Damnit..ok..so if I DO Try to build some controls.. ;)

[HeadRusch]

I'm still probably going to buy a slickstick, but now.........well........damnit, now I'm starting to feel like my manhood has been challanged

Actually I'm starting to think that I have a spare Pentium Pro 200 here which might make a really good "early 80's" retro coctail table system.

I saw one over on SuperMappys site and man if I didn't just freak out when I saw what he built.  Simple and to the point......and.......well, if you guys can tell me what tools I'll need...

I already have a drill (!) and some hole-cutting bits...what size would I need for the joysticks and buttons.  I can probably handle the wiring on an optipac and ipaq..........

And I have a spare 15" monitor that will make a nice vertical monitor (Uh, folks, how do I get mame to show the game in coctail/vertical format??

Anyhow.....damnit............great........another money pit

HELP........where can I find a gutted Cab in Connecticut???

[Smack]

You'll probably end up needing a router at some point...

I think I used 1 1/8 bit for the happs buttons/sticks...

Its a piece of cake to get the screen to rotate (just a setting in the configuration file. You may want to look into Advance Mame as opposed to the official port. It stretches games awesome.

Where in CT are you? I know of a guy out past Franklin, MA that has some stuff. Its where I got my cocktail cab.

Smack

[HeadRusch]

Central Connecticut, just south of Hartford.    A Coctail would be easier for me to start on since the scope of the project is alot less ambitious than a full upright.

Less controls, less to worry about.......plus a Pentium Pro should be able to handle the duties of most of those original games.  

Isthere a list somewhere of how many games run Vertical on monitors rather than horizontally?  

Plus I can use all this ancient computer hardware I have lying around!

And it would give me a good excuse to begin to experiment with BYOAC.
lets see...in a coctail.......4 way joystick.....4 buttons........spinner.....?? Hmmm...
trackball (would have to be small, perhaps PC mini trackball would be better)...

Yeah..
Yeah I can see now how addicitve this becomes...

[Smack]

After having built an upright and cocktail, I personally found the upright easier 'cause you've got more room to work with.

My cocktail was tricker due to limited space, mounting all the computer stuff wherever it would fit, making better ventilation + extra fans, not to mention that my monitor chassis didn't match up with the bolts in the cab. I had to switch the whole frame of my monitor with one that would fit and line up.

The old pentium should be OK if you use an old build of the original MAME port (.36 final probably) under pure DOS.

If you're willing to drive to Franklin, MA, I'll get you my cab connection's phone number. (Its on my desk at work)

If you go the 4way route, check out the T-sticks from ultimarc.com, They've got a switch that flips easily to go from 4 to 8 way. (Then you can get some 1942 crankin'!) I've got them on mine.

As far a list of vertical games, I think you can use mame.exe to generate one. (I'm not sure how.) You could poke around on mame.dk too.

Good luck, welcome to the obsession...

Smack

[Tiger-Heli]

Agree with what Smack said, I think a cocktail would be more challenging than an upright.

1-1/8 spade bit will work for buttons and joystick holes.  You can get by without a router, although they're handy.

Emuloader (front end)  www.mameworld.net/emuloader/ lists games by horizontal and vertical and you can sort on that column.  Emulaxian's Sortinfo utility will do it also, but I don't have the link handy, or I think there's a command in MAME that will generate it -listinfo, maybe?

Also remember that you can play horizontal games on a vertical screen, just not full screen.

[rampy]

Hey man, I'm in the hartford area too... (did you even check the other thread you started in buy/sell/trade?     )

I got my cabinet from Kevin from K & S Amusements.  He was in Manchester, but he's moved that warehouse to Enfield (That's how I got my empty cabinet for free... he needed to empty that warehouse by the end of the month)

His site is http://ksfamilyamusements3.hypermart.net

Here's the page where it looks like he is still offering gutted cabinets

http://ksfamilyamusements3.hypermart.net/19empty.htm

according to this page they are still free for pickup! *EDIT* (although don't seem to be cocktails, sorry)... he has a virtua racer sit down cabinet though for a real interseting project.

Also, when I used to live in romantic Willimantic (the heroin capital of CT) and I used to see a big dumpster in front of T & M distributors where they'd (presumably) smash up and dispose of old cabinets.  I'm not sure how BYOAC friendly they are, but if they are tossing stuff at a given time that you're calling.. maybe you can luck out... probably for a small fee.

To Smack... Does the MASS guy have multiple gutted cocktails, what's he want for them... wy wife will kill me but I think I'd like to make a classics only cocktail.

good luck HeadRusch,

rampy

Central Connecticut, just south of Hartford.    A Coctail would be easier for me to start on since the scope of the project is alot less ambitious than a full upright.

Less controls, less to worry about.......plus a Pentium Pro should be able to handle the duties of most of those original games.  

Isthere a list somewhere of how many games run Vertical on monitors rather than horizontally?  

Plus I can use all this ancient computer hardware I have lying around!

And it would give me a good excuse to begin to experiment with BYOAC.
lets see...in a coctail.......4 way joystick.....4 buttons........spinner.....?? Hmmm...
trackball (would have to be small, perhaps PC mini trackball would be better)...

Yeah..
Yeah I can see now how addicitve this becomes...

[HeadRusch]

Ah yes Willamantic...........back in the late 80's I recall going to a club there called The Populous Pudding, down in some old bank vault.  *sigh*...its a wonder I survived those years

Anyhow, thanks for the tip.  (Hehhhehee forgot about that other thread!), I'm pursuing some options!!!

Overall I don't mind driving to see whats out there.......I just want to find the right cab and work from there.....I've started to think that a 19" Screen Size might be more realistic, possibly making 2 cabs....one vertical, one horizontal........

[Smack]

The guy I got my cocktail cab from had 5 of them to pick from. 1 coors light bowling with a trackball on each side, a galaga type (the one I bought) and a few like the Donkey Kong Jr. types.

I was too lazy to haggle. I paid $100 for mine with the coin mechanisms intact (no monitor.) The plexi, etc. (worked good for a glass template) I figured for what I would have paid for wood and my time (and fingers) that was worth it to me.

The guy said that he always gets stuff in and to call and see what he's got. Just let me know...


Smack