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1st timer, newbee question.

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granty:
Hi,

I am very new to all this 'build an arcade cabinet' project stuff.  I am however in my 30's and have spent many happy hours playing the old arcade games, I have MAME32 on the PC and enjoy playing them there but without the control panel it's not the same.

Just wanted to ask a few question, I am going to attempt to build a Full cabinet at some point in time but for the time being just assemble the bits in a corner of the garage to see if they work.

I currently have a 17" CRT monitor, an old PIII processor + mobo, AGP rage pro video card, PSU 40GB HDD.

I have read that MAMEWAH is a good option for a front end to the rom's? - is this true or is there a better alternative. - On a more general point (I guess I need to the section on how to hide Windows) do these finished cabinets actually startup like the old 'uns or do you actually see windows and then have to navigate manually to get the Emulator fired up ?

As for the control panel, I am assuming that you cut the end of a keyboard and then rewire this to buttons / joystick pins (or have I got the wrong end of the stick??)

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I am extremely keen but am slightly stuck to know how to actually get this project started.

Any help very very welcome

Thanks

Paul.

Kaytrim:
Take some time and paruse the threads here and get Saints book.  There is a lot more then just cuttin' the keyboard cable to connect the controls up to your PC.

TTFN :cheers:
Kaytrim

shardian:
Buy and read.

Ha, I beat you Chad. ;D

The book is your best bet on getting up and running fairly quickly.

Arcades R Fun:
Hello,
Congratulations on finding this web site!  ;D
While you are waiting on the mail to deliver Saint's "Project Arcade" book go to the Wiki located on the bottom left of this site page. This is a great starting point for info on "BYOAC".

Here's the link:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page

4Aaron GE:
Hey Granty.

I'm a bit of a newb too, but I can give you a bit of direction

Some people have thier cabinets configured to automatically go straight to the emulator on startup, other people have a hotkey that sends the computer into sleep mode, and the computer just starts where it left off (in the emulator).

For the control panel, don't just use the end of the keyboard.  Most people here would recommend getting an ipac from Ultimarc.  A regular keyboard hack results in a LOT of headaches.


I'm sure someone more experienced can give you a more in depth explanation of this stuff/correct what I got wrong.

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