newbie with questions about project

[illinifro]

Hi all, I've lurked in these forums for a while, really impressed with all of your knowledge.
I just got a hold of a old arcade cabinet and had a couple of questions:

1. My cabinet is an Altered Beast cabinet from the late 80's.  It is not in great shape, and I am looking to convert this to a MAME cabinet.  As I understand, using the Ultimarc J-PAC is the easiest way to convert a JAMMA cabinet, however is there an easy way to tell if this cabinet is JAMMA?  I've done some looking, and don't think it is, but haven't been able to verify.  Can anyone tell me, and possibly point me in a general direction so I can know for the future?

2. If it is not JAMMA, I am planning to replace the arcade monitor with a tv, and mess around with the controls, possibly with an I-PAC.  How dangerous is it to remove the monitor, and do I have to use any special settings for the video card to the tv?

Thanks for all of your help!

[GAJoe]

Grr, timed out and lost my post.  Alright, round 2.

1.  If the controls, speakers, monitor, and power supply are all connected to the same wiring harness, with one uniform connector on the end, that should be JAMMA.  You could swap boards into and out of the connector the same way you'd put cartridges in a video game console.  If it's JAMMA that'd actually be pretty handy because then you could use the J-PAC for MAME, but also use real JAMMA boards as well.

2.  Be very careful with the monitor.  In particular don't touch the flyback transformer pictured here with blunt explanation of why:



Monitors can retain an electric charge for a long time.  Some people recommend discharging them before moving, but that is very dangerous in and of itself.  I'd say just be careful not to touch any wiring or electronics while you're moving it.  Also, don't drop it.  They're designed to implode, rather than explode in a shower of glass, but I'd say it's best not to test that.

[illinifro]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I've been reading up on the dangers of monitor discharge.  I may have a friend with experience to help discharge, if it comes to that.  I'm familiar with CRTs and their issues in general, but haven't had to work on something exposed, that is where the worry comes from.  I don't mind moving it without discharging, as long as I know what not to touch (that't the trick).  I guess if it is just going to be thrown out or given away, it should probably still be discharged, correct?

After researching more, it seems that this cabinet is considered System 16, an old Sega format, as far as I can see.  I haven't had a chance to look inside the cabinet yet, but I don't think System 16 is compatible with JAMMA.  Can anyone verify this?

EDIT: Also wanted to ask about the possibility of converting this cabinet to JAMMA.  This just takes a wiring harness, correct?  Is this a complicated process?  Is a harness expensive?  Just wondering if this would be worth it, especially if I could use different JAMMA boards.  Maybe it is just easier to strip everything and use an I-PAC....

Thanks again!

[GAJoe]

A lot of arcade monitors are installed inside a kind of cage harness.  You can normally pull it out and carry it using that without being in danger.  The best rule of thumb is just to assume every monitor could kill you and handle it like you would a rattlesnake or a vial of deadly airborne bacteria.

System 16 is like JAMMA, but it's not the same.  It works on the same principle, by providing a standard wiring scheme that allows you to hook up any System 16 board with the same plug.  I should have sent you to the pinout instead of telling you to look for a unified connector, since a lot of systems are on one connector, but wired completely different.  You can confirm it's a System 16 by comparing which buttons run to which pins on the connector compared to these pinouts:

Pinout for System 16 here:    http://everything2.com/title/System%252016
Pinout for JAMMA here:  http://www.jammaboards.com/jcenter_jammaFAQ.html

Basically, they're just two different ways to wire the controls, sound, monitor, and power supply to one connector.  If you wanted to convert the System 16 cabinet to JAMMA, you'd just wire everything onto a wiring harness using the JAMMA pinout above.  You should even be able to swap the wires around on the System 16 connector to make it JAMMA, since they're both 56 pin, 28x2 connectors.

About the only thing to watch out for is the power supply.  If it isn't the right kind of switching PSU or you wire it up wrong, it could destroy a PCB.  Don't let that discourage you though.  I think making it a JAMMA cab is a good idea.  Then you get the best of both worlds with the J-PAC and real arcade boards.  If you can't unwire and change the System 16 harness, a new 56 pin connector usually runs around 2 or 3 dollars, and a fully wired harness ready to be hooked up runs around 20-30 dollars.

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/56-pin-card-edge-connector/prod_9.html?ccSID285e73f64c04744fc5f33ff68f529742=ad814b53766457578f9d9ad7b114fa2e - connector alone

http://www.arcadeshop.de/product_info.php?pidmod=us&products_id=us-301&currency=USD - fully wired harness

Actually, that jammaboards.com site also has a fully wired connector for 10 dollars, so even cheaper.

[illinifro]

GAJoe, thanks again for all of your info!

I think for now, I will stay away from the JAMMA rewire and just use an I-PAC to wire the existing controls up to a computer.  I think I've got enought on my plate for now!    Since I am just using MAME, I think I can get away with getting an I-PAC VE and save a little cash.  The goal for now is to get up and running with the least amount of money.

[GAJoe]

Gotcha.  Well, I can tell you that the I-PAC VE works just fine.  I've had one in my cabinet for about a year now.  Good luck with your project.  You should share your results in the project forum.

[illinifro]

I'll start taking some pictures as I'm going along and share my progress.  I did go ahead
and order an I-PAC VE today, so that's done.

Me and my friends took the monitor out today, didn't have to discharge it, just took out the
cage harness, like you explained.  We were careful and didn't have any trouble.  After inspecting
the tv we were going to put in, we found that it was the exact same size as the monitor, 19", so
we can probably use the exact same harness and mount to put the tv in the cabinet, nice!

A quick question about inputs, I've seen that s-video is usually the best to use to connect to a tv,
but have you had any experience or information regarding other connections, such as coax or composite?
I'm sure they're not as good, but I just realized that this tv may not have s-video, or if it does, it might only be
in the front, doh!