Advice Needed:Keyboard Encoder for Very Simple CP

[NinjaEpisode]

So the first cab I'm going to build, to keep it simple on myself, prove to myself I can do it, and to prove to the wife that it's pretty cool, is a smaller Pac Cab.

Since I'm looking at basically a single 4-way joy, 1 & 2 player button, and a coin-up interface, am I better off just doing a keyboard hack, or should I spend the money on a minipac or ipac?

The intent would be to run ArcadeOS in a DOS interface and have the cab dedicated to Pacman itself, so I don't need a huge keyboard interface...

What would you do?

[Bgnome]

personally, i would go with a keyboard hack since soldering is easy for me and you will only be using 2 or 3 simultaneous inputs at most.  plus the fact that i have an extra keyboard lying around helps..
gamepad hacks are a possibility also, but for DOS, you will most likely be looking for gameport ones with drivers, which may be more trouble than it's worth.
you "could" go ahead and get a dedicated encoder, but i think it would be overkill for a project like this and would try to avoid it unless you are deathly afraid of soldering and dont know anyone iwlling to do it for you..

[SirPeale]

Yeah, hack a KB.  Practice soldering first on scrap.

[NinjaEpisode]

Welp, I'm all for the keyboard hack.  Worst case scenario, I fry a few keyboards working it out....

[Tiger-Heli]

So the first cab I'm going to build, to keep it simple on myself, prove to myself I can do it, and to prove to the wife that it's pretty cool, is a smaller Pac Cab.

Since I'm looking at basically a single 4-way joy, 1 & 2 player button, and a coin-up interface, am I better off just doing a keyboard hack, or should I spend the money on a minipac or ipac?

The intent would be to run ArcadeOS in a DOS interface and have the cab dedicated to Pacman itself, so I don't need a huge keyboard interface...

What would you do?

A keyboard hack would work fine for this (assuming you don't make really bad choices on inputs).

Considerations for an I-PAC/2 or KeyWiz (or KeyWiz ECO) (www.groovygamegear.com) - these might be a better option if:

- You may use emulators which don't allow re-mapping of key assignments -
- You don't like soldering (avoid the ECO, then)
- You will be building or improving your cab later and will need the I-PAC/KeyWiz then
- You want to save time and be sure the keyboard interface part of the project works.