I'm probably crazy but I've been thinking about this on and off for the better part of a year and I think I'm going to do it. This thing has never made it out of the basement (and I've finished another arcade cabinet in the mean time) because I can't bring myself to finish it and I think I know why - it's not as perfect and as user-friendly as I want it to be. There have been a lot of improvements in the home arcade scene since the time I designed/planned this thing out and the improvements I could make are things that will bother me until the end of time unless I do something about it. I'm not on any time table but here's the list of stuff I want to do:
- Completely remake the control panels - ALL THREE OF THEM! I can reuse the buttons, the trackball and the spinner but that's about it. I am going to install Ultimarc 360 joysticks instead of the T-Stiks I am currently using. The new sticks will allow for switching controls on the fly via software. No more twisting a restrictor plate into 4-way or 8-way mode!
- Redesign the button layout. I want to do this on all three panels to be a little more ergonomic as well as have better integration of the admin buttons (and label them!).
- Replace the iPac2 with an iPac4. This will allow me to have individually wired controls instead of running two sets of wires to each node on the encoder. With an iPac4 installed I'll be able to program the front end to react to whatever controls are being pressed and automatically face the list of games and front end graphics to whichever controls are active.
- Buy a 1/4" piece of tempered glass for the top.
- Install the glass clips to hold the glass table top in place.
- Wire the coin door and coin return lights
- Install the opaque plexiglass above the short control panels and wire some LEDs behind them to light everything up.
- Glue the grommet for the SmartStrip cord in place.
- Install artwork on the tabletop (assuming it ever arrives).
- Configure the software
