Cabinet or no?

[Ninja Rygar]

Who here doesn't use a cabinet? I don't. I feel kind of left out actually, because I get the impression that most people involved with front-ends use them for their cabs...

I use my GameEx setup on my PC... (I've got PC controllers hooked up to it) and I was wondering if anybody else does it that way. I have no space in my little one bedroom apartment for a cabinet, plus I wouldn't know where to start with making one... plus there's money involved that I just don't have! I love emulation and I love frontends though... so am I the only one here not using a sweet, custom-made MAME cabinet?

(What's more is I think I prefer the PC controllers I have setup as opposed to using arcade control sticks for everything. THe only thing I WISH I had was a lightgun.)

[mesk]

im not using a cab either....but that is changing very soon

[celly]

I have a cab but I really want to downsize to either a bartop or cocktail. After some google searching I found some really easy plans for bartop cabs and I'm pretty sure that'll be my next project.

[Brian Hoffman]

I have a FEW machines.. most have mame or some emulator.. Hell, my phone even has emulators on it.

Not everyone has a cab that enjoys the simplicity's of a FE.

[fRequEnCy]

I also do not use a cab. I have a cab that i purchased and it was never used. A month later I put in storage. I barely started to setup my htpc. So have been into emulation for many years now and have never really started utilizing it till recently. I run GameEx basically to troubleshoot for all GameEx users. LOL. How I know what I know is beyond me. LOL.

[Noddy]

Cabinet here, homemade based on an aussie lowboy so it's nice and small and doesnt dominate the games room. Had it for about 9 months and using it as the jukebox means it's even got the tick of approval from the wife . Would still like to add a keyboard draw to the mk2 though.

[Tempest]

I have three cabinets. All of which I would be willing to sell. Prices would range from a few hundred, to a few thousand.

I also have a working Alcon machine that I would sell for a few hundred as well.

[Draco1962]

No cab here - got the bug to build one, unfortunately the bug didn't fall off of a money tree.

Likely (and I have the wife's approval provided money is available) to build an HTPC in the future for DVR and games so will more than likely go that route and consider a cab at a later time.

[antman23]

Cab here, got in to emulation back in 97/98 with nes emulators, things moved on from there.

About a year ago I started looking at arcade cabinets and realised there was a big scene for people making MAME machines..

I then searched around for a front end that was light and looked cool and stuck it on an old small dell pc and put it in the living room plugged in to the TV, got 4 joypads and played away..

Then I thought right ive done that.. now I need to see how much an arcade cabinet is and how easy it is to build one.

I'm rubbish at woodwork so I bought a cabinet and started converting it, they dont take up much space, as much as fridge freezer, there's always a corner for one to live!

I would definitely recommend getting a cabinet as you will use it far more, it feels more authentic and your friends will love it.. Then you can start playing online games as well via your cabinet... good times www.youtube.com/aletchet

[Draco1962]

Not a bad setup! I love Frets! I actually got pretty good with it using an old Dell keyboard and F keys. I haven't ported it to my new PC but have close to 300 songs. I may wait until I get into cab building as I have Gutiar Hero for the Xbox 360 which will likely stay in the living room along with the HTPC.

[Adultery]

On my third gen cab now... It used to be a Deer Hunting USA cabinet, and my first was an old beat down NBA Jam cabinet. The second was an old Donkey Kong cocktail. The guy I get them from was very generous (he says they just pile em up and burn em all once a year, hundreds at a time! Sad I know!). Came with the coin door, all the keys, the board, and a working monitor. They also specialize in arcade games in the Wisconsin Dells so he is always willing to supply buttons too. I ditched the guts and the monitor in favor of mounting my own wide screen LCD, and I still use four Playstation wireless controllers instead of a c-panel (someday soon I'll look into wiring controllers... It seems intimidating though!).

I used GameEx on a PC for a loooong time before I totally committed myself to this project though... Even my previous two cabinets were only set up to use GameEx and MAME. The new one I actually like looking at has a lot more beef under the lid.

[Draco1962]

OK, gonna have to kiss the missus, gas up my Titan and head up to Adultery's before winter sets in and see if I can get a hook-up to one of those old cabs!

[starbuck]

I have a strange setup. I do all my setup on a pc. Then I transfer my movies, Frets, several game systems to a external drive to use my HTPC or cab. On my cabinet I have all my emuulators. On the pc I have my books, magazines, comics, mugen, pinball etc.. I use the pc for updating my media, testing emulators, adding emulators, new systems etc. After I happy with the changes I copy over to external drives that I can move from Pc, to cab or to my HTPC.