Party-Box...Countertop cab w/ laptop & flat screen

[theCoder]

I like World Class Bowling.  The game play and graphics are much better on Gutterball however.  I also like Shuffleshot, but it always had a sound "stutter" on my last cab.  Hopefully it will work out on this new machine.

Andy at UltiMarc is sending me a new Ipac.  The one I've got is defective.  It should get here in the next few days.  I hate debugging electrical problems !!!

In the mean time, I'm playing with a custom skin for Mala as well as figuring out how to configure it for both Mame and Windows games.  As pretty as GameCreatures images are (that's an understatement), the colors don't work for my cab plus I need more playtime with Photoshop.

[DigDreams]

I like World Class Bowling.  The game play and graphics are much better on Gutterball however.  I also like Shuffleshot, but it always had a sound "stutter" on my last cab.  Hopefully it will work out on this new machine.

I tried gutterball, and the graphics are great, but I don't like rolling the ball by pushing a button.  I like the way World Class Bowling uses the trackball and picks up on the speed & spin when you roll the ball.  Does the downloadable version of gutterball work like that, or is it "click" like the web version?

- DigDreams

[theCoder]

I tried gutterball, and the graphics are great, but I don't like rolling the ball by pushing a button.  I like the way World Class Bowling uses the trackball and picks up on the speed & spin when you roll the ball.  Does the downloadable version of gutterball work like that, or is it "click" like the web version?

You also get the speed and spin with Gutterball.  You hold down a button, draw back the trackball, then roll forward while letting go of the button.  The direction and speed the ball goes is based on the direction and speed of the trackball when the button is released.  While the ball is rolling you can affect the direction somewhat with the trackball.  It models inertia well, making it challenging to control.  It is always a hit when we have parties.

[theCoder]

I'm thinking of going with Mala for the front end menu.  I like the cool features you get for the menu lists.  Below is the first draft of my background image configured in Mala.  Comments?

[gamecreature]

I'd probably start with a bolder font - this one's getting lost. Have you browsed 1001fonts.com? Using the screenshot as an anchor is a good idea, but it needs a frame, preferably something that contrasts with the blue that dominates the rest of the menu. Feel free to hit me with any questions you have.

[theCoder]

I'd probably start with a bolder font - this ones getting lost. Have you browsed 1001fonts.com? Using the screenshot as an anchor is a good idea, but it needs a frame, preferably something that contrasts with the blue that dominates the rest of the menu. Feel free to hit me with any questions you have.

Thanks for the input, and the link to 1001fonts.com.  I found a light hearted font called GeekAbyte.  Attached is my latest rev. using it.

I'm struggling with something and could use some input.  There are no hard straight lines anywhere in my artwork, or cab for that matter.  In the meantime the snap images are square and/or rectangular.  To complicate matters, they vary in dimension and background color.  I'm not planning on having hundreds of menu items and could probably edit each image.  Perhaps putting in a rounded corner fade to transparent mask.

Most of the images have black backgrounds.  I'd love for the image to blend into the container, and have the container transition from black to blue or yellow.

Another option would be for the image to somehow lock to a fixed dimension with the image in a recessed pocket.  It would be nice if Mala could stretch the image to fill the box.  Again, I could edit and re-size them to a common dimension.

Any recommendations on dealing with a container for the snap images would be appreciated.

[leapinlew]

It's looking good! Gamecreature is much more suited to helping with the artwork department.

Don't forget to edit your gamelist to clean up your gamenames!

[gamecreature]

You could go with a transparent mask that overlays the snapshot - that's what I did with the "Blue" layout to make the images look rounded. It's not perfect, but overall it seems to work. Don't be afraid to go big and bold!

[theCoder]

You could go with a transparent mask that overlays the snapshot

Sounds like a Mala thing.  How is that done?

Where do you go for Mala help in English?

[gamecreature]

You could go with a transparent mask that overlays the snapshot

Sounds like a Mala thing.  How is that done?

If you haven't done so already, download the Blue layout and see how I've prepared the art. If I recall correctly, the mask is called "bluesnap.gif". Go to the pulldown menu where the elements are and select one of the custom boxes (preferably one you haven't used yet). Click on it, tell it what art you want to use and make sure the transparent box is checked. The custom window automatically sizes to the size of the art.

Where do you go for Mala help in English?

I go to the software forum on this board. I seem to recall a recent thread there with a link to view the MaLa forum pages in English.

