I just spent 10 minutes on the computer that will be running the MAME in my arcade cabinet.  I was fortunate – when it loaded it said “your password has expired, give me a new one” and it had the old password already in the right field! So I didn’t have to remember it after all OR re-install windows – yay! And I was uber clever and made the password something I will NEVER forget!

So, that’s fixed!  The reason I brought the computer upstairs was to reinstall KeyboardTest, which I need to identify and fix the buttons that don’t work on my control panel and it had expired.  Now I’ve got it installed and am ready to take it back downstairs and fix those buttons! Yay!  Expect to see more on this SSSSOOOOOONNNNN!!!!

And, so, back to the last thing about the roller ball that I couldn’t deal with for several weeks…

Once everything was done, I took the control panel into the livingroom to put it on my cabinet and pretend to play a game.  I discovered, instead, that the cable port at the back of the mouse casing stuck out too far and would not sit in the cabinet right!  ARRRGGG!  I was very upset!!  I stomped around a bit, cringed, and declaired “AAUUUGGGG!”  But, now that I’ve regained my composure, I’m at it again.  First, I removed the female port from the mouse board (small metal square in the upper right corner of the case).  I got to do the de-soldering for this.  It went really well!  I think I’m a natural…   Last night, Phil and I discussed how we were going to hook the port back to the board, but at a 90 degree angle.  I couldn’t come up with how that would work.  Eventually, we decided to skip the port all together.  We cut the male port from the cable and exposed the wires.  Then we plugged it into the female port I took off the board already.  Phil used his circuit tester to identify which colored wire went with which pin at the back of the port.  While he did that, I drilled a hole in the bottom of the mouse casing and, using plumbing rubber washers, managed to wedge the rest of the cable (the end that goes into the computer) into the hole so it won’t move around.  We forgot the solder/flux at Phil’s house, but we’re ready to solder the wires from the cable directly into the board. That’s a much easier solution than what I thought we would have to come up with.  Yay!

And now, you are caught up with where we are at in real life in our process.  My goal right now is to get it so we can play games on it.  Maybe next winter we’ll start playing with the case making it super cool.  I want lightning effects behind the marquee and leds in the buttons.  I saw this really slick metal edging that would be killer.

And, of course, the sides need decorating.  Warren suggested exchangeable side art, and Alex suggested everyone contribute in some way.  Both are good ideas that I’ll have to consider.  Of course, blue lightning is always awesome…