Jay's

Cabinet

  
     

 

 Computer

I was lucky when it came to selecting a computer since I'm one of those IT guys and have had the opportunity to use a lot of stuff people have given me over the years. The computer was given to me by a guy who was upgrading to the latest and greatest Dell and he asked me if I knew where to send his old computer for recycling. My answer was yes I would take it for him for recycling. I scored a 2 gig P-4 Dell that had hardly seen the end of its lifespan. The only problem with it is that it only has 256 megs of ram. since it uses ram bus memory I have elected to not upgrade it as ram bus is way too expensive (couple hundred bucks) for my taste. I've heard the nay-sayers tell people 256 megs is not enough ram but I tell you people, it just works for my system. XP boots up fast and GameEx and Mame seem to have no trouble. Right now the most memory and graphics intensive program I am running would probably be Project 64, and it runs without so much as a hiccup.

  
     
 

Monitor

The Monitor I'm using is a 21" inch NEC I purchased off of Craig's list for $30. I was originally going to go with a 24" or 27" TV but with all the hassles I saw others going through with TV's I thought I would give a big monitor a shot. I'm not saying that in the future I won't go with a larger TV, but at the time $30 and a hassle free installation was just what I wanted. I do have an advantage that others don't however with the monitor choice. Back in the late 90s I purchased an Aver TV genie which turns your monitor into a TV. I had picked this thing up and almost threw it away about ten times, but hung on to it hoping I'd find a use for it some day. I don't use it for watching TV though, I used it for hooking up my Playstation 2 and it works great, plus it has a remote to turn it off and on and to change channels.

  
   
     
  Speakers

The speakers are Logitech X-230s I bought for about $50. They sound pretty good but I wish they had a removable volume control. I built my own volume control and placed it on the back left of the control panel to be easily accessible but also out of sight. I used the directions from oscar controls for making the volume control. The speaker panels are Midway 6x9s I purchased at Mikes Arcade Amusements.

 
   
     
  Power

For lighting the trackball and coin door lights, I simply figured out the power rating for the lights and tapped into the power supply of the computer. I had a few open molex plugs on the power supply so I made a couple of wiring harnesses with the correct molex connectors minus the wires I didn't need and plugged them in. The trackball light is 12v and the lights I bought for the coin door were 5v so life was easy. For powering the marquee light and turning on the monitor, speakers, usb hub, etc, I used a Mini Power Minder from Bits Limited. The computer plugs into the Power Minder and when the computer is turned on, the other receptacle on the Power Minder gets turned on also which has a power strip plugged into it with all the other peripherals plugged into that. Its basically a relay switch. This is Bits LTD description of the power minder "The Mini Power Minder communicates with your PC via USB so when you start up or shutdown your computer, power to the secondary outlet starts or terminates at the same time. You'll control all your peripherals in one easy step! To control multiple devices, plug a power strip into the secondary socket."  All I know is this was the easiest way I could find to turn everything on with one button push and took the worry away I would have had using a hacked surge protector/relay setup.

  
   
     
  Smoked Glass

For the smoked glass I used, I chose to use actual glass and not plexi as I didn't want it to get scratched easily. The name of the glass is greylite # 14 and I bought it locally where I live. It was about $60. I think it is available all over the US as this guy (Mikes Arcade Cabinet) also used it in his cab. It looks really sharp but does have a glare problem sometimes so this will be another deciding factor for you to choose to use glass or not on your cab. I have the glass installed in such a way that it is easily removable from the cab with the use of a suction cup I bought at Harbor Freight.

 
   
   
     
     
   
     
   
     
  What Video Game Character Are You? I am a Gauntlet Adventurer.I am a Gauntlet Adventurer.

I strive to improve my living conditions by hoarding gold, food, and sometimes keys and potions. I love adventure, fighting, and particularly winning - especially when there's a prize at stake. I occasionally get lost inside buildings and can't find the exit. I need food badly. What Video Game Character Are You?