When you first start using MAME on a PC, you'll be using a keyboard, possibly a mouse, joystick, gamepad, etc. - what you are unlikely to be using at the start, is an arcade control console. One of the most time consuming processes (if you build from scratch like me) in this arcade machine build is figuring out how to build and connect an arcade-machine-type-control-console to a regular PC in order to have something more authentic to play your games with.
It might be worth pointing out at this point, that this is my second (maybe third) attempt at building this arcade machine contraption. My first serious attempt involved the purchasing of higher specification components when I had a lot more disposable cash than I have today.
The first time around, I purchased an I-PAC interface board from Ultimarc - if you click the links you'll see that this is a very neat looking "screw-plugs to PS/2 or USB connection" board. The purpose of this board is so that you can connect two wires to anything (a switch or button for example) and have that send a keystroke along your normal keyboard connection - very swish - straightforward, no mess, a sensible approach to take. When my first attempt was aborted for a number of reasons (mostly due to the birth of my children and my severe reduction in available time and money) this particular item went for a song on eBay - lucky buyer!
This time around I don't have the money (and I would likely cry) to buy another. "So", me thinks, "I can build one of those monkeys, no problem at all!" thus begins my keyboard hack.
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