I know I have seen this on somebodies cab...

[Alcathiax]

Can't remember if the guy said it was a custom coded front-end though. What I am talking about is direct access emulator buttons. This person had a row of buttons on the cab that changed the front end emulators. aka...instead of in Mamewah doing 2 to get the menu and selecting a different emulator you just hit some other button that took you directly to ??Genesis?? or ??Arcade?? whatever...

Do any of the generally available frontends support this functionality?

[loadman]

You can't assign a specific Button to each EMU in mala but on the other hand you don't have to go back to a Menu to switch them either.

You can assign two buttons to switch back and forth between emu's however (see attached pic)

If that is of any use to you?

[unclet]

MALA also allows you to right click and select any configured emulator.....

[youki]

MALA also allows you to right click and select any configured emulator.....

AtomicFe can do the same kind of thing, you press on a defined cab button and a list of all configuration appear, you have just to select one to go into.

What I am talking about is direct access emulator buttons. This person had a row of buttons on the cab that changed the front end emulators. aka...instead of in Mamewah doing 2 to get the menu and selecting a different emulator you just hit some other button that took you directly to ??Genesis?? or ??Arcade?? whatever...

AtomicFe can do that, using scripting. It require custom script for each layout you will use, but technically it should be already is perfectly doable.

[Popcorrin]

I am pretty sure that )p(, the author of 3dArcade, made a custom build of his frontend for someone that allowed them to do what you describe.

[Howard_Casto]

It's not a hard option for any fe to implement, it's just not a very popular one. 

Most people don't want a big row of buttons on their cp. 

[Havok]

It's not a hard option for any fe to implement, it's just not a very popular one. 

Most people don't want a big row of buttons on their cp. 

Sure they do - check this guy's panel out:

http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/10.html

[Brad]

Mamewah also allows this function.

Brad

[gonzo90017]

Mamewah does this by pressing button 4 on your keyboard>

[Howard_Casto]

It's not a hard option for any fe to implement, it's just not a very popular one. 

Most people don't want a big row of buttons on their cp. 

Sure they do - check this guy's panel out:

http://www.wickedretarded.com/~crapmame/10.html

I think that kind of proves my point.  If you enjoy having a panel that looks like it could control the warp core to the uss enterprise then by all means, knock yourself out. 

[Brad]

Yup, that panel is a testament to complete stupidity. Talk about an eyesore and massive overkill.

Brad

[loadman]

Yup, that panel is a testament to complete stupidity. Talk about an eyesore and massive overkill.

Brad

Maybee the owner has a disability which means he/she is unable to use a normal keyboard?  ....Ummm   

[Howard_Casto]

While we are on the subject.... Who runs that site?  Would they be willing to have a "guest commentator"?  Although the prospect of giving me an open forum to give my totally unbiased opinion and the ability to use profanity in my descripitons scares even myself. 

[loadman]

While we are on the subject.... Who runs that site?  Would they be willing to have a "guest commentator"?  Although the prospect of giving me an open forum to give my totally unbiased opinion and the ability to use profanity in my descriptions scares even myself. 

That would be hilarious.  I enjoy reading your comments. You can be a  with your manor sometimes but I am a fan.     Let us know if you do

[DaveMMR]

Maybee the owner has a disability which means he/she is unable to use a normal keyboard?  ....Ummm

Why would they even need a keyboard?  It's an arcade cabinet, not an internet kiosk.... umm, unless it's an internet kiosk that also plays games.  Doubt it.  Basically, 99.9% of the time, you don't need a keyboard.  And for that .01 percent you need to do a little maintenance, you just plug in a USB keyboard and go to town.

While we are on the subject.... Who runs that site?  Would they be willing to have a "guest commentator"?  Although the prospect of giving me an open forum to give my totally unbiased opinion and the ability to use profanity in my descripitons scares even myself.

I think that guy was a poster on here for a while.  I read the thread where everyone started offering up their cabs saying "zing me".  I'd look for it but I'm a bit lazy right now.

But you should do your commentary.  I'd love to read your take on some of the...uh...less than spectacular projects.  You should dedicate one whole section to those people who've taken otherwise fine, classic cabs and Mamed/maimed them.

[Brad]

Yup, that panel is a testament to complete stupidity. Talk about an eyesore and massive overkill.

Brad

Maybee the owner has a disability which means he/she is unable to use a normal keyboard?  ....Ummm   

If that were truly the case I reckon it would have been mentioned on the site.

Brad

[Howard_Casto]

I thought of doing it for a while now, but I'm reluctant.  See contrary to popular belief I'm a rather nice guy and I don't enjoy hurting people's feelings.  On the other hand I've been around long enough to where I could literally write a book on what not to do to a cab and use byoac's project examples page to illustrate my points. 

