Project J.A.M.A *working title* (Joust->mk2->mame)

[Beretta]

Project J.A.M.A (Just Another Mame Arcade) *working title)

CURRENT STATUS: idle due to time limitations, preparing for tube swap



starting with a joust cabinet that has seen several conversions, finally ending with mk2.
condition is ok, it's solid, although the base has some damage either from water or being moved around (feet are missing), back door will need partial or complete replace, top panel has some modest bubbling from water damage but should'nt be to difficult to sand and pant.

monitor atm is dead, and even if brought back will need a new tube it has HEAVY burn in, which was masked mostly by tinted plexi but is quite noticeable and serious with it out.

coin door is mostly gutted, no coin mech or holder, looks like it was the victim of a failed break in attempt, but should be savable should i get the rest of the parts for it, it's been stripped and painted once before you can see a smooth finish except in corners where you can see some of the old texture that was missed.

I'll be trying to gather the right combination of hardware & software first, im working on getting the controls ironed out & seeing what my options are display wise.

for the cabinets wood problems i'll be doing all the simple stuff first, the base will have ot wait till the end since i dont have space to do major work to the base right now, luckly it is still solid so there is no structural problems from what i can tell.

Project Budget: 300
Expenses to date:
Cabinet: 75 (25 for cab + 40 gas + 10 food long trip)
2 USB game pads: 9.95 (off ebay)
6 Foot USB Extension cord: 1.07 (Dollar store)
2.8ghz celeron cpu 7.00 (ebay)
512mb ddr ram 3.61 (ebay)
speakers 15.15 (ebay)
19inch zenith TV (for tube swap) 7.43
Subtotal:  119.21

Expected expenses:
Coin door: 30 i've since bought a few other cabs, one was a centipede with the same door intact but in very nasty condition im in the middle of refinishing it i wont be including it in the budget total since it's difficult to quantify the actual cost beyond refinishing which would have occurred anyway.
Happ Microswitch Buttons: 16
Led Lighting (marquee / coindoor): 20
T-Molding: 8
Video Amp OR PCI vidcard w/svidout: 20
Control panel: 20
Paint, Primer, etc: 20
Momentary contact buttons: 6
120mm Fans + fan guards: 15

Subtotal: 125
Total: 244.21

Project Goal:
2 8way joy sticks, 6 buttons each (may drop down to 4 depending on space)
the only plan on playing mame, although possibly some 8-16 bit consoles also but that will be an after though and will have no bearing decisions.

the idea is for it to be as clean as possible, no admin buttons will be present externally, mame exit will be a combination of keys, all other commands will need access to the coin door.

i'll be making regular edits to this post.

* = subject to change
TBD = to be determined

Cabinet Modifications:
1: add 120mm exhaust fan at top above monitor. add 2x 120mm intake fans on rear door (this may not be necessarily with the celeron)
2. create shelf for computer power supply + mobo.
3. add ethernet jack on back door
4. change toggle switch to momentary push button
5*: add casters to base
6: remove lamenet on side of cab.. [DONE]
im not sure if i wanna do this.. and im not sure how to without damaging anything..
the side panels have been covered with some sort of lament, im curious if the original joust side art is in tact under it.

the original artwork was under the paneling but it had been sanded down and is beyond saving, this leads me to

7: sand side panels, repair wood as needed, sand again, prime and pant.

Computer:
I got a 2.8ghz celeron off ebay, it's about the best i could fit on the board.
after some inital benchmarking the celeron is ahead on most games.. while other games it only on par with the 2200 & 2400 athlon xp.

i am a bit surprised as both the athlons win handly in most benchmarks,
yet the celeron is able to hold it's own and even win more often then not in mame, truly perplexing.

the celeron has 800mhz advantage over the 2400, yet the athlon has better performance per mhz which is why it handly wins most benchmarks outside of mame.

the athlon has a faster bus, 133 vs the celerons 100mhz, but the athlons effective bus speed is only 266 (133 doubled) vs the celerons 400 effective (100 quad pumped)

the celeron also has sse2, but i dont think mame makes use of sse1 or 2.
the athlon has more cache then the crippled celeron but i suspect mame must not be cache heavy so it probably makes little difference.