[theCoder]

If you haven't done so already, download the Blue layout and see how I've prepared the art. If I recall correctly, the mask is called "bluesnap.gif". Go to the pulldown menu where the elements are and select one of the custom boxes (preferably one you haven't used yet). Click on it, tell it what art you want to use and make sure the transparent box is checked. The custom window automatically sizes to the size of the art.

Thanks.  That helped a lot.  I put a black box on the original background image, a couple of pixels bigger than the transparent pocket overlay image.  I had a problem with the overlay image and the transparency.  I filled in a rounded shape with hot pink, and drew in a couple of pixels in the corners with the same color.  Somehow the dithering of Photoshop made about 6 other shades of pink that did not make it as transparent.  This put a weird dark pink halo around the images.  I had to go in find all of these pixels (magic wand tool) and change them to the transparent color.  The snap images with a black background now fad in perfectly.  The others have a black band on one or more sides.  It's not perfect, but much better than what I had before.

Thanks again GameCreature.

[gamecreature]

I agree, it's much better. The great thing about skins is that they're not permanent and changing them is a lot easier than changing the rest of the art on your cabinet. I had completely forgotten to warn you about paint tool's tendency to want to make things "smooth." When using freehand paint, the pencil tool (not the brush) will insure that all of your pixels are solid. When making shapes, I think I made a mask on the channels layer and played with the contrast until all of the greys were gone.

[richms]

The antenna you have made wont work very well at all. it needs to be tuned for 2.4Ghz, a long bit of wire will work worse then one just the right length

You can pop the modem mini-pci out of the n600s and put a wireless card in there, you will still have to get a pigtail for it to a normal connector and an antenna, preferably near the top of the unit. Otherwise get a cheap USB stick and a usb extension cable, the key is to get ip up away from the laptop itself

[Ninten-doh]

Coder,
What about making the background behind the featured game black or something so that it "pops" a little bit more?  See my very crude mockup below.  I think this ties the game name and screen shot together a little better.  My 2 cents for what it's worth.   

[theCoder]

Apparently the package from Unimarc with my replacement Ipac is on my doorstep at home.  I know what I'm doing tonight.

The antenna you have made wont work very well at all.

Boy you got that right.  I pretty much figured I'd be plugging in to the copper until I could come up with something else.  Unfortunately my PCI slots are at the very top of the cab and are blocked by the top rib/skin of the cab.  I could possibly go USB, but I wouldn't want it to be a permanent thing.  I've only got 2 USB ports to play with. I guess I could put in a small hub.  Do you have a particular wireless lan USB brand/model you'd recommend? 

Coder,  What about making the background behind the featured game black or something so that it "pops" a little bit more? 

Great input.  I'll toy with it and post another.

[richms]

The antenna you have made wont work very well at all.

Boy you got that right.  I pretty much figured I'd be plugging in to the copper until I could come up with something else.  Unfortunately my PCI slots are at the very top of the cab and are blocked by the top rib/skin of the cab.  I could possibly go USB, but I wouldn't want it to be a permanent thing.  I've only got 2 USB ports to play with. I guess I could put in a small hub.  Do you have a particular wireless lan USB brand/model you'd recommend? 

Read here - http://www.motherboardpoint.com/t38829-w200-multiport-modification.html - will tell you how to use the mulitbay connector as USB for any old wireless stick to free up the 2 real ports.

For an antenna try just having a 1.25 inch piece of straight wire from the pad. Orient it vertically since thats how accesspoints are. That should be better then a random length of wire.

You could try getting some 50 ohm coax (think BNC networking cable) and soldering that to the antenna point on the wireless module board, taking it to the top of the case and having 1.25 inches of the centre core exposed (can have the insulation on it still, just no shield) - this will get it up above the noisy screen etc, RG58 cable is really lossy at 2.4Ghz so it may end up just as bad, but doesnt hurt to try if you have some old cables around the place.

Ive had good luck with zyxel branded USB sticks, keep in mind there are only a few chips for it, and most manufacturers just follow the referecnce design from atheros or whoever make the chip. Just avoid ones that require you to install megs and megs of crap just to get it to work (cough linksys cough) because you just have to remove all that crap again anyway

edit - messed up the quoting

[theCoder]

The new Ipac works great.  Thanks Andy for a quick resolution.  I made the mistake of allowing my daughter play it while I was in the middle of tuning the Mame games.  I can't get 10 minutes on it now.  It's a pain, but it makes me proud.

richms - Thanks for the info.  I'll try the coax with 1.25" lead trick.  If that doesn't work I'm very interested in the USB hack you referenced.  Thanks.

