So now what? Beginner needs some help.

[wilsonza]

So now I have my first cabinet. I picked up an old TMNT 4-player cab complete with working JAMMA harness and 25" monitor, but no control panel. (Which wasn't a big deal since I wanted to build my own.)

I would like to end up with something similar to what Neil did on his (http://home.attbi.com/~nbreeden2/) with 4 players and two trackballs. I would also like to have a 4-way joystick in there somewhere. I would also like to preserve the ability to hook up a game to the Jamma harness and play.

I have so many questions. I've looked at the IPAC, JPAC and OptiPac. I'm unsure how all of them connect together. With an arcade monitor, I'm guessing I don't want to run any version of Windows on my computer, is that correct? I would like to have the PC networked so I have the ability to copy games back and forth to it. I would also like to have a keyboard and mouse somewhere.

How do the IPAC, JPAC and OptiPAC (I think you need one OptiPAC for each trackball, right?) all hook in to eachother? Also, what version of MAME do I install onto the computer, and what kind of OS do I use?

When I want to hook up a JAMMA board, whats involved in doing so? Do I just unplug the JPAC from the Jamma harness and plug in the Jamma board? Any advice on where to start and answers to my questions would be greatly appriciated.

[Lilwolf]

JPac is what you will want if you are going to use the arcade monitor (recommoned).  But you will have troubles getting windows to run (until Oscar starts selling his radeon video card that will directly plug into the monitor).

A JPac is a full IPac with the addition of whats needed to safely work with the arcade monitor.  It will NOT allow any standard VGA signals to go to the ArcadeMonitor (which will blow the monitor).  It will also boost the signal since the VGA doesn't send as strong a signal as the monitor is expected.  

But it also has a IPac (28 leads) on it.  With all the standard connections for a jamma cabinet.  But remember, that the standard jamma only handle 2 joysticks (or is it 4) with 2 buttons each.  So you will have to add the others by hand (easy easy with screw ends).

BUT... if you want 4player with 6 buttons for player 1 and 2 and 4 buttons for 3 and 4, you will run out of leads.  You will probably want to get ANOTHER ipac to handle the rest.  There is a ipac5x (50 something) controller that would be great, but then you loose the monitor stuff, and you will have to hack your cabinet so it wont be jamma compatible any more.  

I would recommend this (and I would have done it if JPacs were out when I started everything).  

I would keep the jamma compatibility.  Why?  There are a TON of great games that are jamma compatible that sell for 2 - 10 bucks on ebay.  You might want to start your own collection of REAL arcade machines.  Whats your favorite game... wouldn't it be cool to have the real game.  SWEET 3d game that mame just can't handle?  Take a look, its out there.

Then I would add another ipac to connect the additions connections..

Then I would add an optipac for the trackball... But I would prbably get everything else working first.  

good luck!

[SNAAAKE]

(until Oscar starts selling his radeon video card that will directly plug into the monitor).

OKAY,I dont mean to be rude but....isn't Andy Warne will sell the radeon arcade monitor video card.
Where do you get the > "Oscar selling video card "
Is OSCAR himself working on his version of the arcade monitor video card

[neuromancer]

It will NOT allow any standard VGA signals to go to the ArcadeMonitor (which will blow the monitor).
good luck!

Has anyone actually experienced this? I've accidentally fed my 20+ year old arcade monitor VGA signals for short periods with no aparant effect.

Bob

[wilsonza]

OK, so I go buy a JPAC and an IPAC, I connect my computer to the JPAC, and plug it into the Jamma harness. Where does the IPAC fit into our plans? (Much less the OptiPacs) If I understand it correctly, all of the controls need to connect in to the computer, but how does the Jamma harness work without the controls that are connected to the computer?

Also, can someone point me to a more in depth guide for arcade monitors and why/how you can/can't hook them up to a PC? I'm a little unclear on how to do that. Also, who sells this ATI graphics card? Is it something he modded?

What operating system is "best" to run when doing a MAME project that uses an arcade monitor. 3rd, as I understand it, the Jamma standard only allows for 3 buttons per player, are there really that many games that are Jamme compliant & are not supported by MAME?

For that matter, how do games like Mortal Kombat and Soul Caliber work? I've heard of Jamma +, is that where this comes in? Is it reccomended to upgrade my Jamma harness to Jamma + (or buy a new harness) to have that functionality?

