MAME kit question

[ORION]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os7nyA3slss

Sorry, I couldn't seem to figure out how to use this forum, and some of the pictures won't upload even though they are the same format. Hmm.

I have a slikstik arcade cab, put in a 2006 Mac Mini, and was trying to get MAME, MESS, etc. going. I have a number of questions about how to set up a home multi game. It is a "new" cab so it does not ruin any pre-existing relics, and I think those relics should be NOT be ruined. I am running OSX 10.4, have a large control console, an LG LCD TV, a coin door without any wires attached, and a mac wired keyboard. There is a white powerstrip with everything plugged neatly in.
I am wondering, Is it normal for the computer to think of a trackball and spinners as mice, as if the controls are "emulated" as mice, or should the computer know that it is a trackball and 2 spinners rather than see them as 3 mice? Since my keyboard always comes up as unrecognized, that supports the idea of a hardware conflict. However, I can press buttons and use several of them. If the computer thinks the trackball and spinners are mice that could explain why the controls do not seem quite right when playing Tempest, Quantum, and kind of hard to control in Marble Madness. If I remember correctly, I tried plugging in the USB encoders directly without the hub, or one with the hub, and they were unrecognized. So, I put it back to the previous configuration with the hub. Would the only way to fix this problem be to buy a powered USB hub and see if it is automatically corrected, or do I just need to change some settings?

Could the IPacs or whatever is in the control box be at fault?

I was pretty excited just to be able to play 2 button games with a joystick now. It seems silly to downgrade back to OSX 10.4, but at least something works. I would like to upgrade to LION and run the latest software, especially if it is better. MacMAME, MESS, and other emulation was about the sole purpose of this old MacMini other than playing a little music.
I posted a video, I should have recorded the screen earlier to record what happened when I attempted to upgrade to OSX 10.6 and then to LION. It appears that I could have upgraded to LION if I had an internet connection, and I don't like how it seems to force you, it should let you update straight from the disc like it always did before?

I mean how do you connect the coin door to the computer to register coins? I know you need wires, but I have no idea which ones, where to buy them, etc. I'm wondering how these would connect to lights behind the coin slot. And, are LED coin slot lights the best? Usually they are red, correct? Has anyone tried an LED backlight for a marquee? Was it too dim? Do you guys use a metal arcade coin box, or a cheap plastic tupperware for the coins dropping into the machine?

I'm not 100% certain I did the audits correctly, but I tried to. What I remember doing was getting SDLMAME to run but only 3 games, including Galaga, appeared in my list of available games. When trying MAME OSX I moved my ROMS folder again to the folder or path the program wanted it to be. At least I think I did. I thought the ROMS had to be in the same folder as the application file. I'm not 100% if the ROMS folder was in the path Library-Application Support, but it sounds familiar. I ran the audit both with the ROMS folder and without the ROMS folder. I tried putting an alias to it instead so I wouldn't have to move the folder around. There was a big list of games with MAME OSX, but the "playable" games list came up as zero. I tried the audit a few times, came back in a half hour, and it must have been finished, no games in the list. I think I even tried auditing without the folder in the right place at first, and it seemed like it audited for awhile even though nothing was there. Is that correct? Will MAME OSX attempt a lengthy audit with no folder in the right place? Or an empty folder? Not sure if that happened.
The ROMS are from around 2006, so if they must be newer to work, that could explain it. I don't get why the same old ROMS would need to be updated over and over. I thought the software gets updated to better play the unchanging ROM files. I'm sure someone on this board can explain this and understands about this topic.

[fluid_matrix]

MAME kit answer:

[ORION]

Feedback or answers appreciated. Mainly trying to find out how to get the coin door to work(what wires to buy, how to hook them up, LED lights behind coin slights? how do you hook them up?) and configure the controls.(Is there a mapping software for mac?) Upgrading to newer software and getting that to work is a good topic also.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Well, I can't help with everything, but I can offer some advice.

I'm not terribly familiar with MAC OS, but if you're using a GUI mame like MAME32, MAMEUI or IV/PLAY for your Mac OS -

You can point MAME to wherever you've put your ROMS.

From the MAME menu go to Options > Directories and you can point your version of mame to wherever you have the ROMS, the game images, the game history files, etc.

Trackballs and spinners that are recognized (in a PC anyway) as a "mouse" in the regular OS will function fine as trackballs/spinners in-game, you just have to right click (or whatever the Mac OS equivalent is) on the game, go to the game options, the Controllers tab and check "enable mouse input", then in the Controller Mapping tab to further designate which of your trackballs/spinners will be the default IF the game doesn't figure that out itself.

Also, once you've started the game you may need to hit TAB and manually assign X/Y analog controls to the specific trackball/spinner if that wasn't done automatically by MAME.

Trackballs and spinners that aren't "acting quite right" will need to have their sensitivity adjusted in-game in those same analog settings. It may take a bit of monkeying around with sensitivity percentages to get it to feel perfect.