new 5 year old nephew project

[wIrEs]

hi, this is a great site, a lot of very good information around, i have a few questions though that i hope someone could answer.
I want to give something for a gift to my 5 year old nephew, he really likes gaming right now so i thought about the arcade machine or arcade box for him to play on, i am good at soldering but i know nothing about reading schematics so i am looking for something more of just connecting stuff together (soldering)

i have a few questions:

1) where can i find control panels(dashboards) for kids
2) i want to make a 5 cents pay box, if possible
3) i need some tips on how to paint wood, do i sand first before painting it etc..
4) pc specs (power supply, video card, memory, proc power, sound, dvd, cd).. fire free ...

those are my basic newb questions for now.

My PC specs i am thinking of right now are:
- 17" LCD
- 1ghz cpu
- 512 ram
- onboard nvidia

What i am looking for the arcarde box to do if possible:
- Portable arcade controls for hooking up the pc to the HDTV and play in a 52" tv (2 pieces arcade machine/box)
- remote control the pc using linux for easy software upgrades and network play (maybe video and mic support)
- arcade box wont be ON all the time so i need something to bypass MAME to run a games menu to choose the game to play bypassing also the games boot and to get right into the games.
- 4 players arcade control panel/dashboard

thanks for your help.

[HaRuMaN]

1)  There are no legal MAME roms...  with the exception of the three or so that are on the MAME.net page.  I suggest you remove that question from your post.
2)  Dunno...  you can skin frontends to your liking.
3)  Hook up a coin door type switch
4)  General painting tips...  sand, paint with primer, sand again, paint color, sand, clear coat.  Some steps may need more coats.
5)  What games are you going to run?  This will determine what PC specs you need.

[javeryh]

Welcome!  My first piece of advice would be to read everything you possibly can on these forums, the wiki and even Saint's book.  There is a ton of information and that should keep you busy for weeks.

A lot of people around here (myself included) have built arcade cabinets for kids.  They are super fun.  I'm not really sure how to answer any of your specific questions because they are all pretty generic - just search around here and you should find what you are looking for.  Here goes:

1.  There is a legal romset you can get through mame.net I think but it probably doesn't contain anything you are hoping to play.  Other than that, don't go asking around here for roms...
2.  I don't know of anything pre-built but plenty of people have built their own
3.  You can install a coin door but I don't know about setting it to accept nickels - quarters and tokens are no problem though.
4.  Just look through the woodworking forum.  In general sanding in between every coat is recommended but there are TONS of different ways to finish your cabinet.
5.  Again, do a search... depends on what you want to play.  Some games are unplayable on even the fastest machines.

Before starting I recommend you plan, plan, plan and then plan some more.  Sketch out your plans, do them in CAD or whatever - just have a soilid plan before spending money on parts or cutting wood.  Build a test CP out of cardboard too before committing to a final layout.  

Also, For what it's worth, I've built 2 cabinets and I still haven't soldered anything in my life.

Good luck!  

[wIrEs]

i think i will remove the coin door thing if it cant accept 5cents coins, this was just to keep my nephew from playing all the time and not doing what mom says hah.

i will do some more research on arcade machines, i dont know any stores nearby though so i should first find one to get all my stuff from a local store.

i've been reading a bit, i'll read some more.

thanks guys

[Rabbi Bob]

i think i will remove the coin door thing if it cant accept 5cents coins, this was just to keep my nephew from playing all the time and not doing what mom says hehe.

Hee!

I have a key driven on/off switch that I picked up from my grandfather.  I think that it may find its way into the power path for not only my kids (for when they get older), but my nephews as well.   

[wIrEs]

yeah i think the key switch is a good idea and can be easily added/connected with the pc. Also i think there's another way to prevent my nephew from playing all the time, the thing is to add a password to be entered for the pc to boot, the bios needs to support it.

HarumaN, about the games, i think all the games ?
i am looking for the 8-way joysticks though.

[Green Giant]

yeah i think the key switch is a good idea and can be easily added/connected with the pc. Also i think there's another way to prevent my nephew from playing all the time, the thing is to add a password to be entered for the pc to boot, the bios needs to support it.

HarumaN, about the games, i think all the games ?
i am looking for the 8-way joysticks though.

You probably don't realize yet, but there are about 6000 games out there.  What they were refering to is the age of the game, stuff from the 80's and early 90's is easy to run.  The latest stuff playable on mame requires a little more power.

As for joysticks, there are 2way, 4way, 8way, 16way, rotary, 49way, 4way-diagonal, and analog.  Then there are also trackballs, spinners, light guns, steering wheels, and more.
You need to keep reading on the wiki and more.  There are digitally switching sticks that change through all the joystick types.

Inputing a password will be more difficult, but there are plenty of quater coindoors that you could probably modify.

Also, you said you don't want the arcade box "ON" all the time.  I am assuming you want a menu system to choose the game you are going to play before opening mame correct?  This is called a frontend and makes this hobby possible.  There are many choices that are all skinnable with lots of different options.  They can be categorized, show screenshots, short videos of the games, make is completely idiot proof where they will never see windows or anything outside of the arcade menu, play all sorts of emulators like nes/snes/gen/atari/pc/dreamcast/etc., and do much much more.

Keep researching, you will now be building cabs for the rest of your life...

[wIrEs]

You probably don't realize yet, but there are about 6000 games out there.  What they were refering to is the age of the game, stuff from the 80's and early 90's is easy to run.  The latest stuff playable on mame requires a little more power.

6000 games !! 

[bfauska]

Oh, don't get too excited.  About 1/2 of those are Mahjongg, 1/2 are adult, 1/2 are knock-offs, 1/2 are different regional versions of the same games, 1/2 don't work, and 1/2 aren't worth playing.  I know that's a lot of halves, but with 6000 I think mathematically it works out OK.

There are great games, just not 6000 of them.  I bet most people whittle their game lists down to a few hundred, and even that would require either a stout computer, a really versatle control panel (frankenpanel, or swappable panel), or some seriously eclectic gaming tastes.  I haven't refined it yet but my primary game list is only about 110 titles long.

[XyloSesame]

Inputing a password will be more difficult

This makes me wonder - is there some sort of way to use joystick and button presses as passwords to access specific games? You know, the old left right left right up up down thing?

[bfauska]

It would work for turning on the system as long as the bios supported paswords and you were using a keyboard encoder.  I don't know if any front ends support it for individual titles or lists though,  it would be cool.  You could probably make some shift key function to jump to a list that you couldn't get to otherwise at least.

[XyloSesame]

It would work for turning on the system as long as the bios supported paswords and you were using a keyboard encoder.  I don't know if any front ends support it for individual titles or lists though,  it would be cool.  You could probably make some shift key function to jump to a list that you couldn't get to otherwise at least.

That's right, the BIOS pwd. So, in theory, if one uses an I-PAC or similar encoder, they could set a simple keyboard password that corresponded to their joystick and button MAME config. Good idea...