My Mame Machine

[RnV_Arcades]

Acutually finished this about a year ago,
I stumbled across this forum while looking for info on keyboard controllers.


I thought I'd post some pics of my machine before my tale of woe....

The finished product, front and back view.
I used a 32" Sony TV and an XArcade Tankstick.
The controller is held on by a bicycle quick release.
The idea is that I can swap out the controls in a few minutes.






Here's a close up of the controls, and a shot of it slid into it's "home".
It fits into an alcove under the fireplace.



A couple shots of the construction phase.  It doesn't really have a frame.
Just a couple of 2x4's in the corners.




Now my tale of woe....

 
The circuit board on my Xarcade controller has crapped out after a year .

Despite the claims of having the world's greatest warranty,
it seems that the unit I have, it has no warranty.
The store I bought it from is not an "Authorized Reseller".

I'm extremely dissappointed! It's not like I bought a used one from a friend.
This was in new, in the box... unopened since it left XGaming.

They said they would sell me a new keyboard controller, and it would have a warranty.
But I don't know, the element of trust is kind of gone. 
I'm thinking that would be like throwing good money after bad.
I'm thinking of ripping the controller out of an old Fujitsu keyboard and rewiring it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So my questions are...

1) Has anyone else experienced problems with an XGaming warranty claim?

2) Has anyone else built a machine using an old PS2 Fujitsu keyboard controller?
     How well did it work?


Thanks.

[BobA]

Don't use a keyboard hack.  You already have quite a bit invested in your cab so go for an ipac or a keywiz controller.  You will not be happy with a keyboard hack in the long run.

X arcade does not have a great following here.   They seem to work but are not as good as your BYOAC type controls.   Best use is because they connect to so many consoles with their adpaters.   No knowledge of their warranty but I have some of their joysticks and buttons and they are at best average copies of real arcade pieces.

[Paladin]

Check out www.ultimarc.com and www.groovygamegear.com for a keyboard encoder.  I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend $30 for a well layed out encoder that's built specifically for arcade cabinet controls than spend the time hand wiring an old keyboard and have to worry about things like ghosting.

By the way, nice job on the cabinet and welcome to the board!

[RnV_Arcades]

"Don't use a keyboard hack.  You will not be happy with a keyboard hack in the long run."

Can you elaborate?  What kind of problems do you think I will I see?
 

Thanks

gvn

[smalltownguy]

I just finished my cabinet, and I considered a keyboard hack for a while. Here are the reasons I went away from that idea and spent $40 on a mini pac from Ultimarc:

• I hate soldering
• hitting extra traces on the keyboard circuit board
• the time it would take to prep & strip wires, crack open a keyboard, etc
• re-programming my emulator config files to the correct button mappings (more time)
• troubleshooting mechanical issues once complete
• worrying about shorting the 5v line in my power supply, and thus my mobo
• no programming flexibility (being able to 'shift' certain buttons for additional flexibility)
• Did I mention the time?
• solder connections working their way loose over time (more time later)

In the end, after much debate, I sprung for Andy's minipac solution. I was lucky to get ahold of of a complete set of buttons, switches, trackball, minipac, and wiring harness in a lot for sale on eBay. I can easily say now that I would have paid full price for the minipac and wiring harness, hands down. Having all my wire connectors ready to hook up literally saved me DAYS of time getting things up and running.

You wanna go hard core, you can still hack a keyboard. You'll get a certain satisfaction out of knowing you've completed the task yourself. For me, I appreciated the value of time saved and clean setup of being able to use a keyboard encoder.

There are other things I really enjoy about my minipac, but I don't want to run the risk of sounding like a commercial for Ultimarc. I just wanted to tell you that hacking a keyboard for your arcade machine is sort of like mowing your lawn with scissors. It's possible, and you'll get a result, but why not use a mower? There's a value to be placed on time saved and sharp results.

Okay off my soapbox now. 

[cmoses]

I agree with smalltownguy.  I got a MiniPAC fro Ultimarc because I did not want to deal with the all the wiring and soldering.  The MiniPac works great, is easy to setup and can be programmed with the Ultimarc software (ie have a shift button to use).  The only issue I can see you haveing to do is you might need to make some longer leads as the MiniPac's are only about 12" long.  This is easily done by getting some wire and some insulated male and female ends.  I had to do this on my cabinet.  The original control panel was from a NFL Blitz so it is about 34" wide. 

[dreamakuma]

As for the warranty, I have never faced a problem with them. I did have some slip-ups(i was sent an invoice for a controller replacement under warranty, but a quick phone call cleared it up, And i was thanked for calling so quick) so i still have confidence in the warranty.

[CheffoJeffo]

Unlike some of the others, I love soldering and don't mind doing the prep work on wires and boards.

I also don't worry about solder connections coming loose (presuming proper prep, solder should hold just fine).

And I wouldn't ever bother to hack a keyboard -- way too much effort required to map matrices/avoid ghosting and way too many potential issues for there to be a reasonable benefit.

[RnV_Arcades]

I've figured out a system where I scan in the keyboard mylar and then color code it.
This allows me to pick out the matrix pretty quickly.
I have done this and verified the matrix on the bench.
Here's a sample of my method:



If I don't go with a drop in replacement from Xgaming, then I have to rewire this thing any way.
So I might as well wire up the free keyboard controller and see how it works.
It should only be about 20 solder connections.
The rest will be crimp terminals.


Can someone please explain what they mean by ghosting?
I've played Mame on a standard keyboard, but haven't noticed any funnyness.

Thanks

[Ummon]

Hey, kudos for ingenuity, though I further stress the points made avoid, particularly cheffo's. Anyways, interesting cab. Slightly off the standard design, but clean and economical. It looked like a monster, so it's no wonder you used a 32" TV; now people really know they don't need to build internal frames.

[xmenxmen]

send me a PM if you are interested in the x-arcade encoder as I have one in a bag right now.  I gutted mine and put in 2 hack gamepad to interface the 360.  As for the trackball side, you can always hack a ms mouse since the x-arcade trackball is just a regular arcade trackball.

The main advantage of the x-arcade (at least 2 me) is multi-system support.  One interface that supports pc, ps2, xbox, ps3.  I had high hopes for it when I brought it, but now that the 360 has everything I need, it's no longer needed/used.

if you do intend to do it correctly and go away from the x-arcade, I do recommend the gpwiz.  I have built a few cabinet using that and it's one of the easiest and best.  The optipac from them is for the trackball.  Or like some have mention, a one board solution would be the mini-pac. 

[BobA]

Ghosting occurs when certain combinations of keys combine in the matrix to give incorrect key presses.  Keyboards do not have to worry about ghosting as only one or two keys are pressed at a time in normal use other than the three finger salute for windows.   Arcade controllers can have many different keys pressed a the same time due to joystick and button interaction and the double interaction of having another player.