gMame – Linux MAME – Arcade Cabinet

Ta-Da!

2011-05-02T08:05:00.000+01:00

Finally...

2011-04-30T10:43:00.000+01:00

Well, I thought the day would never come, but here we are. I'm at the hardware store, waiting on the saw man, to take this last panel (£10) and turn it into 2 main panels that I can cut for the sides and some off cuts for the kickboard, top pieces, etc.

And after the saw...

And after a couple of hours of cutting and drilling, I end up with the below. Note the kick board, and I've removed the transparent panel at the top. A difficult decision for me, as I spent a long time designing the logo, and getting it printed on vinyl, but it's oversized for this new cabinet, and since replacing the pc guts with an old laptop (higher spec, better performance) I no longer have a 12v supply to drive the light in the marquee.

Jobs still to do: paint new panels, replace 1UP and 2UP buttons with proper icon ones, install 12v supply and do something about the marquee, replace speakers (interference and heat on current ones) - I think that's it.

UPDATE: panels painted...

I've got the bug again now - maybe I'll start a new project? :-). I fancy an ultra small unit (small bartop, one player) with maybe a Tron-type flight-stick with trigger or a trackball or maybe a driving unit?

Powered by Ubuntu (2)

2010-08-23T15:31:00.000+01:00

Still have to get the side panels sorted, but a couple of final changes before I do that.

I was concerned that the cabinet was too short, as the angle of the screen and the angle I had to tilt my head to play, wasn't the best.

As such, I've bought some cabinet legs - the kind you put on kitchen cabinets, and have attached to the base. They lift the unit up by about 6 or 7 inches and that makes all the difference. I'll be able to clip a cover to the cabinet legs as per "kick boards" on kitchen cabinets.

Also, I've whipped out my paintbrushes and made a stab at putting a big ubuntu logo on the front. I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it looks ok.

Some words about the software

2010-08-17T10:20:00.000+01:00

It's probably worth talking a bit about the software.

This time round, I've stuck to my principles and stayed with Ubuntu, but instead a trying to build a perfectly tuned system from the ground up, i've installed an "off-the-shelf", vanilla Xubuntu desktop and trimmed off the unnecessary.

Xubuntu is a variant of the standard Ubuntu image, using the XFCE desktop instead of gnome, and is optimised for older machines, in that it's less resource hungry. This should keep the processor and memory focused on running the emulator and not on producing fancy desktops in the background, that aren't being used.

If you're not a Linux fan, think of it this way - if you're using Windows to run your arcade machine, you've got to use your antivirus software for starters (not needed on Linux) then you have the whole windows OS and all it's bloat running in the background instead of focusing on the job you want the computer to do. Linux isn't as scary as it was a few years ago, and these days, most hardware etc. works straight from the go - no driver installations or other steps to get stuff to work. It really is worth a look.

Preaching finished - back to my setup. Vanilla Xubuntu from www.xubuntu.com. During the install, I made sure to choose an easy username, and password and chose auto-login. The machine needs to login automatically as I will only have the arcade controls available, and it doesn't need to be secure.

I also spent some time in the partition manager, as I like my root and home partitions separate - I find it helps with reinstalls and upgrades. Just a personal preference - nothing to worry about if this isn't for you.

After the first boot, I spent some time removing everything I didn't need, such as office software, multimedia software, graphics, printing, games(!) - you get the idea.

Then added something from the ubuntu software centre - open ssh server. This will enable me to remotely connect to the machine and do anything I need to, such as upgrades, adding new ROMs, etc. And of course, I have to install mame.

Then it's installing Wahcade from http://www.anti-particle.com/wahcade.shtml - it's a free frontend to sdlmame thank has fantastic configuration capabilities, a screen layout editor, and loads more. No more trying to invent the wheel for me!

I'll post some screenshots when I can, but it's easier for you to take a look yourself.

