The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: BLah247 on September 18, 2012, 04:04:18 pm
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Last August I posted about redoing my current cabinet. At the current time I was thinking of using my old Neon MAME cabinet and transforming it into a pedestal type design. Then I thought about maybe doing a Golden Tee replica for my new game room area. In the end however I felt some of the nostalgia would be lost if I didn't have it in cabinet form so my mission now is to return my cabinet to it's original (or better) glory.
I overhauled and reformatted my original NEON MAME site to make it easier to follow. I'll just do a contiunation to the site and track what I need to do to clean/fix this cabinet up.
http://blah247.googlepages.com (http://blah247.googlepages.com)
Item needing some assistance on-
Monitor- I previously posted about this and someone said I should use an IPS monitor, I assume for the viewing distance. Those aren't the cheapest and for being strictly used for MAME seems like a bit of a waste. I have a 24" wide space and would like to use the largest screen possible. What are the thoughts on using an LCD TV and just connecting the computer to that. How does that look/play on MAME? Just looking at the specifications on Amazon I should be able to do a 24-25" LED Television.
Thanks in advance to all the help this board has provided in the past!
(https://sites.google.com/site/blah247/mame/Cabinet.JPG?attredirects=0) Such a sad state of affairs!
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IMHO, LCD monitors are fine, although being widescreen you do lose some real estate on the left and right of the monitor. But on the other hand, if you went the extra mile and made it rotatable, a rotated widescreen monitor is great for vertical oriented games.
Just one caveat, I'd go with an LCD computer monitor over a TV. Reason is input lag (not to be confused with refresh rate); some TVs have really bad input lag (50-60ms) which can affect gameplay especially those requiring precise, rapid movements as most arcade games do.
Computer monitors have far less input lag. I measured my two LCD screens at around 10 ms apiece. Perfect for any gaming.
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I picked up an AOC 2436Vw 24" Widescreen HD Monitor (http://www.amazon.com/AOC-2436Vw-24-Widescreen-Monitor/dp/B002LITFYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348064238&sr=8-1&keywords=AOC+2436Vw+24%22+Widescreen+HD+Monitor) last night mainly because it was $129. It's a brand I've never heard of so I hope it ends up working out well.
I also found this on the wiki http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Power_Options (http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Power_Options) If I can get this working right then I'll be able to have the monitor, speakers, marquee light and side art lights turn on when I power up the PC... which I believe I can set up a key combination to power up. If not I can rig a power button from the case up the keyboard drawer.
One hang up I had on ordering the parts was that I can't seem to find the 12" NEON Speaker rings that I previously used. I did however find some LED strip lighting which will probably do the trick. My tentative plan is to mount it on the inside of the old rings. I also thought about placing the LEDs in the rings, not sure which will look better.
I'll update and post pictures probably later this week.
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I guess scratch that I thought this would take me a month. I'll probably have it finished in the next week assuming my cherry switches from HAPPS get delivered soon.
Here's where I'm at now.
(https://sites.google.com/site/blah247/mame/IMG_0375.JPG?attredirects=0)
Weekend goal is to get the CP back in and everything hooked up. I'll have to wait on HAPPS to get my 4 way working again. I cannibalized the switches on that to repair other switches over the years.
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Anyone have any experience with these; http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1QJXQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1QJXQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00)
I can get the power up to work, but when I shut down the computer, unless I physically turn off the computer power supply the other outlets stay hot. Is it something with maybe the ATX motherboard still drawing enough current when shut down to think that the computer is on? There's an adjustment that will effect both power up and power down.
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Anyone have any experience with these; http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1QJXQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1QJXQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00)
I can get the power up to work, but when I shut down the computer, unless I physically turn off the computer power supply the other outlets stay hot. Is it something with maybe the ATX motherboard still drawing enough current when shut down to think that the computer is on? There's an adjustment that will effect both power up and power down.
I am using one of these Belkin Smart Power Strip (http://www.walmart.com/ip/15120606?adid=22222222227000592800&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=&wl3=14098406470&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem) and it works like a champ. It sounds like you have some draw coming from the motherboard.
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Thanks. I'll tweak more with the dial setting on the strip. Next step would be to figure out why the motherboard is still drawing power when it's off. Might be a Bios setting or something like that.
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Thanks. I'll tweak more with the dial setting on the strip. Next step would be to figure out why the motherboard is still drawing power when it's off. Might be a Bios setting or something like that.
Check BIOS for "wake on LAN" or "wake on keyboard" settings.
Also, are you doing a full shut down, or just going into sleep mode?
Scott
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Was doing a full shut down. I finally got it to work after rebooting about 7 times. It takes very nominal adjustments. I'm probably going to extend the CPU power on switch to another push button switch I bought a while ago.
Anyhow finished it up and am overall happy with the results. Here's the final cleaned up and fixed cabinet.
(https://sites.google.com/site/blah247/_/rsrc/1348692389264/mame/photo.JPG?height=320&width=239)
(https://sites.google.com/site/blah247/_/rsrc/1348692062154/mame/MAMEphoto.JPG?height=320&width=239)
Not completely sold on the LED lights or the LCD but we'll see after I get some stick time on it.