I am a old school gamer. When ever I play a arcade game it brings back memories when me and my friends would spend our hard earned allowance at the arcade. Sadly now it's hard to find a arcade let alone games worth playing, all you can find that that crappy DDR game and a hand full of racing games.

I'm going to bring back the old arcade gaming to the home. Instead of slapping on a emulator and calling it finished im thinking to build my own cabinet. It would be a table top system for easy storage and doesn't take up much space.

To make this a Mac MAME system im planning to put my old B&W system into use once again. The only spare monitor I have is a DELL 17inch trueflat CRT. As for the controls I was thinking to use a game pad and modify it for arcade use. I can buy some arcade buttons for 3 bucks a button and the joystick runs about 5 bucks.

For the cabinet I was thinking to make it look like a classic Macintosh all-in-one or go with a custom design and let my girl friend and her sister do the art work since they're both art majors.

Right now im reinstalling OSX Tiger on the B&W and when it's finished i'll start gutting the system to the bare minimum. After that I can start working on the cabinet.

I would love to see pictures and your steps. I've thought of doing this too. But, I don't think I have the skills.

Right now im looking up design ideas on the case.

Also in my search I found a nifty idea on the controller for the arcade controls. Instead of using a USB game pad I was thinking using a cheapy keyboard controller. If you ever played with a keyboard controller you would know what im talking about. If you make two of the contacts touch it sends a signal. For a example Pin 1 and pin 4 make the letter K.

May seem harder but it would be more practical because the MAME's joystick coding sucks and I can add more action buttons.

Don't worry i'll have pictures.

http://www.raphnet.net/electronique/usb_game12/index_en.php

USB gamepad controller board with connections for 12 buttons and I believe a hat switch.

Kinda nifty, pretty much the same idea but with the keyboard controller I can have multiple controls on one controller IE two players or more or have more then 8 action buttons.

I found a killer website that sales the joystick and buttons. A ton of places offer 3 bucks a button but this place offers them $1.43.

http://www.arcadeemulator.net/

I've made up my mind and the system will look like a Macintosh SE but bigger. Since the monitor is 17 inches.


The control console will fit right under where the monitor and drives would stick out.

The color scheme will have a mix of old school mac and nintendo. Black joystick with red buttons. I'm thinking to have the little red apple logo and put MacMAME on the right side. There sill not be any drive slots so it will have a smooth front. Now I need to decide on the construction material, might use MFD or plywood.

Have you looked at MaximumPC.com? Right around the time you put this up they posted an article on how to build your own MAME machine on there, and had a lot of helpful hints. Even though it's a PC article, you can find many of good info (including authentic parts!) at http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_build_kickass_mame_arcade_rig_old_pc_pics. Good Luck!

I had no idea MaximumPC had that article. I've been a fan of the MAME scene for many years but never built a cabinet.

A lot of sites out there want to charge way too much for the cabinet or at times charge a arm and a leg just for a set of plans to build one. All what a cabinet is; is a box with a screen and a small shelf for the controls.

You can build a cabinet like I have planned for about 30 bucks then probably about 50 bucks in hardware from ebay, electronic websites like allelectronics and digi-key. There are also few DIY MAME parts sites. There are hundreds of ways to build a control station for the system so you can go as cheap as possible or go all out and go for high end authentic hardware that requires converters or some sort of a micro-controller to decipher it.



======

Since im posting a reply I guess I'll toss up a update on the build. The case is some what complete. I'm debating to paint it or use a vinyl cover. As for hardware I have everything but the joystick. Software is complete. Instead of using OSx I am using Linux that loads the MAME emulator. Kinda works the same as those mini arcade games you see at bars and restaurants.

The way I see it, when it comes to fun projects and stuff like this, too much info is impossible to get - even if you do it differently from what person B or C does, getting their perspective and info may pay off later on down the road. The difficult thing is not always finding info, it's finding reliable sources of it - when it comes to hacks and mods, it's not always a win for us. Glad to hear the progress, hope the info helped, and good luck!