How do you go about hooking up 2 trackballs, 2 spinners, a keyboard, mouse and the IPAC/JPAC (the control panel buttons and joysticks), and the coin doors all up? Where exactly does the sound from teh cabinet get hooked up to?

Is it wired into the Jamma harness, or do I need to somehow hook it directly up to the PC? Also, is it reccomended to have a computer case for the computer, or mount the board straight onto a peice of wood and mount that too a cabinet.

Also, whats involved in mounting a motherboard to wood? (Some really cool Jukebox projects do this) Is there any worry about shorting it out? Do you screw it using normal screws that come with it straight into the wood?

Thanks so much for answering all of these questions, if most of these can be answered by a page or FAQ I would love it if someone could direct me there.

[cdbrown]

I'll have a crack at some of these, not all as I don't know anything about the jpac or jamma and not using a arcade monitor.  Best bet is too do some searches on keywords and see what the search function of this forum comes up with.  Also check out http://www.ultimarc.com/ this place will hopefully answer the questions.  There is also a forum where people ask questions about the products that you might find useful.

OK, so I go buy a JPAC and an IPAC

don't forget the optipac

, I connect my computer to the JPAC, and plug it into the Jamma harness. Where does the IPAC fit into our plans?

plugs into the keyboard connector on the PC or usb.

Also, can someone point me to a more in depth guide for arcade monitors and why/how you can/can't hook them up to a PC? I'm a little unclear on how to do that. Also, who sells this ATI graphics card? Is it something he modded?

have you checked out the Monitor/video forum on this site?  Andy from ultimarc (see link above) is working out the card.  Not finished yet but check out his site.

What operating system is "best" to run when doing a MAME project that uses an arcade monitor.

I don't know if the operating system is the thing, more like which frontend you want to use.  There is alot of information within the site on the links on the left.  Have you looked through all of them?

How do you go about hooking up 2 trackballs, 2 spinners, a keyboard, mouse and the IPAC/JPAC (the control panel buttons and joysticks), and the coin doors all up? Where exactly does the sound from teh cabinet get hooked up to?

2 trackballs and 2 spinners will connect to the optipac which then connects to the computer (mine is a serial connection)

Is it wired into the Jamma harness, or do I need to somehow hook it directly up to the PC? Also, is it reccomended to have a computer case for the computer, or mount the board straight onto a peice of wood and mount that too a cabinet.

Also, whats involved in mounting a motherboard to wood? (Some really cool Jukebox projects do this) Is there any worry about shorting it out? Do you screw it using normal screws that come with it straight into the wood?

People use plastic standoffs if they aren't going to putting the case inside the cab.  Don't screw the motherboard to the wood directly as you can damage the back of the board

Hope this helps and is fairly correct
-cdbrown

[OSCAR]

(until Oscar starts selling his radeon video card that will directly plug into the monitor).

OKAY,I dont mean to be rude but....isn't Andy Warne will sell the radeon arcade monitor video card.
Where do you get the > "Oscar selling video card "
Is OSCAR himself working on his version of the arcade monitor video card

No, he meant Andy.

[Lilwolf]

Duh... Andy it is....  And I wasn't even drinking : )

(until Oscar starts selling his radeon video card that will directly plug into the monitor).

OKAY,I dont mean to be rude but....isn't Andy Warne will sell the radeon arcade monitor video card.
Where do you get the > "Oscar selling video card "
Is OSCAR himself working on his version of the arcade monitor video card

[eightbit]

My 2 cents-
Go back to the home page of this web site and start with the newbie guide. Then work your way down the topics. Then spend some time reviewing the examples. For the basics you will find many write ups about how people solved the problems they came across which will give you ideas to solve your problems. Then come back to the message boards and post specific questions. Its much easier to help solve one problem then it is to give you advice on 10 different scenarios.

You've choosen a fairly ambitious project and you may need to scale back or give up on keeping the Jamma interface intact to be able to do all the things you want to do. Then again maybe you can do it all, thats the goal of many of the people that post here. Every week someone seems to post something thats never been done before.

Welcome to BYOAC and Good Luck!

Oh yeah its a requirement that you must keep us informed of your progress, we all love pictures!