dreamcast in cabinet?

[atog]

Here is the deal, I have my MAME cab all set up and finished.  It runs win98 and Mamewah as the FE.  I also own a Dreamcast and about 30 games.  Is it possible to interface the Dreamcast into my cabinet - OR - is there a dreamcast emulator that I could use to just run the games on the win98 machine that is already in there?  

Controls on the cabinet run through an IPAC currently, and I don't want to buy or build a whole new control interface just for the dreamcast games.

[Lilwolf]

No emulator even close.   One that shows promise will not run any commercial games on standard PC's for a while.

BUT... the hardware is cheap... And even cheaper if you already have it.

What you want to do is hack the controllers to you control panel.... Then have a VGA switch and converter... or if your cabinet has TV then get a Y adapter for the SVid (assuming they exist... never looked).

There are a few issues.

1) You can't have the cp hooked up to both DC and a Computer at the same time.  The grounds will !@# each other up and you might destroy one if not both.  So you will have to have a way to switch between them.  db25 serial/parallel ends are the cheapest I think.  You could also do a A/B switch.

2) Analog hacking of the DC controller doesn't currently exist (tell me if anyone has fixed this).  BUT... you can hook them up to a standard microswitch/leafswitch joystick.  Why?  The analog controllers on the DC are connected for each direction and variable resistence until not moving (broked connection).  So hooking/hacking a DC analog controller allows you to run, but only at 100% in each direction...

3) there are 2 versions that I know of for mame on a DC.  They are decent, but slow.  You will only get the older games to run.  But some people have cabinets with only a DC inside.

good luck

[Dave_K.]

Lilwolf is right on (as usual).  I don't play many (if any) DC games which require the analog input (so its not as big a deal as you might think).   If you do want to hack the analog, you may want to think about running it through a 4p4t switch so you can switch your single joystick between the dpad and analog and mount the switch on top of your CP.

Another option besides the AB-switch box, is to just buy some standard molex connectors to isolate your CP from your IPAC, then hack your DC pads with the same molex connectors.  You will still have to pop the top and switch the connectors around when you want to play DC, but you will have to go inside anyway to turn on your DC, put in a cd, and switch the ab-box.  Just another option.

-Dave