[MameMaster!]

absolutely fantastic work!

.....really sweet set up you've got there!!!

[theCoder]

absolutely fantastic work!

.....really sweet set up you've got there!!!

Thanks.  We've got a party coming up and I know it is going to get a lot of use.  I'm a little worried about how to handle the "could you make me one?" requests that are sure to come. 

And then there are the "wow, you could make these and sell them".  Yea, sure, if I didn't mind working for $1.25 per hour.  I think I'd go broke.  I'll keep my day job.

Yesterday I did some tuning of the computer to reduce the appearance of Windows and to speed things up.  The write-up at: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=53467.0  really got me going. 

With no optimization it took 71 seconds, from power on to menu ready.  After doing most of recommendation in the thread, it is down to 52 seconds, plus only a few glimmers of windows during the boot.  I'd like to get it down to 30 seconds or less.  Most of the improvement came from turning off 19 services.

[theCoder]

Most of the improvement came from turning off 19 services.

I screwed something up in the course of turning off services.  I'm now fighting a problem with Mala dealing with both .bat files and .lnk files (discussion on the software forum).  I have no idea which services I turned off, so I'm doing some research and trial and error to get it running.

In the mean time, using Bootvis, I've carved another 10 seconds off the boot cycle.  It did not work initially.  It needs to call defrag, and defrag needs dcom and com+ services.  I had shut these off in my quest for more optimization.  Turning these back on, Bootvis worked.  I'm now down to 42 seconds from power up to working menu. 

[theCoder]

PartyBox Project - FINISHED



Well, after approximately 2

[gamecreature]

Looks terrific. You're going to have a lot of fun with it. I know it's an anathema to most pinball purists, but will you be playing any of my 3D Ultra Pinball games on your machine? Thrillride was always a personal favorite.

[NightGod]

Anyone else twitchy at the thought of a wooden arcade box sitting on top of a stove with front-mounted controls and the potential for small children running around?

Looks awesome, for the record-I had never really had any interest in a countertop cab, but seeing something this nice has at least planted the seed of interest.

[javeryh]

This is simply an amazing accomplishment.  It came out so nice and you used some serious ninja hacking skills to put it together.  The fact that I could never build one of these makes it that much cooler to me.

 

[GadgetGeek]

Now you need to make a matching jukebox :-)

I can see it now, during the party, you have a great game going and someone tells you "You're on fire"...and you are.  I'm thinking that once you actually use it in a party setting, it won't last in that location for long.  You are clogging up too much of the kitchen and the women-folk can't wait on you like they are supposed to!

BTW:  Amazing work on this cab.  Time and money well spent.  And thank you for doing a very good job documenting the entire process.

[Crafty]

Crowd applauds

Then shouts encore encore....

Cant wait to see the xbox based driving cabinet in the future.....

[theCoder]

Thanks for the compliments guys.  It's been a blast.

will you be playing any of my 3D Ultra Pinball games on your machine? Thrillride was always a personal favorite.

I've got the CD somewhere, but it is not on my short list of pinball games.  I'll dig it up and take a second look.

Anyone else twitchy at the thought of a wooden arcade box sitting on top of a stove with front-mounted controls and the potential for small children running around?

My wife said the same thing.  It was more like, "You've got to be crazy if you think...."  Actually, I've got a much better place to put it, on the edge of a counter on the other side of the kitchen, but I didn't want to clean up the clutter before taking the shot.

Now you need to make a matching jukebox :-)

I'd rather spend my effort (and money) on another cab.  I'm the only one in the family that is really into music (Classic Rock and the occasional bit of Metal).  I've got a very nice pair of Sennheiser headphones that let me rock out without disturbing the household.

Cant wait to see the xbox based driving cabinet in the future.....

I mentioned it to make sure you guys pressure me to get started on it.  Stay tuned.

Thanks again for all the compliments and recommendations along the way.

[gamecreature]

If you can't find it, I've got a link to the demo in the media section on my website. If you like Pokemon pinball and the like, you'll probably like this one as well.

[leapinlew]

Awesome work! Your very detail oriented! What I like most about the cab is it's form factor. It not only doesn't overwhelm the countertop, it looks like you could take it with you.

I can't remember reading if that was a magstik or not, if it is a magstik - whats your thoughts?

