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SeverdHed's Donkey Kong project...OFFICIALLY DEAD
IG-88:
Dude that was brilliant on how you did the vid card. :cheers:
You would not believe all the contraptions I've built to secure cards in place. :banghead: I cannot believe I never thought of that. Simple and effective. Good show.
A couple more questions:
That 19" PC monitor, is it close to the same as an old DK monitor? Aren't PC monitor sizes and TV/arcade monitors sizes measured differently? Maybe I'm just screwed in the head... ;)
As for that paper bezel inside, are you still using it or what? It's the wrong size correct?
severdhed:
i'll have to give that a try...i apparently used the power supply for my cabinet to fix my mom's computer about a week ago, so i have to find another one before i can use that PC...it was weird, i didn't remember having a spare power supply when i was workign on her PC, but shortly after i gave it back to her, i realized that it wasnt actually a spare. so it may be a little while until i can get that PC up and running to try this.
the PC isnt anything special..it is actually the PC i used in my other arcade cabinet before upgrading it. which means that windows is already set up properly and mame is already in place with a full set of roms...i just need to get my mala layout setup and make a much smaller game list. It is an athlon xp 2500+, with 1gb of ram. i think i have some more ram lying around that will go in it though.
having the PC not functional actually makes it alot easier to get the other stuff done.
as for the monitor size, this one appears to be slightly smaller than the originall arcade monitor. the paper bezel that was in the cabinet is not quite the right size. i'll probably just pick up a piece of posterboard and make a new one eventually. but with the monitor bezel painted black, and the paper bezel in place, it just doesnt look that bad because it is so dark inside there behind the tinted plexiglass. if i had to guess, i'd say this monitor is about an inch smaller diagonally, but i think it will be fine. i also have it mounted at a little steeper angle than the original was, but i like the way it looks.
the video card mounting bracket was one of those things that i struggled with for a long time. i also tried so many stupid methods to mount them, and none of them ever really worked that well. when i figured this one out, i couldn't beleive how much time i wasted before. that is why i posted pics, i figured others might be in the same boat.
Jack Burton:
PC monitors are measured at the tube size. TV's and arcade monitors are measured in the viewable area. A 20" PC monitor should have about the same viewable area as a 19" pc monitor.
The monitor is probably a 19", but you lose an inch in the overscan. My Mitsubishi monitor is supposed to be a 20" but only has about 18 visible inches. If you decased it you could get the full viewing area.
I wouldn't worry about it.
IG-88:
--- Quote from: Jack Burton on September 01, 2009, 11:25:55 pm ---PC monitors are measured at the tube size. TV's and arcade monitors are measured in the viewable area. A 20" PC monitor should have about the same viewable area as a 19" pc monitor.
--- End quote ---
Did you mean a 20" pc monitor should have about the same viewable area as a 19" tv monitor?
severdhed:
--- Quote from: Jack Burton on September 01, 2009, 08:28:59 pm ---I couldn't find much either. Systemax didn't make that monitor though, I think all they do is rebrand monitors.
Easiest way to tel if it will work is just see if you can set a resolution of 640x480 at 120hz.
To do that just go into your display properties and then
settings tab -> advanced button -> adapter - > list all modes button -> 640x480 @ 60hz
then over to the monitor tab and uncheck "hide modes this monitor can't display" and change your refresh rate to 120hz.
If it works in this mode it should work in arcade resolutions too.
--- End quote ---
i got it close, but cant quite get it. i can get it to do 640x480 @ 120hz, but only at 256colors. if i go to 24 bit true color, it jumps to 800x600 @ 120hz.
is it worth doing this? will my mame games look crappy at 256 colors?
i did make a little progress on the cabinet today, but didn't get to take any pics. I got the power supply replaced, and after replacing a bad IDE cable, got the PC up and running. since this pc was in my other cabinet, it was already set up with mame and MALA. however since this is a vertical cabinet I will have to make some changes. I am working on a mala layout, but i'm just not quite happy with it yet. I need to work on the screen resolution things a little too. i planned on running at 640x480, but if i do that, the nvidia control panel won't allow me to rotate the desktop. it only works at high resolution settings for some reason. i'ts not that big of a deal really, but i would like ot have the desktop rotated to make administration easier.
i made a DK bootskin theme, but forgot to copy it off of my cabinet before i shut it down, i'll post it tomorrow evening.