Building first cabinet... lots of questions.

[Chris B]

Hello everyone,

I'm just starting building my first mame cabinet, and I have a few questions that hopefully I can get some help with.  


#1.     I picked up a old Chicony keyboard w/trackball (KB-5581)at a pawn shop for $3.  The trackball drivers works in dos but not in windows.    The keyboard actually has two cords - 1 Din9 for the keys and a serial port for the trackball.  Are there any generic trackball drivers that may work for this ball in windows?

#2.    When I pulled apart the keyboard I discovered that it has a full curcuit board inside and not a encoder + mylar.  I think this might be a good thing but I'm not sure.  How do I hack this board for arcade control use?

#3.    Are they any sights with help setting up Mame / front end  in DOS?  This would take care of the above trackball problem.

#4.    Does the Voodoo 3000 TV out work in DOS, or just windows?  


Beside the trackball & keyboard.  I also have a wingman arrior joystick.  The spinner works great and I'm going to add it to my machine too.   I have high hopes for my machine, any help with the above problems would be great appreciated.  Thanks everyone.  

Happy Mame'ing.  

=Chris=

[Gorre]

1) A trackball is the same as a mouse so normally (and hopefully) there's a big possibility that it works with another mouse driver (you could try a generic or MS-driver).

2) Hacking a keyboard remains a big discussion on this board, it's time consuming and the result can be bad, why don't you just hack the wingman warrior and leave the keyboard as it is.

3) Most dos frontends (ArcadeOs, Adancemenu, ...) allow you to setup everything within the frontend, even for an individual rom. All of these carry a manual on how you can set them, this in combination with the MAME instructions should get you started.
(There are also tutorials for MAME on www.mameworld.net).

4) Sorry can't say, I'm using a VGA - TV converter.

[Chris B]

Thanks for the help.

I've tried a few windows mouse & trackball drivers, but haven't gotten anything to work yet.  Should I be able to run the trackball and my USB mouse at the same time?



As it looks like DOS is going to be easier to setup, I may go with that to eliminate some problems.  

Is DOS better than windows for running a dedicated MAME machine?    Opinions please.

Thanks,
=Chris=

[1UP]

Is DOS better than windows for running a dedicated MAME machine?

[ampapa]

Congratulations on starting a cabinet! You'll find plenty of resources in this forum.

"#3.    Are they any sights with help setting up Mame / front end  in DOS?  This would take care of the above trackball problem. "

Depending on what you are looking for I did a write up on running from Mame using ArcadeOS in DOS, if you are looking for some specifics e-mail me and I'll see if I can help.

ajmmame.webajm.com

"#4.    Does the Voodoo 3000 TV out work in DOS, or just windows?   "

I used this card in my Arcade and it works very well with S-Video and ArcadeOS...


ampapa,

[SirPoonga]

compgeeks.com and justdeals.com can have USB mouse and keyboard for $10 sometimes.  That'd be much easier if you didn't want to do a dos setup.

Plus I saw some arcade trackballs going for really cheap on ebay.


Just letting you know there are other options out there.

[Lilwolf]

trackballs... they probably wont spin nice.  I bought one for 20 bucks... and spent another 10 bucks on new rollers.... Still doesn't spin that great (good... not super smooth).

Consider buying a new one... There are 2 1/4 inch benson/imperials for super cheap around... if you go imperial, there is a ps/2 version....

But all in all... put this one off initially unless you have cash.

Joysticks - I have bought some great used joysticks, and some crappy ones.  The crappy ones are fine for playing some games, but have no action....

10 bucks you have new one from www.videoconnect.com.  Get 2 and you wont be sorry.

Buttons... I go the other way... why?  I bought 100 buttons (1/2 leaf 1/2 micro) and about 15 sucked... so I got 85 for 20 bucks or so.  They are so simple that not much goes wrong with them (that you can't fix/cleanup yourself)

good luck