N00b's guide to get a Mame Cab running?

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:59 am

Hey there.
I am almost certain that this has been discussed to death and beyond.
however, a quick forum search did not answer my questions.
i am really sorry to ask these question because i am sure you have heard them a few billion times.
Ok here we go:
I have a cab and want to use Mame on it via jamma.
If i would buy a J-Pac (is that thing even good?) and would try to connect my PC to it, how would i need to set it up?
would i need to solder something?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:19 am

If its 15khz cab you would need to run MAME at 15khz which requires a special video card.

Apparently you need an amplifier of sorts to amplify MAME's PC sound to 8ohm speaker levels.

antron · Post by **antron** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:44 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:If its 15khz cab you would need to run MAME at 15khz which requires a special video card.

i have heard that 15kHz is obtainable in windows with most video cards and a program called powerstrip.

and in DOS, it is easy with a program called monarc, or just use ADVMame

Gwyrgyn Blood · Post by **Gwyrgyn Blood** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:06 pm

Check out this:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Cus ... Soft-15khz

Soft 15khz mod for your video card, you should be able to output to that refresh rate like that.

TalkingOctopus · Post by **TalkingOctopus** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:34 am

The J-PAC is good. No soldering is involved. You plug the existing JAMMA harness into the J-PAC. You also need the ArcadeVGA PC videocard to output video to a monitor.

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:40 am

srsly?

but what are those thingies on the left and down-left side?

poodude · Post by **poodude** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:42 pm

those are to wire buttons 4-8. The jamma standard only has 3 buttons. Most jamma pcbs accomplish this via a kick-harness which adds 3 more buttons. Simply wire any extra buttons to those terminals. There are also 2 terminals for positive and negative speaker connections. You can wire standard PC speakers to those, or use your own cabs speakers.

You can find all the info you'll need on this site http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

or on the ultimarc site. http://www.ultimarc.com/

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:24 pm

in the end i would not need to do any of this at all, if i just wanted to use it on my 3-button cab with the cab's speakers, correct?
so i would just have to switch my graphics card to a 15khz mode, connect it via VGA cable to the jpac, put an USB Keyboard on the "keyboard"-port, and an USB cable back to the PC from the "PC KB" port?
if so, i'll order this dirty little thing right now

(but wait- how is the sound supposed to be transferred from the PC to the j-pac?)

poodude · Post by **poodude** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 9:34 pm

Yes that would be correct.

If your arcade monitor only outputs in 15khz I would suggest buying an arcade vga card from ultimarc. Unless your card is capable of outputting in 15khz you are good to go.

VGA cable goes from graphics card port, to the port on the jpac. Then you run a usb or serial cable from the jpac to the usb port or keyboard port on the pc. Ultimarc lets you choose usb or keyboard port variety. I chose usb as it should run a bit quicker. Theres an extra keyboard port on the jpac if you want to plug in a keyboard. It's not needed after you have everything setup..

If you want to use your cabs speakers you'll need an amplifier, as cab speakers are unamplified. The easiest way to accomplish this is to take a crappy pair of pc speakers and take the sound amp out of it. Wire the power from the amp to your pc power supply so it turns on when you start your pc. Connect the sound out from your sound card to the amplifier via a standard audio cable. Then wire the output wires from the amplifier that would have gone to those pc speakers, and wire them to the + and - speaker terminals on the jpac.