put together a few home PC's using that motherboard and it definetly has the MyLogo feature. You can also get a TV-out module for it from Asus for only $10!

Wow!  Is it just the VM model?  I've got the standard A7N8X.  I'll have to look into that particular board.  Sounds perfect for a system emulator you hook to your TV!

[JoyMonkey]

Wow!  Is it just the VM model?  I've got the standard A7N8X.  I'll have to look into that particular board.  Sounds perfect for a system emulator you hook to your TV!

I thought all A7N8X boards had MyLogo, it's been around since before their time. I know for sure the VM and E versions support it. Maybe MyLogo is available in a BIOS update for your motherboard?

The VM version is the only one with onboard VGA (its got a GeForce4MX GPU), and NewEgg has them for $69 refurbished.

I'm also thinking of trying out using a CompactFlash card as a hard drive in a cab, does anyone know where the best/cheapest place to buy a CF->IDE adapter is? They don't seem too common.

[paigeoliver]

If you REALLY want to go diskless. I have an ISA romdos boot card laying around.

You would of course have to get new EPROMS programmed for what you wanted it to have, but it would be totally diskless.

I have tested it with quite a few computers, almost ALL pre pentium 2 motherboards would boot off it, and some newer ones will as well.

[nomad]

You could also use a mini-itx board ( http://mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=2#p304 ) that has the built-in compact flash reader.  I don't know if there is a way to hide the boot screen though.

[Blakey]

-VM:
http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-vm/overview.htm

Non VM:
http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x/overview.htm

The MyLogo page doesn't list every board, if you want to check, just look up the board in question. Also, the VM has onboard video (GF4mx),  and is microATX, so it's 245x245mm not 305x245.

MyLogo2 boards: (MyLogo1 only 16 colour)
http://www.asus.com/prog/p_search.asp?ps=40&langs=01&kp=mylogo2&ss=1a

Wow!  Is it just the VM model?  I've got the standard A7N8X.  I'll have to look into that particular board.  Sounds perfect for a system emulator you hook to your TV!

[krick]

There's a page here that has a feature matrix for the ASUS boards.  The third and fourth columns list "MyLogo" and MyLogo2"...

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/feature.htm

[Wade]

You should look into the different 3/1, 6/1, and 8/1 boards.  Some of them are very slick, Jamma interface, menu, probably hide the boot screens, VGA & CGA output. I've seen them for $250-450.  Much more elegant solution than a PC board with a DOM.

Wade

Where can you find these multi game jamma boards at?  Sounds like the way I want to go.


Bitnerd.

Do a search on ebay and r.g.v.a.c and r.g.v.a.m newsgroups and you should turn up a few of them.  Try searching for 3-in-1, 6-in-1, 8-in-1, emu-jamma, multi-jamma, things like that.  If you have no luck I can probably dig up at least a couple of people who sell them.

Wade

[Tux]

A quick boot and hiding the underlying OS is a high priority on my arcade machine. I've been looking at LinuxBios which sounds perfect for the job. Basically it replaces your computer BIOS stripping out all the legacy crap boasting ultra fast boot times (I believe the record is 4 seconds!) I'm running Linux anyway and after ditching the mainstream distributions and compiling my own system based on 'Linux  from scratch' I achieved a boot to GUI in about 15 seconds. If I able to get LinuxBios working and it does what it says I'll be near to a full boot before my TV shows a picture.

I understand the vast majority here will not be running Linux but it's my understanding it can boot Windows too.

Anyone else have any experience with LinuxBios?

[Chris]

For a simple, 2-game setup, DOS will load very quickly.  If you use the DOS from Win98 (format /S and copy over some of the command line utilities and dump the rest of Windows), you will get the Win98 boot logo to cover the loading of AUTOEXEC.BAT, and that logo can be easily replaced.  DOS boots incredibly fast on modern machines.  As for the BIOS screen: well, my monitor doesn't warm up fast enough to see that screen anyway.

--Chris

[android]

Has everyone forgotten Andy Warne's I-PAC? If you are building an arcade replica, then you need to use an arcade monitor. And if that's the case, then a nice bonus of Andy's card is that it won't allow any output to the monitor until the right frequency is output, which is done either by ArcadeOS or the game itself. This will hide any OS/BIOS boot screens.

-- Android

[PacManFan]

Has everyone forgotten Andy Warne's I-PAC? If you are building an arcade replica, then you need to use an arcade monitor. And if that's the case, then a nice bonus of Andy's card is that it won't allow any output to the monitor until the right frequency is output, which is done either by ArcadeOS or the game itself. This will hide any OS/BIOS boot screens.