anyway what ever the reason it looks like the 2.8ghz celeron will be the system im going with, it's the most mame capable system i can throw together from spare parts.

the sad part is it's just a tad to slow to run some of my more liked games.. primal rage runs at about 90%, with dips down to 80%.. unplayable due to sound distortion.
killer instinct 2 plays boarderline.. in most cases 100% but some stages, spinal, tusk, it can be as bad as 80%.. KI1 plays perfectly though, and i prefer it over ki2 but it still sucks not being able to play it 100%.

tekken 1 wont play at full speed.. which is a shame since many of my friends and family like it although it's not my favorite fighter personally.

war gods is far outta reach as well

i've become interested in knights of valor 1&2 which with the right mame version combination play ok although i've not completed it those versions have it listed as imperfect sound/video, never versions have much steeper requirements forbidding their use.

im hopping SFIII runs although i did'nt get a chance to try it.

narc.. oddly puts up a tremendous fight probably due to it's long list of processors needed for emulation.. luckly this was well emulated early on in mame so a older version was able to run it at better then full speed.

so although it looks like i'll have to leave out a few favorites 95% of the games im interested in will play well on this system.

final specs are:
mobo: (HP/compaq) Asus OEM board p4g533-la
processor: 2.8 ghz celeron
memory: 512mb ddr(1), 256mb x 2, pc2100 cas2.5
video: ATI radeon 7000 (32mb) pci
hdd: 40gb

2ghz Celeron
Im still needing to bench mark different games on a few computers.
i have lots of spare systems but the 3 in running for this project are

1.
CPU: Celeron 2ghz (mobo is a asus made OEM for HP, onboard video, no agp, should accept up to 2.4ghz perhaps faster p4)
VIDEO: intel extreme video onboard, also have a ATI Radeon 7000 PCI
RAM (x2 slots): 256mb (DDR1), it's all the ddr1 i have currently can be added on later

Pros: extremely cool running compared to AMD chips i have for this project, Seems to play games i want pretty well although more testing is needed, has room for upgrading.
Cons: No agp makes it a pain, if i go with a TV i'll need to buy a PCI card with TV out.. all
my cards with TV out are AGP.

2.
CPU: Athlon XP 2200 OR 2400
VIDEO: geforce 2 MX, 4 TI 4200, or 4400 (all have TV out if need to go that route)
RAM (x3 slots): 512mb pc133

Pros: should be a bit faster then the celeron, have lots more pc133 ram then ddr1 on hand, agp slot gives lots of video options which i also have laying around.
Cons: athlons tend to run quite hot especially compared to the celeron.

i have some 20-40gb drives laying around so any system i use will have that in common.
a cdrom will be used for loading the OS, but will not be left in the cabinet.
i plan on using ethernet and usb flash drives for any data transport later.

Operating system*: Win2k
Currently im leaning towards windows 2000, however windows xp has not been ruled out i will load and benchmark on both before making a final selection.

Front End*: Mala
i've never used a front end on mame so i'll need to evaluate the choices out there, there seems to be quite a lot of them, my requirements are..
1. they can run different versions of mame on a per game basis, since i'll be using at least two versions of mame.
2. must be selectable using a gamepad

It appears mala will be a good fit for this project but is still open for change.

MAME*: Fastmame .84
Currently im planing on running fastmame .84
but i need other versions of fast mame, specifically .70 and the .9* series
i'll probably also be running newer versions of mame for less demanding games and neo geo.

if you have any version of fastmame other then .56 and .84 please let me know i could use them, the original authors website is no longer functional.

Display*: 19 inch standard resolution arcade monitor
the monitor i have looks to be dead, it will need some work even if with help i can get a picture on it.. the tube has heavy burn in.. so i'll most likely be either 1 swapping the tube, or 2. going with a TV, the TV is not my favored choice but budget constants limit my options, tv's can be had for free usually.

while i have not given up on reviving the monitor the cab came with i have since aquired 2 working 19 inch monitors, another WG 4900 (4906) and an electrohome G07
most likely the WG will be used, although i am having thoughts of modifications to fit a 25inch monitor instead, both 19inch monitors i have heavy burn in and really should have their tubes replaced.

i've since located a 19inch tv with good tube, i will be attempting the swap soon.

