What to do with a 25Khz Monitor ?

[AMIGrAve]

Hi all,

I'm really desesperated !  :(

I've bought an arcade cabinet a year ago and I really don't know how I can use the monitor that is inside. I have a Virtua Fighter cabinet (you can see the pic in attachment) with a Nanao MS8-26SU 25Khz monitor. I really like the monitor because it is huge and is working perfectly. The problem is that I can't really start my mame cabinet project right know because I have to do some work in my appartment in order to put my cab in it's dedicated place, anyway, as I'm impatient, I made a lot of search and I found that I'll have problem with my monitor because it's a 25Khz and then I won't be able to display most games in a perfect video emulation. So please, can someone tell me exactly why a 25Khz monitor is a problem for emulation, and what should I do ? If I use advancemame, will I be able to have a perfect emulation on my 25Khz or not ?

Thanks for your help.

[Ken Layton]

That monitor model is dual resolution: EGA (a.k.a. medium res) and CGA (a.k.a. standard res). Right next to the yoke connector on the monitor main board is a jumper plug that sets the horizontal scanning frequency from 24.83 khz (marked "high" on the board) to 15.75 khz (marked "low" on the board). Just move the jumper plug to the low position and the monitor will be set for standard res.

[AMIGrAve]

Yeahh! Thanks Ken !!

The access to the monitor board is not easy at all but I managed  to take some photos and one them shows exactly what you said High and Low plug, so I guess I can be happy !!! In fact, someone at sega told me that it was not possible on this monitor so it is a good surprise ! I didn't switched the plug because I don't know yet how I can output 15Khz from a PC so I think I'll go for an ArcadeVGA from Andy.
But I have still some questions:

1) Is there a way to know if an arcade monitor can support both 1volt and 5volt ? So I know if I have to order a VideoAMP with my ArcadeVGA.

2) Does someone here have a pdf or something with the manual of the Nanao MS8-26SU ?

3) If I switch now my monitor from 25 to 15 Khz and I power one, what will happen when the pcb will send 25Khz signal to the monitor ? Can I damage it ? Even if I power it only 30 seconds in order to check that the frequency is really changed ?

4) Can I get a voltage shock even if the monitor is unplugged since 1 day ?

5) I plan (from the beginning) to do this mame station under Linux, can someone tell me if it is preferable to use advancemame, even if I buy an ArcadeVGA ?

6) Is having a mame station as cool as I dream every week since 5 years ? :)

[jerryjanis]

5) I plan (from the beginning) to do this mame station under Linux, can someone tell me if it is preferable to use advancemame, even if I buy an ArcadeVGA ?

There is currently work being done in the following thread:
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=14551
to get modelines set up so that the regular xmame will work with the ArcadeVGA, but I think it's still very preliminary.  I am running Linux AdvanceMame with the ArcadeVGA right now and it's been a lot of work.  It's fun work, and it will get me away from Linux, but I aught to warn you - it's been said before, "setting up AdvanceMame is not for the faint of heart".  With the ArcadeVGA, using Windows to run the cabinet is a breeze.  With Linux, it's been a HUGE learning experience for me, and there are still bugs that I haven't managed to work out (how to get usb trackballs to work, for example).  I won't give up, though - if I have to program usb mice myself, then so be it.  I will use Linux for my cabinet.

6) Is having a mame station as cool as I dream every week since 5 years ?

Ha ha ha...  It doesn't mattter.  It sounds like you're in it for the long run in which case it's too late to turn back.  I love messing around with it all the time, so for me that's what really matters.

[Dak-ak]

I use linux.  It works.  Still haven't found a good FE, but I'm looking at some SDL C code to see if I want to just write my own.

[AMIGrAve]

Making the FE !  :)  This is what I'm waiting for since I bought this cab ! :)
Of course I don't want to use any of the existing FE, I want to make my own because of course it will be more that a mame station and I want more than what the available FE are offering :)  But I probably won't do it in C because it would take me a lot of time and for my purpose I would like to use an object oriented langage. I'll make my FE using python (pygame module based on SDL). I saw that a guy started a project called PyRecade and I also saw the CabFE project. I think I'll do it from scratch but I'll have a look at these projects in order to clarify some questions.

PS: sorry for my bad english

[AMIGrAve]

A friend of mine point me that the cable switch that you can see on the above picture could be the power voltage 120VAC (US) or 240VAC. I'm currently using 220V so he could be right. Anyone here who possess a Nanao MS8-26SU can confirm or deny this ?

[Dak-ak]

CabFe doesn't run on my machine... oh well...

Front ends are pretty easy as far as programs go... simple input, simple output... not a whole lot of real weird stuff going on...

BTW, nice to see some other people using linux :-)

[Lilwolf]

btw, my frontend JFront http://home.cinci.rr.com/drakewoodring/jfront.htm

its a java based frontend.  I've been hoping to get someone who uses linux to try it out for a  bit.  Its fully skinnable.  And it "SHOULD" work in linux.  Java being cross platform doesn't always...well... crossplatform perfectly.  

But if you take a look at it... I will try to fix anything you come up with (will probably be mainly \ -> File.seperator fixes mainly).

[Ken Layton]

Sega parts distributors can order the monitor manual for you. It's Sega part number 999-0317 for the MS8-26SU Nanao monitor.

I have a fair-to-poor copy of the manual and it shows connectors CN540 and CN541 which are marked as 'high' (med res) and 'low' (std res). Moving the jumper plug from one connector to the other changes the resolution. The schematic I have shows this monitor as operating only from 120 volts AC power source, however that doesn't mean that they couldn't have made a 220 volt version.