OK, I didn't get a chance to wire up my cabinet this weekend like I planned but I hope to do so in the coming weeks. I think I need to make a list of all of the outstanding things that need to be done for this project or I'll never finish - kind of like a punchlist. I need some sense of order because right now it seems like there are a million little things to do and no real order to them.
I did manage to snap a few pictures of the various internal components that will go inside the cabinet (eventually!) for those of you who are curious about that sort of thing. The first two pictures here show the front and back views of the monitor I ordered from Happs Controls (http://happscontrols.com). It's a Vision Pro 19" Horizontal Mount Monitor (Part Number 49-1337-VP2) and it is awesome. I can't believe how nice the games look when this thing is fired up. I forgot to take pictures of it with games running but I will sometime in the future. It really looks exactly like a real arcade game!
Notice all that wiring in the rear of the monitor - it makes me nervous even thinking about installing it! Monitors should be handled very delicately because there are some high voltage areas and even when turned off, it can retain its charge. Also, there is a risk of an implosion if you bump it hard enough although I've heard that it is no less dangerous than handling a 19" TV - in other words, as long as you are careful it should be perfectly safe to work with.
The coolest part about this monitor (other than the great picture) is that it is super easy to hook up to a computer. Since a computer is what will ultimately be running the software inside the cabinet and I don't really know much about computers, this is essential. As you can see by the blurry picture here, there is a standard computer monitor plug thingy that goes right into the back of the computer. All you do it plug it in, hook it up to the computer and turn the computer on and you are good to go. The monitor also powers off when the computer shuts down and turns on again when the computer starts up. This means that when I wire the computer power button to somewhere on the cabinet (probably underneath) the monitor will power on automatically! Think about it - it would totally take you out of the "authentic arcade experience" if you had to individually power everything on every time you wanted to play. Once everything is hooked up, one button will do the trick to get everything going (there's also something called a "Smart Strip" which is a special power strip that everything plugs into inside the cabinet which I will explain later on).
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