<b>and you could do it for even cheaper!</b>

See, ya dumb bastard - The Shepps knows. "Crucial SDRAM" is far too generic, and I'd actually prefer a model number over "Crucial PC2100 DDR", but at least with that I know that he didn't stick you with one of those shitty boards that does both.

What mobo did you get him, Tony?

It is in fact that Asus A7N266-VM AA.

*WARNING: THREADJACKING IN PROGRESS*

Yep. A MAME cabinet wouldn't require much in the way of a video card or processor, since it doesn't involve anything in the way of 3D rendering or major polygon counts. Moderate RAM and a (by today's standards) small HD would do nicely. If I bought a cabinet that already had a decent mounted display (which most used cabinets do), I could use AdvanceMame to avoid buying a new monitor.

On the flip side, if I went with the monitor approach instead, it'd be easier to run _other_ emulators in the cabinet as well. Picture a batch file producing a startup menu like this:

1) MAME
2) NES
3) SNES
4) TurboGrafx/16 - PC-Engine
5) Vectrex
6) Atari 2600
7) DAPHNE (Dragon's Lair and other laserdisc games)
8) Visual Pinball
(etc.)

What's holding me up is the control panel and associated physical/electrical tinkering, which could easily end up costing more than the computer and cabinet combined.

Even the pre-packaged alternatives (like <a href="http://www.x-arcade.com/pc.shtml">the X-Arcade Two Player</a> model) are around $150, would need to be physically mounted on the face of the cabinet (making it unworkable for cocktail cabinets), and would miss out on many common game control schemes (trac-ball, Tempest spinner, Ikari Warriors rotary joystick, Tron/Gorf-style joystick w/trigger, steering wheel/lo-hi gearshift/analog pedals in some combination).

The D-I-Y approach can produce results <a href="http://www.oscarcontrols.com/controlpanels.htm">much</a><a href="http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade_brian.html"> cooler</a> than the basic two-joysticks-and-buttons config, but few are insane enough to put in the time and effort to build such a beast and then sell it to someone else...

Still... I look at projects like <a href="http://www.x-arcade.com/htm/cabinet.shtml">this</a>, and I can't help thinking that beating that price point _can't_ be that hard (especially since no TV or monitor is included for your $999).

As much as I think Malda is a turd, he did a nice job with this: http://cmdrtaco.net/jubei/

Aw, c'mon -- he's got a <a href="http://cmdrtaco.net/jubei/assembly.shtml">Jack-Bot</a> pinball machine. He can't be ALL bad...

The one <a href="http://www.onzin.nl/fufme/index.shtml.htm"> peripheral</a> SYC left off his computer.

DSL is now ordered.

Your next assignment--I need an ethernet card.

No you don't, it's built in.

Really?

Sweet!

Apparently the tard can't read. :(

Dude, I told you... we fuckin' take care of dat shit man. Ethernet was mentioned in the first fuckin' post of this thread. :)

I was limited mostly to hit-and-run reading/posting last week. But if you'd like to throw in Hooked On Phonics along with the extra RAM, feel free to do so.

DSL kit came today.

But Rho wasn't home to sign for it...

DAMNIT!

You will have to beat her.

I know...her and her stoopid doctor's appointments...the nerve of her! :)