Lots of questions.... plus some exclusive ones for Aussies.

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Isometric Bacon:
Interesting.
My AMD is a K6 also, I'll have to try removing some ram and see what happens. It's so bogged down with 4 years worth of crap, that I think a format is neccessary anyway.

Thanks again for the advice.

Anyone able to answer some of my other questions? I don't want to sound demanding or anything, it's just that I wanted to get this started as soon as possible, so I can order the controls and get started during the holiday period.

I appreciate all this help and advice though, it's a great source of info, your FAQ particularily has given me some great advice. :)

I've decided against the keyboard hack (after reading other threads) and I'll probably either go for a IPAC or the sidewinder hack. I already have one Sidewinder Gamepad here, I just need another one. Any one have an idea where they are available cheaply in Australia?

I think i might just go for an IPAC. They're $90 at OZstick, so it might be cheaper to import from the US. What is their official website?

Thanks again

Apollo:
The guys at Ozstick are great and excellent to deal with. I would suggest using their 8 way sticks and buttons. They can also supply you with an IPAC. I suggest you get a dedicated 4 way stick from Happs controls and putting it somewhere on your control panel with a couple of buttons. That is probably the best way to get the most out of games like Donkey Kong, Galaga etc.
You can probably find parts on ebay Australia as well.
Good luck and have fun. Consider a spinner and trackball as well but unless you play a lot of games using these IMHO they are not necessary.

Bluntman:
well, also being an aussie setting out on the path of building my own cab, I've put in a fair amount of time and effort into reasearch...

I've heard (well, "read" but you get the point) nothing but good things about ozstick, not one bad word.
I have no idea as to weather their claim that their 8-ways "work well" in 4-way games, but the kinda games I'm really ingto, thta's not a big issue for me, if it becomes an issue, I'll build a restrictor plate.
also, I'm defidently going for the more pricey pb01 buttons for my main "gameplay" buttons, I'll probably get some cheaper ones for my "esc" "tab" and a couple of other administration type buttons.
and I'll DEFIDENTLY be going with an ipac, SO much less bother.
as for a $$ estimate, well, my cab is gonna be big (61cm tv - four player CP) and with wood, and joys/buttons etc I'm figuring about AU$300 - $400 for it depending on some options I've yet to decide on, the wood will be about $80-$150 of that. again, depending.

for speakers, head on down to harvey norman, they've got a nice pair of altec lansing's for about $60, small and very nice sounding, or (as I'm thinking about) get a creative labs 2.1 set (with sub) it'll run you about $100.

the PC seems okay (I suggest you reformat), from what I've read it'll play most games (except the new crowd `92 onwards?) at full speed.
Me personally, I'd see it as a good excuse to upgrade (love new toys)
I'd keep the TNT2 (if it has TV-out) that's what I'm using, and it works great.

also, keep an eye put in the "coin op" section of ebay.com.au - there's a guy there who at the moment is selling alot of arcade parts. he, in his own words, "have a warehouse full of this stuff", most of it is crappy rubbish that probbably should be thrown out, but I did manage to score four nice coin doors, three (AUSSIE MADE) arcade 8way joys, and a classic Atari steering wheel (probably won't go on the cab, but I paid $5 and it's a nice pice of nostalga from my childhood) - his "ebay name" is "Markc" IIRC.

NiN^_^NiN:
I was using my intel 266 and it played allmost all games at full speed but this was onlny in dos windows is to much of an overhead even with lots of ram it makes it slow cause of the cpu power it needs

but i have mame .57 in dos and use the Gamelauncher frontend and i can play all games well but metalslug plays ALMOST full speed on my 266 so a 450 should do well :)

but i only have 128mb of ram so try taking the 256mb of ram out

most old pcs put the data in the ram all over not close to eachother so it takes longer if u ever tryed to put ALOT of ram in a old pc u see its way slower caues it places the data all over the ram not just in a section

joeblade:
Hey bluntman, thanks for the tip of ebay.com.au.

I must admit I haven't been on there for about a year or so, and it has changed heaps. A lot more categories, making it a lot easier to find what you are after.

I previously hadn't been looking for arcade bits, more retro computers for my collection, but yeh, it looks like its very much worthwhile keeping an eye on the coin op stuff on there.

And yeah, markc (his user name is "mark.c." by the looks of things) is flogging off all sorts of bits and bobs on there.

Cheers mate.

A fellow aussie ....

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