Mame in cab thread. Frontends, gamelists, configuration etc.

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capcomguru
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Mame in cab thread. Frontends, gamelists, configuration etc.

Post by capcomguru »

Hi everyone-

I'm taking a different approach to doing mame. Instead of 15khz jamma spec, I'm shooting for 31khz JVS spec. I've done the jamma one in the past using the JPac and Arcade VGA. It was super cool and worked great, but I've since traded it to a friend. Time to build another rig, however I want to give it a different aproach.

Everything will be mounted to a wooden plank and live either inside of my Astro 2 or Blast City. Both cabinets accecpt 31khz video signal, output JVS power spec and have stereo amps. Here's what I've got in mind so far for the hardware specs.

*PC Motherboard (have a spare AMD Athelon 64 CPU on hand), going for a cheapie with integrated video and audio
*Stereo headphone to RCA (red/white) adapter for stereo audio, plugs into mobo, goes to stereo amp
*Dual Harddrives, switchable by cable. One for Hori mame, one for Vert mame. Both will contain OS, romsets, frontend, mame etc. Do compact IDE A/B switch boxes exist??
*Playstation 2 to USB joystick adapter (so I can reuse the hacked PSX sticks on my PS2 jamma project)
*ATX Power adapter wired into female JVS power leads. The idea is running everything off of a Blast City or Sun PSU.

So my question is, what front ends are out there that support the following:
*Force fixed video signal in mame. MUST be 31khz 640x480 at all times
*USB Joystick Navigation support. Keyboard and mouse will not be present in my setup
*Menu rotation support
*Editable GUI (not completely necessary granted the default doesnt suck)
*Must be skinnable
*Preview screen shot support

I'm open to any suggestions, and will definitely post my progress in this thread.

Thanks!
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by chubsta »

Regarding the rez, can you not just specify that in the .ini?

Frontend wise, although i dont like it because it is too complicated for my purposes, i have tried Mala and that had every tuning option under the sun!
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

chubsta wrote:Regarding the rez, can you not just specify that in the .ini?

Frontend wise, although i dont like it because it is too complicated for my purposes, i have tried Mala and that had every tuning option under the sun!
Yeah I used MALA in the past and it was AWESOME. The only feature I wasn't sure on in MALA was joystick navigation for the menu. I was previously using the JPac, and I'm almost certain it was configured for that by default.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by AeroCityMayor »

Mala doesn't support native rotation though which is one of the prerequisites posted above.

Unless your graphics card supports rotation, you're then stuck with AdvMENU which isn't really skinable.

I love it as it's really configurable and you can get it to do practically anything you want.

I highly recommend it.

HTH
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

alien_mame wrote:Mala doesn't support native rotation though which is one of the prerequisites posted above.

Unless your graphics card supports rotation, you're then stuck with AdvMENU which isn't really skinable.

I love it as it's really configurable and you can get it to do practically anything you want.

I highly recommend it.

HTH
Ah you raise a good point. I forgot that the arcade VGA supported desktop rotation, and its not a native function of Windows. I haven't purchased the motherboard yet, but am planing on doing so later this week. I'll be sure to scope out the integrated drivers on the motherboard. If I can't find a good 939 that has desktop rotation integrated with the video chipset, I can always just get a crappy ATI video card. I think all radeons support rotation.

I'll look into AdvMENU, thanks for the tip.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

Just came across this link, which should take care of my Vert mame/ Hori mame switch. Any reason that wouldn't work? Can this be done a better way? The idea behind it is I can pop the mame 'plank' into my vert cab, and flip it to boot vert without configuring everything. If i want to go back to hori, simply flip the switch, again not needing to configure.

http://www.stefanv.com/electronics/ide_dual_boot.html"
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by chubsta »

For rotation on my old P3 system i use
http://www.portrait.com/us/products/pp_overview.html"

its pretty cheap and works great so might be worth looking at...
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by cools »

Interested in finding out how you get on with the JVS>ATX adapter.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by chubsta »

cools wrote:Interested in finding out how you get on with the JVS>ATX adapter.
I would be very interested in finding out if its possible to run a pc from the power supply in my astro....
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

Cools: I'll post pictures once I get it all sorted out. I'm trying to source blank ATX terminals and crimp pins right now. I already have blank female JVS power plugs and pins on hand. Worst case I can reuse one from a dead PSU, but that won't be as clean.

