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A quick hello and a few questions regarding a bartop machine!

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Aikon:

Hi there, my name's Martin and I'm 25 and live in the UK!

Well... like probably most people on here I dreamed of having an arcade machine as a kid. A good few years back I saw all these cool looking Mame cabinets (full size upright and cocktail) but alas I don't have the space (I still live at home with my folks and there's no way in hell they'll let me buy one... There's not enough space).

Anyway skip forward a few years and I start to come across these "bartop" or tabletop Mame machines... At first I wasn't a big fan as these just aren't as authentic as the real thing to me. Well... in the last couple of weeks I came across this site again and saw all the wonderful bartop machines!

I've been looking/lurking round arcadecontrols.com (and the wiki, various faqs/forums on here... and many many google searches) and decided to take the plunge and try to build my own Bartop machine!

Below are the things I have to factor in:

1/ Space. I'll be using a 14" monitor (screen is 13" approx) and the depth is one of the bigger issues as I have limited room to keep it.

2/ Cost. I'm a bit low on funds at the moment so I'm going to try and make this as cheap as possible. HOWEVER... I do want some decent controls and don't want the cabinet to looks tacky. I guess what I'm trying to say is the PC itself will be made of cheap/spare components and the outside will look professional (I hope) but nothing too flash. I'll hopefully be moving out either this year or the next and THEN I'll be able to go full size! :D

This is what I've got so far:

a 14" monitor I managed to pick up for free
128MB Ram SDRAM I think

Brought the following off ebay:

INTEL CELERON 466MHZ plus a mini atx mobo with integrated gfx (4MB I think) and sound for £6 (includes P&P). This should save me quite a bit of space.

A new Sidewinder pad (midi gameport version) for £5. I'll be hacking this into my arcade controls... Also there's a load of buttons on this and also I'm able to chain them up to 4 of them if I wanted.

I'm using this project as a practice run but also to gain some woodworking and electrical skills I can later use.

Judging from the specs above I'll be using DOS mame with some kind of front end. My aim is to primarily play mid 80s (Pacland) to early 90s games (Simpsons) at full speed with sound. I'd also like to play the majority of Neo Geo games (if mame is too slow I can always use neorage) and if I'm very lucky the CPS2 games (eg Super Street Fighter 2).

I think I've rambled on enough now so here are my questions:

1/ As space is an issue I'm thinking of taking off the outer monitor case to reduce the depth of the cab. But I don't want to kill myself in the process.... I've read up on the monitor guides on here and frankly it does seem damn risky. The monitor is a PC CRT and not an actual arcade monitor. How hard is it really to fit an uncased monitor into a cab... Do you save that much depth space?

2/ I'm tempted by the X-Arcade parts bundle for $30 (But shipping to the UK is $30 extra). It still turns out cheaper than most other places based in the uk for what you get. Or should I just get a quality stik and buttons from ultimarc or elsewhere?

3/ Is DOS the best way to go with my spec? How likely is it I'll need a new soundcard to get sound working in dos? (sound is on mobo).... Just realised the mobo I brought doesn't have an ISA slot... Damn!

Thanks for reading this! I have a rough idea in my head how this will all look completed but until I get most of the parts and measure them I can't draw up any plans. Any advice is greatly welcomed! :)

leapinlew:

Hey!

Get some cardboard and make a mockup!

They are fun to do and give you a good idea of what your getting ready to get into.

Fozzy The Bear:

Hi welcome to the forum.....

I'm in the UK too... and I can see you heading for some of the pitfalls that I failed to avoid the first time round.

1) Don't touch the X-arcade bundle with a very long barge pole.... The stuff in it isn't great.

2) Don't hack a game pad for your controls. That's entirely the wrong way to go. go to Groovy Game Gear and get yourself a Keywiz.

3) Sanwa and Happ sticks are a better chioce. (except the happs ultimate sticks, which are rubbish)

First thing you should do is head over to Groovy Game Gear.
http://www.groovygamegear.com
Have a browse round there.

Ultimark stuff is good, but for the UK his shipping is terrible... over priced because he insists on using UPS... No idea why he can't put the stuff in the Royal Mail like everybody else.

On a 466Mhz PC you're only going to be able to run the early 80's stuff in Mame. Even then, only if you use an earlier version of Mame. Seriously consider an upgrade. The real bottom end limit right now as far as I'm concerned has to be somewhere in excess of 1Ghz.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)



Aikon:

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I think I will try to get a cardboard mockup made to give me a rough idea how the end product will end up!

Fozzy: Thanks for the heads up on the x-arcade info... I think I'll give it a miss and try some of the other controls you mentioned. The reason I'm thinking of using a joypad hack is down to cost. Having used a sidewinder before I can vouch that all the buttons (dpad, 6 button layout, 2 shoulder buttons and a couple of start/select ones) can be pushed at once and therefore no blocking/ghosting. I could also hook up to 4 of them (via daisy chaining) to the mobo's midi/game port.

The keywiz looks good however I'd lose the use of the PS2 port on my mobo. (I don't have any USB ports so no chance of a keyboard any other way).

From your experience, what's the delivery charge to the UK like (If I was to order a joystick and a dozen buttons).

Thanks for all your help guys.

horseboy:

Get a Minipac from Ultimarc. He has them on BYOAC special right now for $26. It has a PS2 pass thru port so you can hook up a keyboard. Also it has an optical hookup, so you can hookup a trackball, but that is only for USB use (so nevermind that). I still think it is your best bet since it has a keyboard pass thru that you need.

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