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MechaJubei

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Not sure if this is the right place, but does anyone know of a multi-board that supports 4-players? I've got a Pandora's Box 4 which has a ton of 4-player games and I want to use it in the X-men 4-player cab we have. I don't think PB4 supports 4-player but after some research I couldn't' find one that does. Anyone know of one? Or of a way to make the PB4 support it?
 
the 2XXX and 3XXX boards support 3 and 4 players with a breakout board. They arent terrible but they arent great either. P4 PCs with jamma edge connectors running hacked versions of Windows 2000 , I used one in a build for a friend because he didnt want a computer in there and insisted on the XXXXin1 board.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133630.msg1376513.html
 
It is a good question and I am looking for the best 4-player multi game option right now. I think the Raspberry Pi 3 would be a good option because I believe the Ipac 2/4 would work with it to support 4 player games. I am curious if anyone can confirm this, but I think there is a Linux program to go with the Ipac that should work with the Raspberry Pi for 4 player games which are mostly older and should play well the the Pi. Curious if anyone has actually tried this and confirm it works. The xxxx-1 boards are unable to add games I believe and run a dated Windows 2000 version. The Raspberry Pi3 with a Jamma adapter would work slick if it can utilize the Ipac for 4 player games and USB for trackball, etc.
 
I'm using an old PC with Lakka, very simple and quick.
I've tried 4 player games with it, player 1&2 connected to the cab as you already have, player 3&4 with additional USB arcadesticks.
My guess would be that it works as well if you would use 2 ipac's to have a Jamma connection ;)
 
Even an old crummy PC is a better option than a pi. Most Pi MAME builds are old and require old rom sets.
 
What is the best way to power the PC on and off in a Jamma cabinet without having to go into the cabinet each time? It would obviously not be powered on by the Jamma adapter and would need to be powered by itself with it can be powered on at the same time, but if you don't have access to it in the cabinet how can you literally "hit a switch" on the outside of the cabinet and have the PC powered on, reset, or otherwise. The PI could be powered by the Jamma with the adapters being sold and was one advantage I saw with it being "more cabinet friendly". Anyone have a good way to remotely power a PC on inside a cabinet without manually going into the cabinet to hit the power on button each time?
 
Aje_fr (the man behind the multi CPS1) is working on a Pi2JAMMA (pixel perfect) that supports the 3 and 4 players arcade games.
So maybe, in the near future, that could be your best configuration !!
 
There are also pre-configured mini-ITX PC sold which are complete powered via the Jamma edge ;)
 
The power button on a PC is just a momentary switch. You can wire it to an arcade button and mount the button where ever you want, when I had a MAME cab it wired inside the coin door.

Specifically, everything plugged into a smart switch. When I hit the button to power on the PC it turned on the arcade monitor, marquee light, etc . When I shut the PC off it powered everything else off too.
 
Looking at the pictures I would guess it had a mini USB stick inserted (behing the VGA connector, next to the audio connection on the motherboard)
 
What is the best way to power the PC on and off in a Jamma cabinet without having to go into the cabinet each time?
I have several PC based cabs setup for this.
in the bios you can set it to automatically power on when plugged in. I usually wire an AC power outlet inside the cabinet and then just plug the PC into that so that AC power comes on and off with the normal power switch (you could also modify the AC wire that plugs into your PSU, or any number of other options.

the risk here is that if the PC is writing when power is removed it could corrupt files, just make sure there are no background tasks/services that are running (you should get rid of all that stuff anyway) and you wont have much to worry about.
 
What is the best way to power the PC on and off in a Jamma cabinet without having to go into the cabinet each time?
I have several PC based cabs setup for this.in the bios you can set it to automatically power on when plugged in. I usually wire an AC power outlet inside the cabinet and then just plug the PC into that so that AC power comes on and off with the normal power switch (you could also modify the AC wire that plugs into your PSU, or any number of other options.

the risk here is that if the PC is writing when power is removed it could corrupt files, just make sure there are no background tasks/services that are running (you should get rid of all that stuff anyway) and you wont have much to worry about.
Great . Thanks for the information. Can you provide some guidance on how to change the bios to allow the PC to power on when plugged in? I would really like to do this with a PC based cabinet.
Also, any idea how I could connect an outlet to be powered on and off by a simple dongle switch? Basically, I would like to consider powering the PC on and off with a dongle switch I already have on the cabinet and wondering how to do it separate from the main cabinet power.
Thanks!
 
A lot of great info here. It's such a damn shame that there is nothing like Pandora's Box that supports 4-player, especially since it has so many good 4-player game on it. :-/
 
Can you provide some guidance on how to change the bios to allow the PC to power on when plugged in
It's going to be different for every PC
When you first boot your PC you'll see a message that says something like "push Del to enter setup". Then once you're in there look for "power" settings.

here's an example:
bios-power.jpg


in this it's called "AC Power Loss Restart"

here's another one:
bios_power_management.jpg


on this it's called "AC Back Function"

I've yet to find a PC that doesn't have this option. but the name is rarely consistent.
 
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