Wiring Dreamcast to Arcade monitor

[Claiborne]

Is it possible to cut the connector off a VGA cable (running from an properly hacked vga box) and solder the appropriate wires to  a Jamma Finger Board and get the Dreamcast video to run through the JAMMA harness? Thanks.

[Dave_K.]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=37411.msg509282#msg509282

[Claiborne]

Thanks,that does help. I do have 2 more questions though. My Dreamcast VGA box requires me to use a standard monitor cable from the box to the monitor. So it has individual grounds for R,G,B do I twist all three grounds together and solder them to the same ground point? Similar to the way the Horizontal and Vertical sync lines are twisted and soldered to the same point?

Can anyone recommend a small cheap amp kit for the sound? I would rather not hack computer speakers like was sugested on one of those sites.

Thank you all for your help.

[Goz]

Thanks,that does help. I do have 2 more questions though. My Dreamcast VGA box requires me to use a standard monitor cable from the box to the monitor. So it has individual grounds for R,G,B do I twist all three grounds together and solder them to the same ground point? Similar to the way the Horizontal and Vertical sync lines are twisted and soldered to the same point?

Can anyone recommend a small cheap amp kit for the sound? I would rather not hack computer speakers like was sugested on one of those sites.

Thank you all for your help.

Twist them together...

For the audio amp although a bit big the SA-155 works really well. You can pick them off ebay like this one for about $30 or so.

Hope this helps,

-Goz

[Dave_K.]

Actually you can just use pin 10 (sync ground) as your ground wire to the monitor.

As Goz stated, search for SA-155 on ebay, its the easiest way to go for stereo sound driving 8ohm speakers.

[Claiborne]

OK I think I got it now,but let me clear it up before i go soldering. I will cut of the connector on the monitor side of a standard monitor cable and solder these wires to  corresponding places on the fingerboard: Red,Green,Blue (pins 1,2,3) the Horizontal,and Vertical sync (pins 13,14) twisted together, and Sync Ground (pin 10).

So I can skip the R,G,B ground wires (pin 6,7,8). or should I twist these together and ground them on the fingerboard. If I do need to ground these 3 pins do I do it where I solder pin 10 or anywhere on the fingerboard.

To sum it all up I just need to be sure which wires out of the 15 I need to have connected to the fingerboard.
Thanks,sorry if I am making this more complicated than it need be. I want to wire this up tomorrow on my lunch break.


Does anyone by chance have the picture (I can't remember which thread I saw it in or if it was even on this board) of the Madness VGA box which show which pin six was inside (I believe it was the yellow wire). I would like to add a switch to the box in case I want to use 31kHz again.

Thank you all so much.

[Dave_K.]

I hope you are not solding to the pins on your monitor!  Just stick with pin 10 for ground for now, should work fine.  If not, you can always splice the other rgb grounds together and connect at a later time.

Here is the pic of the gameware madness box (BTW thats the same pcb as the blaze vga box). 
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=9451.msg70785#msg70785

[Claiborne]

NO, no soldering to the monitor all soldering is being done onto a fingerboard. I think your answer about the ground was all I need to get me going. I will wire it up at lunch and take some pictures after work. I will let you know how it goes.

That is the exact picture I was looking for!

Thanks Dave_K you have been a big help.

[Claiborne]

Looking a my monitor cable it is a 15 to 15 pin. Will this matter as long as I connect the correct wires at the right places on the fingerboard?

[Dave_K.]

Looking a my monitor cable it is a 15 to 15 pin. Will this matter as long as I connect the correct wires at the right places on the fingerboard?

Well you may want to make sure you lop off the correct end, the end that does not sit into the DC-VGA box.  You may also want to use a multimeter to ensure the wires you solder are the correct ones mentioned above (since you no longer have the end on there to tell you which wire is which pin).

[KDOG]

Is this a good vga box to use

[KDOG]

or is this one

[KDOG]

bump need help

[Goz]

I have used the second one you pictured to do it.

Same one I have in my Aero cab.

[KDOG]

Thanks goz  that was the one I was probly going to get. It ship from u.s. the other would be shipping from australia.

[Claiborne]

I got my Dreamcast running in my New Astrocity. Thanks Dave_K. for all the help. Here is a short video of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 running on it.

Hit the "click here to proceed button" before the first page loads or you will get an ad for some randon BS (sorry about the crappy file host)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=717PRO2P

Video was done it a hacked CVS camcorder but I think it shows up fairly well. It looks great,except for some geometry issues on the monitor that I will adjust in the morning. I will get some better pics tomorrow for anyone else that is doing this kind of project.

Now all I have to do is wire the amp (I am using a Sonic Stage T-Amp), and controls that I got from HarumaN (thanks again!). If anyone else is doing this I cannot say enough good things about the quality and prices of HarumaNs work.

Better pics and videos to follow soon. Thanks again to all who have helped.