Is there anyone rich enough here to kickstart a cabinet?

[neorichieb1971]

I was thinking the other day if I were rich enough i'd get some guys here together to build a shmup cabinet.

Japanese arcade controls/buttons
Wooden cabinet
Some sort of OSSC compatible screen
OSSC firmware that allows for screen adjustments
PCB compatible
Available in sit down, stand up and bar top.
MAME menu specially coded for the cabinet with easy config screen to get new roms on board


Literally everyone you would need frequents these forums.
We even have vendors who sell things.

It would be an expensive piece of kit. But you only live once.

I think its about time the shmup forum was a brand... Lets do it guys.


In other news, i'm proabably talking crap and just dreaming up stuff. But I'll let you decide.

[SNK-NEO-GEO]

Me personally, I would just hunt down a candy cab in good shape. But that is just me:)

[neorichieb1971]

I have 3 already. But the problem is I don't have the expertise to repair them and they won't last forever.

[qmish]

yeah most homemade cabs are PCs with emulators, and not a PCB thing

[Xyga]

If you'd want something original and marketable today it wouldn't be a full size cabinet, but rather some universal DIY cabinet kit, sturdy metal frame, even partially foldable if such design isn't too clostly.
Something that would fit in an ikea-like furniture sized box if you see what I mean.
Coming with everything PSU+jamma+controls and all the necessary interfaces to make it useable with any type of source and display that anyone can acquire and replace without major trouble or investment.
Recommended (confirmed working) monitor and OSSC, as well as the type stick and buttons, would be optional.
Or you could make everything a la carte, even just selling the metal frame kit for anyone who wants to equip it with his own hardware.

Unfortunately it's not in everyone's power to conceive and fund such a thing. If you've seen some of the 'commercial MAME cabs' with fancy frontends some artisans sell, they're usually ugly, clumsy, heavy and damn expensive while not doing a third of what we'd want.

[neorichieb1971]

And thats why I want us to do it. Because others do it below standard. We are all on the same page.

We don't need to fund anything really. We just need someone to design the cabinet itself. Someone to write a MAME front end. Someone to do the panel and the graphics (there is a panel guy on this forum).


What we need is an ikea kit. But we need the guys who make the specific parts to talk to each other.

[Xyga]

You don't even need a panel, just a platform to put any kind of arcade stick on.

Anyway, even with the ready blueprints in hand, unless ordered in the hundreds or thousands that sort of stuff is very expensive. Very.
Just try to buy the stuff yourself or to order a custom job from a local workshop. The problem anyone who'll want to build one will have is that it can't be made out of any cheap material at all, cabs need to be built for war even if just the main frame.

A combination of sturdy and lightweight would mean using something like the same aluminum tubes structures good quality stepladders and scaffolding are made of...stuff that seems to exist only in industrial-scale production, because the cuts and joints can only be made safely using dedicated machines.

Wood is more accessible but required in much larger volumes (you need to build a more complex box-type structure or it won't carry the weight) and therefore considerably heavier.

I think over time many community people have thought of a similar project, but the hurdles are just, wow...
Maybe we should submit the idea to IKEA then.

[Stevens]

You don't even need a panel, just a platform to put any kind of arcade stick on.

If I ever have a cab I am all about this.

[SNK-NEO-GEO]

Taito is making brand new Vewlix Black Diamonds and the new monitors seems to have low lag, according to private testing that a member did at Arcade-Project.. Maybe that is an option..some of us were trying to buy a few but that is in at the air.. Taito does not sell to individuals.. It is a 1080p, OSSC needs to be tested.

The second thing would be to look at 80/20 Aluminum and build some kind of skeleton cab, that can host a TV/monitor and a control panel type lay out where you can screw in any type of joystick panel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMWV3k4BOMQ

[Xyga]

If it's gonna be something tate-friendly though it musn't be like all those LCD cabs where the monitor is too high up compared to 'normal' conditions in a CRT cab.

A generic LCD furniture-cab would need to have a gap between the stick and the display to allow for height and tilt adjustment.

