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Sanity Check
lordbah:
What I have:
Cabinet which will limit control panel to 23" wide by 6" deep
Computer running Linux and xmame
Computer speakers
LCD monitor
What I will use result for:
Single player old (80s) arcade games
What I will buy:
UltraStik 360
SpinTrak
U-Trak
5 play buttons
3 admin buttons (Shift, Coin/Start, Pause/Exit)
The joystick, trackball, and spinner all say they can be directly connected to USB, and the buttons can connect to the joystick, so apparently I don't need an I-PAC or similar encoder.
I'd certainly like to be able to wedge in a second joystick for Robotron and Root Beer Tapper, but even without it I don't know whether I can fit what I've got on such a small panel. I've been trying the designer tools but they aren't very novice-user-friendly.
Of the games I'm interested in, none has more than 5 buttons used in play. However they aren't all in the same position relative to the non-button controls. I'm trying to keep it down to 5 anyway since the UltraStick only handles 8 buttons.
I know xmame is supposedly abandoned, but sdlmame was unusably slow on this machine (Dell Inspiron 530).
So ... what am I overlooking?
DaveMMR:
You have it pretty figured out. But ditch the "SHIFT" button. The "Start" button is the most common one to double as "shift" (i.e. hold it down and any other button would be secondary).
Five buttons is fine (though with the U360 harness, you can have up to six: start, coin and six action).
You probably can wedge in a second joystick. 23" (especially for a one player setup) is more than enough. Mine's only 25" wide and it has 2 joysticks with six buttons each, trackball, and spinner. Classic CP's were not all that wide compared to more modern arcade fighters (and Golden Tee). There are tools to help you plan it out, check the wiki.
Try the latest command-line MAME on your setup with a selection of games you're interested in. If you're having trouble, try an older version. I happen to like .99 for most games and .116 for Bubble Bobble.
Ginsu Victim:
My CP is 23 5/8" x 11" and I have two U360s, 7 buttons each per player, 2 start buttons, 2 pause buttons, and a spinner.
Even with yours being 6" deep, you should be able to fit two sticks if you want to.
Ummon:
Ginsu, he's also putting in a trackball (u-trak).
I like having a dedicated pause button, which doubles as exit in shift mode. Of course, the spinner and trackball will accomodate at least three buttons each, too.
bigredsk10:
Can I suggest putting the admin buttons, like pause or insert coin, on the side of the arcade cabinet. That way you save clutter on top, can play pinball games and its kind of fun to slap the side of the cabinet to pause the game