[Zimwy]

Hi,
I was thinking of building myself an arcade machine. Does anyone here have any advice to begin with? I was thinking of buying one of these:

http://www.x-arcade.com/pc.shtml

They seem pretty cool and well supported. Does anyone here have any experience with them?

One of my problems would be that I can't find a computer to run the games well that would fit in an arcade style case that ISN'T very expensive. I was thinking of building a cheap PC (ugh!) running Linux to do this with one of the mini-itx boards (http://www.mini-itx.com). Does anyone have any advice for compiling xmame under linux (I know that should probably go in the unix forum).

So basically, anyone have any advice? Maybe I could get a cube, with a TV out card?

Thanks!

gabe

[kcm3]

It's not worth your time or money to do this with a Mac, unless you just want to be able to say "I built mine with a Mac".

I built my own arcade machine about a year ago. I did a lot of research on the topic before jumping in. The easiest way to go is actually to use DOS (buy a copy of Win 98SE, and boot it in DOS mode). You could use linux as well, but I found it easier to get my sound/video working properly. Whether you go with DOS or linux, I suggest advancemame (http://advancemame.sourceforge.net) as the emulator.

I built mine relatively cheaply by buying the necessary PC parts, and building a low-end PC (Duron 1.33 Ghz) inside of the arcade cabinet that I bought. If you get the right video adapters and whatnot, you can output directly to a real arcade monitor, and your games will look just like they did in the arcade.

You can find lots of links and advice here: http://www.arcadeathome.com/

Good luck!

[Zimwy]

Wow, thanks for the great reply. I think I'll go with Linux over DOS or Windows. I would just hate for all my PC loving friends to find out that I was running some version of Windows. I can't stand for that. So you'd recommend advancemame over xmame? Is there any particular reason why?

On the topic of an arcade monitor. Were they actually different from just a regular TV? Do you think it'd be worth it to use one of those instead? Are they any harder to use/find?

So, I'm thinking about using this board here:
http://www.essencompu.com/nupplysingar.asp?ID=2490
Do you know if that would work with advancemame? What did you use for the joystick and buttons for your mame box?

Thanks again!
gabe

[kcm3]

Arcade monitors are certainly harder to find that televisions, since you can't pick one up at Best Buy. I suggest you buy an actual arcade machine you should be able to get an old on from an arcade dealer for relatively cheap. That takes all of the "building" work out of it. Now you're just working with a computer. The machine gives you a real arcade monitor, and you have a full panel of buttons. An arcade monior definitely looks better than a TV.

The motherboard that you're looking it would probably be fine if you are going to go with TV out, but I wouldn't suggest it if you are going to use a real arcade monitor. There is a rather small group of video chipsets that work particularly well with arcade monitors. ATI and Trident cards are generally best suited. I can't really recommend trying to use onboard sound or video, although if you're using linux you may have better luck with the sound.

For input, I think you can't do better than some of Ultimarc's adapters. They make this sort of project much easier than it used to be. The J-Pac even takes care of the video wizardry as well.

As for advancemame vs. xmame, I haven't used xmame, but advancemame is designed specifically to work with arcade monitors, which is very handy. And again, I do think DOS will make this a lot easier for you than linux, if you've never done this before.

In general, there are a lot of other boards where you can ask these questions and get a lot more replies, because they are specifically dedicated to arcade gaming. Most of your questions are even already answered there. You should try http://www.arcadeathome.com , http://www.mameworld.net , or a number of other sites that you can find on google.

Lastly, remember that you are taking on a serious investment in both time and money, so think it through completely before you start.

Enjoy.