Sega Blast City Revival - Done

[dgame]

I am now the proud owner of a Sega Blast City cabinet!

I found it very locally on craigslist and had it home the next day.

This is the first time I have ever seen a candy cab in person and I have always wanted one.

It needs a good bath.  I’m going to take it apart and give it a good scrub.

It is a Turkey Hunting USA that was a Bass Fishing.

It had the pedestal but I took it off and left it with the guy I bought it from.

I want to set it up with the two player six button curved  layout. Two U360s and Sanwa buttons.


The GOOD:

It is mostly complete.  I can’t spot any major parts missing.

The only lock I can’t get into yet is the coin vault.

It powers on, the marquee lights up, the power supply clicks, the monitor neck glows.


The BAD:

Monitor has screen burn-in.

The monitor board is ‘gooped’, a common problem where a coil leaks goo down and all over/under  the flyback.

Connected my JPAC to JAMMA harness. No picture.  Nothing.

Connected my AVGA card  to VGA port. No picture. Noting.


The REST:

I bought it for a low price and I factored in buying a new monitor since I saw the burn-in.

From reading online the ‘goop’ is not necessarily a death sentence so it may have life.


The QUESTIONS:

Which new Tri-Sync monitor should I get? 

Is the 27"/29" Makvision Tri-Mode a good choice?

I can get the Makvision brand new shipped for about $550.00

Is the Nieman 27” tri-mode still an option? How much does it cost?


Looking at the burn-in in the attached pictures do you think it worth trying to revive the monitor?

I’m going to try jumping Hsync and Vsync together and see if it comes back to life.


Thanks for any advice!

[JoeB]

Congrats on an amazing cab. Neiman makes great monitors but he sold his last CRT about 3 months ago. You can try and recap the monitor but you'll still have burns. If you want new or good CRT for cheap you can always try and repurpose a CRT from a TV with new chassis.

As for cab, what the heck is it standing on? A pedistool?

Good luck with the restore and enjoy! Restoration is 95% of the fun!

How much did you pay?

[dgame]

Update:

I scored a complete 27" Wells Gardner d9200 (27D9204) and an additional D9200 27" tube in the frame without the boards.

The tubes are in excellent condition. No burns or scratches.

The board of the complete one is a little dirty and I noticed that one of the caps on the board has a broken leg.

I haven't put any power to it yet.


In the pictures the cab is standing on the pedestal that I left with the guy.
It securely attaches to the bottom of the cab making it stand up height.
It has wheels just like the cab.

The cab and the monitors together cost me less than $400.00 delivered.

Thanks for the encouragement. This was an unexpected find and I am totally stoked!  

[404]

congrats on the cab. i was going to buy this cab over the weekend but i ran out of money. By the time i managed to get the money, you had already bought the cab.

[CoryBee]

I am sure the functionality of these types of arcades are up to par with classical arcade designs. But I really do not like the looks of the plastic frame on an arcade cabinet, it just puts me off on the whole experience.

[JoeB]

I am sure the functionality of these types of arcades are up to par with classical arcade designs. But I really do not like the looks of the plastic frame on an arcade cabinet, it just puts me off on the whole experience.

To each their own. Personally, I owned a woody and a candy cab and like my candy cab a lot more. Not only is the screen better (29" dual vs 25" 15k only) but the space is much better managed (huge bonus for big city living!!!)

P.s. the cab is not plastic. Doors are all metal, body is fiberglass .. Made same as the hull of a boat!

[CoryBee]

I not knocking it at all, I would love that thing 

Thanks for clarifying what the body is made of. Bigger screen is definitely a plus too.

[dgame]

Update:

I tracked down a working chassis for the d9200 so hopefully that will bring it to life.

I also ordered new 5575 locks and keys, a new blast city 2L12B control panel and screws, green/pink Seimitsu LB-35  balltops and green/pink Seimitsu PS-14-GN buttons, yellow Seimitsu PS-14-DN start buttons.

I’m going with the stock 2 player six button green/pink  layout. I chose Seimitsu parts as I read they are less sensitive than Sanwa but more sensitive than the Happs that I am used too. 
I also could get the solid color screw-in Seimitsu buttons from Japan, can’t seem to easily find them in the states.



