Ongoing arcade project

[fuzzy70]

I have been slowly collecting items to make my own arcade machine so to speak just for the hell of it & now am another step closer to having all I need to build it.

These are the items I have acquired so far

• 36 inch TV with built in surround (5.1 DTS, Dolby Pro Logic)
• Original Xbox version 1.6 (Clear crystal case) modded by me
• Pair of Half leather car seats from a MGF roadster

All the above items I managed to get for free, the TV was given to me by a friend who replaced it with a 50" Lcd/Plasma, same with the xbox which he gave me a while back when his kids moved over to a 360 & PS3. The car seats came from another friend who was a car dealer that decided to break & sell an MGF he had due to the cost of repairing it was not worth it. Almost all the parts sold except the seats & I was toying with the idea of making a "Top Gear" type sofa with them but that never happened but I do use them as gaming seats though 

The items that are remaining to get are a steering wheel controller as well as a SFF pc like an old Dell 3100c etc (which I am currently watching one on eBay thats at £1 N/R & 2 days to go).

The reason for an Xbox & a PC is due emulation mainly, the pc will handle the Amiga & MAME side of things as well as remakes that I have accrued over the years, while the Xbox will deal with the 16bit console stuff (Snes, megadrive, Atari 2600 etc). While there is an Amiga & MAME emulator for the Xbox the Amiga side is not as easy to use or as established as the Windows/PC version & MAME is fine for really old games but struggles with some of the later ones. Also my Xbox games are copied onto the HD thanks to the mod.

I have made up adapter cables that allow me to use Amiga/Atari 9 pin digital joysticks on both the PC & Xbox as well as using an Xbox controller on the PC & all works well regarding that. More than likely I will dig out my PICmicro programmer & make an electronic switch box to save the hassle of cable swapping etc.

Luckily having a Dad who's a carpenter will save me a lot of hassle making the frame & base to hold it all in his workshop (also the trade discount on the wood is a huge bonus). I you think of a Sega Rally arcade game cabinet that's the sort of look I will probably go with.

Once I get the wheel controller & the PC then construction will begin 

Lee

btw the attached pic is not the seats I have as they are still in my mates unit but are the same type

[attachment deleted by admin]

[bigsofty]

Ooh sounds like a great project, it's something I may have a go at myself one day.

Good luck and keep us posted with your progress! 

[erico]

chairs look great! what about a Delorian ´case´ to them?

[fuzzy70]

chairs look great! what about a Delorian ´case´ to them?

Seeing as the frame will be made from MDF I could always paint it silver for that "Delorian" look, TV is silver as well so thats a bonus 

I could even make up a L.E.D chain for that "Flux Capacitor" feel, but that might be taking things to far 

Lee

[erico]

oh my!

[fuzzy70]

Sadly the SFF PC I am currently looking at on ebay does not have a PCI-Express x16 slot, only a x1 version. I have a Radeon GFX card floating about that has a S-Video output so could plug it straight into the TV without having to use my scan converter (which does degrade the signal a fair bit).

Might have to look for a motherboard only auction as well & use the CPU/RAM/HD from the Dell.

Also just noticed another auction on Ebay for 3x original Xboxs with controllers for spares or repairs which might come in very handy as I can dismantle the controllers to make a more "Arcade" feel joystick (Arcade joysticks for MAME are not cheap) & also make use of the HD's. Even though they are only 8GB drives thats more than big enough for my Amiga/MAME emulation collection 

Lee

[erico]

I wonder about taito X machines, are they any cheap? they run win xp I guess, could handle all arcade needs as well as outputs...
just a guess though

[fuzzy70]

I wonder about taito X machines, are they any cheap? they run win xp I guess, could handle all arcade needs as well as outputs...
just a guess though

Could not find any on Ebay but even PCB's are not that cheap, although I did see lots of auctions for arcade buttons & joysticks which will be used when I get to that stage. The parts add up to around £10-15 which is a lot cheaper than the £80+ for pre-built controllers, I'll just make up a custom loom & solder onto the Xbox controller PCB.

Another thing I may need to do is program a front end for MAME & possibly Win-UAE as I have not come across one yet that I like or that can be controlled with a joystick, especially the Win-UAE front end. Worst case scenario is that I could always use the trackball I have laying around for anything that requires mouse control.

Lee