Something like that (dirty paint job time!)

or a stronger structure for both lcd and crt

[gray117]

As you say - you have everything, except the furniture of the cab, to hand via the forum.
If you're willing to do the planning and foot the bill I'm sure there's someone (local) who would make the cab furniture - essentially a freestanding tv mount.

Unfortunately beyond that you've got to sort out a collective that needs to agree to a spec and then likely support it in some way going forward... doing this is probably more effort/time than the individual furniture making route.

Both do have their barriers to entry, but hoping to spread the experience/effort/cost into some kind of collective is probably going to be harder than going it alone and sourcing knowledge/contacts as needed per your individual tastes.

[Sumez]

Is no one recognizing the issue with commercially selling a platform dedicated to playing pirated games?

I don't care what people do for their own personal projects, but the idea of selling hardware that directly promotes software piracy is dodgy at best, and definitely not applicable for Ikea...

[neorichieb1971]

Is no one recognizing the issue with commercially selling a platform dedicated to playing pirated games?

I don't care what people do for their own personal projects, but the idea of selling hardware that directly promotes software piracy is dodgy at best, and definitely not applicable for Ikea...

The cabinet is for presentation. It does not facilitate the piracy of software.

I can do something on my own when I have the money. I'll get something sorted eventually.

[Xyga]

@Sumez: it would be for everything legit or not (pcbs, consoles, pc, all kinds of video hardware etc), who cares what people do with it anyway ? The manufacturer doesn't do anything wrong.

Following your logic even selling computers would be illegal. The internet itself which by essence means copying contents to your computer's memory would be illegal, and so on.

EDIT: this isn't even its final form

[Xer Xian]

EDIT: this isn't even its final form

FIX'D

(... sorry )

[Xyga]

Come and play...

[Stevens]

That would be a sick cab.

[neorichieb1971]

If anyone wants to go to town and theorize something up in a rendering be my guest.

You never know whom might be watching and want to do it. I don't have the technical know how.

[bigbadboaz]

Not to crap on your idea - more because I'm enjoying sitting here and typing out posts tonight - but if you're strictly talking about forum members in terms of purchase numbers.. seems like the product isn't necessary .

I mean, there are still enough salvage cabs out there that I would think anyone interested could find something secondhand at a comparable price. Then, compare the work of design/assembly versus the work involved in refurbishing/modifying an existing cab into something custom, and you don't necessarily end up in that different of a place.

[neorichieb1971]

Yeah, but I like driving my Toyota. When it breaks or doesn't work, men come round and fix it.

I've asked several times for help on my current broken cabinet but nobody is helping besides "RTFM". I'm scared to take it to the local shop because they want the whole cabinet and won't let me sit in on what they are doing and i've heard rumours about TV shops screwing up cabinets.

I don't want old tech in my cabinet. I want a new screen, OSSC.. Things I understand and can work with without worrying about voltages, soldering and unplugging and changing electrical parts.

I don't want something old and unservicable. Do you?

I see your in LA where Japanese cabs fall out of the sky daily. I don't live in such a place to either learn about the cabinets or get help on them.

[Gnomenthusiast]

Yeah, but I like driving my Toyota. When it breaks or doesn't work, men come round and fix it.

I've asked several times for help on my current broken cabinet but nobody is helping besides "RTFM". I'm scared to take it to the local shop because they want the whole cabinet and won't let me sit in on what they are doing and i've heard rumours about TV shops screwing up cabinets.

I don't want old tech in my cabinet. I want a new screen, OSSC.. Things I understand and can work with without worrying about voltages, soldering and unplugging and changing electrical parts.

I don't want something old and unservicable. Do you?

I see your in LA where Japanese cabs fall out of the sky daily. I don't live in such a place to either learn about the cabinets or get help on them.

What kind of help are you looking for? You want to rip the internals out and replace with an OSSC, LCD, New Control panel? What games will you be playing?

[neorichieb1971]

No, the monitor went black on my NAC.

Before it did that it took time to warm up and the video rolled up at the top of the screen. There was a clicking noise from the transformer as well causing a flicker on the screen until it warmed up. When it warmed up it was fine. But then it went completely and has never worked since. The audio works and the controls work, just no screen.

I would only be interested in custom cabs with new parts, not the old ones. I like to keep stuff original.