Been a member for about ... ohhhh ... 2 minutes

[krazeechester]

I just joined up and am looking to start learning how to get a cabinet up and running.

 

A friend had started a project but never finished. He is giving me a cabinet (I know what that is), speakers already converted for 3.5MM (I know what those are), 2 joysticks with 8 buttons (know those too), and a "JAMMA" (no clue what that means). I figure first I need to see what kind of power I need to run emulators up until Dreamcast, so I'm off to see if I can find some computer specs in here.

 

If you have any recommendations, help a n00b out! Thanks.

[iNTiGOD]

I'm assuming that your cabinet it pretty much ready to go (has a monitor as well as what you have already mentioned).

Jamma refers to a wiring standard.

Basically most modern arcade machines that support jamma are plug and play. This means you can remove the game board from one machine and connect it to another arcade machine that supports jamma and it is plug and play.

 

To connect a pc to an arcade machine that already has the jamma hardware (for the purposes of running emulators for dreamcast or the hyperspin front end) you will need something like the j-pac.

 

Hope that helps

[krazeechester]

That actually does help a lot, thanks!

 

I don't have a monitor mounted in it yet but I'm thinking that can't be too bad (famous last words).

 

Now I'm just trying to determine what desktop to buy (I have built many a machine but don't feel like building another). Off to newegg I go!

[Metalzoic]

Yeah. Jamma is dedicated arcade hardware like iNTiGOD said. It can run single, actual game PCBs or evenb 60-in-1 boards or 140-in-1 boards.

Here's an FAQ for you http://www.jammaboards.com/jcenter_jammaFAQ.html

If you want to run Hyperspin and a ton of MAME/Arcade games, Dreamcast, PC games, old consoles etc... Then Jamma is not what you need or will use.

You'll just need an iPac (what I use) or something similar. This plugs directly into the PC and is the middle-man that makes your control panel work. Mine is an older one and works like a champ, but I'm upgrading to a bigger one that runs more controls and all LED buttons. Here's a link.

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac.html

You'll need a monitor I use a widescreen high-end gaming monitor in mine. I'm not a fan of older CRT 4:3 tech, but many prefer it. Either will do, but if you want to run modern/widescreen stuff (such as Street Fighter 5 or Mortal Kombat X) you'll probably want a 1080p gaming monitor with little lag. I use a BenQ 2720z http://www.bestbuy.com/site/benq-27-3d-led-hd-monitor/9473129.p?id=1219418158585&skuId=9473129

I just built my cab over the last 3 months and I wanted a PC that could run anything including the latest PC games on max settings, but I didn't want to go to overboard. I ordered it all from Newegg and it was just over $700 (including Win 7 OS)

-ASUS ITX motherboard. One of those tiny ones so I could fit it into a low profile case. That way I didn't have to secure it and can move the cab without tipping the PC over.

-Coolermaster case

-i3 CPU

-AMD r9 280 graphics card

-a 1T main HDD and a 2T second HDD which is waaaay to small. I'm going to toss this 2T drive and upgrade it to a 4T second drive and even that will probably not be enough. So my recommendation here is 5T total if not more.

I've got a bunch of links that helped me out. I'll dig them up and post them here for you.

[Dazz]

As stated by iNITi - you can connect the JAMMA harness to PC using a J-PAC from Ultimarc. Contrary to what Metalzoic said above; you CAN use it for MAME and console emulation.  However, I do believe that it is easier to convert to an IPAC as it is easier to wire and use.  BUT if you want to keep the JAMMA harness you can.

 

https://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html

[Metalzoic]

Yeah it can be used to tie in the controls. I just meant that it wouldn't be used to run the software, hyperspin and actual emulators.

[krazeechester]

Wow that is a lot HD space. Considering I'm only going to have it run up to the Dreamcast do you think that much space is really necessary?

This is all really helpful. Thanks everybody. I'm going to pick up my cabinet next weekend and then I need to inventory what I have and where I need to go next.

[Metalzoic]

Maybe not. But that's what I thought and I only have 10 gigs left on my 2T drive.

Now I'm forced to upgrade because I went to small. I can't add a drive so I have to eat the cost of this 2T drive, replace it with a 4T, deal with transferring everything to the new one etc...

I would have saved myself time, money and aggravation if I had gone big right at first.

Live and learn.

[iNTiGOD]

Great points guys.

If you don't have an arcade monitor and aren't planning on putting one in (just using a PC lcd) then it probably isn't worth getting a jpac and utilizing your jamma interface.

Go the ipac, get a PC monitor or tv, and plug in the biggest hard drive you can afford.

[krazeechester]

I definitely will be going to the LCD monitor route. So I will take a look at the iPac. The cabinet I'm getting only has two controllers so it appears the ipac2 will do the job.

While I have all your ears (I suppose your eyes really), what do you think about the machine below for running MAME? What console do you think I could emulate up to with that machine? Dreamcast? I realize that I would need a bigger HD.

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=9SIA7RB2VM9342

Thanks!

[Metalzoic]

Yeah the iPac 2 will be just fine. Mine is the older version with 4 less input/outputs and I run 2 players 6 buttons each, P1 & P2 start and a coin button.

Did the Dreamcast have many games that required input to be analog instead of digital? I can't remember...

Oh and I have no idea what you'd need spec wise to run DC games.

[krazeechester]

Reality is that I most likely will only be playing up until N64 anyhow. I can't even think of DC games that I'd want to play lol.