How do I manage my arcade cabinet remotely?

[javeryh]

This might belong in the software forum but I thought I'd try here first.  Anyway, what do I need to do in order to set up what I guess would be a home network for my arcade cabinets?  What I mean is that I want to add/remove games, mess around with the gamelists, add new emulators, etc. to my arcade cabinet from my laptop (the "main computer" in my house).  For example, I put in a disc in my laptop but transfer the files to the computer in my arcade cabinet.  I have a wireless router that connects to the laptop (wireless), my Wii (wireless) and Xbox 360 (wired).  I'm pretty sure this is possible but I have no idea where to even begin.

Any help would be great!  Thanks.   

[DaOld Man]

Im working on a small app to allow you to test/manage your mame roms.
Im pretty sure it will work through a network.
You want to try it out?
(Im just about finished with it, it should be a 100% workable).

[javeryh]

I'd be happy to try it out but I have no idea where to even begin.  I assume the first step is to install a wireless network card in my arcade cabinet in order to talk to the laptop (any suggestions on a decent CHEAP one?).  After that I have no idea... is there a special program needed?  Is this a Windows XP feature?

[TheShanMan]

Get your cabinet hooked up to your network, then use Explorer and Remote Desktop (which comes with windows). That's what I do, and it works great. I even have my cabinet PC's power button hooked up to X10 so I can turn on my cabinet remotely.

[DaOld Man]

Yes, you will need a network interface card, or just run a cat5 cable from your arcade to the wireless router.
There are several cheap wireless cards out there.
You might try newegg.com, or geeks.com.
they also make a very small NIC that plugs into a usb port. Ive tried those, they work OK, but they get pretty hot.
I think I got it from geeks.com
PM me your email and I will send you my app. (Ive been wanting a beta tester anyway.)
--Thanx

[heemid]

Or use tightVNC, it seems a little faster than remote desktop.

[DZuroff]

I have a server running Windows Server 2003 that I use as a file server for all my roms and extra files (graphics, videos, etc...)  Everything is saved in an "Emulation" folder which I have shared, and I simply map the share on any PC that accesses the server... for example, I map the "Emulation" network share on my main PC as drive E:.  I then use E: as the path in all emulator configurations.  (i.e. 'E:\ROMS\MAME', 'E:\ROMS\NES', 'E:\SNAPS\MAME').  This way various emulators can be installed on multiple machines and all supporting files are located in one location.  Need more storage?  Plug another USB external hard drive into the server.

You can have the same setup using a machine running Windows XP that acts as a server, in this case, your laptop.  Just create a folder, share it, and you can map it on any computer on the network.

As for connecting...  Keep in mind that there are varying speeds when connecting to your network.  A basic 802.11b connection will offer you 11mb/second, an 802.11g connection will offer you 54mb/second, and an 802.11n connection will offer you 160mb/second.  You have to make sure the wireless adapter you use supports the connection type of your router.  If you have an 802.11n router and an 802.11g adapter, you are going to connect with 802.11g and get 54mb/second (wireless routers are always backwards compatible).   Some routers offer "Speedboost" or similarly named bursting technologies, but you have to stick with the same brand equipment so if you have an 802.11g linksys router with speedboost you will need a linksys wireless adapter to take advantage of it.

If you have a way to run cat 5e cable to your machines, you can plug the machines into your network and get speeds of 100mb/second.  Your router has four LAN ports but supports up to 127 connections so if you run out of ports you can connect a network hub or switch to give you more connections.

[DaOld Man]

Here is a few snaps of my Rom Manager. If anyone's interested, PM me your email..
Front screen:


Have roms that dont work? Send them to the bad roms folder:


Have roms you dont like? (Adults, etc). Send them to the unwanted folder:

[kelemvor]

As long as they are on the same network just use a VNC program.  I use UltraVNC to remote into my media PC.  It's jus like you're sitting right at it.  And it's free.

http://www.uvnc.com/

[TOK]

Maybe I'm underthinking this, but I just hooked them all to a router and share the MAME and front end folders on each machine. Thats all you need to drag and drop ROMS and other files.

[TheShanMan]

No, I don't think you are. I just use remote desktop to do configuration that can only occur on the cabinet (such as working on my CPWizard layouts).

And vnc works too, but I personally prefer remote desktop. The primary difference between the two is remote desktop takes exclusive control over the remote system (i.e. the remote system will appear "locked") while vnc shares control (i.e. mouse/keyboard/video works on both systems simultaneously).

[kelemvor]

Yeah but you can't manage anything other than files that way.  If you want to actually mimic sitting at the machine from a different machine, you need a remote program.

[TOK]

Yeah but you can't manage anything other than files that way.  If you want to actually mimic sitting at the machine from a different machine, you need a remote program.

Makes sense, and you are correct. Once I move ROMs or whatever, I just audit from the actual machine. I mainly do this for the vert machine since it sucks looking at it sideways. 

[bishmasterb]

As others have noted, just use the built-in RDP server, assuming you are using WinXP (Pro version only I think BTW, someone correct me if I'm wrong).

It's fast enough that I even test out running MAME and playing games over 100Mbps. Not great, but definitely playable.

[retrometro]

windows). That's what I do, and it works great. I even have my cabinet PC's power button hooked up to X10 so I can turn on my cabinet remotely.

that's cool and all but why would you want to turn on your cab remotely if no one's there to play it?

[TheShanMan]

windows). That's what I do, and it works great. I even have my cabinet PC's power button hooked up to X10 so I can turn on my cabinet remotely.

that's cool and all but why would you want to turn on your cab remotely if no one's there to play it?

