mame control questions...

[b8zs]

Hi, I'm new to this whole mame thing and have a couple of questions.

Firstly, im looking to build a coin operated computer (for fun in my living room), using a roll down coin acceptor plus linux and advancedmame. So far the plan is to buy an IPAC-2 and hook the microswitch on the acceptor to the coin wire on the ipac. Now here comes the questions. Whats the easiest/cheapest way to hook some sort of controller up to my ipac? I've read some controller hack guides, but most of them involve making a cabinet style control board, which are too big for my project. Is there a way I can just modify one of my old NES joysticks (like these http://cgi.ebay.com/NES-Nintendo-ADVANTAGE-JOYSTICK-CONTROLLER-W-TURBO_W0QQitemZ8235778668QQcategoryZ41047QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem ) and somehow hook it directly up to my ipac? I'm also a complete idiot when it comes to soldering and am also nearly broke ( after buying the ipac and coin acceptor)


[edit]

I'm now thinking about getting a ps/2 joystick and plugging it into the keyboard bypass port on the IPAC, and having the coin acceptor being the only thing wired to the ipac. Would this work?

[RayB]

WOW, all that money just for one input.

Maybe you could hack a mouse and re-map the coin input to the mouse buttons.

Why make the PC coin operated in this case?

[MYX]

If you are new to the whole thing, I would suggest you force yourself to slow down (only a little) and take some time to do some reading. Hey even take $30 and buy Saint's book(Full of good ideas). There is much to think about before you make a final decision on what you will finally want. There are several soldering how to's on these pages.