Mini Galaga Multigame MAME cabinet information and service log
 

Over the Summer of 2009 my girlfriend mentioned that there were a few arcade cabinets at the school she teaches at.  On the way to California Extreme 2009 in July we stopped by and I took a look at them.  Basically they're Jakks Pacific TV Games joysticks built into half size replica arcade cabinets.  Two are Galaga replicas and one is a Pac-Man replica.  One of the Galaga cabinets was totally dead but the other two worked fairly well.  I guess they've been there for a few years and were donated to the school for one of their media rooms.  A couple months after the school year started up again she mentioned that the other Galaga quit working and that the Pac-Man would periodically reset.

A month or so passed and I asked if anyone had fixed the cabinets and she said the school had asked a couple places and they were told it would cost more than it would be worth.  TV people didn't want to touch them because of the non-standard case, amusement repair people didn't want to touch them because it's not really an arcade cabinet.  I offered to take a look at the cabinets and repair them in exchange for taking one of the Galaga cabinets home.  Everyone at the school jumped on the opportunity, the principal herself replying "He just wants one of them?  He'll fix the others for free?  He can have it!" They were all pretty enthusiastic about getting the other two machines repaired.

By early December a Saturday was agreed upon when I could service the cabinets.  I was there for about four hours working on the machines.  Each one has a Jakks Pacific TV Games plug and play gutted and mounted inside, with the inputs running to arcade controls.  The Galaga cabinets feature Pole Position, Galaga, Mappy, Ms. Pac-Man, and Xevious.  The Pac-Man cabinet has Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Pac & Pal, Pac-Man Plus, New Rally-X, Bosconian, Dig Dug, and Galaxian.  The Galaga cabinets have the parts from the rotating joystick (for steering) mounted to a little spinner adjacent to the joystick.  A 13" CRT TV with the back removed is mounted inside each, using the standard AV jacks.  The TV's are securely fastened to a TV shelf that slides out for access to the game electronics.

The cabinet construction is arcade quality as are the controls.  The TV audio has been relocated to a professionally mounted speaker above the display area, beneath the marquee, as is done on an actual cabinet.  The marquees light and are vinyl sandwiched between two pieces of glass.  The TV area is covered with a piece of smoked plexi and the controls are standard arcade fare.  The joysticks are selectable between 4 and 8 way (via pulling up and twisting or using a slider on the underside) proving that if Jakks would spend a little more Xevious and Bosconian would have proper 8 way movement, the game can do it, it's a control blockade.  The plug and play is hardwired to use the AC adapter.  The plug and play AC adapter, TV power, and marquee light all plug into a power strip inside the cabinet which is then hardwired to a fused socket and switch on the back of the cabinet.  From the outside a standard three prong PC power cable is used, keeping everything safe and secure.  Official artwork is used on the sides, front, marquees and control panels.

Problems with the cabinets were mixed, covering blown fuses, loose grounds, broken connections, worn switches - pretty much the standard wear and tear.  Figuring out the order things have to be taken out (remove back, disconnect speaker, loosen bracket and slide out smoked plexi, unscrew TV shelf, slide TV out, disconnect plug and play, etc.) took up most of the time as did testing things as I went along.  This was made far easier by rolling in a separate TV facing back at me while I stuck my head through the cabinet to check control connections.  Absolutely nothing was labeled or properly color coded.  Really these weren't designed to be worked on with how buried the control panels are.  However I was able to get them all fixed and tuned up to 100% functionality.  I also replaced all the switches in each one, made sure the connections were sound, retuned the picture on the TV's and performed other basic maintenance and cleaning.  Then of course it was time for me to collect my cabinet as payment (and just get the sucker to fit in the back of a Camry).  So after four and a half hours of hybrid arcade repair I became the owner of a 3/5th size Galaga cabinet.

Yes, I got this one working too, just needed a new fuse for the external power connection after my internal repairs.  They really are beautifully made, I couldn't make one nicer if I tried.  With the graphics and T-molding, it really does look like an authentic Galaga cabinet, just much smaller.

