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updated 10 th January 2K5
Interface
I spent ages on the net looking at various ways in which you could connect arcade controls to the PC.
A good place to look is the Interface section of Arcade Controls, where just about every method is discussed. I have loads of old keyboards and initially thought about hacking one, but I didn't want a solution that had key ghosting issues. I wanted my arcade machine to be perfect (as much as possible) I looked at various keyboard encoders from Hagstrom and the like, but a lot of people seemed to get along very well with the I-Pac encoders.
I had a good read of the Ultimarc site. There is lot's of good information there that Andy has supplied, he really has produced a brilliant piece of kit.
I decided that as I needed 4 players I would go for the I-Pac 4 encoder that delivered 56 inputs.
For my trackballs and rotary inputs I went with Andy's Opti-Pac again a complex piece of kit made simple. I really like the hook up method of both encoders. I felt reassured as SlikStick use Andy's interface for their Arcade machines. These end up being the most expensive pieces of kit for the controller but I think it's important to get this part of the build right.
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