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Wanna get my first Naomi: Guidance needed regarding setup etc.

kioku25

kioku25

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I've been been toying with the idea of getting a Naomi for a while now and before I decide whether to take the plunge, I have a couple of questions.
I know next to nothing about the system , so bear with me.

There are a couple of Naomi 2s on ebay right now, which go for $150 give or take. Is that a good/fair price for a bare Naomi 2 Motherboard?
What else will I need to get me started? I'd like to forego a GD-Rom drive and get a CF kit instead, what are your opinions on the CF kit, any disadvantages compared to the GD-Rom drive?

I'm mainly looking to play Initial D 1-3 on it, so I most definitely will need Mitsu's S-JIHP right? Can anyone recommend a good PC Racing Wheel? Keep in mind that I have zero soldering skills, so rewiring connectors or fancy tricks like that are out of the question. Also, about I/O Boards, do I need a Sega JVS or a JVS to Jamma converter?

Do I absolutely need a SUN PSU or will the PSU inside my Supergun suffice?

And last but not least, what about the BIOS? Most of the Naomi 2's I've seen come with the stock Japanese Bios. Is there a Multibios or something like that available?
 
$150 isn't too bad for a working NAOMI2

A S-JIHP will be helpful. Not 100% necessary but definitely helpful. It will lessen the mount of soldering you need to do.

You're probably not doing to get pedals/wheels going without understanding how the pots work and soldering to them, unless you find someone to make you a set. I did my own wheel/pedals. The soldering isn't too bad. If you're going to be in the arcade hobby you'll have to learn sooner or later ;)

IO Board wise I'd just go for the Sega JVS type 1 IO. Driving games (at least in my experience) don't like the JVS>JAMMA IO boards, despite their analog capability.

You will want a Sun PSU or an ATX > JVS adapter with a PC power supply.

Yes there is a naomi 2 multi bios. If you get that far, myself or many other people around here can burn you one assuming you do not have an eprom burner. Multi region is helpful.

Compact flash is a good way to go, as is network booting. I personally network boot, but if you're only going to play a few games, compact flash is a good way to go too.

A driving setup is an ambitious introduction to NAOMI hardware. I spent a long time working with digital controls, cabinets, etc., before I took the plunge into analog controls. It is rewarding though, and there are plenty of resources to help.
 
Hi, I recently took the leap and its great. However, I was mostly interested in the fighters not the racing. Though that would be cool to look further into with my setup. Right now, I will try and help you understand what you really need to get you going.

Based off of what I have done to get my Naomi 1
You are going to need the following:

  • Naomi 1/2 mobo
  • PSU: I would recommended that you go for the SUNS because you are able to adjust the voltage levels per voltage type and there are some SUNS PSUs that have the molex connection the fits the Naomi board as a standard. Please keep in mind that when you do get the PSU. It is best to always check your levels and double check that nothing is being connected incorrectly. Naomi will get hurt if that is done wrong.
  • I/O Boards - there are many different ones, however, in regards to racing game hopefully someone can lean a hand in pointing you to which one you truly need, I was mostly interested in the Capcom Jamma I/O for the fighers
  • JVS - this is where I'll ask someone else to set in to example.
  • Do I absolutely need a SUN PSU or will the PSU inside my Supergun suffice? Sorry dude, your PSU in your supergun should only power the I/O. So, one PSU for naomi and one coming from the supergun to your i/o. Though you may have the MEGA PSU in your supergun. I have read that you should always use separate ones for each main area of your naomi setup.
  • BIOS - these can be done on your own with reprogramming or through a kind person as a service. Someone around here can for sure hook you up.
  • GD-Rom Drive - most people are choosing to go the route of CF or Netbooting (faster and more reliable, also no moving parts)
RECOMMENDATIONS:
My current setup is a NAOMi 1, Original Naomi PSU, Capcom I/O, and NETdimm for booting. Totally and fully recommend this setup style. Easy, functional, and now you can use your phone to netboot games. Its the cats pajamas! Netdimm boards are kind of expensive on ebay right now. When I was searching about two month ago. Most seller wanted 220+ dollars or euros and that did not include shipping. CF I believe is a little less expensive however, I was under the impression that each game would go on it's own individual CFcard. However, I might be wrong. I did not want to have a collection of CFcards. Super cool either way but most people are usually trying to go the netdimm if your budget is there for it.