Powered by Ubuntu

2010-08-12T16:21:00.000+01:00

I decided to put the power button on the front under the monitor, with the HDD activity LED next to it. Bought a 30p (extortionate!) LED holder, drill and mounted on the front panel. Notice the Ubuntu Sticker on the power button recently acquired from Canonical's Store. I'll be working on some more Linux art for later on...

Finished the speaker panel

2010-08-12T16:17:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid the photos are few and far between now. I mounted the speakers on the speaker panel so that their centres were over the drilled hole patterns.

Attached the monitor panel to the control panel in the usual way:

I added some sides to the speaker panel, added the top, and put the marquee I made from the mark I arcade machine on the front of the speaker panel.

I have some of those cold cathode tubes from eBay (<£10) that people use to "bling" their PC cases, and have mounted these behind the marquee to provide the backlight.

Speaker/Marquee section done.

Mounted on top of the monitor section - done.

Smashed carefully extracted the power button and hard disk activity led from the front of the PC case. I don't know about you, but I find that blinking light so reassuring when I turn a computer on, and like to see it flashing like mad if I've pressed something and the computer seems to be stuck. I wired the power button up to my remaining arcade button that I've saved since I acquired the controls, and used some Cat5E cable to placed them in the marquee/speaker section for now, until I decide where I want them permanently.

Roughly and quickly wired everything up and turned it on:

Well blow me down, it actually works - I haven't cross wired anything and none of it caught fire - a first for me.

Drilled some holes in the back of the PC case bit so that I can put a 4-gang extension lead inside the case so that only 1 plug comes out, and also for a network cable. Once I fasten all this together, I need to be able to manage it remotely, although I do still have access to my keyboard and mouse in the control panel section (see earlier posts for details)

That's about it for now. Need to put some sides on at some point in the near future, but for now, here's some photos to keep you drooling.

Day 3 and lots done

2010-08-06T15:22:00.000+01:00

Day three of the recent "spurt" saw lots accomplished.

My plan today was to cut, prep and paint as much as possible early on in the day, so I can get some more of the final thing assembled. The more this starts to look like the finished job, the more motivation I have to finish it.

The monitor I have is 17" and is that standard "computer monitor grey" colour, so I'm going to need to paint the bezel black so that grey bits aren't showing through the front of the machine. Try as I might, I can't dismantle it to remove the bezel and paint it, so I've had to carefully mask out the screen and paint the whole thing - only need to do the front as it's the only part to be seen.

Took one of the off-cuts and will build the speaker panel from it. Offered it up on the top of the monitor panel, marked it out, drew a speaker mesh pattern and drilled it, and also trimmed up another off-cut for the final "roof" of the whole machine. This is a picture of the monitor and 2 speaker panels with the first coat of MDF primer on the woodwork:

With all these panels painted and dry, I turn my attention to fitting the monitor into the monitor panel. I'm a fan of the cable-tie-mounts I've used in the past, so will be using these again - search the blog for details of the mounts if interested.

A couple at each corner, eight in total, like this:

Heavy duty cable ties, all trimmed up nicely and it should look something like this:

You'll notice I've put a couple of braces across the back of this section, just to strengthen it. Pop it back on the control & case sections:

My 80's nostalgia gland is starting to twitch!

Last job of the day is to smash carefully dismantle an old pair of speakers ready for fitting their guts into the speaker panel - I'm using the cheapest set I have, as my memories of sound quality in arcade machines are pretty horrendous, and we do have to try and keep this thing authentic, right??

The Monitor Section

2010-08-05T14:26:00.000+01:00

This morning, the case and the monitor section.

Just to finish off the case section, drilled some "intake" holes for the ventilation near the bottom of the front panel of the case, then a quick coat of MDF primer (I know it's chipboard, but it does a great job of lifting the loose fibres, so a quick sand, then paint, and you do get a really good finish on a really rough piece of wood) and 2 coats of black spray paint, and thus:

On to the monitor.

