THE INTERFACE
This is the part list that I have put together so far.
Sections:
JOYSTICKS:
These joystick are 4-8 way. These joystick can be used in 8-way or real 4-way mode as they are fitted with rotating restrictor plates. I purchased these from an awesome site called Ultimarc, they have good prices. Go here if you don't want to order from Happs. Sometimes if you have a local arcade shop around your area you could buy your supplies from them. Check out your local arcade for stickers on the cabinet itself from the manufacture. I found that these joysticks are easier to use do to the fact that some games are 4-way and you don't have to put that third joystick in to play those games. I chose the round ball joysticks for the original arcade look.
PUSH BUTTONS:
The push buttons are all the same type and I have placed in 6 red and 6 blue push buttons. Push buttons usually come in 6 different colors. Blue, red, yellow, green, white and black. These are long type micro-switch buttons for panels up to 30mm thick. Non-illuminated type. I have also placed a Joystick and Trackball template to this link, it will make it easier to cut out the controllers.
CONTROLLER INTERFACE:
Ah, the heart of the controls. These are the 2 interfaces used on the arcade. The first one is for the 3" Trackball. The Opti-PAC (Optical Interface for Pc to Arcade Controls) is an interface for easily connecting optical-type arcade control devices including trackballs and spinners to a PC for use with emulators such as MAME. For more information follow this link..
The second interface called the I-PAC (Interface
for Pc to Arcade Controls) is a board which allows connection of arcade controls
such as buttons and joysticks to a keyboard port or USB port on a PC
motherboard. It was designed around the MAME emulator which supports over
2000 arcade games and can be used with other emulators. For more
information follow this link..
MONITORS:
I have a 17 inch monitor which is plenty large enough for the space left by the vertical monitor. The outside of the monitor is painted black to conceal it from view. It is set at 800x600 resolution 16 - Bit color. All the games seem to be able to use this without any problems.
COMPUTER:
I also have a ATX pc case that holds two hard drives. One has the operating system on it, 10 gig. The other holds all the games w/programs, 10 gig. It is a good idea to have 2 drives in case one fails, if you can't get another drive partition your existing drive. The pc doesn't have to be state of the art due to the fact that most of the games are only 8 - Bit and don't take up a lot of room on the hard drive. Need the for huge amounts of memory or speed really aren't required. The specs on my computer are as follows:
WIRING:
They people over at Ultimarc also carry a wiring kit that contains everything you need to help you install your push buttons and joysticks to the interface.