If you go the same route as myself. You would also have to update the bios on the Netdimm board to be compatible with the RaspberryPi and netbooting. RaspPi has the role of storing games for netbooting to the netdimm board which in turn the netdim loads the game to the naomi to be then played. The updating of the netdimm board can be achieved through a couple of processes. I must admit it has been awhile now since I have read how to do that part. However, that is why you joined here. Research and digging for more info. Also, I am sure there are lots of kind people here that can give you some insight on that part.

Hope this helps you better understand what you need for your NAOMI setup. It is pretty cool once you have the whole thing up and going. Remember I was only interested in the fighting games. The race, fishing, and shooters require a little more information that someone can share the details.
 
skate323k137 said:
You're probably not doing to get pedals/wheels going without understanding how the pots work and soldering to them, unless you find someone to make you a set. I did my own wheel/pedals. The soldering isn't too bad. If you're going to be in the arcade hobby you'll have to learn sooner or later
Click to expand...
So, what exactly would I have to do? I assume, If I were to get the S-JIHP, I would have to replace the connector on a stock pc racing wheel with a DB25 and maybe add a couple more wires to make it arcade compatible?



skate323k137 said:
IO Board wise I'd just go for the Sega JVS type 1 IO
Click to expand...
Is there a reason to favor a type 1 over a type 2 or 3?




skate323k137 said:
You will want a Sun PSU or an ATX > JVS adapter with a PC power supply.
Click to expand...
If I go with a PC PSU, how much would I need wattage wise?




skate323k137 said:
Yes there is a naomi 2 multi bios. If you get that far, myself or many other people around here can burn you one assuming you do not have an eprom burner. Multi region is helpful.
Click to expand...
How much is that gonna run me?
 
KOarcade said:
If you go the same route as myself. You would also have to update the bios on the Netdimm board to be compatible with the RaspberryPi and netbooting. RaspPi has the role of storing games for netbooting to the netdimm board which in turn the netdim loads the game to the naomi to be then played. The updating of the netdimm board can be achieved through a couple of processes. I must admit it has been awhile now since I have read how to do that part. However, that is why you joined here. Research and digging for more info. Also, I am sure there are lots of kind people here that can give you some insight on that part.
Click to expand...
So basically you're sending the game you wanna play from your notebook or your phone to the NetDimm board, which stores the game until you overwrite it with another one? How long does the transfer usually take?
 
I'll try to answer in order,

Wheel wise, you (or at least I did) strip out a lot of the electronics and just solder 5v/gnd/signal wires to the pots themselves. There's a thread here PC/console controls that can be modded to work with arcade games via S-JIHP

Type 1 IO is cheaper than type 2 or 3 and will work for every NAOMI game. I don't know of any NAOMI games that won't work with a type 1 IO (excluding games that need the additional trackball IO added on). Type 2/3 IO boards are usually only necessary for newer hardware like lindbergh/ringedge.

Wattage is discussed here, I'd go 350 or 400 watts to be safe. I personally just use Sun PSUs
Too much for a power supply?

BIOS chips are cheap. Unless you're outside the US I can get you taken care of for 5 or 10 bucks. The actual chip is only a dollar or 2, plus time to program and package/ship.
 
Thanks a lot for you're help guys.


skate323k137 said:
Wattage is discussed here, I'd go 350 or 400 watts to be safe. I personally just use Sun PSUs
Click to expand...
Would this be the correct SUN PSU? According to the label it only outputs 165 Watts, will that be enough to power the MB + CF kit?



skate323k137 said:
BIOS chips are cheap. Unless you're outside the US I can get you taken care of for 5 or 10 bucks. The actual chip is only a dollar or 2, plus time to program and package/ship.
Click to expand...
Great, I'll let you know when I get there.
 
