Mame Showcase Project (weighs in at 700lbs)

[nheuer]

Hello All

I have owned many arcade machines over the years and I always find myself selling one game to get another. So I decided to dive into the wonderfull world of Mame. After about 2 years of research I have finally bought my cabinet to do the conversion.

http://www.nickandjenni.com/Mame.htm

What you are looking at is a Dynamo Showcase cabinet complete with 39" dual resolution Monitor will support either CGA or EGA (very nice, how much) This used to be a Golden Tee 2005 and it included the complete control panel with trackball, a 2 player Jamma Harness and complete Power supply. Let me tell you this thing looks like it just rolled of the showroom floor, it is in prestine condition (except for the peice of used chewing gum under the control panel). The best thing about this is that it only cost me $200.00 and my back that I trew out moving it downstairs.

My plans are to use this as a mame but I would also like to put pcbs in it from time to time. So I do not want to cut any wires on the harnes and I also do not want to remove the monitor (after all it is 39" freaking huge)

Here are my thoughts..........

JPAC and Optipac.

The major concern is the monitor, from my reasearch I can tell that some monitors do not run well on mame and after a while you can ruin them if not set up right. If any one can point me in the right direction or tell me if I am all ready heading the right way.

Thanks in advance for any help, I also plan on posting pics as I contine through my conversion.

Thanks

Nick

[ChadTower]

Protect your back, man.  Few injuries are worse and harder to recover from.  Been there.

[bfauska]

Sounds like a cool project and a great price (except that whole back thing.)  Sorry I don't have any useful monitor advice, hopefully somebody will chime in, maybe ask in the monitor forum.  Keep us posted on the progress and be sure to share pics of the finished product.

[nheuer]

Thanks

I have created the amplifier today for the sound. I used a set of computer speakers and took the guts out, rewired it with better wires and it is all ready to be mounted in the cab. I plan on using the existing speakers because they sound great.

Pictures to come as soon as I mount it.

As far as the monitor I spoke with Andy at Ultimarc and I am all squared away with the Jpac, Arcade VGA Card and the Optipac.

I have read alot about Mamawah and it seems to be the frontend that everyone talks about. Am I right in saying that it is the best one to use on a standard resolution monitor?

Keep the suggestions coming and I will keep the pictures coming.

Thanks

Nick

[bfauska]

Once again I chime in with no useful monitor info... BUT I can say that I have played around with MameWah and intend to use it on my cabinet when I get it going.  It is a fairly steep learning curve, but it's got plenty of power and the steep curve is just what's required when learning something very versatile.

[theCoder]

I used Mamewah on my first cab and Mala on my second.  I prefer Mala for its functionality and much easier set-up.  Just my 2 cents.