Audio: Cyber Acoustics CA-3080 2.1
I've used CA in the past i hae a set from about 7 or 8 years ago it's a 4.1 setup.. it looks like CA has changed their line up a bit, no longer make more then 2.1 setups and their sub woofer has shrunk from 4inch to 3inch.. still for about 15 bucks they look to be a good choice despite the small woofer the 4inch high excursion i have with a wooden box and downward firing, puts out some monstrous bass for it's size and has good separation of the low,mid,high freqz

nothing like the set of CA 4.1's i bought years ago.. apparently their cheaper sets are cheap for a reason now days. the power output on their cheaper sets has gotten pretty weak.. ended up being only 5.2 watts total power, can you say pathetic?

separation of low,mid,high freqs is also quite poor especially on the woofer, over all im not real pleased with them but may not beable to find a nicer set before finishing the project.. so im making them as easy to remove later as possible.

they're really not bad speakers for 15 bucks i paid, better then any other 15 dollar speakers out there.. but not what i expected.

Marquee: TBD
Lighting: i'll be going with LED to the max here for it's long life time and extreme energy efficiency & heat output.

for the marquee i will either be making my own line strip or going with the light bar from grovy gamer, from pictures i've seen of it though im afraid it will leave dark areas in teh corners so thats why im leaning towards trying to make my own.

design wise im thinking of going with a grid type pattern like that of the old sega master system boxs.

T-Molding: TBD
T-molding will match player buttons (except start)
Cabinet is currently black, have'nt ruled out painting it white..
Candidates for T-molding/button color: white, red, green, orange, yellow

Control Panel*:
Layout: 2 players, 8way + 6 buttons + 1 start

Joysticks: i have what i believe to be happ compeitions that came with the cabinet..
these seem good but i'll have to check'em out before keeping them.. they seem in good condition, i mostly like side scrollers and fighters

Buttons: i'll be going with standard happ concave microswitch buttons.
will select a color to match T-molding.

Construction: i'll most likely be making a NEW control panel the current once has a lot of holes in it, i'll be using a lexan or plexi protecto, im currently leaning towards 5/8 top + 1/8 plexi/lexan

no designs for a CP overlay.. perhaps a white grid like seen on the old sega master systems boxes, or i may go for a gloss black or white paint.

im also considering making the control panel about a inch taller to minimize the "lip" the side panels create on the CP.

CP measures roughly 24.5x6.5


Control Interface: 2 hacked usb gamepads
currently hacking some old playstation pads i have, i've already got PSX-USB adapters.
this may not be the final setup though.. as im thinking about buying straight USB game pads.. someone on ebay has 2 for 10 bucks shipped.. and i dont really need the analog sticks on this cabinet.

i've hacked 1 pad so far, the 2nd is a WIP.. it was a junk pad im trying to get working but am having intermitten problems with button presses even when im not.. namely the #4 button flickers.. i thought thi was a loose wire to the analog sticks but did not seem to help after fixing.

i will definitely be going with game pads though as this is by far the cheapest method i could come up with and superior to the issues with a hacked keyboard.

I ended up ordering the 2 for 10 on ebay, they came quick from NJ, cheap chinese pads, i would'nt play with them but for hacking they're great, very simple circuits, with lots of soldier points and easy to follow.. for the money you simply can't beat these, thinking of buying more for later projects.

the pads are ready to roll, the hacks went super smooth, much easier to hack then the PSX pads i was hacking.

proposed control layout:

i have attached a PNG of the proposed wiring, although it could change this is the currently planning.

once in finalize it i'll print it out and tack it inside the cab for future reference.
since im short on inputs i'll be using a mixture of good old fashion wiring and mame's "not" condition for creating a "matrix" style setup on some of the less important service controls.

player 1&2 = up,down,left,right, start, button 1,2,3,4,5,6 (11+11 = 22 total)
coin 1, 2 (24 total)
service coin 1, 2 (26 total)
service menu (27 total)

using 2 pads with d pad + 10 buttons = 14 x 2 = 28 total inputs.

i need a way to get into mame menu and also to reset the game, 2 ways i can see to accomplish this.

one way is to have a "mame" button and by pressing it down and hitting a direction on the joystick i'd get the desired command.. IE: mamebutton + up = menu, mamebutton + down = reset game

other way to do it would be to wire mamebutton input + another key directly to it's own button..

