Time to teach an old dog a new trick

[pinballjoe]

ok...  I have been a pinball tech before videos were around and all there was were em machines. I was around when "PONG" came around and when Williams came out with the first talking pinball machine.

YES I'M OLD!!!

I am becoming interested in my "Roots" and looking to collect machines.

I need a little help 

WHAT  THE F*** IS Jamma Arcade Game system and mame system?

I tried looking for info but I either get super simple or way over my head.

Thanks 
Pinball Joe

[John's Arcade]

ok...  I have been a pinball tech before videos were around and all there was were em machines. I was around when "PONG" came around and when Williams came out with the first talking pinball machine.

YES I'M OLD!!!

I am becoming interested in my "Roots" and looking to collect machines.

I need a little help 

WHAT  THE F*** IS Jamma Arcade Game system and mame system?

I tried looking for info but I either get super simple or way over my head.

Thanks 
Pinball Joe

Jamma is a wiring standard. Basically, most of the early 80s and 70s video games all had unique wiring, power supplies, etc. You couldn't typically swap PCBs from game to game. Meaning, you couldn't plug a PCB into a Pac-Man. Then JAMMA came along. Jamma basically allows you to plug any JAMMA PCB into any other JAMMA cab. It was introduced around 1987 and pretty much everything after that is JAMMA.

MAME is emulation. You use a PC to emulate the hardware of arcade games and play them. MAME is pretty cool and can sometimes be spot on. Other times the emulation is not as good. You can hook a MAME PC up to a JAMMA cabinet and have a PC driven arcade game with endless games on it. Or, you can enjoy arcade games on your PC using a keyboard or USB joystick with MAME.

[Tighe]

Well said John, now get this old timer on the podcast and ask him about the old days.

[pinballjoe]

ok that was a big help.... next I question.... can I burn roms from mame???

I wish jamma was around while I was into the business... would of saved me big time with conversions.

How did the big guys (eg Midway, Taito etc ) agree on jamma?  in my time the big guys tried to sue anyone who put a different game into there boxes (like putting DK into a frogger cabinet).

Pinball Joe

[John's Arcade]

ok that was a big help.... next I question.... can I burn roms from mame???

I wish jamma was around while I was into the business... would of saved me big time with conversions.

How did the big guys (eg Midway, Taito etc ) agree on jamma?  in my time the big guys tried to sue anyone who put a different game into there boxes (like putting DK into a frogger cabinet).

Pinball Joe

Yes, you can burn rome from MAME. I do it all the time. The MAME rome are just dumps of the old hardware roms.

Midway and Taito would eventually embrace JAMMA.

[BloodyCactus]

How did the big guys (eg Midway, Taito etc ) agree on jamma?  in my time the big guys tried to sue anyone who put a different game into there boxes (like putting DK into a frogger cabinet).

Pinball Joe

jamma came about because of the big downturn in business in the 80's. they basically all agreed to a standard to cut costs and keep themselves in business.

JAMMA is Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association.

[pinballjoe]

Thanks for the info.........  ok another question...?....?.... how do you add buttons for different functions (shot, jump, warp) and what is done about monitor placement (portrait or landscape)

[John's Arcade]

Thanks for the info.........  ok another question...?....?.... how do you add buttons for different functions (shot, jump, warp) and what is done about monitor placement (portrait or landscape)

Buttons wire into the jamma harness. Get a pinout.

Mame can play horizontal games on a vertical monitor and vice versa. The picture might be smooshed though. I built a vertical Mame cab and only play vertical games. Some guys build both.

[Tighe]

How did the big guys (eg Midway, Taito etc ) agree on jamma?  in my time the big guys tried to sue anyone who put a different game into there boxes (like putting DK into a frogger cabinet).

Pinball Joe

jamma came about because of the big downturn in business in the 80's. they basically all agreed to a standard to cut costs and keep themselves in business.

JAMMA is Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association.

Actually it was because all the arcades in Japan switched to candy style cabinets like a pachinko parlor. The operators could then just swap have boards. This was all decided on Japan there there was no downtown in the arcade business.

[MastarArcade]

Some "Googling" around will get you some pretty good Jamma references.

Here's a few quick links that you can easily stumble upon:

http://homearcade.org/BBBB/jh.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/install-a-JAMMA-harness-in-an-arcade-cabinet/?ALLSTEPS

http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/jamma%20tech.html

[pinballjoe]

looks like this old dog did learn a new trick ... THANKS to all...... now I need to keep my wife away from this site..... she has been trying to teach me how to take the garbage out for 35 years to no avail

Pinball Joe

P.S.  looks like I will be building a cabinet soon that I can tilt 90 degrees... more questions to come