Just got 2 Free Cabs! Questions Galore - Jamma, Credits, Monitor etc

[Fuzzguitar]

Hi folks,

It's been a while since I've posted here.

I completed my first Mame cab conversion/restoration a while back, though never got around to making it a project announcement (gotta get some completed pics!). It took a long time, cost a lot of money, I had a lot of trial and error, did most of it on my own. Along the way I had some great advice from people here as well, both on the boards and via emails.

After all this I've been so incredibly lucky to have just now accquired two free cabinets! I haven't had a chance to inspect them properly yet but I have these pics my brother emailed me and would like to throw them up for your opinons on what to do please.



The red cabinet is fully working beside a niggly coin mech and inside is neo-geo hardware. It also could use some degaussing but otherwise it's great;



The black cabinet makes an ultra loud constant squealing noise through the speaker when it's switched on but the monitor looks to have a healthy glow despite having no picture. Apparently it's a Mortal Kombat board inside (it has the book to match) and is most likely Jamma I think;



My first cabinet was a gutted pc job so forgive me if I'm wrong as I've had little experience with arcade boards. I've also not done any research yet - I'm too excited for that just yet!

I only want to keep one cabinet, so my instincts are to fix the black cab and sell it as is if possible and convert the red one to Mame.

It seems a shame to pull apart such a great neo-geo cab but I think there's enough room to get a pc in there and pretty much leave it intact. The main reason I want this machine is the big monitor, spacious control panel ( I want to re-do it to have a trackball and spinner) and marquee area which my first cabinet does not have.

So, what would you guys do?

What do I need - AVGA? JPAC, IPAC etc

I'm rusty on all this!

[Fuzzguitar]

About the Red Neo-Geo cab...

Can't I just basically disconnect all the control panel wires and run them into an IPAC, then disconnect the monitor wiring and run it into the Arcade VGA?

That way the neo-geo hardware could still stay in place, albeit laying dormant, if there's enough room for the pc?

Then if needed in the future, it could easily be hooked up again as a regular arcade machine?

[Timoe]

You got it.

[CheffoJeffo]

About the Red Neo-Geo cab...

Can't I just basically disconnect all the control panel wires and run them into an IPAC, then disconnect the monitor wiring and run it into the Arcade VGA?

That way the neo-geo hardware could still stay in place, albeit laying dormant, if there's enough room for the pc?

Then if needed in the future, it could easily be hooked up again as a regular arcade machine?

Your NeoGeo is bloody close to JAMMA, might be better to go JPac ... less things to dis/reconnect.

http://www.hardmvs.com/html/MVSfaq.htm

Cheers.

[paigeoliver]

Neo Geo wiring is compatible with J-Pac, none of the differences between the MVS standard and the JAMMA standard touch on any of the pins the JPAC uses.

Is that a one slot machine? If so then it is ALREADY normal JAMMA.

As for diagnosing the other cabinet, that is easy, The Neo Geo cabinet works, therefore use it to test the board, power supply and monitor out of the other cabinet.

[Fuzzguitar]

Hey thanks people!

1 slot indeed.

I'd actually just finished some googling and found the same info about 1 slot neo-geo boards matching up to Jamma from a number of sites, which lead me to start thinking about a J-PAC too.

But it's nice to have some confirmation from others before I place orders. Great to see Paige is still around and helpful as ever - thanks again mate for your testing idea. I will definately do that and get back to you though it will be a while as the red cab is my focus for now.

Today I got to see the cabs quickly and in the red one found a full Leisure & Allied manual (I'm in Australia) which tells me - the cab is circa 1992 and it's model is a 25" 4-Player Lowboy.

It also has a Capcom Streetfighter II Hyper Fighting manual so I'm guessing the CP was converted from 4P 3 buttons each (NBA Jam?) shown on the manual's cover - to 2P 6 buttons each at some stage and left that way for the current game which only needs 2P 3 buttons each.

Wouldn't this pretty much have to make it Jamma? As SF II isn't on Neo Geo from memory nor is NBA JAM or any other 4P games that spring to mind...but I am rusty on this stuff like I mentioned.

The J-PAC sounds sweet, almost too easy epecially since it now has a video amp on board. So it looks like I'll go for one of those in tandem with an Arcade VGA.

I will definately be adding a trackball.... am I right in assuming I don't need an OPTI-PAC for that (just use a USB trackball connection) unless I'm adding a spinner as well?

[Adeptus]

Where do you get 2 free cabs in Australia???
I'm turning green with jealousy here...   

[Fuzzguitar]

I'm in Sydney and my dad's work had them in storage, so they were happy to reclaim the space when he offered to get rid of them...I still can't believe my luck after spending so much on my first cab. I think I want to always own a van in case this opportunity arises again!

BTW Paige, today I swapped the Mortal Kombat board into the Red cabinet (which is 100% Jamma I know now) and it worked like a dream - picture, sound, all great.

Perhaps the black cabinet has some issues with the power supply or maybe (less likely?) the monitor? I did read on various forums about MK boards making a loud squealing noise when the -5V isn't connected but from what I could tell from the power supply and Jamma connectors this wasn't the case...so I'm open to any ideas there.

About the Red Jamma cab - it has 2P 6 buttons as you can see in the pic but only the top 3 buttons were functional in MK.

I understand the Jamma standard is designed this way but I just have to have a SF setup happening.

How hard a job is it to add the other 3 (buttons 4,5,6) to each player?

How does this affect the J-PAC?

I would definately need to get this sorted right away before I'm able to order the J-PAC.

[Fuzzguitar]

OK...kinda sorted this one myself.

Took a look at the J-PAC more closely and it does allow for the connection of the extra buttons which is great.

I think the pics on the Ultimarc site confused me late last night because of the way the are J-PAC switches are labelled, plus the diagram/pic of how to add extra buttons features an I-PAC!

I also see now that though the mono sound would be fine via the J-PAC I'd probably just wire powered stereo from my sound card for extra effect.

This thread is becoming like typing my thoughts out loud I realise but keep the advice coming it's helping!

Also, I neglected to mention this red cab has an electronic coin mech and an digital display for credits above the monitor...I'll head back and get more details. Would it be at all possible to keep this thing working on a mame cab?

[Nipedley]

if you have a DMM check the power supply's voltage output - if -5v is missing or wrong then bam, there's your problem

[Fuzzguitar]

Yeah, I gotta get a multimeter!

Here's a some better pics of the credit sytem I mentioned, from the inside of the cab:



Here's what it looks like on the outside if the cab:



Maybe when everything is hooked via the J-PAC it'll still work?

What do you think? Actually I gotta go back and see if it worked on Sidekicks, for some reason I only remember it lighting up in MK now.

...for those wondering, I circled the corner areas of the monitor because it seems to have a slight black flicker in those spots. Nothing too nasty, and better suited to the monitor forum but hey I'm here now.

Anyone know what that may be caused by? It's the same on both the Sidekicks and MK board.

Thanks in advance.

[Fuzzguitar]

Okay, the mech is by NRI model G-13.

The PCB is "UNIVERSAL CREDIT BOARD Mk.4 p/n 160-162 batch 9206"

If that helps anyone tell me I'll be glad but it's a longshot and not too important.

When I get all the J-PAC etc I'll fire it up and just try it.

I know the monitor issue should go in that forum but does anyone have ideas on that whilst we're here?