What is the title of this thread?

[ark_ader]

All my roms are managed on NAS to keep consistency.  When I had my old cab I just bought 2 user license PC Anywhere, and kept the cab as a server.  But you can do the same with remote desktop.

Managed shares are the easiest, when you have different rom sets for each machine. Like my romset for my PSP is different for the Xbox or PC.  On the nas I can chop and change, add content, movies music for the juke all from one machine or remotely while I'm on the road.  I'll update a romset once in a blue moon, but it is there if I need to change it for some reason.

[kelemvor]

Only problem with remote desktop (the built in one with WIndows) is it actually logs you into the machine and logs out whoever is currently logged in.  Then when you disconnect it logs you out...

With a 3rd party program like VNC, you just take over the screen from whatever is going on at the moment and nothing gets interrupted.

[retrometro]

windows). That's what I do, and it works great. I even have my cabinet PC's power button hooked up to X10 so I can turn on my cabinet remotely.

that's cool and all but why would you want to turn on your cab remotely if no one's there to play it?

What is the title of this thread?

the title:  how to manage
my question:  why to remotely turn on
your question:  what is the title
my question:  do you know why

:-)

[kelemvor]

Because maybe you'd be sitting at a different PC and have a thought of "OH yeah, I forgot to fix my Xxxx on my Mame machine".

Then you can turn it on via Wake on LAN to not have to go walk over to wherever it is just to boot it up.

Just a thought.

[WareWolF]

I've been using Logmein.com free version for years, works just like vnc or remote desktop, but you can connect through the internet to a remote computer.  Check it out.

[TheShanMan]

the title:  how to manage
my question:  why to remotely turn on
your question:  what is the title
my question:  do you know why

Not sure I understand what your second "my question" means, but how do I remotely manage my cab? I power it on remotely with X10, then use explorer and/or remote desktop. Thought that was pretty obvious though.

Only problem with remote desktop (the built in one with WIndows) is it actually logs you into the machine and logs out whoever is currently logged in.  Then when you disconnect it logs you out...

Yeah, but I just reboot rather than log off.

[Finchbyrd]

I was going start a new thread asking how to remotely fool around with the cabinet PC without it needing to be logged back in when done. With the VNC programs, that isn't necessary correct? Is there a way I can black out the screen on the cabinet's PC until I disconnect?

[Finchbyrd]

Sorry for bumping this ancient topic everyone, I figured out my question of screen blanking.  Carry on.

[Beretta]

As long as they are on the same network just use a VNC program.  I use UltraVNC to remote into my media PC.  It's jus like you're sitting right at it.  And it's free.

http://www.uvnc.com/

absolutely, ultra VNC works great i use this to manage my servers, saves needing a monitor,keyboard, and mouse for them.

ultra vnc also has a video mirror driver which when in stalled drops cpu utilization to practically nothing.. so UVNC ends up having a small foot print suitable to run 24/7

there is of course remote desktop on XP.. and you can also enable the telnet server on xp.. telnet will only give you a command prompt to work with though.. no GUI.

with UVNC you can connect with either a standalone client (this is the way of getting best results), or you can use UVNC's built in web server which will host a java based client.. this is what i use since it's so convenient to do from multiple computers.. and this also means you can login with vnc from pretty much any platform out there, linux, mac, windows.. if it's got java you can access your cabinet..


like was pointed out UVNC can also have several connections.. they can all have access to the mouse and keyboard.. or you can set them for view only.. when i gave my nephew a computer i setup UVNC so that his mom could check in on him from out in the living room on her laptop.


only 1 word of caution.. UVNC seems to choke and cause weirdness on some opengl and direct-x programs IE: best solution is not to log into UVNC when mame is actually running a game.. but otherwise UVNC is a simple and efficient solution.

[severdhed]

javeryh...this is pretty easy to do, and can be a very valuable feature.  you will need to either run an ethernet cable from your cabinet to your router, or install a wireless adapter in the cabinet(thats what i did)

once you have your cabinet connected to your router, you want to make sure they are setup in the same workgroup.  you probably would want to share your mame folder (or possibly the entire C drive if you want easy copy and paste access from one PC to the other for things other than mame)

you would probably also want some kind of remote desktop setup so that you can install programs and make other tweaks remotely beyond just moving files.  I dont know what version of windows you are running, but assuming it is XP pro, there is the windows remote desktop program built in that will work pretty well.  if not, there are free programs, such as ultravnc that work very well. 

i would be more than happy to walk you through this if you need help.  It is very convenient to be able to make changes to your cabinet without sitting there physically.  I am an IT Consultant, i work on computers and set up networks on a daily basis, i'd be happy to answer any questions you may have on the specifics of getting this working. 

[mwong168]

I've been using Logmein.com free version for years, works just like vnc or remote desktop, but you can connect through the internet to a remote computer.  Check it out.

I've been using logmein and works great in my opinion.

[Kman-Sweden]

As long as they are on the same network just use a VNC program.  I use UltraVNC to remote into my media PC.  It's jus like you're sitting right at it.  And it's free.

http://www.uvnc.com/

+1 for UltraVNC.

[SGT]

How many of you realize you're replying to year old posts? 

[Beretta]

rofl, um me,, like just now

i checked before it said august, i did'nt realize it was 08 

oh well it's good info 

[severdhed]

oops....at least i wasn't the first...i just looked at the date of the previous post, which was only a few hours before mine.

oh well.