Looking for input

[Sixth]

Ok, here’s a novel idea for a thread, borrowing from the old ‘give a man a rod….’ stance: for those you who’ve dove headfirst into arcade gaming as a hobby, what do you feel constitutes ‘required reading’ in order to truly understand the technical side of the hobby? Whether it’s through an academic career or good old fashioned self-education, where/how did the more technically savvy members of this board come to understand pcbs, kick-harnesses, soldering, power supplies, and all of the requisite information it takes to essentially be self-reliant in a hobby that encompasses such a broad degree of understanding in order to keep it running?
What did it take to crack the front of a cab, see that baffling mess of wires, and make sense of it without killing yourself and/or burning down the house in the process?

Textbooks, classes, websites, all of it’s welcome; whatever it takes to keep new folks with a sincere interest from just throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks, and wasting resources in the process.

 

[rectumrob]

Great question.

I'm extremely new here, and still relatively inexperienced with arcade gaming as a hobby, but I'll give you my thoughts.

What did it take to crack the front of a cab, see that baffling mess of wires, and make sense of it without killing yourself and/or burning down the house in the process?

Cracking my first cab (some 6 months ago) was the culmination of what's been a life long of projects. I'm a tinkerer by nature, and have had my face in one thing or another since I was in diapers, and this has been the just next in line. I love to take things apart.

where/how did the more technically savvy members of this board come to understand pcbs, kick-harnesses, soldering, power supplies, and all of the requisite information it takes to essentially be self-reliant in a hobby that encompasses such a broad degree of understanding in order to keep it running?

My exposure to ham radio via my father and his associates has had a huge influence on my comprehension/interpretation of the systems one finds in an arcade cabinet.

Otherwise it's first hand experience ultimately derived from wasting money and making messes.

what do you feel constitutes ‘required reading’ in order to truly understand the technical side of the hobby

A little theory goes a long way. Basic familiarity with DC / AC concepts will get you around the bulk of a cabinet. The rest is simply digital.

The following resources have been invaluable for me.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws
http://www.electro-tech-online.com/

Also hardcopy. Used book stores are a great place to find old/cheap reference material.

 

[Billkwando]

tl;dr

http://www.hardmvs.com/
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/

 

[Xian Xi]

Basic Electronics. If you took a class in high school it teaches you the basics. Most of the stuff you are describing are just switches and other basics.

 

[Billkwando]

Most of the stuff I know, I learned from the Xian Xi School of Electronics. Follow him around long enough and you'll be an expert.

 

[rcantor77]

The web is your friend... when I started out i did alot of reading, these are the sites I used...

hardMVS
If Neo is your bag, then this site is great. I have read alot of stuff on there and it has been a great guide for which PCB to get, differences in cabinets etc Strange that I have ended administering the site after all these years of reading stuff on there.

BYOAC
BYOAC is full of stuff for all Jamma cabinet tech

Hard*Candy
Has got alot of info about Candy Cabinets

ArcadeOtaku
The Wiki is full of loads of useful info and in my opinion the next best Arcade forum after this one.
Alot of great knowledgable guys on there.

Jamma Nation X
He wouldn't mention it himself but Xian Xi has a website that has got some fantastic guides on consolizing and modifying stuff. He is also a great guy to boot.



As for buying stuff.. I get all my bits from two main sites...

Akihabara Shop
I am a Japanese Arcade fan so Jap controls all the way. This is best and cheapest place to buy from.

Jamma Boards
Need to replace wiring or any other bits. They have probably got it.
They have also got the 'JAMMA Center' well worth a browse.

After you have read all of that, if you still need help just ping a thread in the Tech forum. There are a ton of great guys on here more that happy to help. I know, they have helped me many times.

The last tip would be to just get involved in the community. As I said before on here and ArcadeOtaku are the best places to start. Just be warned, if you ask stupid question be prepared for a stupid answer and possibly some friendly abuse.

Enjoy joining the arcade world (and be prepared to spend some cash... and you will)

 

[Sixth]

Those are great sites, guys; great contributions all around.
So a lot of this stuff is a matter of understanding basic electronics so that you can digest the material as it applies to arcade hardware. With that logic, a textbook on the subject could cover voltage, current, circuits, transistors, conductors, traces, and all the very basic requisite knowledge needed.

Xian Xi and a few other members of this board have an academic background in electronics, so does anybody have any basic required reading (textbooks are quite welcome here) that you feel adequately covers the stepping stones, and safety as it applies to electronics? From college texts to 'electronics for dummies', any recommendations from the folks in the know are good advice. Workshops are also a good source of information in such a hands-on field of study.

