Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Built in 2006, this arcade machine sat outside for 2 years while the floor was strengthened. It doesn't work - made worse by a big human error!
The system is built around DMAME, the DOS version of the MAME emulator. My own code is used for the menu system, written in QBASIC, which allows scrolling through 23 games, all held on a 32mb Compact Flash card.
VGA output from the 1999 PC motherboard goes to a flatscreen early 2000's monitor. Sound is from an ISA Soundblaster AWE32.
As it turned out, likely the RAM and soundcard connectors needed to be cleaned, but the processor was probably the original reason for not booting. That could well have been caused by storage conditions!
There are 23 games because that's how many actual arcade PCB's I have in boxes that are vertically orientated. Have got several boxes of them, bought back in the early 2000's when such boards could be bought on Ebay at 2am for a couple of dollars. An interesting series might be to check those boards out and fix any that don't work... let me know in the comments section.
Also let me know if anyone reads these descriptions? :)
Built in 2006, this arcade machine sat outside for 2 years while the floor was strengthened. It doesn't work - made worse by a big human error!
The system is built around DMAME, the DOS version of the MAME emulator. My own code is used for the menu system, written in QBASIC, which allows scrolling through 23 games, all held on a 32mb Compact Flash card.
VGA output from the 1999 PC motherboard goes to a flatscreen early 2000's monitor. Sound is from an ISA Soundblaster AWE32.
As it turned out, likely the RAM and soundcard connectors needed to be cleaned, but the processor was probably the original reason for not booting. That could well have been caused by storage conditions!
There are 23 games because that's how many actual arcade PCB's I have in boxes that are vertically orientated. Have got several boxes of them, bought back in the early 2000's when such boards could be bought on Ebay at 2am for a couple of dollars. An interesting series might be to check those boards out and fix any that don't work... let me know in the comments section.
Also let me know if anyone reads these descriptions? :)
