branching out....i'm starting my own side business building cabs!..need help

[hulkster]

thanks for the contract drew.  i think i may print it out and show it to the lawyer guy my friend knows.  it may give him an idea of what im looking at.  however, this contract....what good does that do unless it legal?  i mean, i cant just write up something without it being official right?

[stevejt]

If you both sign it, it's legal.  As long as it does not break any laws designed to protect comsumers,(of which I am not familiar).

Steve

[stevejt]

Couldn't read the contract , I don't have acrobat installed right now, (new win install).  I am guessing the contract says clearly that no roms are included.  Unless already in there, it might be good to have the contract say that the buyer UNDERSTANDS that all roms are copyrighted property, and understands that the seller does NOT endorse any type of copyright infringement.  (Did any of you know that motion picture industry sued the original manufactures of the first vcr's that RECORDED, in the 80's?  They said they were CONTRIBUTING  to the piracy of VHS tapes.  The vcr manufactures won the case, but lawyers are expensive, and even winners LOSE the legal fees.)

Steve

[hulkster]

well im not charging any thing for the roms, but im going to be giving them to him.  so im not making a profit off them.  hmmm...whats the way around this?

[DrewKaree]

This was also brought up before - I believe 1UP was in on that discussion, but I don't think he was worried about the roms, the conversation just turned to something that brought him in a ton - if you can' t find it before I log on again, I'll see if I can find it

I don't have a clue as to getting around roms you don't own, but getting around it anywhere else seems to involve "I'm going to send money for Disc burning materials, and to have them sent back....whatever's on the discs when I get them back is not my responsibility"

THAT seems VERY shaky to me  Someone else will be able to chime in on this, I'm sure

Also, installing the MAME emulator on the machine has 1UP (or someone in that thead) in a quandry, and what's been (kinda) worked out is that we can distribute MAME freely, but not profit off of it, so you'd have to set up an install disc (like your Windows OS discs) to self install exactly how you want it to (folders set up properly, exe in the right place, etc) which would actually be exactly how you would have set it up before you sent it out ANYWAY, and set up the rom stuff (since you can't distribute roms with MAME) in the same fashion - as self-install discs that automatically install to the roms, snaps, artwork etc folder - whatever you choose to include.

In re-reading the contract I modified from Doug, I didn't check his original to see if he also has in there that the machine will be delivered with MAME installed, but I realized today that my modified version has that on there - I've got to change that.


What you're essentially doing is selling the cabinet, and throwing in any software required (not charging).  What you could do is when you deliver and setup the thing, you could then sit there and walk them through installation of the discs.  While not sounding fun, I don't see a way around that, unless giving them the discs, walking away, and telling them later after they've FUBAR the installation that now you're gonna charge 'em to "fix it". 

Oh, and I'm pretty sure there's some stuff in any FE you use that would require you to read all the readme's and perhaps get some permissions and whatnot.


Like I said, I'll link that thread here later if you don' t find it and link it first.

All this stuff is why I'm only gonna do a Jakk's bartop for family.  Other folks - I'll take the time to figure this out when I sell one.

Family's different - they expect to be able to call you at 3 a.m. and for you to RUSH !!! RIGHT OVER!!! OMG IT'S BROKE I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING EXCEPT TYPE C:\FORMAT DID I BREAK IT YOU CAN FIX IT FOR FREE RIGHT? 

Those other folks will either think long and hard before calling you when they're looking at a MINIMUM $70 "tech service"  or at least they'll have screwed it up enough to make it worth your time 

[stevejt]

I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING EXCEPT TYPE C:\FORMAT DID I BREAK IT YOU CAN FIX IT FOR FREE RIGHT? 

ROFLMAO

I few years ago I used sell computers from mostly spare parts to friends for a few dollars.  People used to do just like above and expect me to take care of everything.  Like moving the computer, and plugging the speakers into the wrong jacks.  They swear they didn't touch anything, until I notice it's in a different room...  Or crash it during an install, and say it crashed by itself, until I find a CD in the drive, and they say "oh that, it's nothing".  Yeah, "nothing" with a virus...lol  "I just typed format, THATS NOT why it doesn't work."  I love it.

Steve

[hulkster]

drew!!!  your awesome!  great advice once again.  that OS and roms install disc thing is a good idea.  ive never made a cd with an auto install before.  like, pop in the cd, and it auto installs all your files and puts everything in the proper place.  how do i go about doing that?  i was told about knoppix at one point, is that what i need to have?  thats on like sourceforge or something.  ive seen the auto install before, but never actually made one myself.  i definitely need something that will auto install the mame software and fe and stuff. 

oh...and one more thing if you want to help some more  ....