What I found out.. Yes, everyone recommends netdimm but that setup is expensive and hard to get.. The recompense netdimm is the 512M. The second recommendation is a CF. I have one and had all types of issues and hated the loading time.. I just ended up buying the Cart games that I wanted to play.. It is plug and play, no need to worry about failure or loading.. Keep your eyes open like I am for a 512M netdimm setup for sale:)
 
People keep saying 350 or 400 watts is enough in an ATX supply. I've used a 350 watt for a few years but I occasionally have frustrating booting issues. So I decided to get a 1000 watt ATX supply instead. All of my black-screen boot issues went away and I use a single ATX supply to power the pcb, DIMM, JVS I/O, and CF kit.

I know its the supply that made the difference. For example, last weekend I was testing CF kits I built. Using the 350 watt supply it kept freezing on black screen and not booting. Did it three times in a row. I LITERALLY just disconnected the 350 watt connector from the ATX to JVS adapter and plugged in the 1000 watt instead. It booted immediately and I had no issues after that.

Some will say 1000 watt is overkill but the Naomi only uses what it needs and they aren't much more expensive then lower wattage supplies so why not make things easy on yourself.
 
skate323k137 said:
yep that's your psu
Click to expand...
A little pricey, if I factor in overseas shipping and tax. I hope it's worth it. :)


According to the thread you linked to the Logitech Wingman Formula GP 863175-0000 should work with the S-JIHP.
If I want to use the Force Feedback, where on the IO Board do I have to connect it to?
 
That's a shame

SNK-NEO-GEO said:
I have one and had all types of issues and hated the loading time.. I just ended up buying the Cart games that I wanted to play.. It is plug and play, no need to worry about failure or loading..
Click to expand...
Could you elaborate a bit. I was under the impression that the CF kits worked very well.
 
I made a tread somewhere.. I had to reseat the dimm 4-5 times power on power off before I can get anything than a black screen.. A member pointed out that he had or had seen this problem and it had to do with the Dimm. This problem is present in sertain dimm version and it is a random thing.
 
I still say that most people with CF kit having issues have power issues or CF card writing issues. I have no issues when using my 1000 watt supply.
 
I have no issues with CF, I write using a usb adapter (all my cards are marked with their serial codes), and the CF adapters i use to read use passthrough power from the naomi. shrug.
 
Well now you heard it.. There is no issue with CF:). I must just have been lucky that's all:)
 
LOL there can ALWAYS be issues! I HAVE had issues with the following:

• ATX PSU's that have low amp 5V/12V
- Fix is to make sure ALL rails are wired together in your ATX to JVS adapter (or get a better PSU

• ATX PSU's that power OFF when powered on, if already connected to a JVS system like the Naomi 1/2 or 2X6
- Fix is to connect JVS power AFTER the power supply has been powered up already- a LOT of ATX power supplies have overcurrent protection which makes sense, as normal PC's soft-power on AFTER power is stabilized.

• Bad Zero Key chips causing some boots to work, and others not to.
- Fix is to get a new pic burnt.

• Bad game files causing literal non-boot or non-playability. Offhand I think crazy taxi is an example of one that may have had issues (or still is)...
- Fix is to get new files.


I should note that #2 has been a constant bane of my existence on my test bench setups. (And the reason I'm making some new ATX->JVS adapters with inline power switches)
IF it happens to you, unplug the PSU from the wall and let it sit for a few minutes, then plug it back in to AC, and then plugin (or flip the switch on the green wire) your JVS device. If the PSU stays plugged in, it won't properly reset.
 
Have to say, while that's one solution, it's mad overkill- just as we've said, the sun (which can power an N2 AND GDROM) is clearly much lower wattage.......
 
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