I would reconsider your plans and do a jukebox next. I actually need to build another jukebox. It turns out mine is so popular - it's staying in the family room. So... I need to make one for the gameroom. Just a thought! Either way I look forward to reading about your next project.

[NightGod]

How do you find it plays with it's lower weight? Any issues with the cab moving around alot, especially on a smooth surface like a counter-top?

[Knievel]

Wow, that's one sharp little unit...very professional end product alright.

Looks like LCD's are taking over this hobby.

[theCoder]

What I like most about the cab is it's form factor. It not only doesn't overwhelm the countertop, it looks like you could take it with you.

I wanted it small and light enough to be ported around to various parts of the house, as well as lent to friends when they have parties.  The CPU has a thin layer of foam rubber around it where it touches the retaining ribs.  It should travel well.

I can't remember reading if that was a magstik or not, if it is a magstik - whats your thoughts?

It's a 4/8 way magstik, top switchable with the magnetic centering mechanism.  So far so good.  The action is very light.

I would reconsider your plans and do a jukebox next. I actually need to build another jukebox.

This might be a good little project if I can track down another semi-dead laptop.  I wonder if there is jukebox software out there that could be driven by buttons only (no joystick or trackball)?  You got me thinking about a small, thin box, limited only by the size of the speakers.  Hum...

How do you find it plays with it's lower weight? Any issues with the cab moving around a lot, especially on a smooth surface like a counter-top?

  No problem so far.  I should have a much better idea in a few weeks when it gets christened at its first party.  Yea... PartyBox's first party !    I'll post some pictures.

  Wow, that's one sharp little unit...very professional end product alright.  Looks like LCD's are taking over this hobby.

Thanks for the compliment.  I seem to recall studying a black and blue cab with lots of lit buttons before beginning this project.  I probably won't use LCD's on all projects that I may do in the future, but hey, I had to do it at least once.  I think it works on this cab.

[leapinlew]

No doubt... I been looking for a junker tablet that I could use for the additional jukebox. But even old tablets sell for quite a bit, and touchscreens are still expensive.

[theCoder]

A tablet would work fantastic.  I've got one and it is really small (HP TC100), but my company owns it and they would probably frown upon me using it as a jukebox.  I think the limiting factor on size is still going to be the speakers.  That is of course, assuming you want a small "portable" unit.  I don't think my wife would go for a dedicated jukebox cabinet in the living room.  If I were to build one, it would want it to have the form factor of my PartyBox, maybe even smaller.  But if we wait, it probably won't be long before we can buy a MP3 boom box with a small LCD display from StuffMart for $59.00. 

What software are you running in your jukebox?

[theCoder]

I'm in the process of wrapping up this project.  I needed to pull the good stuff out of this forum and get the info into a webpage.  Yesterday a friend showed me a cool photo album he made on the web.  He used a freeware software program called jalbum.

I downloaded a copy last night and played around with it a little bit.  It took me a whole 2 hours to pull the text and images from this site and put together a pretty cool "site". 

Check it out at:  http://home.comcast.net/~larmead/partybox/

You can download jalbum for free at http://www.jalbum.net

Coming soon.... xbox based driving cab.

[gamecreature]

That's kind of cool. I think anything that automates the process is a good thing in my book. Though I think I really should continue my study of cascading style sheets.  Thanks for passing that on.

[leapinlew]

I'm currently building a bartop based off a laptop, and I wanted you to know I found the tips for hacking the power switch very useful.

I originally planned on using a BIOS setting that is a boot on power. This laptop doesn't have a setting like that and come to think of it - I don't know how useful that would be on a laptop.

Thanks for the details - they come in real handy.

[theCoder]

... I wanted you to know I found the tips for hacking the power switch very useful.... Thanks for the details - they come in real handy.

My pleasure.  It is nice to know my documentation efforts are occasionally more than just entertainment for the causal reader.  If you want to pay me back, take a picture or two of your hack and post it in your thread.

[leapinlew]

You got it. I'll be doing it soon...

I'm a little unsure of my work in this area, so I'm going to not even bother doing any computer work yet. I'm going to wait and make sure the computer still works.

cross fingers

[paulcola]

Just stumbled across this cabinet last night. This is one the sleekest things I've seen in a long time. I'm very inspired by the design and can't wait to start yet another cab myself! It takes a lot of planning for something like this. Great job and thanks for sharing the progress!