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MAME Cabinet Build

I built (scratch, not from plans) a very small bartop with one of those "60-in-1" Chinese boards. This was the smallest design I've seen with a joystick, rollerball, and a coin acceptor. I feel that the coin acceptor is a crucial part a home arcade. If you don't put the coin in and hear the "clink" as it hits the other coins in the coinbox, it's just not the same experience; you might as well be playing games on a PC! I set up the coin acceptor for tokens.

I should mention, that your build is about 1000 times sturdier and better looking than the "real' cabinets! You don't realize how bad the old cabs are until you see them in good lighting.

IMG_0566.jpg
 
One thing that I added to mine, which would be of some interest to classic computing, is a "scan line" device that you can put between the machine's VGA output and an LCD screen. This is a very simple circuit (several schematics are out there) that superimpose darkened lines on every other (or 3) lines on the display, somewhat duplicating the effect of an old color monitor. The good ones have pots to adjust for the level of darkness and even pre-built they are fairly inexpensive. In my opinion, this can help make an arcade machine feel more vintage without the expense and general PITA (weight, etc.) of a real color monitor.
 
I do appreciate that; it's a must have for an LCD, IMO. But you still don't get that experience of contrast that you get with a CRT. That's why the one I'm building will be built round the chassis of an old 17" TV. Mind you I'm not using MAME or anything like it (though really I could add that at any time).

Both of you have some really nice looking cabinets. @paul.brett it never occurred to me to build a frame first for some reason. It's something I'll have to consider now.
 
Slob said:
One thing that I added to mine, which would be of some interest to classic computing, is a "scan line" device that you can put between the machine's VGA output and an LCD screen. This is a very simple circuit (several schematics are out there) that superimpose darkened lines on every other (or 3) lines on the display, somewhat duplicating the effect of an old color monitor. The good ones have pots to adjust for the level of darkness and even pre-built they are fairly inexpensive. In my opinion, this can help make an arcade machine feel more vintage without the expense and general PITA (weight, etc.) of a real color monitor.
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I'm afraid I'm not clear on what that device accomplishes. I don't think your're talking about a scan doubler or flicker fixer in the Amiga world.

But otherwise there still are many 19"+ computer monitors out there to be had for those that want 1 (or more). I recently connected my nos kds unit to my xeon workstation (and much more yet to be done on it) and popped in an old Backtrack dvd I think it was. Well it was a rare event where the most absolutely chaotic and beautiful mish mosh of colors appeared on the tubes face. Some sort of glitch I guess. And not to be repeated. And we're not talking trinitron here. I instantly fell in love with the unit, which initially was an impulse clearance purchase at a Wal-Mart in Princeton. I think I paid 88$ back in say 2003 I think. I suspect the collage wouldn't have seemed as exquisite on my much more recent Asus flat panel. Which I habe to believe sports a superior image. I bought the splityer thingee but havent found tbe time to run them side by side.
 
KC9UDX said:
I do appreciate that; it's a must have for an LCD, IMO. But you still don't get that experience of contrast that you get with a CRT. That's why the one I'm building will be built round the chassis of an old 17" TV. Mind you I'm not using MAME or anything like it (though really I could add that at any time).

Both of you have some really nice looking cabinets. @paul.brett it never occurred to me to build a frame first for some reason. It's something I'll have to consider now.
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I'm not sure what seems unique about a crt. Lcd's have plenty of saturation and contrast as I see it. If I had to describe what is unique about a crt, it's depth ... that's the only word I can use to describe it.

And yes the framing kind of threw me also. Most game cabinets probably were made of particle board with angle brackets screwed to the boards I'm thinking.
 
LCDs cannot go dark. Plus they're very pixelated, and just flat. By the time I could play games on computers, I wasn't going to arcades anymore so the best comparison I have is how bad most of the Donkey Kong ports were. :) Oh and of course Atari Pac-Man.
 
It's kind of apples and oranges, but lcd's do scan similar to crt's. Hence the refresh rate which presumably is as critical or more so with lcd's. But that's not it for me. Again crt images have depth to them, whereas lcd images are kind of (actually very much so) flat. I'll have to stare at it longer and maybe come up with a better description.

This KDS isn't particularly hot. This asus 21.5" lcd has some use on it, but has that same "splendid" sticker I still see at Best Buy. Overall the kds looks noticeably dim by comparison. But it's blues and magentas are richer. Put a trinitron up against a more or less revent lcd and you have a basis for comparison. The kds is kind of drab. But at least it has "depth" ;)
 
But LCDs don't natively have gaps between the horizontal scan lines. If you look at CRT emulation on an LCD, you'll see what we mean.

There are drastic differences in the simple mechanics of how LCDs and CRTs work. Again something that shouldn't be overlooked is the fact that CRTs don't emit light when the screen is told to be "black". It's just dead black. Whereas an LCD always leaks some light (unless it's broken!), so black is really dark grey.
 
No electron beam means no light. Pure black. Every CRT does this. A black spot on the screen is as black as an LCD can only be with the power off.

You can plug an LCD into an Amiga. That's what I use (not because I like it that way; I hate the resolution mismatch). I suppose you could with CGA, too.

Amiga on LCD:
 
CRT's have a real glow about them depending on how bright they are the contrast. I love turning out the room lights and seeing how they glow even from different angles across the glass. I've got a 21" ViewSonic CRT in my MAME cabinet now. I am pretty sure MAME can do scanlines in software if someone wants them.

I am interested in hearing about the technical method used to knock out scanlines in the device mentioned above. Was that implemented in an FPGA or something different? Sounds interesting.
 
Search SLG3000 scanline demo on Youtube. IMO, this makes an LCD look a liile more like a CRT. It isn’t difficult to build one.

There are also several schematics floating around for building a simple one. It’s maybe two HCTTL chips and mine is powered by the VGA signal itself.
 
tipc said:
What I dislike most about crt's are the gaps. Hate am. That's why I never was nor ever will be a cga or Amiga fan. And crt's vary in their blackness, somehow.
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Oddly enough, this is what the scan line device for arcades is trying to reproduce, or fool your eye into believing that it sees. In my case, i adjusted mine so that every x number is somewhat darker.
 
alank2 said:
CRT's have a real glow about them depending on how bright they are the contrast. I love turning out the room lights and seeing how they glow even from different angles across the glass. I've got a 21" ViewSonic CRT in my MAME cabinet now. I am pretty sure MAME can do scanlines in software if someone wants them.

I am interested in hearing about the technical method used to knock out scanlines in the device mentioned above. Was that implemented in an FPGA or something different? Sounds interesting.
Click to expand...

This was always my understanding. And some crt's in the early days, notably IBM's up to the 5175, were noticeably blacker then others. I always seem to detect a slight glow when a crt is on but not displaying anything.
 
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