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First Time Confusion - help!
helpmebuild:
Hey all.
I am just about to start ordering the parts needed to get my cabinet ready to go. I am in the process of converting the cab and getting it looking slick, but am very confused as to what is necessary to order to have a working CP.
I was lookin at getting the I-pac board, but am a little confused as to how these work. From what I understand this connects to a PC and your CP but is there any soldering required for this? Does the I-pac when ordered from ultrimarc include the crazy mess of cables/wires I see under everyones CP's, or is that ordered separate? I just want to be sure I order only what I need and no more or no less. So far all I have is a used Midway cab with a 27" monitor in it, and an older PC I'm looking to use in the cab. Could someone maybe list the "necessities" for someone looking to build a mamecab? Im thinking of 2 joysticks from Happ and 3 buttons per person with the possibility of a trackball. I also hear a lot about admin buttons, so what exactly are those used for and how many would I need? It would be very much appreciated if someone could make a small list of what I need and I can use that as a guide to purchasing my items.
Xam:
To put it simply, an I-PAC (or any of the available encoders) acts as a keyboard input for the joysticks. It is basically the board in your keyboard that is responsible for the input.
Once hooked up, open notepad or some other text program. MOve your joysticks and press your buttons...it will type the letters and numbers of the corrensponding input on the encoder. Theoretically, you could typr using your joysticks and encoder.
That description probably did not come out right, but hopefully it will help with a basic understanding of what it does.
The mess of wires is your baby to create. I-PAC may have a harness available, but I am not sure on that point.
Hope this helps.
Xam
protokatie:
--- Quote ---From what I understand this connects to a PC and your CP but is there any soldering required for this? Does the I-pac when ordered from ultrimarc include the crazy mess of cables/wires I see under everyones CP's, or is that ordered separate?
--- End quote ---
Like the above said, but with some clarification:
Crazy mess of wires: Depends on if you know how to route wiring. And it really isnt a mess even if it looks like it. Each button gets a COMM (ground) that it can share with all other buttons and an individual NO positive connection for each button.
IPAC comes with no wiring, you need to buy 22 gauge wires for that (not pricey). from what you have said you want to do, buy a Minipac with the wire harness. It is made for us Newbs, and is a good buy no matter what.
helpmebuild:
Sweet. So my main concern with the I-Pac is whather or not there is any soldering involved? Is it just a matter of plugging the wires in for connection or are they to be soldered in there? I only ask because i am a complete soldering noob and would like to avoid it if at al possible. Also, if anyone could let me know besides the I-pac and my buttons/joysticks, is there any other necseeities I need to get this thing going? Thanks for the replies so far, they've been very helpful!
RetroACTIVE:
--- Quote from: helpmebuild on February 11, 2008, 12:11:21 pm ---Sweet. So my main concern with the I-Pac is whather or not there is any soldering involved? Is it just a matter of plugging the wires in for connection or are they to be soldered in there? I only ask because i am a complete soldering noob and would like to avoid it if at al possible. Also, if anyone could let me know besides the I-pac and my buttons/joysticks, is there any other necseeities I need to get this thing going? Thanks for the replies so far, they've been very helpful!
--- End quote ---
As far as the IPAC... take a look at the product... it has screw terminals on it, no soldering...
I think you would benefit by a visit to http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page, just follow links under "Main Arcade Cabinet Portals". Its really very good... and don't worry so much about soldering... if you buy all new stuff and aren't hacking anything up... there is a 99.9999999999% chance you will not need to solder anything at all... Crimping yes... solder no.