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Ultimate Newbie Question Ver. 2.0 HELP Saint (or other all knowing being)

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Big Ben:

Yes I can do the light bulb thing (since 4th grade) but saints book is good and stuff for using interfaces and pc arcades. But what I want to do is not a pc arcade.

RayB:

OK, so you know basic wiring. That's a start. I would say since you are speaking hypothetically at this point (you did say "say if I WOULD get a pacman...") I would suggest that you just go for it and get a cabinet! Go from there. It's just too difficult to try to teach/learn without a physical frame of reference.

Get a machine, and you'll find that some of it suddenly becomes obvious. And then the rest, well, we'll have a much easier time helping you learn what you need to.

~Ray B.


Stingray:

Your questions are too vague for any of us to be able to offer any real help.


--- Quote ---an old pac-man cabinet and things kinda sorta worked and I wanted to make it like new with everything working
--- End quote ---


What's working? What isn't what happens when it powers up?


--- Quote ---Like I know that a PCB is very important but how to I attactch things to that to make it work?
--- End quote ---

What "things"? What game is this for? Is it pre-JAMMA? Is this a board that's in a cabinet or do you just have a bare board and you want to know what else you need to get it work?

There are so many things that you're not saying that no one is going to have any idea of what the actual problem is, much less how to solve it. We need details of what exactly you have and what exactly the problem is before we can offer any better advice than just telling you to read up.

-S

Big Ben:

OK I see what all of yall mean but could someone please explain to me the basics of a PCB? (kind of a different question from the origianal) Also how to use one and where to put which wires where. Soldering needed? Stuff like that. Also same type of stuff for a jamma kit I'm still in the dark about those even after going to all websites I could find.

Again thanks for all the help,

-Ben

AlanS17:

I'm just trying to speak plainly here so don't take offense if it sounds over-simplified. I'm trying trying to be explicit.

The PCB is the game board. It's the brain of the game. There is usually one main connector on one end of the board that most (or all) of the wires connect into. This is called an "edge connector" because it's on the edge and it's a connector.

The massive plug that goes into it is called the "wiring harness" because it's a harness that holds the vast majority of wires going into the board. These wires contain power, audio output, video output, and leads for all the switches in the control panel/coin door/etc. Sometimes a game has too many controls or special power requirements so not all the wires will feed into the harness. For this there should be an extra plug or two on top of the board.

There is a basic standard for the majority of games made in probably the last 20 years called the JAMMA (Japanese Arcade Machine Manufacturers Association IIRC) standard that calls for a unfiorm edge connector and harness. That way games can be interchanged by just pulling one out and putting a different one in. Anything older than that will have a custom edge connector and harness.

There shouldn't be any soldering needed if you have a compatible board and harness. Everything just plus in. Otherwise, adaptors can be built or bought if you need to convert from one harness to another. There should never be a need to solder onto the board, itself.

How's that for a start?

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