JAMMA/MAME HELP??

[Chuck_]

Hey guys, My names Chuck.
I'm new to this hobby and shortly I will be attempting to build my first cab. Before I start, I have a question on something that has been confusing me since I started researching and I haven't been able to find an answer. I know MAME is an Emmulator and you use ROMs with it. What is JAMMA though? I found this 1940 in 1 JAMMA board which has games I want and could give me so many games to waste many hours on. I haven't found much information on JAMMA and there is heaps on MAME. My guess is you don't use a JAMMA board with MAME, but I really have no idea. I'm rather confused. What I have read seems to point to JAMMA being plug and play kind of thing, where you just wire it all up and it goes....sounds easy enough?
I guess what I'm asking is
1. What is JAMMA?
2. Which of the two is easier/cheaper?

Cheers, Chuck
P.S if some one has already asked this question, a link to the topic would be awesome. Sorry if this double up. I couldn't seem to find anything. Maybe I'm just a dodgy researcher.

[Le Chuck]

Hi Chuck_

JAMMA can be learned all about here and here.

The short short version is that JAMMA is a way to run many different arcade board sets from the same wiring harness/machine.  MAME runs ROMS that have been dumped from many of these boards. 

Your second question is terribly long and convoluted to answer.  If you have a Jamma cabinet it's easier to toss a board in and get rolling but if you don't you probably want to look at MAME. 

[Chuck_]

I'm building my own Cabinet, and my own control panel. I don't mind wiring stuff up, I'm used to wiring, I'm a security technician and wire up alarm panels almost daily so wiring and soldering stuff really doesn't bother me  I appreciate your reply and the links helped.

Cheers,
Chuck

[Le Chuck]

Either way you're going to be wiring.  No way around that.  Do you just happen to have a bunch of old JAMMA boards laying about or are you looking to start a collection?  If not then a MAME rig might be a good way to go to get started.  Later you can always wire in a supergun/jamma harness type deal. 

[Chuck_]

I was looking to use this 1940 in 1 board

and start with just one machine for now, as I don't exactly have much space as yet.

[Le Chuck]

That's great.  Please delete the link as links to those kinds of boards are prohibited by the forum rules.  Lots of folks use them but you just can't link it. 

[Chuck_]

Sorry my bad    -.-"
So, is it a good way to go? or just no? I only thought of that one because it seems like I just wire it all up in the Cab and it should be good to go...

[Le Chuck]

Building a jamma rig can be fun and rewarding but a lot of those boards have subpar performance.  I'm not an expert.  CheffoJeffo or some of the other seasoned oldsters around these parts are more up on which all-n-one boards are worth the cost of admission. 

[Chuck_]

 
Thanks for your help. Hope one of those guys can drop in and let me know.

[yotsuya]

Le Chuck, Chuck_. Chuck_, Le Chuck.

Welcome to the forum.

[paigeoliver]

Those 1xxx/2xxx in one boards are both jamma and mame. They are a PC based jamma board with mame installed. In general they are inferior to what you can put together yourself and are generally only favored by builders more concerned with time than quality. They are also, super bootleg, as not only the obsolete software (roms, etc) are bootleg, but the modern software (windows operating system) is as well.

[dekar24k]

Those 1xxx/2xxx in one boards are both jamma and mame. They are a PC based jamma board with mame installed. In general they are inferior to what you can put together yourself and are generally only favored by builders more concerned with time than quality. They are also, super bootleg, as not only the obsolete software (roms, etc) are bootleg, but the modern software (windows operating system) is as well.

+1

Stay away from those xxxx in 1 boards. You are much better off building your own PC-based cabinet with updated versions of MAME and romset.

[Chuck_]

Cheers for the feedback guys