The wiring hackjob pictured above was the quick fix to get it working until I brought it home (although the original wasn't that great either).  I wanted to at least have something that worked for awhile before I could get around to doing the MAME conversion.  The Jakks TV Games board is mounted and an AC adapter is hardwired to it.  The connections run to a CAT5 cable, through a coupler, to another and then to the controls.  The menu, fire 1, fire 2 and joystick directions are wired to arcade components.  The original Jakks TV Games joystick assembly is mounted to the left side and a knob is attached to it.  This particular Jakks TV Games version is the one with the twist joystick handle for Pole Position - that's what the faux spinner was used for.

My plans for it were to haul it to my parent's house to put it into storage since I really don't have the space for it.  It was now or never though so I had to pick it up when I did.  My eventual intention was to turn it into a classic vertical MAME cabinet.  Pretty much everything I need is already on the cabinet.  I planned to rework the control panel a little (remove the "spinner" which is useless for anything other than what it's being used for now) and cut a new monitor mount for a vertical PC monitor but that's about it.  Wire up an encoder, wire the speaker to a little computer speaker amp and it's ready to go.

The origin of these cabinets is really the biggest question I still have.  It's hard to say where they came from, no one at the school seems to know anything about them other than "they were donated years ago."  I'm guessing they were probably made in small batches since each cabinet has pencil writing on the inside and back door that correspond to the phonetic alphabet.  Pac-Man is Charlie, the Galaga still there is Hotel and the one I have is Golf.  The work inside is pretty damn professional.  They mounted the boards from the plug and plays inside and then ran all the wires to a CAT5 jack.  The arcade control side runs to another jack and then they are tied together via a coupler.  If I was to guess I'd say it was someone doing small custom jobs.  However one would assume there would be some kind of maker's mark somewhere on the cabinet but there's nothing anywhere.  If this work looks or sounds familiar to you and you have more information, please e-mail me!

03/08/2010 - Conversion To MAME

On Christmas Eve, 2009, the cabinet was once again loaded up and hauled to my parent's house.  The ten minute journey to my apartment with the cabinet in the back of the Camry had nothing on the two hour drive to my parent's.  Aside from sitting sideways in the front passenger seat with my hand on the machine to keep it stable (as well as the seat belts around it), the trip was rather uneventful.  I set the cabinet up adjacent to my Pole Position MAME conversion and over the next couple months I would head out for a weekend every three weeks or so to work on the cabinet.  Also during this time I began to disassemble the Pole Position cabinet for reasons explained in the project page for that machine.  I would end up using the computer parts out of Pole Position DX to power the Galaga MAME cabinet.  Work was done a little at a time, setting up and configuring the MAME installation one weekend, getting the control panel reworked and wired on another and so on.  I worked very hard to make sure I used what limited time I had to my full advantage.  About three months after starting, at the beginning of March, I finished up the conversion.

In the three month span I removed the TV and Jakks Pacific electronics and turned the machine into a mini vertical MAME cabinet.  I decided to use the hardware that was in my previous MAME cabinet (Pole Position DX) simply because it was super stable and would do exactly what I needed.  I used an Ultimarc I-PAC for controls interface.  The display is a 17" LCD panel that I picked up on craigslist.org for $35.  Originally I wanted to use a CRT but a 17" CRT was simply too deep to facilitate clean work inside the cabinet.  The display is coated with a panel of smoked glass which works out great, as I don't need a monitor bezel - all you see is the screen.  The LCD panel is mounted to the original TV monitor shelf with plumbing strap and surrounded with black duct tape - again, totally invisible beneath the smoked glass.  Awesome idea to the credit of whoever designed and built these cabinets to use the glass they did, the display couldn't have worked out better.

I'm running Win98SE but I'm using DOS MAME v0.60 and the DOS build of Game Launcher as my front end.  I tried things different ways but the current setup is what worked best and the cabinet is 100% solid.  I ran the cabinet constantly for 36 hours without a single problem.  A wireless mouse is used to load Game Launcher and also to shutdown the computer via a "Shutdown Windows98" icon on the desktop.  Due to this, a keyboard isn't required for regular usage of the cabinet.  However if I do need use of a keyboard (to edit a configuration file or something similar) I installed a PS/2 socket on the back of the machine that interfaces with the keyboard encoder / computer.  That way I don't have to open the computer up to plug in a keyboard whenever I may need one.  Along with the PS/2 socket I also installed a large pushbutton to turn the computer on.  This is connected to the power pins of the mother board and works exactly the same as a power switch on a computer tower.