Another trip to the B&Q and another effort to find a "saw-dodger" (see previous post for the definition of a saw-dodger) and a 6'x2' sheet is cut into 2 x 30"x2' and a 12"x2' off-cut, thus:

Found the centre of one of the big panels by marking corner-to-corner, then accurately measured the visible area on the front of the monitor (the screen of the monitor if you will) and carefully measured and marked it onto the panel, thus:

WARNING - DON'T COPY THE NEXT PART - you'll see why in a bit.

Drilled the four corners to get the jigsaw in, thus:

Turned the jigsaw blade to 45 degrees, to give a better viewing angle on the screen, and a better finish on the panel, and tested with a small cut, thus:

Spot the problem? I want to bevel the sides, but I've drilled straight down. Bugger. The four edges will look good, but the corners are just wrong - no other word for it. If I was dedicated and doing this for someone else, I'd start this panel again, but as I've said earlier, some sacrifices are being made, and I want this finished. I want to say that this gives the thing character, these little problems, but I'm just in a bit more of a relaxed mood about these things nowadays. So it looks like this:

I've trimmed the bottom edge at around 15 degrees so that the monitor panel "leans back" into the machine, so that taller users should get a better viewing experience.

TIP FOR THE FUTURE: I haven't leaned it back enough, that, or I haven't built it tall enough because I am having minor viewing issues with the finished box.

2 coats of MDF primer and 2 coats of black spray paint.

Propped the monitor panel on the top of the case and control panel and this is what I've got:

Is it just me, or is this starting to look like an arcade machine??? :-)

Sides for the monitor panel next. Using one of the off-cuts, offered up the piece to the side of the monitor and marked out the size and shape of the sides for the monitor. Cut them, and offered them up to check the fit:

Lay the monitor panel on the floor and glued and screwed to put it together:

That'll do for today - pick it up again in the morning when it's time to get the screen in, I reckon.

Building the case

2010-08-03T13:59:00.000+01:00

On the 3rd August, I popped over to the B&Q, fetched a big sheet (8'x4') of 18mm Chipboard off the shelf, and set about finding someone to run the big saw to chop it into manageable pieces for me. This proved harder than I expected, as it seems running the saw is a job to be dodged at my local B&Q.

Finally found someone, and got them to turn one sheet into this:

The idea is to make a 30" high by 30" wide case, so I got the man to cut it 3x30" parts, then cut the 30" by 4' down to 30" by 30".

So I ended up with 3 x 30" x 30" panels, 3 x 30" x 18" panels, and a 6" by 4' panel.

I want the finished case to have a single panel on the front, so when it's put together, I see only one panel from the front, without side or top "bits" so I split one of the 30's into 2 x 15"x30" for my sides, thus:

I did draw for some cut-outs on the side panels to give a more "arcade machine feel" to the design, but quickly realised that not only would it be harder to construct a front to fit the cut-outs, but the PC would have very little room inside the case.

DESIGN NOTES: It's worth pointing out at this point that I've decided to sacrifice a few aspects of the design. It's important to me to get this finished now, so I will be cutting the odd corner here and there, but I still want something relatively authentic (nice?) to look at, so will try not to sacrifice too much. I'm not going to have an access panel in the case section as per earlier designs - I'm going to screw the panel to the case unit, and unscrew when I need to fix/upgrade something. Hopefully this will be rare. Anything to do with software/files on the machine I can do remotely over the network. Ubuntu/Linux gives me enormous flexibility and control that Windows simply doesn't provide

Trim 2 of the 18"x30" off-cuts down to 15" (minus the thickness of 2 sides = 36mm) and I now have two sides, a top, a bottom, a back and a front.

Put all but the back together and we get this:

And with the front:

Under the control panel - open and closed:

You might see a little ledge at the back? I could claim it's deliberate but it's not. I'd not taken into account how much room the control panel needed when opened, so it doesn't meet the back - that's not as important as you might think as I'll be fixing sides onto this beast that will hide these "redesign factors" but also, it gives me the opportunity to drill some holes in that little ledge for ventilation of the case compartment - more on this next

I've gone and done it!