IE: (wired to the same button would be) mamebutton + player 1 button 1 = mame menu

another way to get around this input deficiency is to use a very simple keyboard hack.. indeed i had though of doing this for the cabinet controls, IE: coin1,2, & service buttons.

then mounting the game pads directly under the CP

[Beretta]

I'll be putting project log here, when ever i do something i'll try to document.

July 15th 2009: bought cab
July 17th 2009: inspected cab for project, montior is'nt working, and looks to be in bad shape, it also has heavy burn in.
July 21st 2009: taking advice, secured monitor chassis, and attached anode cap, monitor shows no signs of life.
Ordered 2 USB gamepads for hacking, the playstation pads would work but im gonna save them for something else since i dont need analog inputs for this project (delivery time 3-6days)
July 22nd 2009: Tested monitor chassis fuse, it's dead along with what appears to be a ceramic capacitor. was a degaussing wire thermistor.
Bought a USB 6 foot extension cord from dollar store, these are handy i'll mount it near coin door for easy USB access for keyboard/mouse/thumb drives etc.
July 27th 2009: The USB gamepads off ebay arrived a few days ago.. sitting down today i studied the circuit for about 30mins.. then did the soldiering it went very smoothly it's a cheap Chinese game pad, but this has made the simple circuits both easy to follow, and also easy to hack, will do the 2nd one later tonight. both pads have been successfully hacked, went smooth, i love how easy these was to hack, just need to mount them to a piece of scrap mdf i got, tomorrow i'll drill and mount them, but electrically im ready to rock, for 10 bucks and 90mins time you get 28 inputs 24 independent, and 4 matrix (d-pads are matrix u/d, l/r) how can you go wrong?
July 29th 2009: Mounted the 2 hacked game pads to a scrap piece of 3/8's MDF, i secured them using zipties and staples, which actually took some trial and error as it was hard to line up.. made sure they made the mounting process ok, all systems go.
was gonna use screws in the mdf directly for connecting the final run to the CP.. but decided terminal blocks would work better in the long run.. now i just need some to finish up the control interface.
August 5th 2009: did some quick gluing and clamping in various spots that are starting to split or separate, this project will go slower then expected i have less free time then i first anticipated.
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August 7th 2009: Places previously glued turned out good, they're holding nicely.. found another spot that was separating, so glue/clamped it, removed MK2 PCB's, testing out on a good monitor it turned out to be v2.1 in working condition.
August 12th 2009: Another round of gluing splits and cracks.. they're not bad but  best to take care of them before they become serious.. previous glues are holding very well though so im happy about that, im in the middle of attempting to refinish the coin door, i wish i had taken before pictures, so far i have all of the rear hardware primed, yes i had to paint the mech holders they was horribly rusted and removing the rust with a wire wheel worked well the rust would just return so painting was the only option i could think of, rust-olum clean metal primer for clean & lightly rusted metal it's suppose to stop the rust.
the door it self is giving a real fight the paint is so thick.. it kinda MELTS and gunks up with a wire wheel, so i'll be getting some chemical stripper to hopefully make the job easier, will finish with rust-oluem hammered black.
September 6th 2009: Although undocumented i've been working on refinishing a coin door that will be used in this project.. i wish i had taken before pictures, after tirelessly stripping, sanding, priming, and painting with more then a couple of set backs i believe i have finished a coin door.. the final coat of hammered black has been applied today.. i've lost count i think it was about 10 coats.. crazy i know but im happy with the look and feel on the door.. the frame has only seen about 4 coats im thinking of doing one more coat but i can't decide.. anyway i figure i'd give it a few days to dry before assembling. i now realize i still need to refinish the cash door at the bottom and also the pianto hinge on the CP, as well as the handle on the rear of the cabinet, although i suspect those will go much easier then the coin door, also of minor note it appears system benchmarking has been completed and finalized (actually nothing is final in this project) and i'll be going with a 2.8ghz celeron with 512mb ram and a ati radeon 7000 (pci).
September 12th 2009: Few days ago i took off the cash door, rear moving handle, and control panel piano hinge... all rusty, today i finshed up the rear moving handle sanded it down and put 3 coats of black hammered on it.. im happy with the results, next up is the cash door, saving the piano hinge for the CP last.. it's a bit bent and banged up so im not looking forward to straightening it out.. after this pretty much all metal hardware will done, need to get started on the CP soon.