The marquee was custom printed from EMDKAY.net for $20.75 shipped.  Turn around time was less than one week, no extra charge for custom size.  I simply removed the original paper marquee and slid the new one in its place.  However I sliced up my fingers pretty bad on the marquee glass without even realizing it.  Actually there's a very small blood stain on the marquee from this incident however I seem to be the only person that sees it.

The display is absolutely as large as will fit in the cabinet and fills the display area nicely.  It looks like there's a lot of space in a couple pictures but there really isn't.  I ended up using the original speaker, just hardwired to the amp board out of a set of computer speakers instead of the original TV.  It sounds great and provides full, rich sound.

I really wanted to put a CRT in there all along but a 17" tube really did make the working environment in the cabinet too tight.  I also got a little worried about having to beef up the monitor shelf with the added weight, which would kill the modular slide out design.  The cabinet is built so that removing two screws allows the control panel runners (which run the entire length of the cabinet and support the bezel glass) to pivot down, allowing the smoked glass to be removed.  Then two more screws are removed and then entire monitor shelf slides out. It's a pretty ingenious way to lock parts against one another and secure everything 100% with minimal fasteners.  Considering not a single thing budged when finessing the cabinet in and out of the back seat of the car (not to mention hauling it two hours away), I'd say it's going to hold up for a long time.

I'm shocked the picture looks as good as it does considering I'm running DOS MAME on an LCD panel.  I miss the scanlines but they just don't look right with the old MAME via LCD and the smoked glass does a good job of making up for it in the authentic display department.  The fact that it weighs about a quarter of what the equivalent CRT would have is another big plus.

04/06/2010 - Final Adjustments

About a month after getting the cabinet up and running, I performed a few adjustments to the cabinet.  This mainly consisted of tightening a few things on the control panel, making sure all the switches were contacting properly, things like that.  I made a full backup of the MAME setup and put in the new instruction cards.  I also moved the cabinet to the space that the Pole Position machine previously occupied.  Lastly I decided to permanently install a floppy drive inside the cabinet for the purpose of easily backing up the high score directory.

Cable management was also something that needed to be taken care of.  The last time I was out I ran out of cable clips so I wasn't able to tie everything down how I wanted.  Cable management is something that is often overlooked with MAME cabinets but is very important to facilitate easy maintenance.  It's even more important with this cabinet since everything is packed in so tightly.  Proper cable management also keeps air moving freely inside so that components can run as cool as possible.

The cabinet plays over a hundred games under MAME v0.60.  Here is the full list of the files along with their title names.  Keep in mind that not all these are available from the menu as some games require alternate romsets to run.  Only the romsets that are playable will be available from the menu.

1941      "1941 - Counter Attack (World)"
1941j     "1941 - Counter Attack (Japan)"
1942      "1942 (set 1)"
1942a     "1942 (set 2)"
1942b     "1942 (set 3)"
1943      "1943 - The Battle of Midway (US)"
1943j     "1943 - The Battle of Midway (Japan)"
1943kai   "1943 Kai - Midway Kaisen"

aerofgt   "Aero Fighters"
amidar    "Amidar"
arabian   "Arabian"
arabiana  "Arabian (Atari)"
argus     "Argus"

bagman    "Bagman"
bagmanmc  "Bagman (Moon Cresta hardware)"
bagmans   "Bagman (Stern set 1)"
bagmans2  "Bagman (Stern set 2)"
bnj       "Bump 'n' Jump"
bombjac2  "Bomb Jack (set 2)"
bombjack  "Bomb Jack (set 1)"
brubber   "Burnin' Rubber"
btime     "Burger Time (Data East set 1)"
btime2    "Burger Time (Data East set 2)"
btimem    "Burger Time (Midway)"
bwing     "B-Wings (Japan)"
bwings    "Battle Wings"

centipb2  "Centipede (bootleg set 2)"
centipd2  "Centipede (revision 2)"
centipdb  "Centipede (bootleg set 1)"
centiped  "Centipede (revision 3)"
circusc   "Circus Charlie"
circusc2  "Circus Charlie (no level select)"
circuscc  "Circus Charlie (Centuri)"
circusce  "Circus Charlie (Centuri, earlier)"
citybmrj  "City Bomber (Japan)"
citybomb  "City Bomber (World)"
commando  "Commando (World)"
commandu  "Commando (US)"
congo     "Congo Bongo"
contra    "Contra (US)"
contrab   "Contra (US bootleg)"
contraj   "Contra (Japan)"
contrajb  "Contra (Japan bootleg)"