-- Android

I think you mean the ArcadeVGA card. The IPAC is a keyboard emualtor/interface board for controls. I don't have an ArcadeVGA offhand, but I recall reading that it will display the bios screen.

ArcadeOS is different, that's a FE that will run in DOS, and use your plain vanilla video card to generate Arcade frequencies (15khz).

-PMF

[Buddabing]

A quick boot and hiding the underlying OS is a high priority on my arcade machine. I've been looking at LinuxBios which sounds perfect for the job. Basically it replaces your computer BIOS stripping out all the legacy crap boasting ultra fast boot times (I believe the record is 4 seconds!) I'm running Linux anyway and after ditching the mainstream distributions and compiling my own system based on 'Linux  from scratch' I achieved a boot to GUI in about 15 seconds. If I able to get LinuxBios working and it does what it says I'll be near to a full boot before my TV shows a picture.

I understand the vast majority here will not be running Linux but it's my understanding it can boot Windows too.

Anyone else have any experience with LinuxBios?

I haven't tried it (no time), but I agree that it sounds like the perfect way to hide the fact that there's a PC underneath the hood. I've been subscribed to their list for a while.

Make sure you have a motherboard that is fully working under LinuxBIOS.  ("Stable" according to
the LinuxBIOS status page: http://www.linuxbios.org/status/index.html

I believe you are correct about being able to boot to Windows. I don't know for certain, though.

Make sure you get a "BIOS Savior".  

Buddabing

[android]

I think you mean the ArcadeVGA card. The IPAC is a keyboard emualtor/interface board for controls. I don't have an ArcadeVGA offhand, but I recall reading that it will display the bios screen.

ArcadeOS is different, that's a FE that will run in DOS, and use your plain vanilla video card to generate Arcade frequencies (15khz).

-PMF

Nope. I actually meant the J-Pac (not I-Pac, sorry): The ArcadeVGA (I own one) will down-scan everything to 15khz, even the boot screens, so this won't work for hiding them. On the other hand, the JPAC has circuitry that will prevent any damaging frequency output to an arcade monitor (i.e. the boot screens); only when the appropriate program (arcadeOS, game) starts sending 15khz video signal to the monitor by properly reprogramming your regular video card, the IPAC will let the video out through. In other words, the first thing you will see in the monitor is either ArcadeOS (if you use it), or your game. It is all in Andy's site.

--Android

[gprime]

too lazy to read this entire thread

but..

what i did was i used an ASUS mylogo mb like someone else mentioned, and then changed my WindowsXP boot logo to the same thing. now when my computer boots, it just shows the logo for a second, blinks to a black screen, and then shows the logo again as it loads. the only problem is that why it's loading you quickly see the login box/cursor on the screen for a second or two before it enter the frontend (i was aiming to completely fool the player ).

[delta88]

I have used the Jpac in conjunction with the arcadeVGA and 3 or 4 differant cabs and it does in fact show the bios screens along with the boot screen. Sometime it will make the bios info wig out and appearchoppy or like its at the wrong res but on another it appeared fine so take your pic it shows the screen

[rampy]

I think you mean the ArcadeVGA card. The IPAC is a keyboard emualtor/interface board for controls. I don't have an ArcadeVGA offhand, but I recall reading that it will display the bios screen.

ArcadeOS is different, that's a FE that will run in DOS, and use your plain vanilla video card to generate Arcade frequencies (15khz).

-PMF

Nope. I actually meant the J-Pac (not I-Pac, sorry): The ArcadeVGA (I own one) will down-scan everything to 15khz, even the boot screens, so this won't work for hiding them. On the other hand, the JPAC has circuitry that will prevent any damaging frequency output to an arcade monitor (i.e. the boot screens); only when the appropriate program (arcadeOS, game) starts sending 15khz video signal to the monitor by properly reprogramming your regular video card, the IPAC will let the video out through. In other words, the first thing you will see in the monitor is either ArcadeOS (if you use it), or your game. It is all in Andy's site.

--Android

Have you used the jpac... ?   (and yes of course we've heard of it)  I haven't... but...

IIRC: if you send 30 khz (VGA) through it, it will simply "split" the signal and you'll see you boot screen twice =P ... unless I'm mistaken...  not i'm not knocking it, I just don't think a JPAC will necessarily "hide" the bios screens as you are suggesting...

but i've been wrong before =)

rampy