Yes, sound the trumpets and strike the band 'cause Dad has finally found the time to start a new project!!! This project will be a relatively long-term, probably over the entire summer project as it's big. Yes, I said big. I mean big as in large, heavy and very, very bulky. This project will require all kinds of skills to complete: woodworking, electronics and computers. Have any idea what it is yet? Give ya a hint: Yes my friends, I'm building a Mame cabinet! I've been wanting to do one of these for years, but something always came up or I could never find a source for decent cabinets. I don't have the time or tools to build one myself, but after a bunch of phone calls and a trip to the bar with friends I found a local place which deals solely with arcade machines and has a bunch of empty cabinets that he will sell me for $50. In fact, he has an old Centipede cabinet (see pic below) which he said is in pretty decent shape. Only thing is that I'm going away this weekend and he's on vacation next week, so I can't pick it up until the 11th. Oh well, that's okay. Centipede cabinet: Parts I have on hand and what the Mame cabinet will consist of: > 18 pushbuttons (more on order) > 2 8-way joysticks (a 4-way is on order) > Book to assist me along the way. Yea, I know that I can get most of that info online, but it'll be easier to reference the book while in the garage. I haven't decided on which pc to use, but I have: > PII 450 with 256Mb RAM and > AMD XP2100 with 512Mb RAM I know that the AMD will be serious overkill, but will be faster. The main problem is I'm not sure how the Mobo will work with DOS and will most likely have to load Windows. The PII will be fine with a DOS Mame system, but won't be as fast. I need to purchase: > A keyboard encoder like the I-Pac or the KeyWiz. > Stuff to restore cabinet. TBD. > Monitor. Not sure if I just want a big ole 19" monitor or a real arcade one. Problem with the arcade one is that they are >$200 for a 19".. My #1 biggest problem is what to call the project. I'm thinking Bit-Mame, Dadcade or Bitcade. Any suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Well, that's it for now, will post more as parts arrive and are picked up EDIT:: Changed title to "Project: Loose Change"
i got a mame emulator and super nintendo emulator. but running them on a old 366 mhz celeron comp but that's good enough for me. The pII is powerfull enough for that lol good idea for a name
I think I'm liking "Project: Loose Change"... I wish there wasn't already a Retrocade out there. That's the perfect name..
Love the idea, should be very cool. I'm kinda tempted to do one myself but don't really have the space for it, and it probably wouldn't get used a whole lot.
Damn, stuff's arriving REAL slow... I got the 13 DVD's in with the games Hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday I'll get to the arcade place to pick out a cabinet.
Dos will run fine on the new hardware might be overkill if your not emulating a more modern console though!
I know it'll run fine, I'm just worried about driver support... I'm kind of thinking of using the new hardware with a stripped down XP install which will boot using a mame gui instead of explorer.
nice, i got all my roms too a while back. still looking for a cabinet tho. first i need to buy a home.
subscribed.. I got all the bits to start making one of these but its been on the back burner for the last few years... happ controlls is a good place for replacement buttons n stuff.. also are you using an arcade monitor or a tv?
Nice project - i'm in the middle of building a X-Arcade style arcade contoller as I havn't the room for a arcade machine (Wish I had.... ). Are you using a ipaq or hacking a keyboard for your control interface? If your set on using WinXP, go with the ipaq as it offers so much more than hacking a keyboard contoller like asigning keys to any button and the software to build your control panel, then change it in-game using a shift key. Give us a update
