Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: DragonflyJones on September 23, 2015, 12:13:12 pm

Title: Building arcade cabinet with PC and PS3
Post by: DragonflyJones on September 23, 2015, 12:13:12 pm

I'm a complete newbie to building cabinets, and hardware in general but I'm building a PC/PS3 cabinet. It looks really straight forward to build a cabinet that uses either/or but when you want to use both it gets confusing. I want to use the trackball and joysticks for MAME games, which the IPAC can handle pretty easily but the MC Cthulhu seems to work better with PS3, though it doesn't support the trackball for MAME. Using both IPAC and Cthulhu would seem to be a lot of wires, if it can even be done. Any ideas on how I should approach this?

Title: Re: Building arcade cabinet with PC and PS3
Post by: DeLuSioNal29 on September 23, 2015, 12:55:59 pm

Hello and welcome to the BYOAC forums!

If you buy the Cthulhu, you won't need the iPac since Cthulhu can be wired to do both PC and PS3 (see video below).

As for the trackball or spinner issue, if you go with Ultimarc's U-Trak (http://ultimarc.com/trackball.html) or GroovyGameGear's Electric Ice-T (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=74&products_id=270), they are USB plug and play and do not require any additional interface boards (Note that the U-Trak has a USB2 board that you can add as an option when using the checkout feature when purchasing).

The same is true for spinners:  They have their own plug and play USB interface:
GroovyGameGear Turbo Twist 2 (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=86&products_id=268)
Ultimarc SpinTrak (http://www.ultimarc.com/SpinTrak.htm)

Also, take a look at my buddy Jason Slaughter's video he did on the Cthulu chip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGHFzaqD3cA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGHFzaqD3cA)

Hope this helps!

DeLuSioNaL29

Title: Re: Building arcade cabinet with PC and PS3
Post by: DragonflyJones on September 23, 2015, 02:30:57 pm

This is some great info, thanks! Just so I'm clear, what I'm effectively doing in this case is making a PS3 joystick that can also be used with a PC, and then I just setup MAME to use the controller(s). Or am I misunderstanding something? Also, for four players, I'd need 4 PCBs and four PS3 connector cables correct?

Title: Re: Building arcade cabinet with PC and PS3
Post by: ark_ader on September 24, 2015, 05:15:36 am

Get an xarcade.  Its cheaper.