devilfsh  "Devil Fish"
digdug    "Dig Dug (set 1)"
digdug2   "Dig Dug II (New Ver.)"
digdug2o  "Dig Dug II (Old Ver.)"
digduga1  "Dig Dug (Atari, rev 1)"
digdugat  "Dig Dug (Atari, rev 2)"
digdugb   "Dig Dug (set 2)"
dkong     "Donkey Kong (US set 1)"
dkong3    "Donkey Kong 3 (US)"
dkong3j   "Donkey Kong 3 (Japan)"
dkongjo   "Donkey Kong (Japan set 2)"
dkongjp   "Donkey Kong (Japan set 1)"
dkongjr   "Donkey Kong Junior (US)"
dkongjrj  "Donkey Kong Jr. (Japan)"
dkongo    "Donkey Kong (US set 2)"
docastl2  "Mr. Do's Castle (set 2)"
docastle  "Mr. Do's Castle (set 1)"
docastlo  "Mr. Do's Castle (older)"
dspirit   "Dragon Spirit (new version)"
dspirito  "Dragon Spirit (old version)"

elecyoy2  "Electric Yo-Yo, The (set 2)"
elecyoyo  "Electric Yo-Yo, The (set 1)"
exedexes  "Exed Exes"
exerion   "Exerion"
exerionb  "Exerion (bootleg)"
exeriont  "Exerion (Taito)"

fantasy   "Fantasy (World)"
fantasyj  "Fantasy (Japan)"
fantasyu  "Fantasy (US)"
fhawk     "Fighting Hawk (World)"
fhawkj    "Fighting Hawk (Japan)"
fireshrk  "Fire Shark"
frogseg1  "Frogger (Sega set 1)"
frogseg2  "Frogger (Sega set 2)"
fshark    "Flying Shark (World)"
fsharkbt  "Flying Shark (bootleg)"

galag88b  "Galaga '88 (set 2)"
galag88j  "Galaga '88 (Japan)"
galaga    "Galaga (Namco)"
galaga3   "Galaga 3 (rev. C)"
galaga3a  "Galaga 3 (set 2)"
galaga3m  "Galaga 3 (set 3)"
galaga84  "Galaga '84"
galaga88  "Galaga '88 (set 1)"
galagab2  "Galaga (bootleg)"
galagads  "Galaga (fast shoot)"
galagamw  "Galaga (Midway)"
galmidw   "Galaxian (Midway)"
galmidwo  "Galaxian (Midway, old rev)"
gaplus    "Gaplus (rev. D)"
gaplusa   "Gaplus (alternate hardware)"
gapluso   "Gaplus (rev. B)"
gorf      "Gorf"
gorfpgm1  "Gorf (Program 1)"
gutangtn  "Guttang Gottong"
gyrodine  "Gyrodine"
gyruss    "Gyruss (Konami)"
gyrussce  "Gyruss (Centuri)"

imgfight  "Image Fight (Japan)"
invaddlx  "Space Invaders Deluxe"
invaderl  "Space Invaders (Logitec)"
invaders  "Space Invaders"
invadpt2  "Space Invaders Part II (Taito)"

jack      "Jack the Giantkiller (set 1)"
jack2     "Jack the Giantkiller (set 2)"
jack3     "Jack the Giantkiller (set 3)"
jackal    "Jackal (World)"
jackalj   "Tokushu Butai Jackal (Japan)"
journey   "Journey"
jrpacman  "Jr. Pac-Man"
jumpbug   "Jump Bug"
jungler   "Jungler"
junglers  "Jungler (Stern)"
junofrst  "Juno First"
junofstg  "Juno First (Gottlieb)"

kangaroa  "Kangaroo (Atari)"
kangarob  "Kangaroo (bootleg)"
kangaroo  "Kangaroo"

ladybug   "Lady Bug"
ladybugb  "Lady Bug (bootleg)"
looping   "Looping (set 1)"
loopinga  "Looping (set 2)"

