Is it a good idea to share my PC with my arcade?

[tkuper05]

Here's the dillio.  I built my own arcade and had it running off a modded xbox.  Then the xbox crapped out  .  I'm kinda strapped for cash and was wondering if this would be a solution.  I have a 2.6 GHz machine with 1 gig of ram and a good graphics card in it.  What if i buy an I-PAC and a VGA to TV converter to convert it over to a "PC based" arcade. In the end my PC would be used for daily computing but then share its inputs and outputs with the arcade.  Good or bad idea?

[leapinlew]

What interface was the xbox using to connect to your controls?

What types of games do you play on it?


Given the small amount of information you've given I would vote that it is a bad idea-

Before you spent the money on a vga to tv converter and ipac, I would purchase a junker PC on craigslist and use it instead.

Does this solution work for you? Beats me, we don't have a lot of information to work with.

[tkuper05]

I found and soldered the controls on 2 xbox gamepads to the various arcade buttons and joysticks so no interface was used.  It got it to play games all the way up to KI2 running choppy.  It could play CP1, CP2, MK1, MK2, and so on and so on.  What other info would be helpful?

[brained]

you can get a pc for mame under 100 bucks... forget the vga to tv, it's expensive get a tv out vid card....

[tkuper05]

Can that PC run MK2 and other system entensive games?

[brained]

I run mk2 on a 1ghz celeron and it runs gr8

[deadkenndys1105]

Its would be ok if you use a switcher with to monators.  I might be doing that soon Because my MAME pc wont play some games.  I have my contol pannel for fighters and it would play the most basic one smoothly.

[Dizzle]

I share my PC with my arcade cabinet... never got around to buying a dedicated machine for the arcade cab and I'm still not in any rush to do so.  It works great for me.  Depending on what video card you have, it may have more than one output which would eliminate the need for a monitor switcher.  I did need to buy a couple of USB extension cords, but it was worth it.

I even find myself surfing the web on my cab every once in a while.

[pmc]

If you buy a junker PC you'd still need to buy an S-Video card and IPAC and then you have to rewire the control panel. I'd do the math to see if replacing the Xbox is cheaper.

Or consider a Dreamcast. You'll have to hack the controls into the existing Control Panel but it'd otherwise be a very cheap alternative.

Good luck. Let us know what you end up doing.

-pmc

[Mark70]

I share my PC with my arcade cabinet... never got around to buying a dedicated machine for the arcade cab and I'm still not in any rush to do so.  It works great for me.  Depending on what video card you have, it may have more than one output which would eliminate the need for a monitor switcher.  I did need to buy a couple of USB extension cords, but it was worth it.

I even find myself surfing the web on my cab every once in a while.

Interesting topic.  I too have one PC for home and for my cabinet.  My cabinet is in the basement.  My primary PC is upstairs in the spare bedroom.  In order to play I have to move my case downstairs, crawl inside the lower part of my cabinet and connect the PC.  I had wondered if there was a good way to network the controls and video output.

My house is pre-wired with Cat-5 so setting up a network is no problem, really just the cost is the obstacle.

I'd be interested in any information people have on this sort of "Media Center" PC.  It seems to be an emerging idea with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center edition.  Is this just another way to market a home network, or is it a way to use one PC to send media throughout your house?  I'm interested because I'm considering my arcade cabinet part of a "Media Center".  Espicially using the GameEx front end, the jukebox feature taps right into play lists etc in media player.

Afterall, it is called media CENTER.  Which implies one central source for all media.  I picture it like the office where the PC is, is the media center and the brain/storage facilty for the media system, and TV, kitchen, entertainment room, arcade cabinet should just be the interface locations.

Hope this is on topic.  I don't mean to derail the thread.  I hope I'm expanding it.