The joysticks will be two Ultrastik 360s with standard springs and octagonal restrictors.  I made a fighter stick with this configuration and it works well for me.

I recently ordered everything so I am waiting for the parts to arrive.

By acquiring these parts, plus $hipping, the budget just went way up, but it should turn out nice.

I already got a non-working bill validator to fill the hole in the service door.

I’ve joined some candy cab related forums but I feel most comfortable sharing over here 

I have some tricks planned for power management and front-end control buttons.

PS: No new pictures as I made a deal with myself. I can’t work on breaking down and cleaning up the cabinet until I clean my apartment from top to bottom and setup my office/game room. 

Motivation.

[yakk11]

Update:

I tracked down a working chassis for the d9200 so hopefully that will bring it to life.

I also ordered new 5575 locks and keys, a new blast city 2L12B control panel and screws, green/pink Seimitsu LB-35  balltops and green/pink Seimitsu PS-14-GN buttons, yellow Seimitsu PS-14-DN start buttons.

I’m going with the stock 2 player six button green/pink  layout. I chose Seimitsu parts as I read they are less sensitive than Sanwa but more sensitive than the Happs that I am used too. 
I also could get the solid color screw-in Seimitsu buttons from Japan, can’t seem to easily find them in the states.



The joysticks will be two Ultrastik 360s with standard springs and octagonal restrictors.  I made a fighter stick with this configuration and it works well for me.

I recently ordered everything so I am waiting for the parts to arrive.

By acquiring these parts, plus $hipping, the budget just went way up, but it should turn out nice.

I already got a non-working bill validator to fill the hole in the service door.

I’ve joined some candy cab related forums but I feel most comfortable sharing over here 

I have some tricks planned for power management and front-end control buttons.

PS: No new pictures as I made a deal with myself. I can’t work on breaking down and cleaning up the cabinet until I clean my apartment from top to bottom and setup my office/game room. 

Motivation.

How many 5575 locks are on your cabinet?  Is it just the coinbox?  Or...?

[dgame]

The locks are on the service door, on the coin mechanism door, under the control panel, and on the coin box.

The coin box lock is probably keyed differently from the others.

[JoeB]

The joysticks will be two Ultrastik 360s with standard springs and octagonal restrictors.  I made a fighter stick with this configuration and it works well for me.

Let me know how that works out for you.  The U360 is based on the Sanwa JLW.  Most of these astro based candy cabs are designed to hold a Sanwa JLF.  The JLW is pin compatible with most USA based joysticks (Happ) - JLF is not.  JLF joysticks connect to the harness using a single connector that looks like a small molex connector with multi-pin.  JLW has a wire going directly to each switch rather than using a PCB.

JLF joysticks are also mounted very close to the nearest buttons -- too close for a JLW to fit.

Let me know if it works for you, I'd love to do the same.

[dgame]

I've been looking at the joystick diagrams and depending on how the bottom plate is it may be tricky. Par for the course in this hobby though.

I have the usual cadre of cutting and drilling tools to modify the mounts if space permits. We'll see how it goes.



Update:

The cab has a JAMMA harness hacked into the 001 JVS loom. The RCA stereo audio input was chopped, coupled, and joined to JAMMA mono.

I uncoupled the cabinet's stereo input wires and connected a long stereo 3.5mm audio cable. I plugged the 3.5mm cable in my laptop and turned on the cab.

Now it has amplified stereo audio and the volume control under the control panel works.

Only things left to wire-up are the control panel and the monitor chassis when they get here.

The video is VGA Cable, the U360 joysticks/buttons are USB, and now the audio is 3.5mm. 

[JoeB]

Now it has amplified stereo audio and the volume control under the control panel works.

I'm confused, what are you using for amplification? The sound card in your laptop??  If so, does that provide enough juice for those speakers? Search eBay for "mini amplifier lepai" that's what I use between the sound card of my PC + candy cab speakers.  Very nice and clean with no distortion (could get really loud too!)

Only things left to wire-up are the control panel and the monitor chassis when they get here.

The video is VGA Cable, the U360 joysticks/buttons are USB, and now the audio is 3.5mm. 

