Planning my first cabinet

[nobody]

Hello, a couple of days ago i bought the book hardware hacking for geeks and had a look at the project for building a MAME cab. Since then ive been trawling the internet looking for ideas and i reckon i know what im going to do but im still not 100%.

I already have a good pc that has been lying in the cuboard since it was replaced. I havent looked at the specs for a while but i know its an AMD athalon that runs pretty fast, has 256 DDR RAM, a decent modern graphics card and runs Windows ME. I definatly want to replace the OS and i have a never opened copy on 98SE lying about which ill almost definatly use.

At the moment im going to have a very basic layout, 2 joysticks (J-sticks) with 8 buttons each laid out in the same way as on the x arcade controlelrs. Im not sure what games you need 8 buttons for (im 17 and so the golden age of arcades was before my time) but i know im going to be playing alot of fighters. The control panel will also be on a hinge so i can quickly switch to 4 way when i want to play older games. For the interface ill be using an Ipac2 (if only for the fact im pretty sure the shipping charge from hagstrom will be monsterous as im in the UK). I also want to put in some pinball buttons but im not sure how many i need.

As for the monitor, im on a pretty tight budget so i reckon an arcade monitor is out of the question. Ill probably get a 21" CRT from ebay for about

[AlanS17]

I can't make any promises about finding one in the UK, but you should be able to find a 19" VGA universal mount monitor on ebay for about what you're willing to pay for that 21" in its case. If it's in the US, though, I don't know what shipping it overseas would cost.

[nobody]

I can't make any promises about finding one in the UK, but you should be able to find a 19" VGA universal mount monitor on ebay for about what you're willing to pay for that 21" in its case. If it's in the US, though, I don't know what shipping it overseas would cost.

maybe ill just save up and use a spare 17" comp monitor untill i can afford a proper 25" arcade monitor. Ill just build the cab with extra room, does anyone recommend a particular brand? Hantarex are down the road from me but if heard some of their monitors are rubbish

[AlanS17]

I've only heard bad stuff from them too. You can go ahead and start with a 17" monitor, but I doiubt you'll enjoy it. It's even smaller than the originals. It just won't feel right. How long do you suppose it'll take you to save up?

[nobody]

I've only heard bad stuff from them too. You can go ahead and start with a 17" monitor, but I doiubt you'll enjoy it. It's even smaller than the originals. It just won't feel right. How long do you suppose it'll take you to save up?

well ill be earning about

[markrvp]

At the moment im going to have a very basic layout, 2 joysticks (J-sticks) with 8 buttons each laid out in the same way as on the x arcade controlelrs. Im not sure what games you need 8 buttons for (im 17 and so the golden age of arcades was before my time) but i know im going to be playing alot of fighters.

I'm not a big "fighters" player, but I have read comments from a lot of the guys who are.

[nobody]

cool, thank you for that. Guess ill drop 1 button and use them for pinball.

[shodokan123]

fighter only cab should not have 8 buttons... waste of 2 wires 2 buttons and your time.