Chubtsa: Thanks for the tip on the software, looks pretty cool. If the integrated graphics drivers don't' support rotation I'll give that a shot.

I just realized while I'm typing this message... can a JVS power source even be adapted to ATX? I neglected to take a few pins into account. Any thoughts on where to route these?

Pin 8: Power good - No clue what to put on this pin if anything
Pin 9: +5 V standby - I *think* I can get away with sending a +5v line down this. The PC will never be in standby, only on or off.
Pin 12: +3.3 V sense - I'm assuming I can just hook a 3.3v source to this?
Pin 14: −12 V - Is this needed? I have a negatron, but couldn't get it much over -7v with a 12v source.
Pin 16: Power on - This shouldn't be needed as its for the internal powersupply on/off, correct?
Pin 20: −5 V - Only one of my JVS cabs has a -5v rail.. not sure if all mobo's need this or not. its listed optional everywhere

So maybe its not even possible to adapt JVS to ATX?? Anyone with more ATX technical knowledge have any insight? I couldn't find a good technical writeup on ATX power supplies anywhere. I'm sure I could figure out if its possible if there's a generic datasheet or something that explains each pin's function.

Thanks!
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by cools »

-5v is optional. -12v is just used on serial ports I can't find any evidence for anything else

The standby 5v on a regular ATX supply only supplies a very low current, but it supplies it 100% of the time. I see no reason throwing the regular 5v down there wouldn't work.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

How about the 3.3v sense? I can't find any solid info on this. I'm thinking I can get away with putting a 3.3v rail there... I'd imagine ATX motherboards only read the 3.3v off of the 3.3v sense line, and not actually use it. Could be wrong however...

Ok, so maybe it is still do-able. Good to hear the -12v is only for serial ports (which I won't be using). Once I have the motherboard, I'll trace out the pins in question. Worst case, I can probably modify the mobo to work without the power requirements in question.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by cools »

Yeah, you're supposed to shove 3.3v down it :)

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/sup/fu ... nal-c.html"
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

Thats a very handly link cools, thanks!

So that just leaves Pin 8: Power good. What should be running on that? Anything? My best guess is it monitors the power on the motherboard, and sends an emergency shut off signal if things go haywire. Just a guess though... I bet it can be shorted out or tricked to think the power levels are always good.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by cools »

"Power Ok is a status signal generated by the power supply to notify the computer that the DC operating voltages are within the ranges required for proper computer operation (+5 VDC when power is Ok)"

Shove 5v down it.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by CPS2 »

Why 31khz?? 15Khz look sooo much better. Andy is working on a new ArcadeVGA card.
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by cools »

InvZim did a 31.5k MAME setup back on KC. With scanline emulation on it was virtually identical to a 15k picture, the only difference was that it was a bit sharper :)
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by CPS2 »

http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainf.html"

I prefer 15khz over 31khz anyday.

Horses for courses.... :lol:
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by cools »

CPS2 wrote:I prefer 15khz over 31khz anyday.

Horses for courses.... :lol:
And I prefer setups that don't use an ArcadeVGA :lol:
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Re: New JVS Mame project, have some questions

Post by capcomguru »

cools wrote:"Power Ok is a status signal generated by the power supply to notify the computer that the DC operating voltages are within the ranges required for proper computer operation (+5 VDC when power is Ok)"

Shove 5v down it.
Sweet, you da man cools!! Now to source empty ATX plugs with pins. All the ones I found were for HUGE lots... I just need a few :lol:
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