2010-08-02T13:53:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it's been March 23rd since I last posted.

I was in serious danger of letting this project lapse, again, possibly for the 3rd or 4th time, but a little prompting from my 5 yr old son, and I got up off my backside and started the project again. I'm spending the next few days going at it like the clappers and hopefully it'll be pretty much done.

A custom PC case

2010-03-23T07:02:00.000Z

The next stage is to build some kind of custom PC case to sit below the control panel section.

Considerations:

1. Size - at 30" width and anything up to about 3' height (although I'd rather build it shorter, and use some kind of final, dummy bottom section to get the overall cabinet height right), and I'm trying to keep the depth around the 8" mark so all these dimensions shouldn't be too much of a problem.

2. Access - I need to be able to access the PC fairly easily so that I can do upgrades, maintenance etc without too much stress.

3. Safety - never made a PC case out of wood, so I need to make sure I have everything well grounded.

4. Network - I know I'm going to stick a keyboard and mouse in the control panel section, but I'd rather solve as many issues, upgrade roms, ensure the OS is patched and updated over the network, so I'm thinking of dropping in an Ethernet port on the outside of the case section.

5. Power control - somehow need to turn this thing on by a switch of some sort, so unless the BIOS supports some kind of "power on keyboard press" through USB, I'm gonna need to put an external switch somewhere - probably best to do this regardless.

6. Wiring - need to get wires in and out of the case section, to and from the other sections (control panel yes, but I'm thinking of speakers, monitor, marquee, and all things above the control panel) so we'll we'd some big holes aligned between the panels.

Overall, I think I need some kind of fairly simple box with a "door" on another piano hinge, and have the computer mounted on the "back" of the door, so when the door opens the whole PC is presented - something like this maybe :

[caption id="attachment_226" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="PC: Sketch 1"][/caption]

A lot of time and patience

2010-03-20T13:34:00.000Z

I was watching the footy (the Wolves winning for once) on the telly with Dad, so decided to be productive as well. I know you can buy some wire for pennies, but I have a load of cat5 cable lying around from a previous job, and I thought, "I'm sure that stripped out cat5 would be perfect as the cabling for the control panel" - so I spent the next 90 minutes shouting at the telly, and stripping/cutting a bunch of cat5.

An hour's soldering later (to solder on the female crimp connectors to slot onto the micro-switches) and I end up with this:

[caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="wiring 1"][/caption]

I've daisy-chained all the ground wire together as there is only 1 ground screw connector on the IPAC to screw it into.

I know it's messy, and I'll tidy it up at some point, but this was the inside - just player 1 wired up for testing/debugging (i.e. finding that I'd wired the wrong wire into the connector block) :

[caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="wiring: inside - early"][/caption]

That night, while the kids were asleep, I wired up 2UP, screwed the IPAC down, and tested it out on the 5 year old in the morning:

[caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="his first test"][/caption]

As you can see, all good.

I now have to resist the temptation to leave the project for a bit - as you can see, it works, so I need to push on and make the rest of the cabinet - work's looking busy though - no idea when I'll have some more time????

I love the smell of spray paint in the morning

2010-03-18T13:37:00.000Z

So, another visit to my dentist, and my tooth is fixed.

I have some MDF sealer and primer that I've used in the past on Chipboard and it works quite well - I like that it goes on a bit of a purple colour, then dries clear:

[caption id="attachment_207" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="sealer and primer"][/caption]

Two coats of primer, with a quick sanding with 800 grit paper in between to get a very smooth finish, then one coat of black spray paint and you get this - looking tasty! :

[caption id="attachment_208" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="control: 1 coat"][/caption]

A second coat of black spray, and the buttons installed:

[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="control: all painted"][/caption]

That'll do for today! Tomorrow - the wiring!!!

Something did happen...

2010-03-17T07:55:00.000Z

...I broke a tooth. Ah well. Back to the dentist.

Can I finish the control panel today?

2010-03-16T18:48:00.000Z

I'm writing this at the end of the day, and I feel like it's been very productive.

