MASH BUTTONS 09/11/2005 @ 9:00 pm

The cabinet...Is done. It's been done for awhile, actually; I've just been too lazy to update the page. Here's some final pics - you can check the construction page for the notes on them.

HINGE'D!!!11 LAUGH OUT LOUD 06/14/2005 @ 11:59 pm

Cab and Control Panel Construction notes added.

Now get off my lawn you freaking hippies.

In Control 06/08/2005 @ 09:45 pm

Most recent update to the Construction Page includes some control panel construction. The final bit isn't quite done yet, hopefully I can pull that off tomorrow.

Rollin on Rubbah 06/01/2005 @ 10:45 pm

Just a quick update because I feel bad about saying nothing for a month: We got the wheels on the cab today, and I drew cutout guides for the entire control panel and the interior panel that goes behind the monitor. We still have two full sheets of MDF left - if all goes well, I may be able to take one back for a refund or use it for a separate project. Bonus.

*cough* 05/31/2005 @ 9:30 pm

Today we cut out and attached the side panels for the cab to the frame. Oh yeah, the frame's done. Heh. Guess I needed to update with that.

Check the Construction Page for details.

Der Newsposten ist...ist...uh, alive. 04/28/2005 @ 1:32 pm

For those of you wondering if I'm still alive, the answer is an emphatic yes, as I have a pulse and continue to breathe at regular intervals.

For those of you wondering if I'm still workingon the cabinet, the answer is an emphatic $bling$, as I spent most of the past week procuring the hardware and wood required.

But if you want something of substance - that is to say, substantial, then I shall point you to the Gathering Page, wherin I have pictures of the new and working 25" monitor. Booyah.

Construction of the control panel and the frame should occur shortly, as soon as I can coax a helping hand from my father. This may prove difficult, as he works 60 hours a week.

I HAVE THA POWAAAAAA 04/19/2005 @ 11:14 am

A post regarding how you can set up your own arcade power supply is now available on the Construction Page. I actually plugged this baby in and was able to get sound out of my MVS, so that means I'm not totally screwing things up just yet.

Also, I've got the backings on the mini marquees now, and they look pretty nice. Expect a post regarding how to make those once I can get some fixative/laminate for them.

Progressing 04/15/2005 @ 9:40 pm

I haven't recieved the white labels for the mini-marquee backings just yet, nor have I gotten the laminate I wanted for them, so the mini-marquee project is going to sit half-finished while I begin working on the rest of the cabinet. You've already seen a little bit of construction in the piecing together of the coin door and coin mechs, but yesterday I finished crimping the large majority of the wires on the JAMMA harness.

The entire updates history will no longer be posted on the front page so as to conserve some bandwidth - so feel free to check the new Gathering Phase and Construction Phase links to the left to see individually posted articles arranged by date.

Hurr Hurr 04/06/2005 @ 3:23 pm

The site migration is finally complete, and I even added some nifty-ass extras. To the left there's a bunch more links to resources I used to get this far, and I've added two image galleries, one for photos and one for game marquees. The marquees listed are all of the games I plan to have in the final collection.

I also added a small description of what exactly I mean by "Gathering Phase"...you can find out what that is my clicking on the "Gathering Phase" text on the top right. If you'd like to place some feedback, please feel free to use the DrunkenOverclockers Forum.

Getting Started 03/10/2005 @ 10:17 pm

 

Anyone here ever play the arcade versions of Metal Slug, Samurai Showdown, King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, or Bust-A-Move? Guess what - they all operated on the same motherboard, the Neo-Geo Multi-Video System. And I want one.

Time to spend some money, I think. My plan is to put together a 4-slot MVS system with a few games in it, and maybe a few games to swap in later. The cabinet should be a fully-functional quarter-guzzler and have at least a 19" monitor, if possible a 25". Big daddy eod offered to help me log the process and keep track of the who and what of the entire ordeal, so let's get started.

First, some basic understanding of the part I'll need. Most game cabinets are JAMMA compliant - that means that if you plug in a JAMMA compatible game board into the JAMMA harness inside the cabinet, everything will be hooked up for you - controls, video, power, and sound. The Neo-Geo MVS boards come in several flavors - 1, 2, 4, and 6-slot boards. Historically, the higher the number of slots, the more problems you can have with the board. For the sake of being difficult without being unreasonable, I'll be building a 4-slot MVS system. These boards are more or less JAMMA compliant - we'll get to the how and why during the actual hookup phase. The Neo-Geo games themselves come in a cartridge format, be they MVS or AES cartridges. If you are building and MVS system, you need MVS cartridges. The AES carts are for the home version of the Neo-Geo, designed to hook up directly to a TV set. You may think this seems a more reasonable task than an arcade cabinet, but the big difference here is in price point. The MVS carts cost MUCH less than their AES cousins, usually due to rarity. So, in general, I need a set of controls, a power supply, speakers, monitor, a JAMMA harness, a motherboard, some games, and a cabinet to put it all in, along with some authentic (or authentic-LOOKING) exterior finishes to make this thing work.

One of the toughest things to do was to create a list of the ENTIRE parts list for the cabinet. To do this I searched out several sites and came across a couple great references: Scott's Unicade desgin and hardMVS.com. Scott's design was almost exactly what I needed - a breakdown of contstruction steps, schematics, general advice, and TONS of photographs. The only catch was that he was building a MAME cabinet, and needed a LOT more parts than I did. His control panel has joysticks, trackballs, you name it - all to the tune of hundreds of dollars. Pass! I just wants the basics to get me up and running, and to design the cabinet for a Neo-Geo MVS 4-slot system. This is where hardMVS came into play - the knowledge there kind of filled the gaps for the specifics of the MVS system versus a MAME setup. Another change I want to make is to modify Scott's design a little bit. I'm not too sure how we'll I'll be able to make and document the schematics of it, but my overall intention is going to be this: make the cabinet modular, so it can be taken about if it needs to be moved; split it into three pieces consisting of the monitor and marquee, the control panel, and the wheeled base.