It Begins!

a couple of week ago, I started working on a MAME cabinet. this apparently isn't an uncommon pursuit among geeks. heck, CmdrTaco, whose own cabinet inspired me to give it a shot, built his some eight years ago, and since then, many, many other people have done the same, which has left me with tons of information on the subject. thanks, Internet!

so, here are a couple of shots of the control panel. I didn't think to take pictures of the construction process, but documenting that is probably best left until I figure out what I'm doing.



as it stands, I only have the control panel assembled, wired, and working, but I am pleased with the results so far. it was made from MDF and assembled it a few days ago at my folks' place with my dad's help. I spent a few hours priming and painting this past Saturday, which incidentally is not a bad way to spend shaking a hangover, and then yesterday, I mounted and wired the joysticks and buttons.

my next steps are to 1) do some field research on real-life arcade cabinets, 2) build my own cabinet, and finally, 3) put together an adequate box for running MAME. stay tuned as I will post updates from time to time along the way.

for what it's worth, I highly recommend the Happ 8-way competition joystick for anyone who is thinking about heading down this road.