Let me first say that "saint" is offering up some webspace so the issue of a maximum bandwidth for viewing will no longer be a problem. Hopefully this will be up soon.....I will of course post the new website link when it is......thanks saint!
As for my post construction thoughts.....Hhmmmm.
- I only really started playing it so it is hard to say which control I like the best, although I am already hooked on Pole Position and Star Wars. I never played Star Wars before (can you believe it) so I have discovered a new game (joy!).
- I took my computer out from my standup cab to place inside my driving cab so I could get the driving cab completed. As a result, my main focus now is to buy the pieces I need (motherboard, processor and video card) to get another computer working for my standup cab so I can officially have an "Arcade Night at UncleT's" celebration.
- As for building the project, the construction lost it luster around the 8 month period. From that point thru the 10th month, I was just thinking "lets just get this done so I can have my garage back....finally". But since it is now done....of course I love it.
- Would I do anything different... this is kind of hard to say. I guess I would have maybe the shifetr panel be modular (ie: removable from the main shell, for easier moving/lifting. The driving cab comes apart in multiple pieces (each less than 28" high so I can still get them all through doorways in the future if required) but the main shell and shifter panel are one solid piece.
- I originally was going to do a gameport hack and simply rotate the control I wanted to use and plug it in so it would be active. However, 1up wrote me an email (in response to a BYOAC post) indicating the advantages of the MS Dual Strike USB hack. I went with hacking many Dual Strikes and love it. I have 6 Dual Strikes and one USB mouse hack active through one 7-port USB Hub at the same time and Mame so far has not had any problem.
- As for the whole project, I am pretty pleases how it turned out. When I started, I simply cut a hexagon shape out of MDF (guessed the size it should be) and then proceeded to make each mounted control panel side. This was as far as I planned. Actually, when the 6-panels were complete and rotating on the lazy susan, then I decided to think about how to mount it to a base.
As time progresses, I will give you updates. Gotta go for now.