Newbie - Help wanted before I spend

[fazz]

Hi, I have already checked out the FAQs and tutorials and have covered some but not all of my queries.  I aologise if my questions are answered elsewhere.

I am intending to buy a working Jamma cabinet and Install a PC running mame, while i have a 21 inch monitor i could use i would prefer to use the original cabinet monitor.  My understanding is that all i need is a JPAC, and a ArcadeVGA card and thats about it.  I would also like to keep the cabinet working for propper jamma boards.  Is this all i need to get started ?  Also it appears i need to be careful about the monitor housing and the cabinet regarding earthing ?  As my seven year old is going to use this i need it to be safe so what do i need to check.  I am basically after an upright cabinet to play mame and would like to know if i have got my facts right so far and is this is indeed the best way of doing things for a novice with modest PC and little electrical skills.  Also most sites appear to be US or Australian based are there any helpful UK sites out there.

[eggedd2k]

you're right - all you need is a jpac and arcadeVGA card - that's the exact same setup I have and you'd be up and running within minutes. i didnt have any concerns or problems with regards to your monitor queries.

[eggedd2k]

btw - ebay is your best bet for buying a cab.

plenty of really helpful and friendly people on here are always willing to help with all arcade stuff

[fazz]

thanks for that.  I won my cab on ebay, ordered the vga card and jpac etc.

Im now confused as to which verdion of mame to use, ive used mame32 before but from what i read in an arcade cabinet i should be using a dos version of mame and a frontend. This sounds a bit complicated, what do you recomend for a newbie, will mame 32 work or is is not compatible with the arcade monitor.

[eggedd2k]

nah frontends imo are a waste of time - just use mame32 (latest version) - you can run everything from that, plus you can use the controls on your cabinet to do run games etc.  i tried a load of frontends on my cab but they were all rubbish compared to mame32.

[Level42]

Hey Fazz, welcome aboard. I am just a little ahead of you, so I recognize the "phase" you're in
I also bought a Jamma cab. It's UK built (Playscene Special).
Yes the J-Pac is a must have, and if you can afford the cash, get the ArcadeVGA. I don't have it (yet) and it's a bit of a pain to set-up a regular VGA card using DOS. I'm going to give it one more try with a TNT2 card, if that won't work properly, I'll buy an ArcadeVGA.

You should be glad with all the US-based sites, I'm from Holland and I know only a handful of people doing the same thing here, and know exactly one Dutch site. Not a problem for me, my English is good enough to manage And indeed, plenty of great people on this board willing to help...

One important thing: double-double check that you put the J-Pac the right way onto the Jamma connector. Mine was already prepared for a J-Pac, in that the guy who sold it removed the +12V wires from the connector. (As advised bij Ultimarc). But you indicate you stilll want to be able to play "real" jamma-pcb's, then you cannot remove the +12V.
My jamma connector ad a hand-written sticker on one side saying "component side" and this is indeed still true for the J-pac

I don't agree with eggedd2k that all frontends are a waste of time. WHen you need to use DOS (old PC !) then you need front-ends and yes you need quite some configuring.

There are some pre-configured install discs available on sites. I've tried three with various results, none of them work exactly like I want to, but they do give you a good start.

But with the ArcadeVGA, you can run windows and Mame32 but you always will need a normal keyboard to use Mame32, and I don't think you want that on a original Jamma cab. Look here for some more info:
http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainst.html

[ultramagnus]

strange, i thought all dutch people spoke english as well as dutch

[Level42]

Yup, most do, but not all of them, and in different levels. Not everyone dares to actualy write stuff....

[CheffoJeffo]

Im now confused as to which verdion of mame to use, ive used mame32 before but from what i read in an arcade cabinet i should be using a dos version of mame and a frontend. This sounds a bit complicated, what do you recomend for a newbie, will mame 32 work or is is not compatible with the arcade monitor.

On my first [EDIT: and subsequent] emulation cabinet with an arcade monitor, I used MAMEWah over MAME32. I never seemed to get the resolutions for the various games set properly for my monitor (either got vertical roll or distortion, etc.).

So, whenever I load a game using MAMEWah and the resolutions are out of whack, I exit and fireup MAME32. Using the properties for that game, I fine-tune to get the best results. Then, when I go back into MAMEWah, it comes up beautifully.

I found this an easy way to get the best of both worlds -- the sharpness of a great frontend with the configuration ease and familiarity of MAME32.

Cheers.

[Level42]

Hah ! Now THAT's a brilliant idea ! But will only work with a PC monitor or ArcadeVGA...

[CheffoJeffo]

Hah ! Now THAT's a brilliant idea ! But will only work with a PC monitor or ArcadeVGA...

You can run regular Windows at 640x480 on an arcade monitor with ArcadeVGA -- it just isn't pretty.

Cheers.

[divemaster127]

What i do is use mame32 with ultrastyle, no probs at all this frontend is made for mame32 & you never need the keyboard & its a snap to setup
thanks
divemaster

[fazz]

Thanks guys - one final stupid question before i make a start.  Mame32 is already on my machine which has an ati radeon card in it, i use mame on my standard monitor.  When i insert the arcadevga and hook this machine up to the cabinet are there any settings in mame 32 i will have to change so that the games run full screen rather than with borders as per windows with standard monitor. 

Sorry if this is a dumb question but i figure its better to get as much right first time as i dont want to have to mess about too much once the pc is in the cab

[Level42]

There are no dumb questions (well not many), but you could investigate yourself a little bit. Before I get a product I try to find as much info on it (on the internet) as possible. For you the golden place would be www.ultimarc.com. Has lots of info.
Read the Information,FAQ's, instructions, monitor FAQ (all under the ArcadeVHA header) and before you know it, you're an expert

There, you will read f.i. that you will need to remove the old ATI drivers COMPLETELY, before installing the arcadeVGA.

(I don't even own an ArcadeVGA (yet) and still know