I NEED A NAME FOR MY BUSINESS!!  i dont want to copy off people like using Retro (something) but it seems like all the good names are taken.  i liked 1UP's name because its recognizable as an arcade sound/word.  i was thinking maybe going with something like a certain word associated with arcade games.  thoughts?

[lucindrea]

all you need is a file on the root of the cd ( thats the \ dir heh ) named autorun.ini that has the name of the exe or bat or whatever on it .. your best bet is to grab a cd you got , browse to it , open the autorun.ini in notepad ...

making that exe or bat is another matter .. if you can .. err .. afford it ( dont know if they even have a demo/trial ) wise installer is the most professional thing out their .. if you can do a little bit of scripting autoit is the next best thing ..

all you need is to have it copy some folders over and extract zome zip files to the proper place ..

another option would be to use ghost or one of the other disk imaging softwares out thier and just image a partition that you have compleatly setup allready at home onto a bootable disk ( ghost will create a bootable cd / dvd ) then use that as a image .. it's acctully not a bad idea to do this anyway and keep the disk in the cab incase the end user destroys the HD ( or just time and heat do it ) .. sort of like a rescue disk most computer mfger's include with a new system.

if you want to restrict the user from doing somthing like hooking up the cab to their network and getting a TON of spyware , disable all networking services in the os.

[DrewKaree]

that OS and roms install disc thing is a good idea.  ive never made a cd with an auto install before.  like, pop in the cd, and it auto installs all your files and puts everything in the proper place.  how do i go about doing that?  i was told about knoppix at one point, is that what i need to have?  thats on like sourceforge or something.  ive seen the auto install before, but never actually made one myself.  i definitely need something that will auto install the mame software and fe and stuff. 

There's a few programs out there to help you do it.  I haven't needed to use 'em for anything, but I'll drop you a PM with some links and you can be my "beta tester" 

I NEED A NAME FOR MY BUSINESS!!  i dont want to copy off people like using Retro (something) but it seems like all the good names are taken.

what was wrong with Old Skool?  Mebbe Old Skool Tools?     Insert Coin Manufacturing?     Player 1 Productions?

I'm runnin' outta ideas.  I'll drop you a PM for the autorun CD stuff.


Here's that other thread about the "what to do about roms and emulators on a cab you're seling"

[Hoagie_one]

cant you  just make batch copy commands in a *.bat file?  Have the autorun point to the batch file and youcan do it all in Notepad

[ray_slup]

How about the name " Mario & Kong - Still Token"

[xar256]

Instead of messing around with file systems, batchfiles etc...Try out either Norton Ghost or Power Quest Drive Image <PQDI>.

[DrewKaree]

xar, you know, I use DriveImage ALL the time, and NEVER thought of doing this!  That's an AWESOME idea! 

I have a few questions, though.

What happens if you image to a drive connected to a mobo that has more onboard options than the original you imaged, such as a NIC, video, or sound? 

[xar256]

This idea I've only used for restoring pc's that have not had any hardware changes.

[SNAAKE]

Hey hulkster little off topic but how did you make the roundy cut on the stop part where you have the monitor ?
And where exactly did you buy those speaker cloth ?
You did mention "online vendor" on your site but didnt see any link.And 4 pics on your site are linked to your computer's folder.I.E "file:///F:/web%20page/DSC00224.JPG".Might wanna fix those

[hulkster]

the roundy cut at the top of monitor was made by super ghetto techniques.  all i did was to take a spare piece of lexan, and bend it across the square top part of the monitor section and then i traced the line it made after i got it how i liked it.  yeah so basically i just held it in place by myself while i drew the line.  gheeeeeeeetto, but thats how it was done.

as for the links...i just tried fixing them, but my web site is through bellsouth and its not working.  i dont know whats going on.  i change the source where the picture is located, but it still doesnt work.  i even went into the html to try and fix it and for some reason, its still not working.  so oh well.  i dont get it.   

[zvar]

Drew,
On that contract you have there, it says "See attached list for games" when talking about which controller one would want.  Would you happen to have that list anywhere and willing to share please?

Thanks You.
Steven

[DrewKaree]

I hadn't made it up yet, but I was gonna use Sir Poonga's beautiful work to create the lists - check his profile, I think he links to his www. 

The reason I haven't created the lists is that it'll be specific to the version of MAME used.

I know that doesn't help, but it should help with finding the info I was gonna use 

I'm trying to assemble a set of v0.55, and I've been working on that first, once I do, I'll try to remember to post the list here.  Drop me a PM to remind me to do this - that'll always stay in my "things to remember to check" pile 

[DrewKaree]

Here's my incomplete-thus-far list.  It's got example lists for 4-player, Trackball, 4-way, and Lightgun games. 

I'm hoping that some folks will complete example lists for Spinner, Rotary Joystick, and Top-Fire Joystick games.

The lists I made are for version 0.82.  If there are games on those lists that aren't in v0.55, please let me know as well.