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Dual Monitor Cabinet (OMG I'm making a hardware entry)

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Howard_Casto:


--- Quote from: RacerX on July 25, 2004, 03:10:44 pm ---Mine is dual monitor in the sense that I have my cab running on the same computer that I surf on.  One monitor sits on my computer desk, the other is in the cab.  All they do is show the same picture, but it's cool when I have a group over because everyone can watch what's happening without having to be crowded around the cabinet.

I'll be looking forward to seeing how your project comes out, Howard.  I like the idea of having the pinball backdrop on an entirely separate screen like that.  

--- End quote ---

Yeah I have a similar rig, that's where I got the idea. :)  I've been aiming to do this for ages, but I didn't have the money or time.  I'm glad I finally can.  I really appreciate your support.  I'll need beta testers for some of this stuff, would you be interested? (Don't know how your setup is, but if you have an extra monitor.....)

Btw, the pinball is frikkin awesome! I had it running and played for a few hours last night.  Unfortunately, the lcd isn't mounted yet and I have a sore neck from looking down where it was lying.  Oh well.... it was worth it.  8) Mame is gonna be more fun though.... It'll be great to play a full screen punchout and even mess with the playchoice games a little (right now I don't because it's so annoying that the screen is squashed.)

Anyway, suggestions are welcomed on the hardware end and software end.  

One thing I've already though of:  

I'm going to hack a usb gamepad and steal it's buttons and put them on the lcd housing.  I will rig the buttons to operate the dual screen apps.  That way I can scroll through a game faq about a game or browse it's artwork while playing it in mame at the same time.  

paigeoliver:

The single best idea for a dual monitor cabinet I ever came up with was this.

Two identical cabinets side by side, each with 8-way, 4-way, 6 buttons, trackball and spinner. Run by a single computer so that they acted as a single cabinet with player one on cabinet one, and player two on cabinet 2.

It would support pretty much everything, without cramped panels, or being cramped up next to the guy next to you.

Xiaou2:


 Good to see someone taking a stab at this...

  An interesting Idea I nce had was to use 2 monitors at a 90 degree angle from each other - seperaed by a 2way police style mirror.

 With this type of setup... the bottom monitor would be displayed in front... displaying the game itself.  The monitor behind the mirror could be made to show fullscreen backdrops (in game artwork - like asteriods has).

 It could also be displayed in reverse - so that the game is in front... and the 2nd monitor shows a floating Gui display.

 Then of course... there the need for 3 monitor games like
TX-1.  

 The ideas have been thought of - but nobody had built them because theres no software support for it.  One would hope that such features would get included in the official builds one day.  That and things like force feedback...



Howard_Casto:

Well, if I do it properly I think I can get dual monitor support included in the offical builds of mame.  I just really suck at coding for mame so it'll take a while.  

paige, regarding your suggestion, that would be a mirrored display.  It's actually been done a few times I think and there isn't any hacking involved.  Basically all you need is a cabinet with a pc in it and another cabinet with cables running from that same pc.  Anyone remember that example?  I think the builder had one panel rigged for driving games and the other rigged for regular game.  

paigeoliver:

Oh, I know that is what it is. I actually had the idea because I have seen a few 4 player Jamma games installed spread over two cabinets.

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