Jamma and Ipac4 Question

[slapaham]

Basically, I have a Vogatek supergun for my JAMMA boards - I would like to interface this with my MAME cabinet seamlessly but have no idea to start and what's available out there...

Via a KVM box, you would be able to switch from MAME to JAMMA and vice versa and the controls would be shared for both.

I need to buy an ipac4 anyway and I see that the adaptor has 2 PS/2 sockets and says something aboute duel input(or something like that!!) - does that mean you can link it to 2 separate systems at the same time both using PS/2 connections?

I was thinking that I would wire the supergun and the PC to the same controls... although, not 100% sure how I'd wire the supergun to the ipac4 via ps/2 - and if this even works - any suggestions?

Cheers

[AndyWarne]

A supergun is basically a JAMMA cabinet without the cabinet. So a J-PAC should connect to it. Then this connects to the PC so the controls are connected to the PC.

If you need to swap between JAMMA boards and Mame, you would need to unplug the J-PAC and plug in the JAMMA board each time. But why not just use Mame for all games?

Andy

[slapaham]

I like to collect Jamma PCBs, plus playing the originals always beats emulating them (although, I understand the emulation is pretty much spot on in most cases, however, some of the newer games just don't run very well on my PC so using a supergun helps sort out that problem!)

I may look into a J-Pac at some time in the future - but the next order I do at Ultimarc is going to be a fairly hefty one (ipac4, xbox adaptors, etc) so I think I'll have to prioritise!

Thanks for your help.

[Turnarcades]

The problem you have with this is that the JAMMA standard (and hence the supergun) will only accept 2 players with 4 buttons each at most. You would need to have wires coming from the i-pac4 into a spliced megadrive control pad connector, with the extra buttons (5, 6 and possibly 7) made into a 'kick harness' to plug directly into those PCB's that demand it (like SF2) and into appropriate looms for player 3 and 4. Having the i-pac 4 connected to the supergun in this way would be pointless. The ideal way would be to do as shown below:



2-way JAMMA harnesses are often switchable, and whatever you do you would need a J-pac as this would be needed to connect the PC monitor cable too to show your PC on the monitor, as well as the joystick inputs. It's gonna be a rat's nest whatever you do.

[slapaham]

Thanks for the advice - I'll give it some real thought as to what I should and could do.

[AndyWarne]

There are 4-way multi-Jamma adaptors available as well.

Andy

[Turnarcades]

Don't know what the demand would be like, but people are more frequently making wireless panels for their consoles and I know my PC has an absolute mess of cables already. With Brits especially looking to save space in their home and opting for desktop control panels instead of a cabinet, I imagine many would enjoy the opportunity to use a programmable wireless interface rather than a controller hack. On the flipside of course, those with that limited space may be on a budget and willing to create a hack themselves or modify an existing I-Pac to do this job using parts they find lying around at home.

I see your concern.