[loadman]

Yup, that panel is a testament to complete stupidity. Talk about an eyesore and massive overkill.

Brad

Maybee the owner has a disability which means he/she is unable to use a normal keyboard?  ....Ummm   

If that were truly the case I reckon it would have been mentioned on the site.

Brad

Sorry, Just my Humour 

[DaveMMR]

I thought of doing it for a while now, but I'm reluctant.  See contrary to popular belief I'm a rather nice guy and I don't enjoy hurting people's feelings.  On the other hand I've been around long enough to where I could literally write a book on what not to do to a cab and use byoac's project examples page to illustrate my points. 

Well, I think there would be two ways you could really convey the message.  First, you could use real examples and throw in some postives with the negatives (using a more civil tone to convey why you wouldn't want to do what the example did).  Conversely, you could be brutally honest about the biggest mistakes made by cab builders but not mention any names. 

Honestly, the "do's" in making your own arcade cab outweigh the "don'ts" in this board, which is fine.  However, I think a "what not to do" article could be really helpful without coming off as condescending or preachy and without being hurtful to others.  Not to say I don't enjoy the Crapmame article (it's one of the most hilarious things I've read in recent memory), it just may be lost of some budding cab builders who are turned off by foul language or sarcastic humor (though, the bottom of this page should be required reading). 

I was actually going to write a little "Tips" section on my (under construction) project page outlining a couple of uncontested "don'ts", but I felt perhaps as I'm only on one cabinet, I may be a little unqualified for such tasks.  This idea stemmed (before I read the Crapmame sight) when clicking through examples I noticed a lot of people (a) got 'cute' with their button layout (three rows of twos, random scattering, and mirrored P1/P2 controls) (b) think that a cabinet should double as a sticker book and (c) go out of their way to build a cabinet and then, counterproductively, make it look less like an arcade cabinet with an overabundance of 'feature creep'. 

Finally, Howard, if you do do this and want some web space, I'd be happy to donate some.

[Chris]

I thought of doing it for a while now, but I'm reluctant.  See contrary to popular belief I'm a rather nice guy and I don't enjoy hurting people's feelings.  On the other hand I've been around long enough to where I could literally write a book on what not to do to a cab and use byoac's project examples page to illustrate my points. 

Some BYOAC'ers are sensitive but a lot would be happy for a good humorous skewering.  So a simple solution is to drop the victim potential example's owner a note asking him if he minds helping illustrate a point...

[Howard_Casto]

Eh... either I do it all the way or not at all.  I'm not a Paula Abdoul, I'm a Simon Cowell... if you can't sing there's isn't any reason to say how I like your dress cause what you really need to hear is that you can't sing. 


My thing is that there seems to be this hippie philosophy always floating around that "you can build it however you want because it's your cabinet".  Well I don't disagree with that, it's certainly true, but if you want it to actually look and function like a real arcade cabinet, then no, I'm afraid there is only one way to build it.  (The right way.)

The fact of the matter is I would HAVE to put a humorous slant on things via sarcasam and profanity because my view on how things should be done is so exacting that any attempt to make it "serious" sounding would have me come off as a know-it-all jerk.  (Not that the title doesn't fit, but people seldom take the advice of know it all jerks.)

[DaveMMR]

Okay I'm not as lazy today.  The guy's user name was "epthegeek" and he only made 8 posts to date.  Here is Crapmame's introductory thread.

And Howard, to be honest, I'd rather your commentary be of the Simon Cowell-type tirade with biting humor and sarcasm (because, as epthegeek put it, the cursing and comedy takes the sting out of the critism).  I only really offered up those suggestions because you seemed hesitant and I honestly think there's some honest-to-goodness advice disguised in all the "negative comments".  Heck, my first post was the "I'm going put 18 controls on one panel, YAY!!" comment and after all the well-deserved mocking, I learned a very important lesson that I haven't forgotten (don't believe me? look at my PA and see that I have only two joysticks on one panel - though I'm still jockeying two trackballs - on a seperate panel - for my 2-player Marble Madness fix).

Think of it as the "Razzies" (the opposite of the Oscars).  Some people actually enjoy winning them (Paul V~something. with "Showgirls", for example).  Perhaps start a site that's the exact of the Mameys, highlighting the opposite end of the spectrum of creativity.  Maybe you can even get a panel going (bring epthegeek out of retirement) to offer different takes. 

I don't know, just snowballing some ideas.

Man, stream of conciousness is funny - weren't we discussing a custom frontend?

[Havok]

Sorry, my fault - I dragged in the Crapmame site.