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Newbie help before I start
megashock5:
Thanks for the advice so far and the awesome link to the MacMAME page - very cool. I'm planning to check out the 'Project Arcade' book when it comes out, as it would be easier to have that in the basement with me instead of repeatedly running upstairs to reference web pages.
I've seen some people use other emulators in addition to MAME in their cabinets (NES, SNES, Genny, etc). I'll have to check to see what's availabe for Mac. I used to have some of those, but they didn't run full-screen.
Again, thanks for the info. I'd still love to hear as much advice as I can from others who have done this. Very glad I registered, it already seems like this is going to be a very helpful place. I'm used to console forums, and those people can be downright rude. :)
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: megashock5 on April 20, 2004, 11:25:48 am ---Again, thanks for the info. I'd still love to hear as much advice as I can from others who have done this. Very glad I registered, it already seems like this is going to be a very helpful place. I'm used to console forums, and those people can be downright rude. :)
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This is one of the friendliest and most helpful forums you will find.
The key to a good arcade cabinet is planning first so you don't have to rework later.
For you - Step one would be finding out what games are out there and what you want to play on your cabinet - Are u mostly into 80's games - not much processing power required. 90's and up - a little higher requirements.
Step two would be whether you want to stay Macintosh, or go PC. Related to this would be whether you want a dedicated machine for the arcade cabinet, or try to have gaming and computing on the same machine.
From here, you can see which way to go - BTW, if you choose to go the PC route, it doesn't need to be super expensive -
A used Pentium III 500 or Duron 600 system will play all the 80's games and be around $300 or so.
In new components, check www.pricewatch.com, but an XP2400 and motherboard is currently $78 (then you would need to add a cheap HD, video card, monitor, Power Supply and keyboard.)
Or complete Duron 1.3 systems are around $200 new without a monitor.
RecycledPast:
The project will take longer then expected and it will cost a lot more then expected.
I found that the time planning and building was actually better then using the finished machine, because there is always something you want to tweak/replace/add.
The main thing you need to do is figure out what games you'll actually play, that will determine what controls you need. Notice I said "actually play" that's because everyone thinks they want to be able to play all available mame games but the reality is that a lot of the games loose their fun quickly.
It's easy to keep buying add-ons, "it's only $20 more dollars to add this," but then after you get it you realize you need a special connector for another $10.
TIME and MONEY are other main variables. If you have a lot of time you can piece together a system( free parts, ebay, etc.),learn how to hack things , learn dos but if you have money you can buy premade things fast PC with windows, I-Pac, oscar spinner, smart strip power strip, etc...
Read a lot, visit every page in the examples section. Make sure you bookmark any site that has info you like.
For some DOS info go to http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/setup.php
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: Recycled-Past on April 20, 2004, 12:12:56 pm ---For some DOS info go to http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/setup.php
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Good points.
While were at it, I don't know if you've played around with MacMAME at all, but for help with the windows setup- see http://www.mameworld.net/easyemu/mamemenu.htm
megashock5:
Yikes! Looking at those DOS links makes my head hurt. Do I need to know that stuff to do this with a PC - or can I just get by with my limited windows knowledge? I keep seeing references to MAME32, how is this different from the regular MAME?
I'm sure I'd be more in my element to use Mac, but I think it will be harder to find an old cheap one. I'm probably going to focus on 80's stuff, so I shouldn't need anything super powerful.