September 18th 2009: speakers for the cabinet came today from ebay.. Cyber Acoustics model 3080.. im less then impressed first off you can hear a lot of high freqs from teh subwoofer, and the speakers are'nt very loud at only 5.2watts for the whole shebang it's pretty weak.. it's running off a 9v 700ma DC transformer.. i tore the speakers apart and got the model of the amp's in them.. there are 3 total all the same TDA2822 mfg by ST.. the paper on it says max voltage is 15, so im thinking of running the speakers at 12v off the pc's PSU.. that'll kill 2 birds with one stone, 1. solve the problem of powering them when teh computer is turned on.. and 2. the voltage bump up to 12 should increase the output of the speakers a couple of watts.
In addition i've also been working on the cash box.. i thought i had it done but it seems a few sponts on teh hinge is scraping the paint off when opening all the way.. im not sure how to correct this.. im thinking of using C-Clamps to try and bend the hinge out a little bit.. but doing so means wrecking the rest of the paint on the door and redoing it all.. i my settle for a black sharpie as the areas effected are pretty small.. disappointing for sure..
September 23rd, 2009: i've been working on mounting the speakers into the cab.. i decided to use some 1/4 paneling i had the idea is to mount them to it then mount the panel on the speaker board in the cab.. this is because the speakers are only 2.5inch, also the cab has 3 holes in teh speaker board then paneling will cover them up, unfortunately i've ran into a issue with cutting out the holes in teh paneling i need roughly 2.3-2.4 inch hole.. i dont have a hole saw in that size and my attempt with a jig saw left a lot ot be desired, i think maybe i need a router but im still doing research on them as im gonna need one that can fill several jobs not just trimming out a hole..
September 26th, 2009: Today i decide to take off the paneling on the sides of the cabinet, not sure what the stuff was the glued side reminded me of whiteboard material.
anyway i had been a bit torn i was afraid what i'd find under it and it did give a nice smooth surface for panting.. on the other hand there was a chance the original artwork was hidden.. the paneling was both screwed and glued and took some serious muscle & the use of a trusty puddy knife.. eventually i got both sides off.. disappointingly the artwork is well beyond saving it's been sanded down so badly you can see the wood grain in places not to mention it has glue absolutely covering the cabinet.
the wood needs patched up in a few places, sanded, primed then painted.
very disappointed about the art work but i think it's better this way the paneling stuck out past the T-molding and did'nt look very good anyway.
on the bright side it gave me some insight into the cabs past it has been converted to a sega title (most likely) and vigilante at one time.. oddly 1 side's vigilante sticker is intact and in good shape.. im hopping to save the sticker somehow.
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October 5th 2009: I completed the mounting of the satellites, i used some 1/4 inch board to cover up the previous holes where the speakers mount then cut 2 new holes in the 1/4 inch paneling the satellite speakers are only 2.5inch, im not really happy with the quality of these speakers but they will do for now, having them mounted on a board i should be able to remove them fairly easy later on.. i mounted them to the paneling by first lightly clamping them down to the board and then giving them a round of hotglue, this helps seals any gaps between the speakers and the paneling and they're on their pretty secure now.. i dont expect any problems. i still need to rewire the volume control and mount the subwoofer. on a side note im not having any luck with the monitor, i need 19inch tube for the swap and i keep ending up with 20inch tubes.. the 1 19inch i did get ahold of was not compatible so im basicly having to "wait" in the mean time im turning attention to the speakers, control panel and internals.
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October 13th 2009: Been working on various things, not having any luck on 19inch tubes.. anyway for the fan exhaust i decided instead of cutting holes i built a box to direct air flow out two already existing vents in the top of the cabinet.
this was a little more effort then just cutting a whole directly but it means it'll be easily reversible.
also using the vents already there means saving money on fan grills.. albeit that's only a few bucks it's a savings none the less.
