After having finished reading the main site and browsing the forum for the past couple days I have come up with some specific questions before I start purchasing items to build my first control board.
I guess first I should get some things out of the way. This control board will first be used as a stand alone box on a desk until I can convince the significant other that I
need a full size arcade. I will likely design the cabinet before building the control box so that I will be able to drop it in with minor adjustment. I would like to make the control board two player and maximally compatible (I realize 100% compatibility is silly) with MAME and I would like to be able to hook up an N64 controller as well as a Playstation one for console emulation (the PS controller will be used for NES, SNES, Gensis etc..).
To reach these goals it would seem, from my research, that I would need 2 joysticks with 8 buttons per stick as well as a start button per, one track ball and a spinner (preferably something that can also be used as a wheel unless there is a drawback to this method, are there?). Eventually I would like to add light gun support, but as of now am worried about the LCD TopGun reliability. Due to this I contacted Act-Labs and they implied that something is in the works and to contact them again in June.
As of now I am looking at these items:
Computer Interface:
I-PAC2/
Opti-PackThe I-PAC units were picked because I have read they are simply great and easy to use, especially because I won't want the permanency of having soldering these together.
Joysticks:
Happ Super JoystickThe joysticks were just randomly chosen because they looked good and the description sounded good. I have read the UltraStick 360 is simply great, is it worth the extra money? If so, why? Are there any other sticks people would recommend? I play virtually every type of game.
Buttons:
Happ Competition Buttons/
Happ Player ButtonsThe buttons are just typical concave buttons that are comfortable from the arcade.
As far as a controller adapters, spinner/wheel and trackball go, I have no idea what to look for. Any suggestions along these lines? Nothing at all is set in stone, I am very new to this and would greatly appreciate any help in all areas, if I am forgetting something or looking at a non-quality part for any reason, please let me know!
Lastly, is there anyway to rig such a unit such that an external accessory, such as a shifter and pedals, could be added/piggybacked via a single cable without opening the unit?
Thanks in advance and sorry about the long post.