centipede cabinet into mame machine?

[darkslime]

so i see this centipede cabinet on craigslist:
http://tucson.craigslist.org/vgm/2492625359.html

how hard would it be to make it into a mame machine and install more buttons and sticks? and how expensive would it be?

and i have an x-arcade 2 player stick, would i be able to use that somehow?

[Darkman2K5]

You easily turn that computer into a MAME machine, its not a very difficult process. You can use the x-arcade stick, but you might have to make some modifications to the cabinet itself to mount it, that would be the hardest part of the whole process I think.

[fluid_matrix]

Thats the perfect candidate for a MAME conversion IMO. Get yourself an I-Pac from Ultimarc and wiring in additional controllers would be simple.

[darkslime]

Thanks. And would it be easy if I have no knowledge of electronics wiring and stuff?

And is there a cheaper alternative to arcadevga i can use somehow? and i have to use an old computer right? or is there a way to do it with the hardware already inside it?

sorry for all the questions

[fluid_matrix]

and i have to use an old computer right? or is there a way to do it with the hardware already inside it?

thats hard to say without knowing what hardware is actually in there.

[Darkman2K5]

From the looks of it, it seems that there is a standard crt computer monitor in there, this should suffice for most arcade games, unless your a purist and want to go the arcade vga route. More than likely you can use the hardware thats already inside the machine to play the kinds of games you want, that is unless of course you want to play 3D games, which to the best of my knowledge don't play that well on MAME anyway. If you're only in the market to play capcom fighters and platformers and 80's games, you should be good to go with whats in there already.

[Cobra Commander]

I'm currently working on a MAME cab. It was an old "The Final Round" game.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/262166_252601941422738_100000188017480_1270852_156 6219_n.jpg
Sorry for the huge pic BTW.
The Double Dragon sign was just put up there because that game cab didn't survive the move to our new house. :(
Anyway, I've already done the preliminary work like mounting the monitor, setting up the lights, and slapping the tower in there. That little post in note up there is the measurements for the x-arcade stick and a new bezel. I'm going to have to majorly alter the area for the controls since the x-arcade is MUCH larger than the area that's already there. Really, once I get the arcade stick, the rest is all cosmetic.
Seeing as how we have a new baby in the house, it's gonna be a long project.

[NYLatenite]

Looking at the picture of the cab in question, I almost want to say the cabinet was MAME'd already. In fact, the description pretty much says it as well.

If you look at it, like someone mentioned, that definitely looks like a standard PC monitor inside of it, and in the pics of the rear of the cabinet, that thing on the left is definitely a PC tower sitting upside down.

Really, unless there's something else wrong with it, you could probably just replace the control panel and be good to go.

One thing I will say as far as the X-Arcade idea goes - those X-Arcade sticks are quite large, and it doesn't look like there's much panel space to work with, so I would probably advise you to just work with expanding the existing space with seperate parts, rather than use an existing setup.