Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks

226

Part II: Advanced Hacks, Tools, and Techniques

MAME software

The MAME software package will expand into a series of directories on

your PC. There will be a README file that you should review before pro-

ceeding. For example, you can launch the MAME software under Windows

by typing:

MAME digdug -640x480 -soundcard 1 -depth 8 -sr 11025

This causes MAME to run the game “digdug” at 640 by 480 resolution

with 8-bit color depth, using a Sound Blaster sound card set with an output

sample rate of 11025 samples per second. Note that you must have “dig-

dug” ROM images in the appropriate directory on your PC. To play another

game, substitute its filename for “digdug” in the command above.

A number of people have built automated frontends that allow you to avoid

using your keyboard and mouse to select from all of the games on your hard

drive. See http://www.mame.net/frontend.html for details.

Project Demo

Now is the moment you have been waiting for—playing one of those great

’80s games on a full-size console. Start MAME with your desired ROM and

enjoy! You can now enjoy a vintage game of Pac-Man, as in Figure 11-17.

Extensions

The basic MAME setup requires that each game be started from a Windows

or DOS prompt. You may want to make this a little more elegant by elimi-

nating the need to type on a keyboard to start the game. There are a number

of automation utilities that show you a list of all games available on your

system; you can select these using a joystick on the console.

Resources

These web links are for the parts and board vendors as well as for good

MAME software and ROM sources.

http://www.mameworld.net/

http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/

http://www.happcontrols.com/

http://www.mameworld.net/

http://www.arcadeathome.com/

http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/

ROM Files

The MAME software creates an actual

game processor emulator. This means

that it will run the original software

that was stored on a Read-Only

Memory (ROM) chip. MAME looks for

files on your hard drive that contain

a copy of these ROM chips. Note that

under a strict interpretation of current

copyright laws, you must legally pur-

chase an original ROM to be allowed

to make a copy of it on your hard

disk. A quick search on the MAME site

should point you to the appropriate

web sites for games.

The ROM files for the arcade games

software are rather small compared

to today’s hard-drive capacities.

You should be able to easily store

hundreds of games in 1 to 2 GB of

hard disk space. A company named

StarROMs offers licensed arcade

ROMs for a large number of games.

Their web site is http://www.starroms.

com.

Figure 11-17: Pac-Man (© Atari)

Project Demo

ch11_arcade.indd 226

1/22/2002 4:40:38 PM