After the dentist (no work to be done there, thankfully) I'm putting together all the pieces cut yesterday.

I've used some long braces to strengthen the base, as it's put together from two pieces - not pretty, but as they say, out of sight...

[caption id="attachment_174" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="a bit of a fudge?"][/caption]

Marked out for, and fitted the piano (continuous) hinge to the main carcass:

[caption id="attachment_175" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="piano hinge - 1"][/caption]

Propped up the main carcass, to get that part to the right height to connect the other half of the hinge to the correct place on the tilt & front section:

[caption id="attachment_176" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="piano hinge -2 "][/caption]

Then offered up the tilt & front and connected the other half of the piano hinge:

[caption id="attachment_177" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="piano hinge - 3"][/caption]

So it looks like this when it's closed:

[caption id="attachment_178" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="closed - 1"][/caption]

Notice the gap? Yeah, not particularly happy about that - I was hoping it would close flush, but with a bit of jiggling, glueing, etc. it gets better, but not great.

STOP THE PRESS - just at that point (literally!) the postman arrived with my buttons and sticks. Yey! - as you can see, a fantastic picture (not!):

[caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="box of bits"][/caption]

So, time to mark up the control panel section for the sticks and buttons (no real design for this, just "guessed" by putting my hands on the box in the places where they naturally rested when thinking about using sticks and buttons):

[caption id="attachment_179" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="buttons design"][/caption]

I have a bench drill, and some nice bore drill bits:

[caption id="attachment_180" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="pride and joy"][/caption]

Drill one hole, and inserted a button to test - nice! :

[caption id="attachment_181" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="first button"][/caption]

So, plenty of dust and shredded chipboard later and it looks like this:

[caption id="attachment_182" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="all holes cut"][/caption]

I'm going to put the "coin" and "1UP / 2UP" buttons on the front panel - I think it's more nostalgic like this:

[caption id="attachment_183" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="1UP holes"][/caption]

And with the final woodwork construction done, it looks like this when open:

[caption id="attachment_186" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="end of tuesday - open"][/caption]

And this when closed:

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="nice"][/caption]

I'm still not happy about that gap, so I'm going to get some decorative thumb-turns to hold the tilt closed:

[caption id="attachment_185" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="thumbturn"][/caption]

Not ideal, but you have to be a bit "organic" when doing something like this, as the cabinet evolves into something similar to what you designed, but it'll never be exactly what you expected - well not for me, anyway.

I've done some glueing, and used some wood filter to fill the unsightly edges in, gave all the visible surfaces a good sanding. It's not looking too bad at all.

Next stage will be to prep and paint the visible surfaces, then install the buttons and sticks, then do some wiring. I'm making better progress with this than I expected.

Something's bound to go wrong.

Cost so far = £80.36
IPAC VE – £30
ROMS – £5
Buttons and Joysticks – £20.01
Piano Hinges – £4.38
Corner Brackets – £1.90
Chipboard - £13
Thumbturns - £5.98

The first few bits of wood

2010-03-16T18:17:00.000Z

So I found myself with a free afternoon on Monday, popped to the B&Q on the way home from work, and had a wander around the wood panels section - funny how much I enjoy these activities, but would mock others if they mentioned it.

MDF is 3 x the price of Chipboard. Yes, I know, MDF has a smooth finished surface that lends itself quite nicely to arcade machines, but with a little love, effort and attention, Chipboard brushes up OK. So chipboard I bought.

Started off by slicing it all down to 30", the width of my finished machine.

