New member, need some advice please!

[kruluk]

My recently purchased cabinet.

Hello I am new to the arcade controls forum and MAME in general. I recently purchased a cab for 75$ and am wondering if you guys could please help me with some of this... I have some questions and am kind of overwhelmed with all of the information on the web about MAME and cabs, so I will try and keep my questions as specific as possible. Any suggestions, advice, ideas or thoughts please throw them out there be cause I have zero experience in this. I took some pictures of the cab I bought yesterday, please disregard the date on the pictures my camera has the wrong date on it.


here are some pictures of my coin doors insides, how can I tell if this door is still useable? should I keep all the wiring and everything? How should I clean it?




2 joysticks came with the cabinet, here are some pictures, how can I tell if these are 4 or 8 way joysticks? how can I tell if they even work anymore? 



I know from reading on these forums that many people look down on using CRT computer monitors and prefer TV's or the actual arcade monitor but for simplicities sake I want to use a computer monitor I think but just in case...

is there a way of testing this monitor and seeing if it still works? I have tried plugging the cabinet it and flipping the switch on the top of the cab but nothing happens

also this box is inside of it, any idea what it is and how to check if it still works?


I know this may be a very long post with a lot of questions but I am definately feeling a little overwhelmed with the colossal task this seems to be. I hope my post is good enough to merit some replies from the knowledgeable people that frequent here.
Thanks in advance.

[Dazz]

Those joys look like 8-way according to the bottom of it.  The little box in the last picture looks like it is an audio amplifier for the speakers.

Was this a MAME cabinet already?  Or what game was this sold as?  Got a better pic of the control panel?

Also, that screen looks huge...  A CRT that size might cost quite a bit more than an arcade monitor or TV of relative size.

[kruluk]

The person I bought it from was going to use this cabinet to make a mame cabinet but never did and it was just sitting in his garage. I think he painted it black.

Here are some pics of the thing that goes on top of the control panel front and back sides.




Also here is a picture of just the control panel.

[Vaad]

I cant really give to much information but dont mess about with the screen if you don't know what your doing .. you can blow yourself up even if its not plugged in as they hold a charge of upto 2500 volts i think it is ... will do more then knock you off your feet.

[TelcoLou]

I like the CPO artwork, but the layout is a bit unusual. You might be able to salvage those joysticks and coin mech, not too sure about the monitor though.

[BobA]

That little box in looks more like an arcade switching PS.  Cannot see the terminals but looks like one of these.

[kruluk]

What does an arcade switching PS do?

[Turnarcades]

Sends power to the relevant parts as required

[bboysnj]

You've got your hands on an old "Power Drive" machine -- looks like it went the way of a "fighter" conversion, like most cabs did during the button-masher heyday.

If you want to see her in her former glory, check this link out:

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9100

Best of luck with it!  You've got a great frame to work with there! 

[bboysnj]

P.S. - if you decide you want to part ways with it, this fella is looking for one in any condition.....

http://www.vaps.org/members/member_detail.php?member_id=377918

[Turnarcades]

Before you get too in-depth with what you have, decide how you want to go about it completely within your budget first.

If the monitor is working and the cab is JAMMA wired, leave the monitor in place, get a J-Pac interface, arcade VGA card and hook your PC in that way. While you're at Ultimarc, grab some new matching joysticks and buttons in your choice of colours and I advise ripping off that control panel surface and drilling a new one from MDF or ply in the pattern you want.

If all is fecked, rip out the monitor an try getting a decent TV with S-Video input. Then grab a mini-pac and the rest as above.

[Dazz]

The converted control panel is that in the style of Time Killers.

[kruluk]

How would you know if it was JAMMA wired and what does that mean anyway? Why does that matter?

[Malenko]

How would you know if it was JAMMA wired and what does that mean anyway? Why does that matter?

if it was a power drive, and later a time killers, then it was JAMMA. jamma was the arcade standard. if a game was jamma you could swap out the gameboards and play different games without having to change anything else.


if you dont know what JAMMA is, you havent read these forums enough