Cool.. please show pics once you get it. 

[dgame]

I'm using the cabinet's built-in amplifier and stereo speakers.

The way I got it was with the RCA audio (line level) inputs hacked off and combined into mono and connected to the JAMMA (mono audio) part of the harness.

I've read where this is a solution to get louder/better sound from JAMMA boards in the Blast City Cabinet.

Since I'm using a PC I decoupled the inputs and put a stereo 3.5mm audio cable in.

So now the cabinet can receive (and amplify) stereo audio from anything with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The laptop was just an audio source to test the rewiring I did.

The audio amplifier is inside the cabinet's power supply, and the volume control is under the control panel. This thing is loud.


Luckily the cabinet's speakers are still good although the speaker grills have been pushed in on both sides.

I'm going to try to tap them out and back into position when I take the cabinet apart.

I've read they're a pain to install (glued in) so hopefully the pushed in sections just snap back out and into place when I hit it with a wedge of wood or something.

[JoeB]

I'm using the cabinet's built-in amplifier and stereo speakers.

...

The audio amplifier is inside the cabinet's power supply, and the volume control is under the control panel. This thing is loud.

My SEGA NAC still has the original PSU inside, with the volume control + degauss button .. I wasn't aware that you can use the amp while disabling the rest of the PSU!  This is important because if you don't have a load on the PSU, while it's on, it will burn it out! (common problem with people running MAME in their cabs, and using the old JAMMA PSU to power some lights in the cab with no PCB.. the PSU's burned out!)

Luckily the cabinet's speakers are still good although the speaker grills have been pushed in on both sides.

damn, sorry to hear that.  Is it metallic? If so, it shouldn't be too difficult to fix.

[Paladin]

This is important because if you don't have a load on the PSU, while it's on, it will burn it out! (common problem with people running MAME in their cabs, and using the old JAMMA PSU to power some lights in the cab with no PCB.. the PSU's burned out!)

I've heard this as well, but I've been running my Blast City with a Dreamcast and Xbox 360 and haven't burned up the supply yet.  I swap between the consoles and PCB's and so far no problems.  I don't know if I'm just lucky, or if some switchers are OK with no load.

[dgame]

I don’t think the PSU load issue applies to the Blast City.

I have seen posts and videos of people with Xbox 360, Dreamcast, etc. plugged in straight to the VGA and using the built in PSU.

Forum member ‘clutch’ has MAME in a Blast City:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35810.msg1162634#msg1162634

Almost 1 year later . . .

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117213.msg1241673#msg1241673

For the NAC:

This person made a RCA adapter to get sound into the New Astro City:

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11017

Not all NAC’s have amps:

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?208224-Q-sound-from-RCAs-in-CPS2-boards-in-New-Astro-City

So the external amp solution may already be the best for the NAC:

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15075


The Blast City speaker grills are metal and looking at them closely they should be able to be knocked back into shape and place.

If not then it’s remove, reshape, and re-glue.

[Paladin]

I also installed an amp in my NAC (since sold). I did pretty much the same thing as that link, wire a connector to the speakers so I didn't hack the original wiring then added an amp.  Worked great.

[dgame]

Update:

After a good cleaning I adjusted the AD-81P coin selector (US 25C) to also accept my .984 BYOAC tokens using this guide:

http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/AD-81P_Coin_Acceptor

The AD-81P only needed the first three adjustments to also accept tokens.

The third screw is the trickiest to adjust but it ended up being about a 1mm move to the left for both US quarters and .984 tokens to be valid.

The adjustments should be tested with the coin selector completely level as I think the third screw is a part of the “Lean Stopper” that prevents acceptance of coins when the machine is tilted.

[GIZMOGAMES]

you gotta figure out how to wire that gun back up m8 lol
that would be awsome i love that control layout too sweet sweet as candy haha

[dgame]

I think the easiest way to use that gun would be to implant and AimTrack into it.

Though I am not keen on the LED bars and I don't know how the 3 feet distance will work with my setup.

So making the gun work isn't high on my to-do list. Cool idea though.  


Update:

I got the 'attempted delivery' slip yesterday, and my parts from Japan (control panel, buttons, locks, etc.) are waiting at the Post Office for me to pick them up.

