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Hi Gary Thanks for the compliments and I will happilly put my hands up and say that I followed your thread and loved your layout especially with the different style buttons. TBH I skimped on my layout as, though I was pretty sure of myself on the hardware/wiring, I was less convinced about my ability to get my head around the Windows/MFME side of things and didn't want to waste a load of money in case it went 'tits up'. I suspect in the not distant future I'll have a redesign and use a few of those buttons myself. Gotta say that I am loving playing long forgotten machines and it beats playing the rubbish out there nowadays. Cheers Chris

Thanks for the compliment and TBH, it doesn't matter how its put/held together, as long as it works, thats all that really counts. Besides I'm currently planning on putting a games keyboard together (joystick and buttons)that plugs into my box so I can play some old MAME games (Galaxian, Galaga etc) so I may end up revising it all at the end of the day anyhow

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with your plans, I would never of thought of doing this without your contribution. It was great fun making and I am now planning a plug in 'bolt on' box with arcade buttons & joystick, so I can play some older MAME games. Boy did you open a new world for me!

Thanks, the compliments are much appreciated but have to say that the photo is very flattering. I had a touch with the buttons having picked 25 up on ebay for tenner & just got a pack of mixed colour acetate sheets & cut them to size to replace the original decals.

Cheers guys, it was fun putting it together and, as the wife was away this weekend, it allowed me to have some proper playing time

So after a month of getting my head around PC's and just enjoying some of the retro fruits and, not to forget, the newer machines, I have finally cracked on with a keyboard. Apart from a couple of sleepless nights getting my head around programming the iPac2 and PacDrive its now complete and I have attached a couple of photos below. I reckon the whole exercise has cost around £70 (good old ebay) which does show but TBF I didnt want to spend big in case it was an unmitigated disaster. Got to put out my thanks out to Reg for doing all the groundwork with his guide and, not to forget, a lot of the contributors on this forum where I gleaned the machinations of setting up the Ipac2 & PacDrive. Next step is to just enjoy the fruitys and maybe in the summer start work on a MK2 version. If anybody is interested, having played around with chipboard & MDF for the panel, I ended up using DiBond (generally used for large 'coming soon' hoarding signs) which is very rigid and easy to cut and drill (literally you score and bend it to cut and a standard drill bit goes through it like butter). Not only does it save a load of weight it can also be printed on, so my MK2 panel will have logos etc on it.

I've changed the shortcuts on the machine and effectively saved them (they show when I close & open the machine again) but it still doesn't recognise the changes on the keyboard I'm wondering if its something to do with the age of the machine/roms, as I've checked on later layouts and I can change them fine, so I must be doing it okay. Does anybody have any thoughts?

Thats brilliant, I can't wait to get home to try it out. Thanks for our help

Sorry if this is covered somewhere else but I have looked but cannot seem to find a specific answer. As background I joined a couple of weeks ago and are not PC literate but have now got everything up and running to a point where I can play the games and relive my youth (late 70's-80s) Though I am probably running before I can walk, to enjoy a proper 'real life' experience I've decided to build a keyboard based on Reg's guide (thanks Reg). To this end, I placed an order for the parts last week and spent this weekend box building, its made from dibond and wood and it looks okay so far. I will post on the Keyboard forum shortly once I have it wired up, as I think I may be struggling on the programming side and may need help there. Coming to the point, yesterday I was going through my downloaded machines and entering the keyboard shortcuts into a spreadsheet, as I'm assuming I will need these for the IPAC and PACdrive set-up. As some have no notes I have worked the combinations out via trial and error, however, I am struggling with the early Barcrest machines eg Line-Up, Exchanges Unlimted etc as I cannot get the Nudge Up buttons to work (most other machines seem to be 4, 5 & 6 but not these). As these are some of my favourite games does can anybody help me out please. thanks

Being a newbie too I couldn't resist posting on this thread as, at the moment, its the only one I can really offer any input on. I'm definitely a late 70's through to 00's guy, with my heart set back in the electromechanical age of Bell Fruit, JPM and Peter Simper machines. Still a sucker for the simpler machines. My absolute favourites were the BFM Jump Jet/Harrier BFM machine that could be emptied relatively easily with two people playing it and ofter offered multiple holds via a 'Superstart' button along with the JPM Eachway Shuffle. I'm particularly looking forward to playing the latter once I get my head around the new PC and loading the emulator. Not sure if anybody remembers the Peter Simper machines but they offered 'Holds' after a nudge win in an era when none of the major companies did. I was blown away at the time and always looked out for them in pubs, still nearly always lost money though! I was a fan of the MPU3 Barcrest Royal Exchange and JPM Rollercoaster club machines in the day and only sold them a few years ago, big mistake but hey ho. Love talking about old fruitys though as nothing touches them nowadays.