The hardest part about cutting the wood will be getting the angles right to achieve the "tilt" on the control panel. I set the jigsaw bed to a 20 degree (ish?) tilt and this is the result:

[caption id="attachment_153" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="angles - end view"][/caption]

I took some of the 90 degree brackets, put them in the vice, and squeezed them until they matched the angle of the wood:

[caption id="attachment_149" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="angle brackets - bent"][/caption]

I offered them up to the angled piece to test the angle of the bracket:

[caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="offered up to check"][/caption]

and attached the front to the tilt, like so:

[caption id="attachment_154" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="front + tilt"][/caption]

The rest of the control panel carcass was quite straight forward, cut to the design I sketched yesterday. I used lots of the angle brackets to fix all the parts together:

[caption id="attachment_156" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="main control panel - brackets"][/caption]

You've probably noticed the line along the base - I ran out of wood! I've cobbled together a base from two off-cuts - seems overkill to make this "fresh" as it won't be seen in the finished cabinet.

I've offered all the pieces up together to see what it's gonna look like - i think it's quite true to my sketch??

[caption id="attachment_188" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="first mockup"][/caption]

I've taken tomorrow off work, so I should be able to make some progress, even though there's a dentist appointment in the middle of my morning.

Sunday

2010-03-14T16:47:00.000Z

Sunday afternoon has been productive, but not as much as I'd hoped.

Here's another sketch of the control panel section.

[caption id="attachment_142" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="control panel sketch"][/caption]

I've been back to B&Q today to look at their MDF - I think I used 12mm last time, and had an issue when it came to mounting the joysticks. I remember that the screws that mounted the joystick underneath the panel started to come through the top surface ever so slightly.

So I'm going to go with the 18mm - more expensive, and the final product will be significantly heavier, but I think it's the tight thing to do. I've recalculated the sizes based on 18mm and I think I've got it right. Apologies for mixing imperials and metrics, but it's how I work.

I have sourced the piano hinges for the control panel and the main computer section today - £2.19 each from Wickes is an absolute bargain.

Also, I've picked up a pack of 50 corner brackets for £1.99 from Screwfix to connect the MDF panels together.

[caption id="attachment_147" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="angle brackets"][/caption]

Last time, I used 1" sq. strips of wood along each face, which contributed to the lack of space inside the case for the controls - plus it was a lot more cutting and drilling, etc. These little brackets should save a lot of time and effort connecting panels.

Tomorrow I hope to pick up some MDF and if I've got time, cut the panels for the control section.

Cost so far = £61.38
IPAC VE - £30
ROMS - £5
Buttons and Joysticks - £20.01
Piano Hinges - £4.38
Corner Brackets - £1.9

A good start to the weekend

2010-03-13T20:49:00.000Z

Not a bad weekend so far. The IPAC VE arrived this morning and I just won the eBay auction I had my eye on.

2 x joysticks, 17 buttons and all the microswitches for £20.01 - not bad, as new from Gremlin would have been about £35 to £40. Just hope I don't find myself on the wrong side of some eBay karma.

Might go and buy some wood tomorrow, and start making the control panel - round the weekend off nicely.

Open Sesame...

2010-03-12T15:45:00.000Z

THE CONTROL PANEL

Two things are on my mind this time round. Last time, I positioned the controllers way too close to the edges of the panel, and it made it quite difficult to fit the micro-switches and cables on the buttons near the edges. Also, because I built the whole arcade machine as one unit (two sides, one top, one bottom) it made it quite tricky to get in and around inside the control panel - if a connection was loose, I had to start unscrewing things to fix it.

So I'm going to make a stand-alone control panel (7 panels, top, slope, bottom, front, back and 2 sides) and have a single USB cable coming out of the back or possibly bottom (you'll see why when I get to the PC bit at a later date)

Something like this:

[caption id="attachment_128" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="control panel design"][/caption]

To slope or not to slope?

Surely slopes on the control panel surface is contrary to good ergonomic design, but every image of every machine I can find shows a slope. I toyed with the idea of a flat surface so I could rest my beer on it :-), but I've gone for this little touch of authenticity.

Access to the gubbings

That problem of accessing the wiring and stuff without unscrewing the panels has got me thinking.

I am plagued with insomnia, and a night or two ago, an idea came to me that should solve this problem, and offer some opportunities to make the control panel a little more functional this time around.

This all hinges on something special - did you see what I did there?