I know that a lot of this material can be found online in places as well, but I'm hoping this thread can be of a service to more than just myself. Some people just require different levels of knowledge to get started, and are suited to different means of study.

Again, great contributions so far!

 

[Billkwando]

How to Solder

 

[rcantor77]

Nice guide on soldering.

Found these sites for Basic Electronics...

http://www.science-ebooks.com/electronics/basic_electronics.htm

http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses.php?branch=Electrical

Also available on You Tube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Dq8blTmSA

 

[Xian Xi]

If you go in the tech section there are some brilliant and bright techs in there. I am merely a level 1 type tech compared to the gurus in there. MKL and channelmaniac are the hands on tech and kyuusakuu and smkdan are the ones I think who know more in depth knowledge about the system architecture and can tell you about coding and stuff.

There's a few other in there are well. If you want to learn more about repairing boards then you need to download "The Book" it contains information that's easy to comprehend for someone with basic knowledge looking to expand their knowledge of board repair/operation. I say download since I can never find one for purchase.

 

[Billkwando]

If you go in the tech section there are some brilliant and bright techs in there. I am merely a level 1 type tech compared to the gurus in there.

I just like how you explain stuff in an easy to understand way, and how you almost always have, if not an answer for everything, a suggestion of the right questions that should be asked.

(speaking of, I have some questions in a tech forum post that has an overwhelming lack of replies )

 

[Xian Xi]

I just like how you explain stuff in an easy to understand way, and how you almost always have, if not an answer for everything, a suggestion of the right questions that should be asked.

I used to be the resource development manager for my old company. I had to teach employees in Japan and North America so I had to do it in gradual steps when I explained things, so I'm used to it.

 

[rcantor77]

Some more useful arcade links...


slagcoin Joystick Controller
They have a ton useful info/diagrams regarding arcade controls, I have used this site before for hacking pads

GamesX
PC2Jamma
If you are looking to hack stuff to put in an arcade machine.


System16
Not technical but if you want help deciding what type of cabinet to get for particular games... (Obviously after Neo)


With all the links I have posted, you should have all you need.

The question is... what type of Cab to get...?
Also your monitor is critical... do you want to be able to support 31KHz JVS VGA to run some newer games consoles or just 15KHz Jamma/MVS RGB? maybe you need a Tri-Sync monitor..

 

[Sixth]

On the textbook front, these seemed to be the some of better go-to texts. Good reviews on these, but needless to say, some of this stuff is a more dear investment that I’m a lot of folks are willing to make. Still good stuff, though.

Grob’s Basic Electronics: http://www.directtextbook.com/prices/9780072974751
http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Electronics-Student-Multisim-CD-ROM/dp/007827124X
http://www.amazon.com/Grobs-Basic-Electronics-Fundamentals-Simulations/dp/0073250368

Audel Basic Electronics: http://www.amazon.com/Audel-Basic-Electronics-Technical-Trades/dp/0764579002

ARRL Understanding Basic Electronics (for better understanding of audio): http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Basic-Electronics-Softcover-arrl/dp/0872590828

Horn’s Basic Electronics Theory: http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Electronics-Theory-Projects-Experiments/dp/0830642005

Anlhelm’s An Introduction to High Reliability Soldering and Circuit Board Repair: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Reliability-Soldering-Circuit-Repair/dp/1453657460/ref=pd_cp_b_1

If you go in the tech section there are some brilliant and bright techs in there. I am merely a level 1 type tech compared to the gurus in there. MKL and channelmaniac are the hands on tech and kyuusakuu and smkdan are the ones I think who know more in depth knowledge about the system architecture and can tell you about coding and stuff.

There's a few other in there are well. If you want to learn more about repairing boards then you need to download "The Book" it contains information that's easy to comprehend for someone with basic knowledge looking to expand their knowledge of board repair/operation. I say download since I can never find one for purchase.

Oh, the tech' forums here are fantastic. I'd just like to keep people out of them Like I said, 'give a man a rod...'; it keeps newbies like me from clogging up ‘general’ and ‘tech’ support’ by asking really elementary questions that could've been answered with some very basic research.
What's 'the book', by the way? I tried looking it up, but all I came up with was the usual manic Google search that turns up nothing of any real detail.

 

[rectumrob]

A little bit of theory goes a long way.

allaboutcircuits
electronics-tutorials
ETO forums

Edit: Sorry for the multipost. Didn't know if earlier post would be approved.

 

[Sixth]

A little bit of theory goes a long way.

allaboutcircuits
electronics-tutorials
ETO forums

Amen to that. Great sites there, by the way.