Newbie here, Need some help.

[lordsub]

Hello all, Im new to this world of homemade arcade boxes using MAME and what not.  I stumbled across this site the other day, and now im hooked.  I would like to build my own now.  Im still not sure whether or not i want to create my cabinet from scratch or try and find an old one to use.  My question today is concerning controls.  From all that i have read, there are numerous ways to connect your controls to your PC: gutt a keboard and wire to that, gutt a joystick wire to that, use an I-PAC, etc.  Guess im getting off track here, my main question is what would be the best way to do it for a person who has minimal electrical experience.   I would like a my box to have:

2 8-way joysticks with 6 buttons near each one.  (this would be used for most 2 player games like street figher, contra, etc..

1 4-way joystick for old classic games like pac-man, donkey-king, etc (im guessing i probably need a couple buttons near this stick too)

1 trackball for centipede, missle command, etc.  (im guessing i need buttons for this as well)

1 slider (dont know about buttons here)

various other buttons for coin insert, 1 player, 2 player, etc...not exactly sure what i need.


So can i have all that on one control panel?  is it difficult?  From what i have read of the I-PAC and the OPTICAL I-PAC, it sounds like it might be right for me, since i dont have much wiring experince.  What do you guys think?  Are there other items out there that i should look into?  I would really like this setup to be maintenance free when its all said and done.  I dont want to have to pull it open and swap connections if i want to play with certain controls and etc...

Thanks, and im glad i discovered this community, this seems like a really fun thing to have in the fun room at parties

[Sasquatch!]

The I-PAC and Opti-PAC are exactly what you'll want, based on what you described.  I have to admit that I'm not sure what you mean by a "slider" though.  A spinner?

It's daunting to the newbie, but it's really not THAT hard.  Obviously, read everything on this site that you can (not just the message board) - arcadecontrols.com will be your bible for this task.  I'd also recommend heading over to the "Examples" section and checking out pretty much everyone's cab that you can.  Find things that you like about certain people's cabinets and glean from them.

Leave yourself a way to get into your control panel just in case, but I haven't had to tinker with my wiring AT ALL since initial construction.

this seems like a really fun thing to have in the fun room at parties

Oh man, you have NO idea how true this is.

[lordsub]

Oops.  Slider = spinner.  Yah this site has helped me a lot already.  Been through most of it twice already, I have to do something while at work, right?  Another question that i forgot to ask is about front ends.  I know that this is a personal opinion type thing, but thought maybe you guys could point me in the right direction.  I would like to be able to use my joysticks to make my game selections if possible and get as far a way from a "Windows" look as possible, but i think i still want to use windows, but im willing to change  


Thanks.

[Tiger-Heli]

Oops.  Slider = spinner.  Yah this site has helped me a lot already.  Been through most of it twice already, I have to do something while at work, right?  Another question that i forgot to ask is about front ends.  I know that this is a personal opinion type thing, but thought maybe you guys could point me in the right direction.  I would like to be able to use my joysticks to make my game selections if possible and get as far a way from a "Windows" look as possible, but i think i still want to use windows, but im willing to change  


Thanks.

Personally, I really like EmuLoader, but it's very much a "Windows" look.  If you want to avoid that, I have heard good things about Emulaxian's 3D Arcade http://3darcade.mameworld.net/ or Lazarus http://www.oscarcontrols.com/lazarus/

[lordsub]

Thanks for the info.  I just stumbled across  Emulaxian a few hours ago, and cant believe how cool that thing is.  Im pretty sure that is the one i am going to use.  Ill check out Oscars though.  Thanks