controller question by newbie please.

[kiddk1]

sorry if this sounds ignorant but I am new and have been reading and plan on building my own mame cabinet.  I plan on building my own controls rather than buying an x-arcade or hot rod.  What confuses me is once I build the controls(2 joysticks, buttons, trackball) how do I connect them to the pc,  do they come with usb cables or is it complicated.  Thank you.

p.s. if someone has a step by step for controls can you please give me the link.  thanks again.

[Wyluli]

Your easiest route is to buy an IPAC card from ultimarc.  You hook up the wires from the joysticks and buttons to the card, and the card connects to the computer via a USB cord (you order the cord with the card).
www.ultimarc.com

[Arcadiac]

First of all, welcome to the board.

[penjuin]

Do what i did and run to a book shop to buy a copy of "Project Arcade". It REALLY helps.

[kiddk1]

thank you, I will keep researching.  One more question, there is an Ipac2 and an Ipac4 is the only difference the amount of inputs you can connect?  thanks again

[Oddfeld]

Yes, the IPAC4 is a 4-player version which is basically 2 IPAC2s mounted on the same board. It just has twice the number of inputs.

[elpresidente]

Do what i did and run to a book shop to buy a copy of "Project Arcade". It REALLY helps.

Never heard of it. Is there a website where I can check it out? 

[krick]

Do what i did and run to a book shop to buy a copy of "Project Arcade". It REALLY helps.

Never heard of it. Is there a website where I can check it out?

[kiddk1]

is this book worth buying or is it the same info I can find online?

[Kremmit]

You can get all of the info in it online. 

It will take you several months, at least, as tons of it is buried on posts on these forums dating back months or years.  As you read these old posts, you will get lots of wrong and outdated info you will have to sort through. 

On the other hand, if you're going to spend a few hundred bucks on a MAME cab, maybe $29.99 isn't all that expensive if it will get you off to a running start.

[krick]

Amazon has it for $19.79

It's totally worth it.

[NoOne=NBA=]

is this book worth buying or is it the same info I can find online?

Yes to both questions.

If you aren't sure where to start, what you want to ultimately do, etc... the book gives that all to you in a well-organized, easy to follow, format.

The book is basically a compilation of the data contained here, and elsewhere, so you COULD find all the information in the book online.
The problem is finding it in an organized fashion, and sorting through all the bull that crops up in the online forum, and such.
Saint gives the GOOD information, in a pre-digested format, that weeds out all the "well you COULD do THIS" stuff that gets posted by people who don't know what they are talking about, or assume that everyone has degrees in electronics and mechanical engineering.

If you stick solely to the online stuff, you'll find yourself in one of two categories very quickly.
The first category of people are the ones that become so frustrated about who to believe because EVERYONE sounds like they know what they are talking about, and give up.
The second category are the people that try stuff themselves, and use their existing knowledge to attempt to weed out, or expand upon, the information they find.
Not everyone is capable of doing this type of stuff on their own.
Those are the people that the book is geared to.

I fall into that second category, and have not bought the book.
I have bought OTHER stuff; and, quite frankly, WASTED money trying to get something to work because I THOUGHT I could get it to work.

That said, there is a wealth of information online that is not contained in the book.
This is due to discoveries after the book was published, things that were intentionally left out of the book to avoid confusion on the part of someone who is looking for what they NEED to do, rather than what they COULD do, if they wanted to invest the effort, etc...

In the end, it's your call whether you think the book will help you.
If you want to get a cabinet up and running, with the least amount of effort on LEARNING stuff, then buy the book.
The nice thing about buying the book is that, AFTER you have read it, and learned it, you will have a much better base of knowledge to tackle the more advanced stuff.