Jamma/PC/Mame Question.

[wonkalow]

I apologize if this isn't in the right section. I wasn't 100% sure which one it fell under.
And, Sorry I know this may be long. Ill try to bold the most important part.

Im building my first MAME machine, and im at a stand still. I have an Arcade Monitor. A PC. A Jpac (as well as a brand new JAMMA harness) and an Ipac.

I understand the correct way of doing it, is to wire in the PC power and everything else to the Cabinet's power supply, along with the monitor and the rest to the JAMMA harness, then to the JPAC.

However. Im new to all of this, and (despite what I thought I knew after months of reading) to do the above, it would take me a LONG time to figure everything out, and even then I would be risking burning something up. So what I would like to do, is do it the simplest way possible. Get the Machine up and running up and start working on the PC and Software side (The parts I can actually do) then, later I can go back and do that part the right way.

So, what I would like to do, is ONLY hook up the Arcade Monitor to the PC. The Controls Ill wire to the IPAC for now (for simplicity), The sound, the Marquee, and the PC I can power separately for now, since I would be putting the sound/marquee in at different times.

Now, if im right, I see one molex connector that goes to the board on the Monitor, from the JAMMA harness. I can hook this up, and plug the JAMMA harness into the JPAC. But is it safe to zip tie up the rest of the wires, and leave them unconnected?

and if I do this... How will I power the monitor? I see a few other wires coming out of the Monitor that (eventually) go to the Powersupply for the cabinet, but they look like they tangle together and are wired into the molex connectors of some of the other things in the cabinet.

Do I just leave all of that hooked up and just power up the cabinet as usual, Ignoring that things im not using (or have been disconnected/doesn't work) are still plugged in? Or will that not be safe leaving power to those things?

Sorry, I know this was probably a dumb question. I thought I had everything figured out, but once I got deep into it, i realized I was way over my head and should of started somewhere smaller. Im great with computers but not very comfortable with voltages and messing with power supplies and things anymore than I have to, so powering the monitor and all of this extra stuff in the cabinet, im just not famililar with, is slowing me down pretty bad.

Thanks for any help your still willing to provide after reading all of that 

[northerngames]

power your pc with a pc psu

[CheffoJeffo]

Don't worry about "dumb" questions ... we all ask those

First question -- how are you driving the video for the arcade monitor ? The JPac will interface with the monitor, but it is not a scan converter and will not generate the required 15KHz signal (assumes a standard resolution arcade monitor) on its' own.

Second question -- why would you wire controls using the IPac instead of the JPac ? There is nothing easier about wiring controls to an IPac than wiring to a JAMMA harness.

Third question --what kind of monitor and JAMMA harness do you have ? You mention a molex connector on your JAMMA harness, but does the pinout match your monitor ?

Fourth question -- how many controls are you putting on your panel ? I am trying to figure out why you have both a JPac and an IPac, unless you are building a cabinet with a 4-player panel.

It isn't as complicated as you think, once you get a basic understanding of what the various components do.

Pictures are worth thousands of words and will help folks give you appropriate advice.

 

[wonkalow]

... such a long reply and my browser crashed  . Sorry for the slow reply, stuck at work and my browser crashed.

First question -- how are you driving the video for the arcade monitor ? The JPac will interface with the monitor, but it is not a scan converter and will not generate the required 15KHz signal (assumes a standard resolution arcade monitor) on its' own.

Im not too sure what you mean here, Sorry. I just assumed I would plug the Jamma harness into the Jpac, then run a VGA cable from that to the PC Video card, then I would just need to do some software and settings tweaking from there. I plan to get an ArcadeVGA card soon as well, when I get a bit farther along. Is there more I should be looking at?
Back to the Book and the wiki for me then lol

Second question -- why would you wire controls using the IPac instead of the JPac ? There is nothing easier about wiring controls to an IPac than wiring to a JAMMA harness.

Originally I had only read up on using the IPAC, so I was just planning on that to be safe until I got to look a bit more into just using the JPAC and Jamma harness. The more I look though, im thinking your definitely right, Ill most likely just do that if its as easy as I think it looks.... actually the more I think about it, I think the new Jamma harness I have, has quick disconnects on it allready.

Third question --what kind of monitor and JAMMA harness do you have ? You mention a molex connector on your JAMMA harness, but does the pinout match your monitor ?

I can't remember off the top of my head, but as soon as I get home Ill get a model number and some pictures. I can tell you though, that the new Jamma Harness doesnt have the correct molex connector for the Monitors board, but the old one does. A friend on another forum whos done a lot of these, suggested I just reattach the old molex connector to the new jamma harness, which im comfortable doing.
The old harness doesnt look like its in the best shape, but Ill take another look at it, it may still be usable.

Fourth question -- how many controls are you putting on your panel ? I am trying to figure out why you have both a JPac and an IPac, unless you are building a cabinet with a 4-player panel.

Well originally I planned to go another route with a normal TV, but later decided to get a real arcade monitor, so I ended up with both. I think I can fit all of my buttons on the JPAC and Jamma harness though. Im thinking of a 2 player setup, 2 joysticks, a trackball (much later down the road), and 7 buttons per player, with maybe 7 buttons total for other things (coin, start, shift etc etc). Maybe less, but I figured to be safe ill try to go over.

Pictures are worth thousands of words and will help folks give you appropriate advice

As soon as I get home later, Ill get some good pictures of what im working with, I probably should of did that before posting, but im stuck at work and cant stop thinking about working on the machine hehe



and thanks for the help so far.

[CheffoJeffo]

... such a long reply and my browser crashed  . Sorry for the slow reply, stuck at work and my browser crashed.

First question -- how are you driving the video for the arcade monitor ? The JPac will interface with the monitor, but it is not a scan converter and will not generate the required 15KHz signal (assumes a standard resolution arcade monitor) on its' own.

Im not too sure what you mean here, Sorry. I just assumed I would plug the Jamma harness into the Jpac, then run a VGA cable from that to the PC Video card, then I would just need to do some software and settings tweaking from there. I plan to get an ArcadeVGA card soon as well, when I get a bit farther along. Is there more I should be looking at?
Back to the Book and the wiki for me then lol

Good place to start:

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Arcade_Monitors

For the most part, you can't just plug an arcade monitor (multisync or VGA monitors excluded) into a VGA card (even via a JPac) without converting the signal to run at 15KHz. The ArcadeVGA does this or you can use software like Soft15Khz or Powerstrip to drive certain cards at that frequency. My personal choice has always been ArcadeVGA, but if you have a compatible video card lying around, you might want to look at Soft15KHz or Powerstrip. The JPac should block potentially damaging signals from your video card, but doesn't do the frequency conversion.