n00b help: jamma -> pc conversion

jackal

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Hi, hoping for some advice...

I've bought a generic JAMMA cabinet, and I was planning on installing a PC into it and using it as a MAME cab.

Can anyone explain how to connect the VGA out of my PC into the monitor, is there some sort of convertor?

I understand that most of these arcade monitors run at lower resolutions and refresh rates. Would I have any hope of installing an OS (linux, maybe windows) and been able to use it with the arcade machine monitor. Anyone done this sort of stuff?

I've had a bit of a google, and most of the info I've found seems quite dated. The J-pac looks like it does this sort of thing, anyone got any experience using one?

cheers!
 
You need a JPAC if you want to run your arcade monitor. You can get them at ultimarc. You also need a compatible videocard in your PC, ArcadeVGA or you can run a software program called soft15hz. BYOAC forums are better for mame stuff just so you know :)
 
Get a Jpac and don't look back. Great piece of equipment. Keep in mind that your video card must be capable of doing 15khz, which can be done either by using softt15khz or powerstrip, or you can buy an arcadevga from the same guy who makes the Jpacs.

I'm personally using a Jpac + Soft15khz and am looking at setting up another cabinet for vertical games using the same setup.
 
thanks for all those replies, the BYOAC forums look pretty useful, but you guys also seem to know your stuff, so I was hoping you could answer a couple more questions :)

Because all the games have slightly different resolutions, is it likely that some just aren't going to be supported by my monitor? Are some games going to end up being scaled down, or stretched up. Are vertical games going to be cropped down the sides, or will they not run at all? Will I have to manually configure each game to fit my monitor? Are you guys using advanceMAME to do this?

I'm actually thinking of pulling out the arcade monitor, and putting in a vga crt! would you guys consider this a sacriledge? Am I really going to be missing out?

thanks for your help!
 
I had an S-video TV in my first cab and an arcade monitor in my 2nd. I think a TV is the easiest route to go and I liked it just fine. Less hassles, easier to setup. Arcade monitor looks better and original but it doesn't really matter that much to me. If i wanted perfect then I would buy the original cabinet :)

As far as resolutions that's a whole different story haha..you can play vertical or horizontal games on the same monitor (mine is horizontal) Mame just configures it for you for the most part. I use mala as the front end and advancemame.
 
You could put in a TV or a computer monitor if you wanted to, but what's the point? You could just hook up a joystick to your computer. Playing it on an arcade monitor is the best IMO. But, to each his own.
 
To me when you have a mame cab it's more about PLAYING the games. Some of the games won't be spot on, some of the controls aren't exactly right. So it doesn't bother me. If you want the PERFECT game with perfect sound and graphics then buy the real cab.
 
managed to install soft15KHz, seems to work OK. Going to order a JPAC and see if I can get it working with the original monitor (would be nice to get maximum authenticity!)

tom - what do you use to switch resolutions, quickres is OK, but if you select a resolution the monitor doesn't support, you can end up stuck in that resolution (it doesn't offera a "timeout" like windows does).

Do you then just run mame with hardware stretching off? Does it automatically select the bet resolution available, or do you have to specify the best resolution for each game? Is there anyway to tell what resolution the game originally ran in?

thanks for your help!
 
What I do is set the PC to 640x480. Then I let MAME (which I run through MALA) decide what resolution each game should run at.. Set mame to use DDRAW and turn HWSTRETCH off. MAME messes up sometimes though and doesn't get the right resolution (I get this problem with a lot of vertical games), so for those I use the Mame Resolution Tool to set INI files for those games to run at 640x480..

It seems like a lot of work, but it's actually pretty easy.
 
ok - thanks for your help

just waiting for the JPAC to arrive now...
 
OK - got stuff set up, seems to be working OK. Thanks for all your help.

Have one more problem though! I can't run windows at 640x480 interlaced in my cab. When I try to do so, I get the "split screen" effect that jpac creates when it gets an unsuitable vga signal.

Is there anything else I have to do to get this working?

cheers
 
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