majest12  "Majestic Twelve - The Space Invaders Part IV (Japan)"
mappy     "Mappy (US)"
mappyj    "Mappy (Japan)"
mikie     "Mikie"
mikiehs   "Mikie (High School Graffiti)"
mooncrgx  "Moon Cresta (Galaxian hardware)"
mooncrs2  "Moon Cresta (bootleg set 2)"
mooncrsa  "Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu, old rev)"
mooncrsb  "Moon Cresta (bootleg set 1)"
mooncrsg  "Moon Cresta (Gremlin)"
mooncrst  "Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu)"
mooncrsu  "Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu, unencrypted)"
moonqsr   "Moon Quasar"
mrdo      "Mr. Do!"
mrdofix   "Mr. Do! (bugfixed)"
mrdot     "Mr. Do! (Taito)"

naughtya  "Naughty Boy (bootleg)"
naughtyb  "Naughty Boy"
naughtyc  "Naughty Boy (Cinematronics)"

pacman    "Pac-Man (Midway)"
pacmania  "Pac-Mania"
pacmanij  "Pac-Mania (Japan)"
pacmod    "Pac-Man (Midway, harder)"
pacnchmp  "Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp"
pacnpal   "Pac & Pal"
pacnpal2  "Pac & Pal (older)"
pacplus   "Pac-Man Plus"
pengo     "Pengo (set 1 rev c)"
pengo2    "Pengo (set 2)"
pengo2u   "Pengo (set 2 not encrypted)"
pengo3u   "Pengo (set 3 not encrypted)"
pengob    "Pengo (bootleg)"
phoenix   "Phoenix (Amstar)"
phoenix3  "Phoenix (T.P.N.)"
phoenixa  "Phoenix (Centuri)"
phoenixc  "Phoenix (IRECSA, G.G.I Corp)"
phoenixt  "Phoenix (Taito)"
phozon    "Phozon (Japan)"
pooyan    "Pooyan"
pooyans   "Pooyan (Stern)"
portman   "Port Man"
puckman   "PuckMan (Japan set 1)"
puckmana  "PuckMan (Japan set 2)"
puckmod   "PuckMan (harder?)"

qbert     "Q*bert (US set 1)"
qberta    "Q*bert (US set 2)"
qbertjp   "Q*bert (Japan)"
qbertqub  "Q*bert's Qubes"
qberttst  "Q*bert (early test version)"
qix       "Qix (set 1)"
qixa      "Qix (set 2)"
qixb      "Qix (set 3)"

raiden    "Raiden"
retofinv  "Return of the Invaders"
rocnrope  "Roc'n Rope"
rocnropk  "Roc'n Rope (Kosuka)"
roadf     "Road Fighter (set 1)"
roadf2    "Road Fighter (set 2)"
route16   "Route 16"
route16a  "Route 16 (set 2)"

sbagman   "Super Bagman"
sbagmans  "Super Bagman (Stern)"
scobra    "Super Cobra"
scobrab   "Super Cobra (bootleg)"
scobras   "Super Cobra (Stern)"
scobrase  "Super Cobra (Sega)"
scontra   "Super Contra"
scontraj  "Super Contra (Japan)"
scramblb  "Scramble (Galaxian hardware)"
scramble  "Scramble"
scrambls  "Scramble (Stern)"
scregg    "Scrambled Egg"
sectrzon  "Sector Zone"
seicross  "Seicross"
sindbadm  "Sindbad Mystery"
sinista1  "Sinistar (prototype version)"
sinista2  "Sinistar (revision 2)"
sinistar  "Sinistar (revision 3)"
skyadvnj  "Sky Adventure (Japan)"
skyadvnt  "Sky Adventure (World)"
skyadvnu  "Sky Adventure (US)"
skyfox    "Sky Fox"
skyshark  "Sky Shark (US)"
smooncrs  "Super Moon Cresta"
solfight  "Solar Fight"
sqbert    "Faster, Harder, More Challenging Q*bert (prototype)"
ssi       "Super Space Invaders '91 (World)"
stinger   "Stinger"
stinger2  "Stinger (prototype?)"
stratvox  "Stratovox"
superpac  "Super Pac-Man"
superpcm  "Super Pac-Man (Midway)"
superqix  "Super Qix"
sxevious  "Super Xevious"