Pictures later.

[GIZMOGAMES]

led bars could be placed at bottom of screen and top of marquee leave small holes for the actual sensors its possible and 3 feet is pretty good tbh worth a shot or at worst trade it for a darned good trackball its wth that at least
and ooops at least its at post office and not at customs "whistles dixxy"lol

[dgame]

From what I’ve read it seems you want the LED bar to be as close to the screen as possible.

I saw a video of how someone cut the bezel to install the LED bar.

I would have to source another bezel before I attempted that.

The Postman informed me that they will not leave packages anymore, so I have to go pick up anything that will not fit in the tiny mailbox.

Update:

I received the new Blast City control panel, buttons, locks, and keys.



The Sega 5575 key opens all the locks on the cabinet.  

I also received a complete (working pull) D9200 chassis.

The two new U360s were shipped recently so I am waiting for those.

It looks like the angled slots on the U360 mounting plate will line up with the joystick mounting holes on the Blast City Control Panel.

So it may turn out to be a drop in installation.

Blast city Panel:


JLW plate:


The ruler is on the edge of the holes and the diagram measures from the center of the holes.

Shift the ruler about 1mm up and 1mm left and the (84mm x 40mm) measurements are compatible.

[dgame]

PC Specs:

Intel E4500 CPU @ 2750 MHz (250 x 11)
MSI 945GCM5-F V2 (FSB 1333) Mother Board
2GB DDR2 667 (trying to get 4GB to work with MB)
160 GB HD (Have a 64 GB SSD to swap in for final production if everything can fit on it)
Arcade VGA 3000 (Thanks for XP x64 drivers)
Windows XP x64 (first time using 64 bit windows, so far so good!)
MaLa 1.7.2.0 front end
CabMAME64 v141

Update:

Since a hole has already been cut into the control panel for the ‘Start / Turkey Call’ button I decided to use a 3 in 1 button with a similar footprint for the Front End interface.





Press the Yellow 3 in 1 button to boot the PC and turn on the cab (smartstrip)

The machine will boot into the Mala front end.

Player 1 side controls the Front end.

Press either Player 1 start or the Green 3 in 1 to launch game from front end.

Press Red 3 in 1 three times to exit game. I modified the MAME source to on-screen prompt for two more presses when the red button is pressed. It counts the presses and Exits to the front end on the third press. Press Red twice to Quit Game, Press Red once to Quit game, Exit game. You have three seconds to press three times or the counter resets.

Press Red 3 in 1 once in Mala and the ‘Quit?’ appears.  Press Red again (no) to return to Mala, or press Green 3 in 1 (yes) or Player 1 start button (yes)  to exit. Mala is set to shutdown PC. The cab turns off (smartstrip.)

The coin mech works and accepts US quarters and .984 tokens.
Hold Player 2 start and drop a coin for Player 2 (coin 2) specific credits. Most games don’t need this.

Technical Stuff:

U360 #1:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 1 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player   1 Start and Green 3 in 1 Button (wired in parallel)
Button 8 = Red 3 in 1 Button

Green 3 in 1 Button = Launch game from front end / Player 1 Start / Confirm front end Exit
Red 3 in 1 Button = 1. Exit Game (press 3x) / 2. Exit Front End (Auto Shutdown PC which also turns off Cab, need to press Green 3 in 1 to confirm Exit)

U360 #2:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 2 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player 2 Start
Button 8 = Coin Mechanism Switch

Player 1 coin (coin 1) = Button 8 NOT Button 7
Player 2 coin (coin 2) = Button 7 AND Button 8 (Hold Player 2 start and drop in a coin. Mainly for Gauntlet 2p)

Yellow 3 in 1 Button = PC power Button to turn Cab on.

EDIT: Cleaning up the thread. GroovyMAME confirm_quit works for exit.

[dgame]

Update:

I received the two u360s and they fit the 'Licensed by Sega' Blast City control panel without modification.

All they need are eight ~1/4" long (~#6-32) machine screws and nuts to secure them to the panel.

The Seimitsu Balltop fits the U360 perfectly.

The top of the panel to the bottom of the balltop distance is ~25 mm  (~1") which I read is a good height for Japanese sticks.


