My little brother has been asking me to make him a CP so he can play in his office or the living room. I know his wife, he will be in his office the most. This project is going to be a re-learning experience for me, my last "proto panel" that I built 10 years ago still isn't finished but its useable for the most part. The wood work isn't going to be daunting, just the software and wiring is.
I have been putting together a parts list. All the new fangled do-dads that have popped up in the last decade make me want to completely re-do my panel but my brothers money is much easier to spend
The fact that he has made me an uncle also makes this more desirable project. I don't want the kid growing up in a house with no retro, what kind of uncle would I be if I let that happen.
The plan:
-Update to newer Mame version (I'm still running 0.71
)
-Update my romset
-Install Mala
Purchase:
2x Auto Switchable joysticks (ServoSitks?)
My panel has 2 switchable T-Stiks and a dedicated 4way Ball top, guests are lost when they play it. The T-Stiks have never been switched other then by me.
Keyboard Encoder (IPac2 USB)
Do to the fact this panel is going to my brother everything needs to play nicely with each other and be simple so I think I want a KB encoder not gamepad.
2x 7 Player buttons (Arcade PRIME? Concave)
I hope they are like my Happ Competitions.
2x Coin Buttons (NovaGemCDR)
They just look neat! Probably wont be lit though.
2x Pl1 & Pl2 start buttons
2x Admin buttons (WHITE - STEALTH™ Illuminated)
I think these can be labeled from the inside for Pause & Exit but wont be lit either
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Now on to my concerns and questions.
I truly want this to be as simple for my nephew and brother as possible (the kid is still young and my brother isn't very sharp). Hence the auto switching sticks, KB encoder instead of game-pad encoder and just Pause and Exit on the panel. The computer my brother will be using wont be dedicated to Mame so just one Icon (Mala) to click and everything works is a must.
-Can this be done without things running in the background when hes not playing games?
Now I realize that the ServoStiks and the Ipac2 need USB to operate. I would love for the panel to have only 1 cable (back to that ease of use/dummy proof planning I'm worried about). I thought about adding a USB Hub into the panel but I wouldn't do it unless it was powered (to many problems with un-powered ones over the years) so that adds yet another cable to the mix. With a powered hub inside I guess I could lite up those Coin and Admin buttons though, but its not necessary.
-Am I not seeing a better solution?
-Can the IPac2 power and control the ServoStik control board?
-Mala can control the ServoStik right?
-Is there any reason why I should go the "DIY Auto Switching" stick route?
(pololu,servo, switchable sticks) seems like it comes to about the same price but more work.
He told me he did not want to go nuts with this (no graphics, acrylic, lights, t-mold) and to just paint it.. I told him it needs to be durable at least on the panel top but he wouldn't budge. Hell I am going to spring for them Coin buttons just cause I wan to see them. I might try and find a scrap piece of black laminate for the top.
-If I cant find something for the top, What paint would you use?
-You think a round-over bit for the edge of the top is a good idea?
Attached is the sketch of button layout. I liberated much of it from Nephs "2 Headed Beast" (Thanx Neph!) and just moved some stuff around a little, tightened up the spacing of 7 buttons a little also. Might still move the PL1 and PL2 buttons since this panel has a bit more room then Neph had. My brother loved Mortal Kombat so gettin that layout in here is kind of a must (he even liked the movie
) so this layout looks best to me. I printed it out to scale (PL1 side only) and it feels much more comfortable then my panels 2x4 +thumb layout (What was I thinking when I built mine
).