terracra  "Terra Cresta (YM2203)"
terracrb  "Terra Cresta (YM3526 set 2)"
terracre  "Terra Cresta (YM3526 set 1)"
tigerh    "Tiger Heli (US)"
tigerh2   "Tiger Heli (Japan set 1)"
tigerhb1  "Tiger Heli (bootleg set 1)"
tigerhb2  "Tiger Heli (bootleg set 2)"
tigerhj   "Tiger Heli (Japan set 2)"
timeplt   "Time Pilot"
timepltc  "Time Pilot (Centuri)"
todruaga  "Tower of Druaga (New Ver.)"
todruago  "Tower of Druaga (Old Ver.)"
tokio     "Tokio / Scramble Formation"
tokiob    "Tokio / Scramble Formation (bootleg)"
tp84      "Time Pilot '84 (set 1)"
tp84a     "Time Pilot '84 (set 2)"
turpin    "Turpin"
turtles   "Turtles"
tutankhm  "Tutankham"
tutankst  "Tutankham (Stern)"
twinbee   "TwinBee"
twincobr  "Twin Cobra (World)"
twincobu  "Twin Cobra (US)"

upndown   "Up'n Down"
upndownu  "Up'n Down (not encrypted)"

vulgus    "Vulgus (set 1)"
vulgus2   "Vulgus (set 2)"
vulgusj   "Vulgus (Japan?)"

xevious   "Xevious (Namco)"
xeviousa  "Xevious (Atari set 1)"
xeviousb  "Xevious (Atari set 2)"
xeviousc  "Xevious (Atari set 3)"

zaxxon    "Zaxxon (set 1)"
zaxxon2   "Zaxxon (set 2)"
zzyzzyx2  "Zzyzzyxx (set 2)"
zzyzzyxx  "Zzyzzyxx (set 1)"

Everything runs 100% with the exception of City Bomber and Raiden which run slow and Zzyzzyxx which runs inconsistently, however Zzyzzyxx runs inconsistently on about everything from what I've seen.  The PC specs are similar to what was in Pole Position DX since that's where most of the parts came from...

• Pentium II 350MHz with 128MB of RAM
• Generic Sound Blaster Pro Clone
• 6 GB hard drive
• STB Velocity 128 AGP graphics card
• 300W power supply
• 3.5" floppy drive (very important for regularly backing up configuration options and high scores)

I am totally pleased with how this project turned out.  Without a doubt it is one of the finest MAME cabinets I have ever known of.  If it wasn't for all the time working on the Pole Position MAME cabinet I probably would have never been able to do such a solid job on this one.

The cabinet gets constant usage and has proven to be stable.  I look forward to playing it each and every time I visit my parents and plan on moving it to my residence once space allows.  While the cabinet is much smaller than a standard size machine, it still provides full functionality and full size controls.  The control panel height is perfect for sitting at the cabinet in a chair.  At this point there are no further changes or updates planned as the cabinet is pretty much completely finished.

07/24/2010 - RAM Upgrade And Harness Rebuild

Three months had passed since wrapping up the project and the cabinet continued to perform without any problems.  Usage dropped off a little due to the increasing temperatures in the Central Valley but cooler temperatures at night allowed some play time.  Back in Silicon Valley, while throwing out some trash, I spotted a large CRT monitor on the ground next to the dumpsters.  Upon disposing of my trash I noticed a beat up computer tower down in the empty dumpster.  Being an electronics picker by nature, I rescued the tower and gave it a look over.  The hard drive had been removed and the casing and power supply were pretty beat up, but everything else looked fine.  I went back up to my apartment, grabbed a screwdriver and returned to the trash area.  I disassembled the computer, inspecting each board to see if it was anything worthwhile.  After about ten minutes of disassembly I ended up with a few decent older computer components and returned the rest to the trash.  I took the sound card, a value edition Sound Blaster Live! - nothing incredible but a sound card is a sound card and I have experience figuring out the driver scheme for this series.  Additionally I grabbed the motherboard, complete with a 600MHz Pentium III and 384MB of RAM.  I honestly don't have much use for the motherboard and processor but I couldn't pass it up.  However the 128MB RAM sticks would provide a nice and free upgrade to the Galaga cabinet.

