Why no step-by-step guide?

[thrdbace]

for such an active forum, with lost of information, why hasn't anyone compiled a step-by-step guide?

it seems like the simplest of questions is routinely repeated on these forums...sure, people can do a search, through a million posts for "trackball installation"...but that isn't very helpful sometimes.

I'd like to see a step-by-step guide...how to install a button/joystick/trackball...the best way to mount monitors...building your cab/designing your cab/materials....connecting controls to an interface, grounding your interface...tricks to using lexan...etc...etc...

[Hiub1]

(Not to sound like an ASS) The website is called "Build Your Own Arcade Controls FAQ." That is what the site is. Saint has also written a book, which I believe covers a lot of your questions.

Check it out. Hope this helps, Fred.

[thrdbace]

wow, thanks, i guess i should've just said:  insert obvious comment here:__________.

[Bomber]

Ask and you shall receive....

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,19139.0.html

[zaphod]

There is a nice one: spystyle's.  It is referenced in the Newbie sticky at the top of this page.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,19139.0.html

However, there are also many, many ways to skin a cat, so to speak.  There is no one right way to install a trackball, that's the variety that makes this hobby interesting.


edit*- looks like Bomber beat me to it.

[missioncontrol]

Saint's book is a good start:

"Project Arcade"

spystyle did this tutorial:

http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/

[Stingray]

I think the main issue here is there is no "best" way to mount a monitor (or install a trackball or whatever). Everyone here has built their own game system to their own specs. What works for me may seem backwards to you. You could randomly choose ten members here and line our cabs up, I guarantee none of them will have done everything alike. More than likely they will all ten be wildly different. That's pretty much what the hobby is about.

-S

[Apollo]

Exactly, there are too many different ways of doing things. Mouse hacks, keyboard hacks, optipac, keywhiz, rotary sticks, comps, 4 ways, leaf buttons, microswitch buttons, PC monitors, arcade monitors, ArcadeVGA cards, lots of front ends. Do you absolutely have to play Tron or Defender or a particular racing game? It just goes on and on.
The best way is still to read as many examples as you can, decide what you are capable of making v's what you want to make and can afford etc and just do it.

[Tiger-Heli]

for such an active forum, with lost of information, why hasn't anyone compiled a step-by-step guide?

You do realize there's one on the main page of the site: http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm  Click the Newbie Guide buttons on the left

[elvis]

So I guess by that logic, every commercial arcade cab in the world looks the same?

For me, 50% of the fun of cab building is the finished product.  The other 50% is the actual building of the cab itself.  Fixing all of the little problems that arise in the construction of each and every unique cab is a hell of a lot of fun, and a much better waste of a sunday afternoon than sitting on your arse in front of the footy and getting fat.

[SirPeale]

for such an active forum, with lost of information, why hasn't anyone compiled a step-by-step guide?

You do realize there's one on the main page of the site: http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm  Click the Newbie Guide buttons on the left

Not only that, but it numbers amongst the first in the newbie links, stickied at the top of this page.

[DrewKaree]

Ummmm, unlinke Hiub's thoughts, to be an --I'm attempting to get by the auto-censor and should be beaten after I re-read the rules-- (although I don't mean to be one, I know this will come off as being one, because I'm about to point out some of the obvious things the others were nice enough not to do to you, as I think you'll understand where your question is going astray - I agree with the premise, though)

for such an active forum, with lost of information, why hasn't anyone compiled a step-by-step guide?

Several folks have now pointed out that someone has, in fact, compiled such a guide.  There is a thread here on it, and ONE member even wrote a BOOK on it    I'm betting he uses the profits from the book to help fund a websited dedicated to this very purpose 

it seems like the simplest of questions is routinely repeated on these forums...sure, people can do a search, through a million posts for "trackball installation"...but that isn't very helpful sometimes.

as evidenced by your very own post that a search could have easily brought you an example.

I wonder how many questions Spystyle's step-by-step guide has answered....I wonder how many questions about Saint's "guide" are routinely repeated.....more importantly, and to answer your question - I wonder how many folks actually use the search button to do a search on something they are interested in.

Having the guides are nice, they just simply won't stop tons of routinely repeated questions.  They also don't give someone a chance to say "howdy, and welcome to the forums", and they (as you pointed out yourself) aren't "very helpful sometimes".


Your very own post answered exactly the questions you put forth, and did so in a manner that should show exactly why it doesn't matter if people continually post the same info - it may be annoying, but it allows someone to be a helpful contributor and perhaps teach them something that another forum on the 'net won't - what to do, what not to do, how to search, why you should search - even if we are harsh on a person, a simple perusal of this forum will show you that the members here are - FAR AND AWAY - nicer and more helpful than any other board out there.  They'd get MURDERED at other forums for asking the questions they do, and while they DO get a few flesh wounds here, they'll live to annoy another day 

I'd like to see a step-by-step guide...how to install a button/joystick/trackball ... the best way to mount monitors...building your cab/designing your cab/materials .... connecting controls to an interface, grounding your interface...tricks to using lexan ... etc ... etc ...

Each forum has several examples like you speak of.  Perhaps you've checked the sticky posts that conglomerates all these forums into a handy list of "how-to's".  Or perhaps you've already started on your own list 

Good luck with re-inventing the wheel.