If I add a hinge to the front lower edge, I should be able to pull up and out on the sticks, and have the whole underneath of the sticks and buttons exposed for maintenance and upgrades.

And the cream on the cake? I can stash a keyboard and a mouse in this discrete control panel unit for those tricky "if only I had a keyboard and a mouse, I could fix that little problem easily" moments.

Good, eh? Well, let's see if I can build it, then I can say whether or not it was a good idea.

And for those attention-to-detail types of you, the single USB coming out can be achieved by a little cheap hub in the control panel that has the IPAC, the keyboard, and the mouse connecting in, and one usb coming out.

Genius!

Thinking in Boxes

2010-03-12T15:44:00.000Z

I have some different ideas about construction this time round.

Recently, I'm thinking very much modularly than I ever have - it's been useful at work, and I find modularity spilling out into all facets of my life.

For example, with the arcade machine, I'm thinking of building the core parts in a modular fashion, so that the control panel is an independent, discrete unit, the monitor panel is an independent discrete unit, and the PC (or whatever it may become) is a discrete part.

Last time, I tried to build one overall unit, and trying to hold monitors and control panels in place whilst I screwed the sides on was tricky to say the least.

The advantages of modular are many, but primarily I'm thinking about:

ease of construction - each part can be made and tested separately then all bolted together at the end

ease of maintenance - I can pop out a part, replace / upgrade / repair and pop back in

ease of transport - breaking it into parts and shipping it between locations is easier that hoofing a 6'x3'x3' box into and out of vans

and so on...

The Overall Design

2010-03-12T15:10:00.000Z

I'm still trying to save a bit of space in the house - where I live isn't a massive place, and I'm still as keen this time to produce something that will fit on a wall or in a corner without looking like it needs a quarter of a room all to itself. With that in mind, I've got some rough ideas about dimensions that I'd like to try and stick to.

Height - 6' - I'm several inches shy of 6' myself, and my recent memories are all of machines that are "a bit" taller than me - six foot seems about right - it's not overbearing but will have a presence.

Width - 30" - most interior doors are little wider than 30", so I'm happy that I'll be able to get it in and out of rooms without needing to take doors off hinges. 30" seems to be about right for two people to stand fairly close to one another and player 2UP games - just need to make sure the deodorant is to had for those friends who over-indulge in Street Fighter II.

Depth - 16" (at the widest point) - now I know what you're thinking (or what you should be thinking) - that's very slim for an arcade machine. Well I did say that I didn't want it to dominate a room. The 16" is at the widest point of the control panel, so when you think that the monitor and PC bit shouldn't be much deeper than 8", this machine will look like it has an eating disorder. I have some ideas about the PC construction that should make this very conservative estimate realistic in terms of depth usage. I do have some "tipping over" concerns, but with some weights and perhaps wall attachments, this might just do the trick. This is what I'm aiming for - maybe I'll need to put a little weight on later in the construction, but I'm hopeful that this'll be about right.

The story so far...again...

2010-03-11T22:32:00.000Z

ROMS

OK. I had a couple of hundred ROMS, but as the MAME engine has been moving on, more and more of them have been marked as "not working" so I've bit the bullet and bought an eBay auction for a set of DVDs with 6500 ROMS. Nice :-)

The disks arrived yesterday and I spun disk 1 for the first time today without issues - I'll make the assumption the rest are OK and get round to playing them when I have some time.

INTERFACE CONTROLLER

If you scan back through the history of this blog, you'll see the fun I had hacking a keyboard to serve as an interface controller. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience, not least because I discovered a lot more about how they all work, but I suppose I get a kick out of that kind of stuff. Sad. I know.

I did occasionally experience a problem with my homebrew controller that I've spotted in a couple of google searches, that there's a limit to the amount of simultaneous keypresses on a standard keyboard controller - I think it's 6. I could have built 2, or I'm sure USB doesn't suffer, or 2 USBs. UPDATE: more searching reveals this is a hardware issue with almost all keyboards.