Next up is the monitor. I got another hopefully good chassis on the way.
I have to test both chassis, then remove the existing monitor, and swap the frame.
First I have to prepare a safe work area for this part of the project.

[dgame]

UltraStick 360 with gree/pink 35mm Seimitsu balltops and Seimitsu buttons.

[sunnyp]

PC Specs:

Intel E4500 CPU @ 2750 MHz (250 x 11)
MSI 945GCM5-F V2 (FSB 1333) Mother Board
2GB DDR2 667 (trying to get 4GB to work with MB)
160 GB HD (Have a 64 GB SSD to swap in for final production if everything can fit on it)
Arcade VGA 3000 (Thanks for XP x64 drivers)
Windows XP x64 (first time using 64 bit windows, so far so good!)
MaLa 1.7.2.0 front end
CabMAME64 v141

Update:

Since a hole has already been cut into the control panel for the ‘Start / Turkey Call’ button I decided to use a 3 in 1 button with a similar footprint for the Front End interface.





Press the Yellow 3 in 1 button to boot the PC and turn on the cab (smartstrip)

The machine will boot into the Mala front end.

Player 1 side controls the Front end.

Press either Player 1 start or the Green 3 in 1 to launch game from front end.

Press Red 3 in 1 three times to exit game. I modified the MAME source to on-screen prompt for two more presses when the red button is pressed. It counts the presses and Exits to the front end on the third press. Press Red twice to Quit Game, Press Red once to Quit game, Exit game. You have three seconds to press three times or the counter resets.

Press Red 3 in 1 once in Mala and the ‘Quit?’ appears.  Press Red again (no) to return to Mala, or press Green 3 in 1 (yes) or Player 1 start button (yes)  to exit. Mala is set to shutdown PC. The cab turns off (smartstrip.)

The coin mech works and accepts US quarters and .984 tokens.
Hold Player 2 start and drop a coin for Player 2 (coin 2) specific credits. Most games don’t need this.

Technical Stuff:

U360 #1:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 1 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player   1 Start and Green 3 in 1 Button (wired in parallel)
Button 8 = Red 3 in 1 Button

Green 3 in 1 Button = Launch game from front end / Player 1 Start / Confirm front end Exit
Red 3 in 1 Button = 1. Exit Game (press 3x) / 2. Exit Front End (Auto Shutdown PC which also turns off Cab, need to press Green 3 in 1 to confirm Exit)

U360 #2:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 2 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player 2 Start
Button 8 = Coin Mechanism Switch

Player 1 coin (coin 1) = Button 8 NOT Button 7
Player 2 coin (coin 2) = Button 7 AND Button 8 (Hold Player 2 start and drop in a coin. Mainly for Gauntlet 2p)

Yellow 3 in 1 Button = PC power Button to turn Cab on.

I really like the idea of the 3-in-1 button.  I may put this onto my bartop to save on admin buttons on the cp. 

[JoeB]

Have you tried GroovyMame?

I find their XP64 drivers + custom MAME select better resolutions for the game than anything I can hack or hope MAME can select.  Vertical classic games (like pacman) actually show up great (with only a slight cutoff top/bottom) rather than showing up in 480i as it did with MAME/ArcadeVGA.

As a bonus, their drivers work with the ArcadeVGA and actually support more resolutions than Andy's drivers!

I was also looking over your blast CP (underside picture) it seems to have been drilled for the JLW's, hence why your U360's fit.  My CP (NAC) is drilled at the factory for JLF's; rather than 2 holes per side/at the corners, JLF compatible CP metal plates have only a single hole right in the middle of the bracket (i.e. only 2 screws hold the joystick in place - at 3/9 oclock positions)

[dgame]

sunnyp,

It should work out well. One hole = 3 buttons. I would not have cut it myself though.

JoeB,

Compiling GroovyMame64 v145 v146 right now. Should be nice. I didn't know about it before, thanks!



