New Monitor In The House .....

So more of the same for myself. The wedding takes up just about all the free time I have. Its not often I even get time to watch a movie, let alone get downstairs to spend hours of something that the wife hates. Funny how life works out like that!
My dad had/has an older 25" RCA TV that he is going to part with,however when he decides to do this is the big question. Oddly he finds it totally fine to have his 50" Toshiba projection TV sit in the dining room! ( I don't get it! )

Anyway I was able to pick up three SONY PVM-2530 monitors for a great price. Not to mention they were delivered right to my door for an extra $25. That was great as it would have taken me about an 1.5 hours each way to get them, and would have cost me more then $25 in gas! (SWEET)

These monitors are HEAVY! I think they are about 116lbs each. They have an S-Video input on the back which is great. I can wire them directly from the PC video card right into the S-Video. And thanks to "altcharacter" over at CGCC I'll be picking one up today.

On Friday with a friend of mine I did make sure the monitor will fit into the Dynamo cabinet. It will be tight, but it will fit. I had to remove the trim that holds the bezel in place,but I will reinstall it when the monitor is in place. However I do think the placement of the monitor will be difficult. I say that more based on the overall weight of the item. I don't care if I have to cut a new bezel, in fact the bezel that came off the cabinet sucks anyway. I just think moving around this 116lb monitor in a tight area will pose some unique challenges. None the less this (along with installation of the new video card) is all that remains for the MAME project to be completed.

I must say that is an exciting thing, I was surprised in some ways I was able to pull it off. It was daunting at first, but I think I learned allot. I even think had I made this a priority it could have been done way sooner. Nothing was really that hard. I think 2 months of solid weekend work could have done the job. But whatever it took I'm excited. In June after the wedding I will finish the basement which has been a dream since I got the house. I'm excited for the auction next week (March 28th). I had wanted to pick up a Showcase cabinet, but I think space wise it simply isn't a wise choice. But now having these two other Sony monitors a few more cabinets couldn't hurt! (I'm sure the wife will see it otherwise) Id also like to a cocktail cabinet, I have my 19" PC monitor that I could use in that. I've picked up another IPAC so I have to do at least one more project !

A New TV

So the holidays have come and gone, as is my vacation. Not much was done on the MAME project, but really not much is required. Ive completed all needed testing, the IPAC works fine. My instruction cards have been designed and should help fist timers to navigate MAME. My Dad is still going to give me the old 25" RCA TV he has, but we haven't moved things around. For some reason he is stalling............I dunno why!
He has a new (for him) 50" that my little brother gave him and a 43" that I gave him that needs to get moved upstairs. Once that's done I can scoop up the RCA and install it. Once that's done it will be a little bit of work, installing it,lining it up,cutting the bezel,etc. I don't think it will take much, just need to make the time. Overall again I'm happy with the progress of the project. Its really come down to just "finishing touches."

Whats Left ?

So with the controls done and out of the way my MAME project is nearing completion.
It seems every so often you have a plan and it never pans out the way it should. The plan for me was use the 19" CRT monitor that I have sitting around in my arcade project. It was small and a 25"-27" is more true with what was contained in the cabinet when I got it. I didn't have the TV and the video card I used provided me with less then stellar results. Then my dad tells me he has that 25"-27" RCA I could have. That was a major plus,but as is my PC doesn't have a means to send the picture to a TV. Then there was the issue that some games don't play on my MAME machine. From what Ive seen in my testing Midway games (NARC,NBA Jam,NFL Blitz,Mortal Kombat)don't play at full speed. One of the guys over at www.cgcc.ca said I should try FAST MAME. Now ....... I'm a guy who thinks "If it ain't broke don't fix it!." That's the way I feel about my existing system. I have the controls working well, a bunch of my favorite fighting games seem to play fine, why should I mess with that ? So that got me thinking, Id like to do a bar top MAME or even a cocktail MAME in the near future. So why don't I pick up a new PC, add a video card with S-Video out and try FAST MAME ? I decided I would try that. I'm not in the process of trying to get another PC to do a second full MAME install. But then another issue, I just picked up a 50" Panasonic Plasma TV on boxing day. I think id love to use the plasma as a monitor, and use the new/old PC as a means to stream movies and free online PPV. Ah the struggles, what do I do, what do I do ? For now no answer.

DONE! Well Almost . . .

OK remember I said I would be done the MAME cabinet for January ? Well I'm still working with that as my deadline. I've completed the wiring of the IPAC and everything "seems" to work fine. Ive been testing games every now and again in MAME.... but I find I keep going back to Street Fighter II: Rainbow .....
When I'm not playing SFII:Rainbow I'm making sure that everything functions the way it should. The computer boots up and goes right into MAME. Once in MAME the mouse inst visible and games can be selected using the joystick. Using the joystick you are able to select from Mike's Favorites and All Games. All buttons and directions work flawlessly. It was suggested I make sure the controls work before installing them into the cabinet. I don't think I've overlooked anything,but if I have it will just need to be resolved once installed in the cabinet. I'm still waiting on the PCB mounting feet that B1 (over @ www.cgcc.ca) sent me. Once they come ill install the controls into the cabinet. Today is Christmas and despite going to my parents I didn't pick up the RCA TV. I had planned to get that today and use that for the MAME monitor. We never did move around the big screens as planned so I'm still using the 19" CRT (for now).

Final Instruction Cards

Not much to say here, these are the final two instruction cards I've created for the MAME cabinet. These should simplify things for "any" user of the MAME cabinet. Even serving as a reminder to myself in the event that I forget what I am doing after a few Corona's.

Please feel free to leave comments.

Revised Instruction Card

Took some ideas from the guys over at www.cgcc.ca & slightly revised the image. Not sure if this will be the final but here it is.
I know I need to fix MIKES as it should read MIKE'S.

Instruction Cards

So I've finished wiring up the IPAC and it was tested for a short period last night. But more on that later. I'm still new to MAME so I found myself constantly referring back to a print out I created so I would know how to navigate MAME. For example, I had tested Street Fighter II rainbow and wanted to return to the main menu. How do I do this using the IPAC ? Anyway its not hard, just wasn't possible for me to memorize during the short game play I had. So it got me thinking, if I go with the 19" monitor I had planned I will have tons of negative space on the bezel. The solution was to design some instruction cards that I could get custom printed. I could even go with a simple 5'x7' design and print at a local Wal-Mart. I had been thinking of ordering a Dynamo logo sticker to place on the top of the bezel anyway, these "instruction cards" would provide more visual interest.

I want my MAME machine to be very user friendly, something that when people come over they can power on and play. I don't want anyone to come get me because they are done playing Tetris and now want to play Pac-Man. That's why I think the idea for the "instruction card" is great. Players will now know how to switch games, add credits, pause the system, etc.

I plan on designing a second card that will tell users what can be found in my favorites (not title for title, but pointing out that it contains titles hand picked by myself) and instruct them on how to get to "all games." This way if a player is unable to locate a game of his/her choice in my favorites they will have a general idea of how to locate it.

That's it for now! Ill post pics later of my completed IPAC and me testing it.