What to do with this thing?

[menace]

I've had this in my stash for months (years?) and have yet to do anything with it.  I've had some ideas but have never implemented them for whatever reason.  So the call is out--gimme some ideas.

And if nothing good comes of this maybe it will have to go on the trading block...

(in case you can't tell from the picture its one of those 5" arcade monitors--its 5.5" wide by 11" deep)

edit: added a poll based on the first few responses.

[JoyMonkey]

Awww! It's so cute! Put a baby bonnet on it!

On a more serious note, it would be pretty cool to use it for a miniITX project. Maybe a 1/4" scale cabinet of some sort.

[Hoagie_one]

that thing screams....Mini-cab

[Rocky]

supergun

[j123vt_99]

anyone ever "pimp" out their car with a mini-cab?

[nighthawk2099]

I vote mini cab....

We all know you can never have tooooo many cabs, and with mini-cabs, you can have even more...

[j123vt_99]

[newbie question]what is supergun?[/newbie question]

[Mario]

that thing screams....Mini-cab

Seems more suited to a Baby-Cab! How about making a 1/4 scale upright cab?

Mario

[NoOne=NBA=]

Q*Bert would be a good cab to copy.

The monitor angle would allow you to hide the 11" depth on the monitor.

You might even be able to get one of the stick suppliers to do a custom fab that would thin down the shaft and ball to a smaller size to match the cab.

[IntruderAlert]

can you post a side view?

[menace]

both sides:

[NoOne=NBA=]

The only other issue I can see is whether there will be enough room at the bottom of a properly proportioned cab for the computer guts.

[Crazy Cooter]

I'd put it in my center console in back or under the dash up front.  That size is perfect for putting in the car.

[abrannan]

Mini-cab with Frankenpanel.

[menace]

The only other issue I can see is whether there will be enough room at the bottom of a properly proportioned cab for the computer guts.

this has always been a stopper for me--i guess i could have the pc outside the cab but that doesn't seem like a very elegant solution. 

[MinerAl]

Put it in a big screen showcase cab with the world's biggest bezel.

[Stingray]

Mini-Cab all the way. That's a great little monitor, I wish I had one.

-S

[RetroJames]

First off, if you trade it out...I certainly want to figure out how to pry it away from you.

Second, hard to tell but are the dimenesions about 5" wide, 5" high, and 10" deep?

EDIT: I'm an idiot -

(in case you can't tell from the picture its one of those 5" arcade monitors--its 5.5" wide by 11" deep)

Also, the moon patrol image looks a bit warped and almost like it has vertical stripes on it, is that all digicam wierdness?

[menace]

yep thats digicam weirdness, it really does have a nice display (I even did a capkit back when I was eager to do such things--now I'm too lazy )--the colors need to be fine tuned as well since i was more interested in testing the g400 card with advmame than i was in getting the monitor right.  Then when I was done I was thinking jeez i should do something productive with this...

[IntruderAlert]

Since it's so deep..  how about a mini cocktail?

[Stingray]

I think it would be neater to do a mini upright cab. Just choose one like Pac Man where the monitor lays back at extreme angle.

-S

[menace]

I myself am leaning on pacman as well (decided q-bert would be too restrictive) its the micro-parts that are going to be killing me on this one..

[IntruderAlert]

i'd really like to see a nice mini Galaga or a mini Mr. Do's Castle
but to each his own 

[menace]

yep decided on the pacman--I have to redraw it 1/4 scale though--I asked jakobud for his original dwg's but he was unwilling to send me a set for whatever reason so I'll redraft them and then i can scale them any size I want after that.  I think the PC size is going to govern the final dimensions so I'll see what I can come up with.

[Will]

Enclose it in a box with room for the computer mounted to top of box than put a carrying handle on it and you have a box handle suitcasecade???

[oldsage]

Enclose it in a box with room for the computer mounted to top of box than put a carrying handle on it and you have a box handle suitcasecade???

lol... suitcasecade...

[krick]

Enclose it in a box with room for the computer mounted to top of box than put a carrying handle on it and you have a box handle suitcasecade???

lol... suitcasecade...

"Electronic Games" magazine - December 1982

[oldsage]

Enclose it in a box with room for the computer mounted to top of box than put a carrying handle on it and you have a box handle suitcasecade???

lol... suitcasecade...

"Electronic Games" magazine - December 1982

ROFLMAO!!! 
You made my day!

[kcorcoran]

you don't have to redraft the plans.
i used jakobud's ms pac plans for my mini ms pac cabinet (2/3 scale).

open it in illustrator (1:1).. then figure out what 1/4 or the height is.
draw a line that height next to the plans.. select all except for the line.. scale the whole thing down (holding shift) to match the height with the line you drew.

then.. save it as a PDF. open it in acrobat and print it on multiple pages... tape the pages together and bam.. instant to-scale template.

[Quarters]

Hmmmm...
Suitcasecade... Suitcade... Has possibilities.   

[menace]

Suitcase-cade--LMAO--not only because thats hilarious that its actually been done but more so that I had already considered but rejected it cause that is just too far out there--even for me

As far as redrafting the plans--it won't take me very long since I'm much more comfortable with CAD than illustrator--was just trying to save a step--no biggie.

(still marvelling the suitcase-cade--ingenious!)

[Lilwolf]

I vote for a bar-cade.  Not a bar top... but build a cocktail table in the end of a bar....

Make it at the end so you can play vertical games that way... and horizontals on the side. 

I think that would be REALLY cool!

[menace]

redrafted the plans at 1/3 scale (1/4 was too small) and it looks like i might be able to do it if I can place all the power supplies outside the box--maybe one of those mini-atx power supplies--hmmm... but the iso-transformer definitely has to go outside the case unless i extend the bottom by 6 or 7 inches.  I want to make it look somewhat to scale and not cheat too much..

[Flinkly]

as for controls, just pick up some nintendo buttons.

[menace]

LOL--well i admire your enthusiasm but until I start cutting, its all just mental gyrations at this point    I could use some creative ideas for the monitor and PC power supplies still..

I think the pc is going to be a celeron 433 mini-atx board running arcadeos and advmame.  I'll have to scroungs for a laptop drive, otherwise it will be a desktop drive installed somewhere inside...