A Small Victory

So I guess its fair to say that in the world of MAME not everything (or anything) goes my way. Some things still remain true to this day, time and dedication seem to escape me with ease. Its not that I'm happy about it, its just what happens.
I had set a personal goal to complete my project for December. But like many of us the holiday season is a busy one, and if time was hard to come by prior...its harder now. So with that realization kicking me in the ass I said I would be done this project for January. I have a nice chunk of time off in December and in many respects very little to do on the MAME project. It really is a shame to let it sit there doing nothing since around September. There are many days when I go home and say "I'm not watching TV today!." It doesn't seem like much,but not hitting the sofa means I get stuff done. All I need is a few days to say, "I'm not watching today today" and make my way downstairs to work on the MAME project.

So where does that leave me ? What has been done ? Whats left ?

Whats been done ?

- Taking some advice I got from the good people over a www.cgcc.ca I was able to get my PC to boot right up into MAME. It was rather simple, take the .exe file from the MAME folder itself and drop it into your start up. When your PC turns on MAME should start right away. To make sure its there type "msconfig" & look under "start up."
This worked like a charm for me! However the PC is a little slow in going into MAME, but not enough to bother me. What I will do is clean up my desktop as it is visible for a few seconds. Make sure no icons remain on the desktop, and perhaps prepare a custom background (desktop image).

- I was able to pick up a 25/27" RCA TV with a s-video input. This is great as it would better resemble what was originally in the cabinet. It also leaves me my 19" for a possible cocktail project in the future. Even a smaller classic style cabinet. The problem however is my computer doesn't have an s-video output. When I tried a "better" video card awhile ago I thought the results were in fact worse then prior.

- I'm now seeking out a new yet old/used PC to run a different build of MAME on. Again thanks to the guys over at www.cgcc.ca I got a few different versions of FASTMAME. From what I was told/read/hear it helps to speed up some games. I know I found most Midway games (Narc/NBA Jam/Mortal Kombat) ran slow using my build of MAME. This could indeed fix that problem! I don't really want to mess with what Ive done on my PC, I'm happy with the set up thus far. However I think having the second PC could be a good idea. If it works better I would simply use it vs. my other machine. I also plan on adding a "better" video card with s-video out to this PC. If it does work better and the video card does what it should I can use it in connection with the RCA TV.

Whats left ?

- Still need to install the last 4 microswitches to joystick number two. Once that's done I can being to wire up the IPAC.

- Once the controls are fully wired Ill need to begin some testing. Just want to make sure everything works how it should before making the move into the arcade cabinet.

- Add monitor supports to the interior of the cabinet. Ive decided I would add my monitor supports to the inside of the cabinet and have the bolts visible on the side. I'm not going to add the expense of side art, so the bolts wont do any harm.

- Once Ive added the monitor supports (and shelf) I can install the monitor and cut the bezel.

- Now I take everything and put it inside, cross my fingers and hope for the best !

Where does that leave me ?

- If I'm lucky it leaves me with a finished product I can begin to use and enjoy on a steady basis. It leaves me with a little know how to help my brother and friend with their MAME projects.