Thinking about getting into PCBs, where do I start?

[SpiralSage]

I have literally no experience with this kind of stuff and have been primarily a console gamer, but I've always wanted to learn how to manage a arcade cabinet.

Whats a good place to learn about how to do all the stuff I'd need to know to build or work on making a cabinet or setting up a PCB?

If I were to buy a Cave PCB, what would be a good beginner game to set up?

[ave]

Any of them, really. They're all lowres and JAMMA, so it just comes down to a matter of your personal taste and financial resources.

[Alexfusheng]

I am interested in learning more about this myself. Is there a good FAQ or tutorial/guide/wiki website for newbie arcade cabinet owners??

From what I could gather reading over other posts here:

If I want to have my own cabinet to play various CAVE shooters on I will need:

1. An arcade cabinet. From what I can tell this cabinet would include a monitor, power supply, joysticks & buttons and a JAMMA wiring harness? (Havent looked into what a JAMMA is yet) I am guessing some standard wiring harness to make switching out PCB games easy?

2. Buy a CAVE PCB and hook it up in the cabinet. Then I could begin playing CAVE shooter game.



I am in the US so I am not sure about what problems there could be with voltages vs voltage requirements of Japanese PCB's ...?


(EDIT):

Found this link if any other PCB newbies see this post: http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Beginners_Guide_To_Candy_Cabs

Looks like some good info.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

You can get help here building superguns but the info is out there if you Google. Do not build one and just hook up an expensive Cave board though. You need a cheap Jamma board to test it before plugging in something expensive. If you buy a candy cab it's pretty much plug in a Jamma board and turn it on. If you build a supergun you need an arcade power supply

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Happ-15-AMP-Switching-Power-Supply-Arcade-Multicade-8-Liner-Games-/110797980330?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cc1302aa

RGB encoder (depends on your monitor inputs, VGA or S-Video or the British I think have "Scart")

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arcade-Game-RGB-CGA-EGA-YUV-VGA-Video-Converter-HD-/330605923350?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf9a60c16

Jamma harness

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-JAMMA-Cabinet-Wire-Wiring-Harness-Loom-Arcade-PCB-/230621418296?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b21b9338

and controls

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

Also get a multimeter to adjust the power supply output. Don't go over 5.1V out (direct read) for the 5V out.

[Alexfusheng]

Wow cool. Thanks for taking the time to post that information. I like the idea of the supergun route.. gonna look more into that.

Thanks!

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

I forgot to mention, if you want to run your audio into RCA cables, you might want something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCOSCHE-CAR-AUDIO-ADJUSTABLE-LINE-OUT-SPEAKER-CONVERTER-LOC-80-/140676072824?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c0f28578

I use one to run it into a receiver, you could also run it straight to a computer speaker but you wouldn't have the benefit of the receiver's amp and EQ.

[brentsg]

Don't forget to take a quick archive of your latest bank statements, for comparison purposes down the road.   

[Alexfusheng]

Whats the tv/monitor of choice for a typical supergun setup? Also i have read people on this forum and shmups .system11 forums mentioning scanlines... Why is this important ?

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

The monitor type just depends on your preference. If you want the clearest picture that doesn't look like an LCD with a low res game (a.k.a. garbage) you can use a CRT computer monitor with an RGB encoder that uses VGA out. If you want it to look somewhat like an arcade monitor with some scanlines then use an encoder with S-Video out and run that into an old CRT style TV. People like scanlines because it covers up jagged edges on lowres games and makes them look like an arcade machine. Special scanline making hardware is really not needed on a CRT TV setup though, they have natural scanlines. If you don't have a CRT TV anymore, check pawn shops or the local dump/recycle spot. I had to dump a dryer a few days ago and they had like 30 of them. A CRT TV with bright/contrast/color/etc., you can really tweak them out to look pretty kickass, in my opinion, on the super cheap.

[Alexfusheng]

Thanks again for the all the information. Gives me alot to think about ...