Newbie Questions

[Evil_Elmo]

Hey.
Ive got this oldPC sitting in my room and my dad told me to do somthing with it..so yer im making a MAME Cabnet. I have everything niceley planed out and i am just trying to find some wood to start the project.

I have got an old gamepad  that i am going to pull apart since my cabnet will be 1 player. Could i use a Joystick and a gamepad on the same PC providing they use different ports on the computer.?

Ive read a thing here about putting a PC monotor in and i am woundering would i really take it out of the case And risk breaking it? or just put it in and paint the outside of it the same color as the rest of the cabnet.


Im trying to spend nothing on making this but i dont think it is guna work.lol im 13 and dont have a job. although i may buy some secend hand keybored and mice form the dump.

[the3eyedblindman]

OK lets see...

Im not sure about the game pad and joytick but about the monitor, I think it would be useless to take it out of the case, theres really no point at all, just looks messier with wires if you ask me, and about painting it, you wouldnt even have to, just set it in your cabinet and make some sort of a monitor bezel, and then cover that with a sheet of plexi glass in front of your monitor, for a bezel an easy thing to do would be mask out the areas of the screen on your plexi glass then spray paint the outter edges black, do you get what im talking about, if not just post it and ill try to explain it better.

Its going to be hard not spending any money, your going to need to buy wood, ( a cheap wood is particle board), your arcade controls, paint, lighting, t molding, and various other things, if you want prices just post and me or someone else could help you out, dont be afraid to keep asking questions, cuz im building my first cabinet too and im only 15, i didnt know anything at all, so i asked alot of questions other people might have laughed at, hope i could help.

[Evil_Elmo]

Ok man thanks.

Most items i already own and i cna get wood for next to nothing. I think i have sone black paint. if not ill varnish it.

[Tiger-Heli]

I have got an old gamepad  that i am going to pull apart since my cabnet will be 1 player. Could i use a Joystick and a gamepad on the same PC providing they use different ports on the computer.?

I "think" you can, but the easy thing to do is to fire up MAME and test it out BEFORE you pull the gamepad apart.  That way you know it will work when you get around to it.

Ive read a thing here about putting a PC monotor in and i am woundering would i really take it out of the case And risk breaking it? or just put it in and paint the outside of it the same color as the rest of the cabnet.

There's a very good tutorial thread on making a bezel out of posterboard in the "links to threads" thread at the top.  I "think" it could be done with the monitor still in the case.  If you do take it out of the case, be aware there are some high (read deadly) voltage components inside.

Good luck with your project.

[Evil_Elmo]

Ok man thankz. Im just guna build a shelf thing to my cabnet and sit the monotor on there and secure it in there.