Help with project

[Blacksmith]

Sort of a dilemma here.  Back in 2003 my buddy and I built twin mame machines.  He did all of the pc work and I did most of the wiring and cab build etc.  Over the years, I upgraded, tweaked, etc. to a point where the game became messed up and never was right again.  I ended up pushing it into a corner stating that I would come back to it and get it working again, but never got around to it due to endless projects.  When it was working, it was always a sort of hassle to explain the controls etc of the machine as it related to every game to anyone that wanted to play.  I have recently decided to try to get it up and running again, but have rethought the whole Mame aspect of it.  I am thinking that for ease of use I should make the game in to one of those multi cade machines that only plays 60 games.  Virtually goof proof for anyone looking to play it.
To give an idea of what my machine currently has:  Wells/Gardner D9200 monitor, trackball, spinner, 2-8 way joysticks and 1-4 way joystick.  Ipac, Opti-pac.
Just wondering how difficult it would be to convert this mess into a Multicade and what can I use that I already own?

Sorry if my description is a little hard to follow.  I would be glad to discuss with anyone that is willing to help.
Thanks.

[bluemini17]

its not to hard,

if you just re-wire the cp to standard jamma then you are set. you will no longer need the ipac. the 60in1 supports arcade monitors and also pc monitors should your wells ever die

[bluemini17]

just another note,

the 6oin1 can be powered by a standard pc supply, ie, molex connector. no need to buy a new arcade power supply. simply bridge the green wire and any black wire on the atx supply ie, pin 16 and black

[JDFan]

Rather than spend the $ to purchase one of those 60 in 1 boards and change the wiring etc. to set it up -- would be much easier to just rename your Roms folder to ROMS BACKUP or similar and then only copy the games you want playable back into a new ROMS folder (figure MAME will only show games that have the ROMS placed in the ROMS folder ) - SO if you only place the 60 games you want in the folder only those 60 will be playable but you'll still have the other back ups available if you decide you want to add one you miss. - You don't have to use all 20,000+ games just narrow down the list to those you want and only install them.

[Dawgz Rule]

You can also have a program like CPWizard display the correct buttons, etc.  I use GameEx with CPWizard and found all I need to do is point people to the Escape button.

[johnndeanna]

Going to something simpler is what I am after as well. I want this to be a source of playtime and not a source of frustration like my old one was.

[Dawgz Rule]

As it should be! 

[Blacksmith]

I agree with johnndeanna and Dawgz Rule.  I can appreciate an attempt to just stay with Mame, but I think I may be over that phase.  The whole pc thing turned out to be a nightmare for me even though I admittedly f'd up my system on my own.  Really think I just want the less is more thing.  Some times the game would be turned on multiple times during the course of a day for days on end.  Then it may not be turned on for months.  It became an issue for people that were not totally familiar with the game set up and buttons that had various functions. Too hard to explain to them.  People lost interest in playing.  People want easy.  That's kind of what I'm going for here even though I loved the thought of 20,000 games!
So here is my next question then:  Are there any issues with the monitor orientation that you guys would figure as being a problem?  Meaning that it's currently physically sitting horizontally in the cabinet.  Would you forsee issues with 60-1 board games?  Do they display vertically or horizontally or both?

[Dawgz Rule]

Can't help you with the monitor question.   I did do some searching and it seems like the boards are specific to either all horizontal or all vertical.   

[Blacksmith]

Ugh!  Can't win here!

[talkgeek]

I work in the IT industry so have no issues with using MAME (have done a couple of projects), but I agree with using the JAMMA multi-game PCB approach for both setup simplicity and easy of use for non-technical users; and is what i have used when been asked to build machines for friends and family.

There is some good general JAMMA information located here http://www.jammaboards.com/jcenter_arcade_cabinet.html 

and Jamma wiring loom / pinout information here http://www.jammaboards.com/jcenter_jamma_pinout.html & http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/JAMMA
 includes a good video explanation as well

in regards to screen orientation, from what you have implied, your screen is currently in horizontal format - if you want to use the ICADE 60-n-1 card you will have to rotate it 90degrees to work with the pcb (or purchase a horizontal multi-game pcb like the 19-n-1 or 355-n-1 etc)

re specific information on the iCADE 60-n-1 pcb http://www.jammaboards.com/jcenter_jamma_board_list.html

It is really easy, and there are lots of really good examples on this site - i'm also just starting to wire up my project right now (and at moment using this exact system) so will be upload some pictures later tonight / tomorrow (i'm using an off-the-shelf wiring loom, so is nowhere as tidy as other examples on this site  )

[talkgeek]

just a hint (made my life really easy when I did my first JAMMA project)

Printout the JAMMA pinout diagram (url in my earlier reply) and then sit down with your harness and write on the sheet the colours of the wires (when you start to connect them up it makes it faster and easier)

Most JAMMA harnesses come already divided (grouped) based on Player 1 / 2 cable groups, power and coin mech connections etc.. ..I can't believe I had refitted 2x cabs before figuring this out   

lay this out against the console / other parts of the cab before you start connecting up also reduces chances of getting it wrong.

Note: except for connecting to the power supply (if you choose to use a proper arcade PSU vs the ATX PC one) and power connections to CRT monitor (if you're not using a PC / VGA connection) you can wire the buttons / joysticks wrong and it won't wreck the pcb (of course it won't work properly either, but if you wire up the test and config buttons (black buttons in my pictures next to top of screen)you can go into test mode on power up and check all your connections are working correctly