Howdy! I have grand plans, let me tell you about them.

First of all, let me just express how excited I am to find an emulation community that still has active users.

It would seem I'm a bit behind deciding that emulation of old games is a really cool hobby. There are a plethora of communities out there, but so many have died ... it's a bit overwhelming! So much info that seems productive is out of date ... anyway so yeah I'm quite happy to have found this place.

So here is my grand plan: I'm going to build an arcade cabinet that will play like every game ever. From Atari 2600-PSX, and of course some MAME to boot. I want lightgun(s), a trackball, four arcade controls (for NBA JAM & NFL BLITZ ACTION), two SNES controllers & 2 Gamecube controllers. Yes, I realize that I've set my targets on the holy grail. I dream big, get over it. :P

I'm planning to go with an iterative approach. My first step was to get my emulation software and front-end up and running. I'm probably about 75% of the way there on that, still trying to get specific emulators configured to controllers. Plan to post specific issues in the appropriate forums, check out my threads if my goal inspires you to try to help. :)

Next step is to build a proof of concept arcade controller. I've ordered approx. 10 buttons and a joystick from Ultimarc, and just bought the i-pac 4 for an interface.

From there I'll start designing my final build, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Couple of questions for any of you vets out there:

- Is trying to use a windows 7 machine a mistake? Should I rather install an XP build to ensure optimal compatibility?
- Am trying to decide between CRT or LCD monitor, but leaning heavily to LCD for obvious reasons. I'm not quite old enough to have serious CRT memories.
- Anything above troubling? Anyone forsee any issues based on my simple explanation of my plans?

Greetings, and welcome to Emulator Zone! You certainly do have grand plans! Good luck to you. Unfortunately, I probably can't provide any advice, as I'm a huge newb:(. It seems like you have planned out your steps carefully. Just make sure to follow through on everything and cut no corners.
You seem like the writer type to me. You're introduction is worded kind of like blog. Not that that's a bad thing, I'm an aspiring author myself:D.
All that aside, I hope you achieve your goal! Work hard, and soon you'll have the ultimate gaming system!

Wow, awesome post. Welcome man!!!

Welcome to our Forum.And good luck with your gaming machine!

Sounds great, welcome to Emu-zone! :)