Update:

PC Specs are now:

Intel E8400 CPU @ 3060 MHz (340 x 9)
MSI 945GCM5-F V2 (FSB 1333) Mother Board
2GB DDR2 667 (ordered different 4GB to work with MB)
160 GB HD (Have a 64 GB SSD to swap in for final production as everything should fit on it)
Arcade VGA 3000 (XP x64 drivers)
Windows XP x64
MaLa 1.7.2.0 front end
GroovyMAME64 v145 v146

[BurgerKingDiamond]

I just got a Blast City myself and I'm trying to get my jamma boards working but am getting no sound (I'm using a jamma harness that plugs into the IO pcb on the side of the coinbox, but it's not the 001 loom).

There aren't any RCA cords inside the cab so I haven't been able to get sound either from my laptop or through jamma. Can you explain how I can get both? 90% of the time I'll be playing jamma stuff but I may want to hookup a dreamcast too.

[Paladin]

There might be a 4 pin plug for switching between amplified and non amplified audio.  See if you can follow the speaker wires from the JAMMA connector and see where they go.

My Blast loom is not the 001 either, but it worked fine for JAMMA audio out of the box.  It doesnt have the plug to swap between JAMMA or internal amp.  Rather than buying the expensive 001 loom I'm just adding the parts I need.  When I first got the cabinet I added RCA plugs to the amp for consoles.  I've got a picture on my website with an explanation.  I bought the pins from Andy at AGS.
http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/blast

I'm currently adding the power plugs for JVS games so I can remove the Dreamcast and add the Naomi I recently picked up.  The Naomi side of the plugs and pins I bought from Digikey, the pins for the Blast end came from AGS.

Don't forget the easy stuff like checking to make sure the volume pot on your game board isn't all the way down.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

you know, I was just looking at your site. I saw the part where you added the RCA jacks, thanks!

I'm not at home so I can't check at the moment but I don't remember seeing any plugs to switch for Jamma.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

There might be a 4 pin plug for switching between amplified and non amplified audio.  See if you can follow the speaker wires from the JAMMA connector and see where they go.

My Blast loom is not the 001 either, but it worked fine for JAMMA audio out of the box.  It doesnt have the plug to swap between JAMMA or internal amp.  Rather than buying the expensive 001 loom I'm just adding the parts I need.  When I first got the cabinet I added RCA plugs to the amp for consoles.  I've got a picture on my website with an explanation.  I bought the pins from Andy at AGS.
http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/blast

I'm currently adding the power plugs for JVS games so I can remove the Dreamcast and add the Naomi I recently picked up.  The Naomi side of the plugs and pins I bought from Digikey, the pins for the Blast end came from AGS.

Don't forget the easy stuff like checking to make sure the volume pot on your game board isn't all the way down.

are those special pins that I can't just buy at Radio Shack or something?

can you give me the pinout of those pins 31-34 that you mentioned?

[dgame]

My Cab had the Stereo Input wires for the amplified sound connected here:


From: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=800673&sid=da5f5d8bcb45ed113079e67ec7f945e4#p800673

The pins are numbered this way:
______
|33 34 |  
|31 32 |
|29 30 |
..........

33 AUDIO_GND (-)
34 AUDIO_GND (-)
31 AUDIO_L (+)
32 AUDIO_R(+)

It was wired for JAMMA mono so:

33+34 to SPEAKER (-) JAMMA
31+32 to SPEAKER (+) JAMMA

As a quick and dirty test  you could probably push the JAMMA speaker out wires into the audio connector and get some sound.
Turn the cabinet’s volume down first though.

[Paladin]

I wasn't able to find a US supplier for those pins.  They are called 'JST RA' pins.  AGS and Giz10p in England are both well known and good to deal with.  Shipping isn't as bad as you would think, and both are usually quick to ship.  I don't see them listed on the AGS website, although that's where I got mine.  I contacted Andy via email and he was very helpful.  
Here's a link to the pins on giz10p:
http://www.giz10p.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=239

By the way, my apologies to dgame for clogging his thread!

A little digging shows that Digikey does have a listing for the pins, although none in stock.  Only 2 cents each, but I don't know how many you'd have to order to get them to stock it.
http://www.digikey.lu/search/en/PartDetail?partNumber=RA-SC1290TR-ND

When I needed the 8 and 6 pin connectors for the JVS power they didn't have the 8 pin in stock.  I tried to order 2 and the website showed it would take 2 weeks to get them in.  I went ahead and ordered them and they did show up in 2 weeks.  Now they show over 2,000 in stock! 

