Buttons needed for Mame32? (without a keyboard)

[Rhetro]

Hello everyone!

I'm going to be drilling holes into my control panel, but wanted t make sure of some things first (don't want too many or too few).

Aside from the player buttons,

What buttons are needed so you don't have to keep messing with the keyboard? (my keyboard will be inside a locked drawer since my coin mech will be operational).

I'm building a 4 player console so I realize I could have one for each player start, one per player credit,

1 pause
1 escape

I have a trackball with 3 buttons.

Do I need a return button?

Nothing else really comes to mind, but I'm sure I'm missing something!

Thanks in advance!!

[paigeoliver]

Um, you don't use Mame32 for a cabinet, you should use a frontend like Mamewah, and then you won't need any extra buttons at all.

[Rhetro]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm a little confused however.

I've been using mame32 for quite sometime never really bothering to look at anything else. (I guess that's my first mistake)

Why wouldn't mame32 be a good frontend?

[reebboy]

I'm currently using MAME 32 for a front end untill I have time to figure out MAMEWAH. Its a very simple frontend to use, nothing wrong with it . I have shift keys assigned to my regular playing buttons for the special functions that I need. (ESC, Enter and  Tidle key (for volume control)). Unless I missed something, I believe thats it.

[Apollo]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm a little confused however.

I've been using mame32 for quite sometime never really bothering to look at anything else. (I guess that's my first mistake)

Why wouldn't mame32 be a good frontend?

Because MAME32 looks like poos and command line MAME with Mamewah is just as easy to set up as Mame32 ( often with better performance ).

[danny_galaga]

um, i use mame32 in my cabinet    . and people like me are mystified by command line stuff and not keen to learn  

whatever front end you use, if you utilise a keyboard encoder like an IPAC then you dont need any extra buttons as there is a shift function built in. to show how intimidated i am with this stuff- you can reprogram the IPAC but im leaving mine as it is cos im a fraidy cat!!