Before I drill my holes....

[HeadRusch]

 

I've been doing other work on the cab...installing euro-hinges for the CP, securing the monitor mounting, adding some speakers..........I'm about at the point to begin drillin the mighty 4 player CP.

Jury is still out on the trackball.....when I get definitive mounting advice I'll make a final decision...

BUT....since I've got an Ipaq 54, is it the smart move to wire up ESC/TAB/COIN1-2-3-4 buttons?
I've got the buttons...but I'm just wondering if its a good idea or not...I bought a bunch of small radio Shack buttons for the coins.....but if the IPAQ has all that built in with its shift features..well..I'm confused...what are people doing??

using the IPAQ's SHIFT feature...... or just wiring up the buttons.....

[raist0069]

I plan on just using the IPAC's shift features...

[cdbrown]

I'm putting in the coin buttons on the panel as I have enough.  Will also but putting in ESC, Pause and maybe a couple others but not on the control panel.  I may mount these on the cab below the panel.  My panel has a 200mm overhang at the front so there won't be any issues with them getting bumped.

The Ipac's shift feature can be used to do almost anything what you don't want to happen is accidentally escaping a game because the assigned shift-esc keys were pressed together - but this is a minor issue which is easily fixed.

If you have the buttons and a place to mount it then it's just simple to press one button instead of having to remember which button is shift and what other buttons you have to press to get the right outcome.

*shrug* (c) Rampy 2003.  

Good luck in deciding.
Cheers
-cdbrown

[Sprucemoose]

If you think other people will be playing the cabinet at some point it might be easier for them if you installed the buttons instead of using the shift function.  If you have the room, I suggest that you put the important button on the CP.

[Tiger-Heli]

What everyone else said, I prefer dedicated buttons to trying to remember shift key combinations.

Also, remember, these don't have to be arcade buttons and don't have to be on the CP top face.  You might want a recessed panel with small square momentary buttons for F9, tab, etc.

[HeadRusch]

Good points..I've got the space, and the buttons.

Hmmm...are you planning a keyboard hack for the ESC and TAB buttons, or are you going to reprogram those keys to something unused on the IPAQ....

I'm only giving my players 3 and 4 sticks 4 buttons, not 6..so I'll have some extra buttons available.