Post pics of your computers inside a MAME cab

[drpcken]

I'm getting ready to start working on my pc build and plan on just mounting the components inside the cab for easy access.  I'd love to see pics of the brilliant ideas you guys have had!

Post em if ya got em!

[gryhnd]

My upright cab simply contains a fully cased normal PC in the bottom (the wiring is neater than this early pic):



My cocktail-esque cabinet has a decased Dell GX-260, which is quite modular and was a breeze to install into the cab:

[Beretta]

what is that wire that glows made of? that would be nice for a inlay on a CP

[gryhnd]

what is that wire that glows made of? that would be nice for a inlay on a CP

That an extra long IDE cable for reaching the optical drive mounted in the lower compartment.

It came that way, pre-wrapped in EL (electroluminescent) wire.  You can by EL itself at place like frozencpu and probably newegg.

[javeryh]

What a mess...

[severdhed]

these pics make me not want to post mine.  the wiring is no neat and nice.

i dont have any pics of mine, but i'll try to take one this evening when i get home

[Beretta]

what is that wire that glows made of? that would be nice for a inlay on a CP

That an extra long IDE cable for reaching the optical drive mounted in the lower compartment.

It came that way, pre-wrapped in EL (electroluminescent) wire.  You can by EL itself at place like frozencpu and probably newegg.

ya i know about EL wire, did'nt think it was that bright..

so did it come with a driver box? or did you have to supply that?

[drpcken]

Wow these look great.  Everyone seems to be using those smart power strips, which was exactly my plan as well

[Hogie1418]

Is there an advantage to de-casing the computer?

[javeryh]

Is there an advantage to de-casing the computer?

You pretty much have to in a cocktail cabinet otherwise I wouldn't... unless you are saving money by not buying a case or something.

[severdhed]

it just seems like taking the easy way out if you just stick a pc in there in it's case.  you go to all of the trouble to build/convert a cabinet, make a custom control panel...to just set a PC in there seems lazy.    even if you don't do an amazing job of making everything look need and organized, if you mount the pc components to the inside of the cabinet, it just looks more authentic somehow.

[Malenko]

this is my old cab, no pix of the new one yet.

[Ginsu Victim]

The Rise and Fall of ECW in the cab, eh? I love that DVD.

[Beretta]

Is there an advantage to de-casing the computer?

both advantages and disadvantages with using a case.

case pro's:

1. components are physically protected & secure.
2. less work to mount (although if you move the cab you need to take the case out or secure it somehow)

cons:

1. in general you'll see lower temperatures without the case.
2. case add's weight to the cab.. this is only a concern if you move the cab with in.
3. unless you have a case already it will increase the cost of the project.
4. increased diminsions.. in some situations as was pointed out a case sipmly wont fit.



in my opinion there is little reason to keep a full case in the cabinet.. and like was said i think looks a bit more "sloppy"

[Jack Burton]

Not gonna post a picture of mine out of embarassment and because I don't have a picture.

But mine was just a skeleton PC case that just sat in there.  Not tied down or secured in any way.  The cab was heavy enough that no amount of wrenching on the controls could shake it.

My wiring was equally shoddy.  Just I just left the back of the case off and had a power cable coming out for both the PC and monitor.  The monitor power switch was always left on so you could turn it off by unplugging it.  I plugged it into a power strip and used the power button on that for it. 

The PC I had to reach inside the coin door, which I left unlocked and with no coin mechs, and turn it on by pushing the button on the front of the case. 

The ipac connected directly to the PC via PS/2, and I used a wireless usb keyboard and mouse for other functions. 

A PC speaker served as an amp and fed audio to the cab speakers.  I snipped the wires to the speaker itself cause I didn't like the way it sounded mixed with the cab speakers. 

My cab was pretty ghetto.   It's torn apart now while I play with my new presentation monitor. 

[mj147]

My cab with pc case installed. I do have the side panel off.



Back has plenty of ventilation so no problem of overheating.


mj147

[gryhnd]

ya i know about EL wire, did'nt think it was that bright..

so did it come with a driver box? or did you have to supply that?

It's not super bright (I used a tripod and a slow shutter speed), but it's respectable.  It comes with a transformer Or inverter...whatever it is) and plugs into a spare molex.

Is there an advantage to de-casing the computer?

For me it was a matter of space. I wanted the PC out of the way so that the lower compartment of the island was as open as possible.  Without decasing it would not have fit next to the big monitor.

[DaOld Man]

 

[sealslayer]

My pc is on display at the bottom of the cabinet thru the door so its had a little more work done to it than most.

[CheffoJeffo]

It ain't pretty, but this rig has now been in 3 different cabs, so I can't complain about durability or portability...

[Beretta]

It ain't pretty, but this rig has now been in 3 different cabs, so I can't complain about durability or portability...

interesting, thats similar to what i had in mind for my project.

although im gonna try to make it modular for easier swaps.

[Minwah]

Mine is built onto a board which can be disconnected and slid out...

[Yvan256]

Here's the inside of Micro-MAME with the top/back panel pulled down.

Don't search for the hard drive, it's a 512MB IDE Flash drive connected directly into the 40-pin IDE connector of the mini-ITX motherboard. It's the little black rectangle above the memory module.

[drpcken]

Here's the inside of Micro-MAME with the top/back panel pulled down.

Don't search for the hard drive, it's a 512MB IDE Flash drive connected directly into the 40-pin IDE connector of the mini-ITX motherboard.

I've heard of that.  I'd love to know how you configured the software on that

[Yvan256]

I've heard of that.  I'd love to know how you configured the software on that

The first step is to NOT use Windows. 

[Sosetsuken]

I've heard of that.  I'd love to know how you configured the software on that

The first step is to NOT use Windows. 

Whilst I don't use windows as my desktop OS, Windows is a great OS for emulators > N64.

Windows XP nLited, is an extremely good Arcade Cab OS, easy to configure, supports everything from NES to PS2/Gamecube.

As much as I dislike Micro$oft and their OS, you can't deny XP is ok, and the million+ emulators makes XP the best arcade OS.  Running as an Arcade cab, i've yet to experience XP crash or stutter (apart from EMU Errors).

Linux/Unix are probably the best OS's i've ever used.  But to the mainstream, Microsoft is just so infected that that's what the majority want/develop for.

Sosetsuken, runs Fedora 11 X86_64, FreeBSD, MacOS 10.6 Snow Leopard and Microsoft Windows 7

[Yvan256]

As much as I dislike Micro$oft and their OS, you can't deny XP is ok, and the million+ emulators makes XP the best arcade OS.  Running as an Arcade cab, i've yet to experience XP crash or stutter (apart from EMU Errors).

Except that for low-end hardware such as the VIA C3, VIA C7 or intel Atom CPUs, a multitask and swapping OS isn't the best idea IMHO, hence my use of MS-DOS/FreeDOS and Flash-based storage for arcade emulation.

[danny_galaga]

view from one side:


and the other side:

[MameMaster!]

My Mame Invaders™ and Cocktail cabs--

[bradx]

i have a laptop sitting on a tv tray in mine

[Shortbus]

view from one side:


and the other side:

hey, totally off post, but did you post the creation of your coctail pictured here, I like the looks of it and I'm currently researching to build one, any plans? let me know. thanks...very nice guts there, organized bigtime.!!

[severdhed]

here is the PC mounted in my DK cabinet...