Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

Working on the Arcade Box
For fun, I decided to spend more time working on my MAME arcade box this long weekend. I've had the base machine and have been using it for some time now, but I had been having a lot of difficulty getting the VGA Well-Gardner screen that came with the arcade unit to work. The VGA cable that came with my box was broken, the jerry-rigged cable connection having come apart at the ends. Despite having a cabling diagram from Wells-Gardner with the right connections, I ended up soldering and re-soldering connections in the hope of getting a clear signal from the screen. Several attempts and a few minor solder burns later without signs of any success, I began to think that I should cut my losses and just get myself a proper computer monitor to replace this one I was having no luck with. I was also thinking about the type of picture quality I could expect with a VGA monitor, which, let's face it, wasn't much. Since I wanted this to be able to playback TV signals and be used as a regular computer, SVGA at the very least was what I wanted.

So I ditched the original VGA monitor and bought myself a used 19" computer monitor instead – a Sylvania F96. It has a decent dot pitch of 0.26mm, and while it has a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1400, I found the best results to be a more modest 1280 x 1024.

The real struggle for me in setting all of this up was configuring the wireless networking card I had bought to connect this machine to my local wireless basestation. There's no convenient networking outlet near where I intended to put the arcade unit, so I had bought a Linksys wireless network card a while back to link this machine to the rest of the network. I had tinkered with it before, but now I sat down and tried to figure out exactly how it was all supposed to work. To Linksys' credit, their diagnostic/configuration software is good, and in the end I managed to figure out that I had to disable the networking bridge Windows XP automatically sets up for the card so that it could talk to the rest of the network. Now I can use the machine as a file repository and backup for the rest of the network. This machine also can boot into Linux, and I plan on using it as my main machine for playing more with this OS, maybe setting it up as a Web server.

Since I wasn't going to be using the original monitor, which had it's own mounting within the arcade box, I had to create a shelf for the new monitor to rest upon. I initially thought about using wood, but I ran across some sturdy wire shelving we had from the old house. I was amazed to find it exactly the right width for my needs, and it addition to being strong it also allowed me to drop cables right through it, so I wouldn't have to cut extra holes if I was using a wooden base instead.

I went to the local hardware store and got several bolts and some heavy-duty metal brackets. I used a level to get the shelving straight (though at a slight angle to the viewer), drilled some guide holes, and then re-drilled the holes to ensure the bolts could fit. The industrial-grade particle board they used to make these arcade boxes is amazingly tough material, and even with a good electric drill it took some time to drill the necessary holes. I am not looking forward to the day when I need to do some heavy cutting to install the new playboard surface.

The speakers that came with the arcade box are unpowered, and would need to be amplified. I thought initially about getting some cheap amplified computer speakers and trying to jury-rig something, but I figured I could probably do better by simply getting a decent computer audio setup. So I visited the local Radio Shack, and found a set of Koss SWS/320 speakers with a powered sub-woofer on sale for half price – perfect! The fact that it has a volume control separate from the speakers – meaning that I can place it anywhere I want for easy access – was a real bonus.

To ensure easy access to the on/off switch and the CD and DVD drives, I placed the PC mini-tower powering the unit on its side, sitting on top of the “money box” area. This setup is fine, though I discovered I couldn't use the coin mechanisms with this arrangement, as I wouldn't be able to close the door that way. This is something I plan on revisiting later.

With the shelves installed and the computer set up inside, it was simply a matter of connecting everything up. I strung the Mini VIK USB keyboard and a spare USB mini-mouse I had and ran them through a couple of holes on the playboard area originally designed for arcade buttons. Using the Mini VIK keyboard proves to be a good choice: it is small, it "sticks" to the surface of the current playboard surface and it contours itself over bumbs and projections from the surface of the playboard – like the big trackball set in the center. ;-) I connected up the cabling for the speakers, strung a cable connection to the TV card, set up its y-antenna, plugged everything into a single powerbar and fired it all up. The TV signal looks great, and will make for a good "rec-room" TV for watching DVDs and MPEG movies on. The sound is loud and powerful – maybe a bit too base-y for my liking – so the arcade unit could double as a good "party machine". Game-wise it is very good – though things slow down noticeably when I try to load more recent games on it. Despite having a 512MB of memory, I found the 1.2 GHz AMD CPU a bit on the sluggish side – perhaps due to too many programs being loaded into memory. This needs some fine tuning, though ultimately a faster CPU (or video card?) may be necessary.

Now I just have to install the new playboard surface. This is going to require some help from Peter L., who has already done this once before and has the tools to do it. In the meantime, it functions perfectly well, and I am happy with the results.