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Volume / Shutdown solution
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exiges:
I've lurked here for a while, looking for a solution to the age old problem of trying to control the MAME PC inside the cabinet without a keyboard.. I think I've sussed it, though you guys may have opinions about the mappings.

I downloaded an app. called HotKeyControl (the current version is shareware, but if you hunt around you can find the old freeware version).

I've mapped CTRL-ALT-SHIFT (ie. 3 of player 1's buttons) and D / G  (player 2 joystick left right) to control the system volume ( you can say how fast/slow the volume changes), and I've mapped  CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-2  to send the machine into hibernation.

I figured the CTRL-ALT-SHIFT button combination wasn't a likely simultaneous keypress, as well as player 2 joystick being moved.

I went into my PC's BIOS and told it that "Any key can wake from hibernation/standby"..  so now, all I need to do to switch the cabinet back on is to press any button.

I've wired up a 12v relay (just a couple of quid from Maplins)  so that when the PC springs to life, one of the spare 12v disk drive cables trips the relay and mains power is then fed to the marquee flourescent strip and to the TV.

So the whole cabinet comes alive at the touch of a button, and goes to sleep without needing to open the cabinet, and no need to wire up a volume knob :)

chemame:
My only comment on that is that my solution was more physical. I just added a pushbutton on the underside of my control panel, tucked away all nice nice, and wired it physically to my PWR pins on the motherboard. This way, I can shutdown, power on, hard power off, whatever. Nice in stormy weather, and living in Indiana it sees a lot of use this time of year.  :angry:

Side note: the other day, in Home Depot, the whole stupid cash register locked up. The goofballs reached around on the other side of the cabinet, found some button, held it in for a few secs, and the register went black. Then they pushed it again, and it booted up, complete with W2K startup and splash screens. Bucnha amateurs. Made me laugh.

Chemame
exiges:
I think if I was more confident with my wiring skills I would have tried to put a power button on the outside, but "stick with what you know" was the mantra, which in my case, is very little  :laugh2:

Are there any "walkthroughs" out there on how to do it ?

danny_galaga:

i dont get it? why wouldnt you have the confidence to wire up a simple switch? didnt you build the cab already?
exiges:
No, I bought it from Ebay as a pre-built Mame cabinet.

I've just changed the PC, repainted it and changed the buttons/microswitches so far.

Is using ALT-CTRL-SHIFT-2 such a bad solution ?  No wiring needed ! hehe
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