But, I've decided to buy a proper interface controller, so I've plumped for the I-PAC VE controller from Ultimarc. I looked at these carefully last time round, and back then couldn't justify the 30 quid for the little clever box, when I could crack open a keyboard and build my own for the cost of a bit of wire and a strip of block connectors.

Ultimarc have several versions of these gizmos - I've picked this one because I only need 2 players - I did think about 4, but know full well it'll never be used enough to justify it. The VE version has a couple of minor limitations over the standard version, buy I don't need them, plus it currently has a free shipping offer, which makes all the difference in price.

It's on order, and could be the best part of 3 weeks before it gets here. Watch this space.

BUTTONS

Back in Blighty, we have Gremlin Solutions, who I purchased my sticks and buttons from last time. They're not cheap (about 35 quid for my needs) so i've got my eye on an eBay auction of someone who, just like me the first time, bought the kit and never even unpacked it. I eBayed my parts last time for a pittance, so I'm hoping the Karma fairy pays me a visit and let's me win this auction for a reasonable outlay.

Cost so far = £35
Rom DVDs - £5
Interface Controller - £30

We're going again!

2010-03-11T22:06:00.000Z

So...

We're gonna go again!

A couple of years later, a little older, a questionable amount wiser, and a completely new life. I've always regretted not continuing the last attempt. But there's a different woman in my life and all the things that were important to me, that I never started or never finished, are important again.

As most everything in life, my renewed interest in this came entirely by chance. My son is now 5, and he's as addicted to all things computers as much as me - a good thing or a bad thing - I can't yet tell. We were on the laptop together a few weekends ago - he stumbled across my mame roms and said "what's this, dad?".

Yes - you're absolutely right. A five year old asks you THAT question when browsing your laptop and you panic.

We spent the next while (I'll claim 20 minutes, but it probably was a couple of hours) cracking open the old games and bashing away on the up, down, left and right, ctrl and alt buttons until they nearly came off.

I asked him if he remembered the last attempt (from here on in, referred to as version 2.0) and he didn't. Shame. We used to play the Work In Progress together, but he was 2 or maybe 3 at the time. They're too young to remember the stuff you'll cherish forever.

So, I'm going to have another go at this arcade machine thingy. I'm sure I'll try and kid myself that this is as much for him and his sister as for me, but the jury's out on that one.

Version 3

The new one's called gMame 3.0 - might knock up a marquee at some stage with that on. Not sure, but I think I should mark the passing of those that came before.

Ubuntu

I'm still a massive Ubuntu fan (haven't used windows for a few years now - Windows 7 - that was NOT my idea) so we'll keep the Operating System, but obviously the later version - 10.04 is round the corner.

The interface

I'm not as keen on Java as I was, and I've been playing around with a little Python lately - not 100% struck but there's a lovely little environment in Ubuntu called Quickly that has a great Interface editor, source editor and it all packages up nicely, so when I get round to coding my own interface again, I'll likely pick this. Coming to a sourceforge near you soon.

So that's the new start. I'll let you know where I'm up to in the next post.

Wish me luck?

The End

2008-12-24T14:36:00.000Z

and once more, just like that, I'm a big fat failure again. Life has thrown so many obstacles in my way that this project has come to an end - again! I've sold all the parts for pennies, never finished the software properly, didn't finish the woodwork.

Will I ever attempt this again? Unlikely. I am Abraham and this is my whale.

A word of advice for those on this path - time. You need TIME for this. If you have any other parts of your life that demand time, you'll always struggle to find time for this.

Good Luck and farewell.

So much for quick...

2008-02-18T18:03:00.000Z

Sorry about this folks. My last post started with "I'm getting quick at this" yet I've made no progress (and no blog entries) for 11 days. I went to the hardware store today to get another big panel of MDF and have them cut it to width (and to fit in the car) and the saw was out of order.

Downer.

The next chance I'll get to put any work in will be Friday for a couple of hours in the morning, then hopefully next Monday will be a big push.

We'll see what the week brings.