my MAME arcade console idea....need feedback

[lucifershalo]

First,
I must say that I am a cartridge consoles collector
so my "dream" would be to have a MAME console
the ideal would be an original case to house it but as I havent win the lottery, I am planning to put a PC into a case of Colecovision or other maybe....
for controllers I would like to use my X arcade stuff (double joystick and Trackball) but also DB9 plug joystick (if I am correct) like Colecovision, Atari 2600.
Now as I like cartridge console, I would like the same "principal" here:
like maybe an atari 2600 cart with a SD cart at the end, it will plug into an empty (not electronic) atari slot , at the bottom of it would be a SD slot to plug it. The rom of the game would be on a Sd, one game (rom) per SD cart.
Now what would be ideal, is that when I plug the cart (and the SD cart) the game gets loaded immediately....
I am not a programmer or a cant build those things
a friend can but he wants all the technical and programming problems to be "resolved" first....
So I am open to suggestions, ideas, help
thanks
PS Ideally I would to play emulated pinball games the same way

[Rickstilwell1]

I understand the principle as some retro gamers like repros and things like that. But wow talk about how expensive all those SD/flash cards are going to be just to emulate the games, let alone the wasted Atari games. Better always use E.T. & Pac-Man as the donor carts...

[Ed Oscuro]

Not sure if you're asking this seriously, given the forum and what you're proposing to do to old games...I think rick is right, that'd be WAY too expensive, speaking of the lottery...

Now, the Neo Geo X is supposedly going to do something similar (with games sold on cards) but that's just marketing.

If you're using MAME, the best thing to do really is just buy or put together a nice arcade cabinet, if you have the space. All you will really need is a good frontend and controller that'll let you change and select games while in a cabinet.

[DK1105]

I have built a few MAME cabinets. The first cabinet I built back when I was 16. What you want to do has a lot of really hard problems to overcome. In the end it would also just be cheaper to build a full on cabinet. If you want the console feel you could stuff the computer into an old console but the cartage idea would be a problem. Mostly because MAME files are zip folders and you can't easily get them to boot on plug in. Mame really doesn't like ever changing ROM directories ether. If you want to keep with the console feel I would get to stuffing a computer in an old console and figuring out a good get all the plugs to fit in the right spots. It is going to require some hardware hacking as well.

If you want to go on with it I can help out but be ready for a challenge and drop some plans.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I could SWEAR that there was a similar or identical topic on this same concept last year.

Anybody else remember it?

*EDIT*

Found it.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?162572-If-there-was-a-MAME-console-would-you-buy-it&highlight=mame+system

Maybe there's a kickstarter in this!