OK, I am still reading the book. Just started the chapter on the electronics & wiring up the joysticks, etc. However, I did browse through the index to look for some of this stuff... If what I mention in here is already covered and I just haven't gotten there yet, please excuse me (I apologize in advance) and dont flame me :-)
1) I am considering doing the following:
Getting a working arcade cab.
Using some sort of j-pac/multi-jamma combo so that I can switch back & forth between PC Mame and running the actual Jamma boards.
I see that the Multi-jamma is mentioned once in the book. Basically a link. I would like a section in the next rev on a "Hybrid" Jamma-PC cab (including considerations such as PC video resolution when running into a j-pac & out to an arcade monitor - this might already be in the book, but I haven't gotten that far yet)!!!
2) Page 86, re: optical rotary joysticks. It says "if you are a fan of a game that uses one of these joysticks...." A couple of examples would be nice, rather than me having to figure it out by reasearch & posting.
3) Not only plans, but discussion in the book about constructing bartop & cocktail table cabs. No need to go into the nitty gritty of how to mount the support blocks or other stuff that is redundant after the regular cab construction, but something on monitor mounting, control placements, etc would be cool.
4) For finishing the cab, paint is the only method discussed. A brief discussion of the pros & cons & any special techniques for finishing the cab with laminate (like in countertops), wallpaper, or contact paper.
5) As far as the cab construction, a couple of things:
a) cooling - fans over the monitors, around the PC, etc.
b) different methods for mounting the PC inside. Direct mounting the MB, PC case frame (pc case with side & top & front removed for max airflow & easy finger access for maintenance)
c) System requirements in terms of general CPU power & Ram. 300MHz PII - not enough power? enough for mame but not SNES emus? etc.
d) sys requirements & options regarding mini & micro-atx MBs
6) It would be cool to have a section on creating a portable all in one solution. IOW a larger control box that has a mini-itx PC mounted inside so that I can take it anywhere, boot it up, and just connect to any old VGA monitor and play my MAME games. Yes, I know that with all of the info in the book it should be pretty simple to construct this, but mini-itx mounting, cooling, etc. considerations & tips would be great.
I'm sure I'll think of more as I go through the book more.
So far, this book is awesome. I don't know squat about most of this stuff, but the book is definitely educating me and giving me the confidence to think that I can do it myself! It definitely removes most of the "intimidation factor"! I love it.
Right now I think I am going to buy a full-sized cab and create a hybrid jamma/PC-mame cab, and then I am going to build from scratch a bartop MAME/XBOX arcade machine with swappable controls. It all seems manageable at this point thanks to the book.
THanks,
Brain21