Granted, the motherboard and processor I recovered are almost twice as fast as the setup currently in the Galaga cabinet but I have no idea how stable they run.  The set up as I have it now is nearly bulletproof and I don't want to trade that away for anything.  The Pentium II that powers Galaga Multigame provided years of outstanding service in the Pole Position MAME cabinet before it and the motherboard has a small profile that makes it fit perfectly along with the other components.  Upgrading the RAM from 128MB to 384MB on the other hand has done nothing but give the cabinet a little more breathing room.  Games like City Bomber and Zzyzzyxx are now much more stable and Galaga '88 has lost nearly all of its bad tendencies (still a hair of audio stutter during the Galactic Dancin' stages).  Raiden still plays very slow but Aero Fighters and Majestic Twelve are absolutely solid now.  Again, the big thing is it gives some breathing room to games that worked fine with the original 128MB of RAM.

The other thing that had been weighing on my mind was the haphazard way I assembled the control panel harness.  See, originally when I was converting the cabinet over to MAME from the Jakks TV Games configuration, I was very clean with my control panel wiring.  I had two Ultimarc I-PAC encoder boards that I purchased, each one from a different era in production.  The I-PAC is basically a controller interface that translates arcade controls input into keystrokes that the computer and emulator can easily understand.  I put one in the Pole Position cabinet (for a planned upgrade that I ended up not going through with) and used the other for Galaga Multigame.  When I went to test out the control panel on Galaga Multigame I was getting nothing on Fire 1 and having problems with the shift function, used to give a secondary control function to each button.  In the case of Galaga Multigame the shift button is Start.  This is used to exit a game to the menu by holding Start + pressing Credit.  None of this was working right, even after troubleshooting the problem by moving things around (buttons, switches, wires, connection points on the I-PAC) I wasn't making any headway.  Additionally the button configuration utility was seeming to have problems communicating with the I-PAC and retaining configuration settings.  At this point my control panel was pretty hacked up.  Eventually I reached up in the Pole Position cabinet, pulled the other I-PAC encoder out, quickly wired it up in Galaga and tested it out.  It worked correctly and the button configuration utility worked fine with it.  It seemed the other encoder was bad so I packed it away to work on later and finished wiring up the Galaga control panel.  As I had burned about three hours messing around with the encoders at this point, I rebuilt my control panel wiring harness as fast as I could.  I was tired of messing around with the interface, it was working now, my quickly assembled harness was decent, I was ready to move on to something else.  That messy harness worked fine but it was always in the back of my mind as something that needed to be replaced, if anything then as preventive maintenance.

Since I was going to head out to upgrade the RAM I figured I'd rebuild the harness as well.  The main problem was wire length.  There simply wasn't enough in between each quick disconnect on the ground line and far too much between the encoder and each switch.  I also wanted to flow a little solder into each quick disconnect in addition to crimping them.  In arcade machines and MAME cabinets connections are everything.  That simply cannot be stressed enough.  Without solid connections on your control panel you'll have all kinds of problems and will spend more time working on your controls than using them to play games.  The first thing I did was remove all the connections and flow solder into each quick disconnect, replacing and recrimping those that I wasn't comfortable with.  Then I threw away the original ground line and got to work and building a new one.  I put even distance between each daisy chained quick disconnect on the ground line and made sure that distance was enough to allow comfortable space for connection.  I then parted the lines to the encoder into two bundles - one with the ground, Credit, Fire 1 and Fire 2 and the other with each joystick direction and Start.  I could have combined everything into a single bundle as with a standard arcade harness but since I was only using one color of wire I figured splitting them would make any future work easier.

I then kept the bundles together with a series of zip ties every couple inches.  After pulling the wires over to the encoder I then cut them down to size so they would perfectly reach their connection points.  I still left just enough slack so I could work on the lines at a future time if required but still kept the wire length to a minimum.  This also got the length of each wire pretty consistent.  I actually ended up removing about three total feet of excess wire between all the connections over the old setup, there really was a lot of waste before.  Each bundle was then secured to the cabinet with cable clips.

After reassembly I have a lot more piece of mind that the control panel is now solid and should be trouble free.  A solid hour of playing Time Pilot was testament to that.  In a couple months the cabinet will be making a trip back to Silicon Valley as I will have the space to bring it back home.  I may temporarily beef up how the power supply is secured with some plumbing strap for the journey back, same thing with the floppy drive, since the cabinet will have to make the trek on its back - not to mention climb a flight of stairs.  Everything else should be okay, the power supply being essentially upside down for two hours on the drive is the only thing I think I need to take precaution against.  I was also thinking about installing a couple of cooling fans on the vented back door but that can wait until I have the machine back here.
 

Written on 05-29-10 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net
Last amended on 08-07-10 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net

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