I've also started on cabinets sides, i had taken off the paneling that was on it.. but that left some pretty serious glue behind. a heat gun and a puddy knife seems to work well but is time consuming.
I really want to get started on the control panel but i need to buy a router and some bits.
the piano hinge is the only metal hardware left to finish, but it is been very cold so i have'nt attempted to strip/paint, im hopping for some warmer days so im not forced to do it in doors.
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October 19th 2009: Finished getting off most of the glue on boht sides.. all but a about 6 inches at the bottom.. that'll have to wait till i can put it on it's side, fixed some more areas that was coming loose with glue.
i noticed a lot of chips and gouges in the wood, so it's obvious why they put the paneling on the sides.
i was examining the back door today and noticed something.. taking measurements the cabinet measures 1/2 inch wider in the middle then at the top or bottom.. after about 5-10mins of total *scratch your head* bafflement, i realized in several places (mostly noticeable by the monitor shelf) the cabinet is actually separated from the cross beams on the left side.. im a bit perplex on how to fix this.. i was thinking clamps but i dont have any 26inch's clamps , perhaps placing it on it's side and laying on it  
anyway the base needs serious attention, sooner rather then later today while shifting the cab around part of the bottom started to seperate.. it does'nt have any legs or wheels so somethign will have to be done soon.
I also removed the monitor to make the cabinet lighter and it had to come out anyway.
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October 20th 2009: laid the cab on it's side today, repaired back half of the left side panel, removed final 6ish inches of glue at the bottom, this is the first time i've really had a chance to inspect the base.
it's pretty bad shape.. it does look like it has some water stains for the first inch or so.. but i do not believe it is so severe it can't be saved.. it looks like at least some of the damage was caused to the bottom side panels because it has no legs, someone tried to put 2x4 blocks but 2 of those was missing and was even with the side panels so they really did'nt provide any support. because it was moved with no legs the layers of plywood of the side panels has started to separate, i've been fixing this with wood glue, some slivers of wood and clamps.
the right side panel is much worse then the left i'll get to that in a few days.
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October 21st 2009: repaired front portion of left side panel.
October 22nd 2009: tried to fix the cabs separation problem, it was difficult getting the wood glue into the joints because of the angle.. i tried using a rubber mallet to tap the monitor shelf into position.. it did not want to stay, i used a cargo strap to push the monitor shelf forward into position.. i then used a 2nd cargo strap to squeeze the side panels together.. this all took a good 20 mins and in my haste did not place scrap blocks on the edges of the side panel to protect it.. there was some apparent depression from the straps but wont know how bad it is till i take them off tomorrow, worse case scenario i'll need to fill and sand those spots the side panels are in pretty bad shape anyway. i also fixed a few other areas that had cracks or plywood layer separation problems.
i thought this would be easier to fix on it' side but now believe it would have been easier in it's up right position.
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October 23rd 2009: Well it looks like i lucked out on the cargo straps does'nt look to be any perm damage on the side panels edges but i didn't scrutinize them either, so i'll take a closer look once i get it up right again.
glues seems to have taken hold so i removed the straps then flipped the cab onto it's other side, i removed the glue from the final 6'ish inches on the right side, i removed the back door completely (it needs replace anyway), i also removed some of the grounding strap from inside.. im not gonna need it and it's actually in my way.. i finally removed the jamma wiring, nothing left in the cab now but the ISO transformer, i also removed what was left of the 2x4 legs the previous owner(s) had put on it, it turns out the right side panel's bottom is REALLY chewed up, i can fix the plywood's layer separation but it's also missing a healthy chunk out of the front.. not sure how to fix that exactly.
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April 31st 2010: Long time no update, project is'nt dead just slow, been busy with RL i found a 19inch tv in a junk store.
After some advice on the board im going to attempt a tube swap, the arcade monitors came from another machine.
I have'nt figured the cost of the monitor into the project because it's hard to quantify the real cost, the tv however cost 7 bucks.