I plugged in 1000 pins and the results showed N/A for a time estimate. I then tried 8,000 and it showed an estimate of 10/16.  I'm halfway tempted to order them and resell to folks in the US.  With the growing numbers of imported candy cabs I wonder how long it would take to get a return on the $183 'investment'.
Current exchange rate shows .14 each when ordering from Giz10p, so even selling them at .10 I'd need to sell 1830 to pay off the investment.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

thanks for all that info man, but I wouldn't drop $183 on those because I'm positive it would take you ages to resell them all.

[dgame]

Paladin,
No problem with posting things here as it relates to the project and often comes in handy.

Update:

I’ve spent some time tweaking the OS and software to play nice and do the things I want.

These are the features I now have:

1. I am now using Groovy MAME’s confirm quit option so now the red button brings up the quit menu and the green / player 1 start button exits MAME, same thing for MaLa. Quitting MaLa shuts down PC and cab (smart strip) and  yellow button turns it back on.

2. Recompiled Groovy MAME with source changes to NOT turn off the screensaver or power management. Not a problem in MaLa but I don’t want MAME to possibly burn-in on the CRT. The screensaver still will not come on over MAME, but the power management will.  Now my screen blanks on idle.
EDIT: In src/osd/windows/windows.c comment out lines 1538 and 1539 // if (wparam == SC_MONITORPOWER || wparam == SC_SCREENSAVE) // return 1

2a. But wait won’t your screen go blank when you are playing? USB joysticks don’t wake up the screensaver. I use Joystick 2 Mouse 3.20.5 which controls the mouse with the joystick, but the joystick still functions as normal. A side effect is the USB joystick can now wake up from screensaver and power management.  I assign all of the joystick’s buttons to Mouse X Button 1 click which seems to have no effect on my system, but will wake up screensaver / power management events.

Even though GroovyMAME does a good job at picking resolutions it doesn’t always make the best choice for me.
For these games I use the INI files to set the resolution.

 snd Next up will be tweaking the video modes with ArcadePerfect to hopefully match up the != 60Hz monitor refresh rates with the games that need it. 

Like what clutch did here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110487.0

The gamename.bat file will set the resolution and refresh rate using ArcadePerfect.

For example:

** First File
C:\MAME\mame.bat :

IF NOT EXIST C:\MAME\SETRES\%1.bat GOTO NormalRun

C:\MAME\SETRES\%1.bat
C:\MAME\mame.exe %1 -noswitchres -nomodeline
C:\MAME\SETRES\RestoreRes.bat

GOTO ExitRun

:NormalRun
C:\MAME\mame.exe %1

:ExitRun

**Next File
C:\MAME\SETRES\smashtv.bat :

“C\Program Files\ArcadePerfect\ArcadePerfect.exe” C:\MAME\SETRES\400x256x55.rsl

** Next File
 C:\MAME\SETRES\400x256x55.rsl

This file will be saved using the ArcadePerfect utility setting the screen to 400x256 with a ~55Hz refresh rate.
In theory this should cause the game to run a closer to 100% than 110% at 60Hz.

** Next File
RestoreRes.bat sets the resolution (hard coded) to whatever the front end needs.

This is all untested and I am just brainstorming here so I can refer back to it.

EDIT: Cleaning up the thread. GroovyMAME works, no need for fancy batch files.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

dgame, I also have to straighten out my speaker grills. It doesn't look like fun because you have to take the monitor all the way out of the cab to access them.

what a pain..

[dgame]

Yeah, from what I've read you practically have to take the cab apart to get to the speaker grills.

These are the directions I will use:

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?p=194650#p194650

[BurgerKingDiamond]

well I got my jamma sound working.

I took a look at a pinout for cn5 of the IO board online and the two pins right next to the four for line in audio were Speaker + and -, and they went back to my Jamma harness right where they should. So I knew that the harness was wired up correctly. It ended up just being problems with the particular board I was testing.

But I did learn what I need to do to get my line in working for my Dreamcast from this thread and Paladin, so it was worth the frustration.