Which Ultimarc - j-pac or arcadevga...thanks!

[timsatari]

Hi all,

Well, I've had my cabinet for some time (a 4 player sunset riders) that will soon become a MAME cab. To start with, I will get an I-pac4 (possibly optipac, depending on space...) but I confused as to either a arcadevga or j-pac to connect the computer...

Here's a couple of pix of my sunset riders cab (at bottom of page, under my Discs of Tron...ahemm...   http://www.acay.com.au/%7Etimbo/discs_of_tron_environmental.htm

[pointdablame]

If that cab of  your is JAMMA, your best bet would be to get a Jpac AND an ArcadeVGA, and forget about the Ipac altogether.  Grab an optipac if you're going to interface multiple trackballs, spinners, etc.

That's my plan for my 4p Xmen cab, hope it helps.

[microwrx]

What he said.

Remember the ArcadeVGA card it used to be able to interface the PC to the arcade monitor, it has nothing to do with the controls.

The J-PAC is the encoder for your controls.  It plugs into the JAMMA harness so you don't have to go re-wiring anything and that way you can still use your JAMMA PCB's.   Although, as the JAMMA standard is for 2 players and 3 buttons, if you want more than 3 buttons per player you will have to wire them to the extra screw terminals on the J-PAC (it accomodates for up to 8 buttons each for player 1 and 2).  The J-PAC does have an inbuilt video amp as well to boost the signal from your video card to the monitor.

For a 4 player cab though you are going to need more than a J-PAC.  You can either forget the J-PAC and go for an I-PAC4 but then have to rewire your entire control panel and wire to the monitor seperately, or stick with the J-PAC for player 1&2 and use either an I-PAC2 or Mini-PAC for player 3&4.  With the J-PAC and I-PAC (or Mini-PAC) you can still use your machine for regular 2 player JAMMA PCB's (and 4 player if you wire up the connectors right).

With my 4 player cab I have an ArcadeVGA card, J-PAC and Mini-PAC.  With the ArcadeVGA and J-PAC you can have MAME up and running within a few minutes in a working JAMMA cab.  Player 3&4 takes a little bit of wiring and programming of the I-PAC/Mini-PAC.  I went for the Mini-PAC because I really didn't have to do much wiring at all as I got the one with the wiring harness included.  Additionally the Mini-PAC also supports one trackball and one spinner in USB mode so you wouldn't need to get a seperate Opti-PAC.

[SirPeale]

The ArcadeVGA may be overkill, depending on his existing video card.  Unless, of course, he using Windows.  He could use a Trident Blade T64 then.

[microwrx]

The ArcadeVGA may be overkill, depending on his existing video card.  Unless, of course, he using Windows.  He could use a Trident Blade T64 then.

Agreed, I didn't mention it because I have no experience with other video cards and went straight for the ArcadeVGA.  The J-PAC has jumpers to cater for other frequencies but I don't know anything about it as I didn't need to change mine.

[timsatari]

hi, thanks to all, particularly Microwrx - after further research i too have now gone ahead and purchased arcadevga, jpac and mini-pac (and trackball!). Looking forward to starting my project! I'll post it here once parts start arriving...