I have pretty much finished my arcade machine :D
Since I have this blog why not post about it?
The Plan
The plan (dream) was to build an arcade machine. The machine would be a dual system. The primary system would be a PC running MAME. The secondary system would be a Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was chosen since is has VGA output, lots of arcade game ports (beat 'em ups, shooters and light guns); also I happened to have one lying about.
Luckily a while ago I was given a PC which was more than suitable for this project.
The PC
P4 2.4 GHZ
512 MB RAM
60 GB hard drive
ATI Radeon 9000 64 MB
The PC is running Windows XP home. I have chosen to use
GameEX as the front end since it has approximately ten thousand features
and operates in a very nice kiosk mode. It's on a wireless network and using
TightVNC to remotely administer it. A wireless mouse also makes things
a bit easier.
Materials
Costs are shown in New Zealand dollars - at the time of writing 1 NZD = 0.68 USD.
Brought
 This old thing came with it
Arcade cabinet $100, cabinet was empty and only came with the screen glass and basic controllers
Wood $20, used for mounting screen, keyboard sliding shelf, and control deck
Paint $30, undercoat
Painter roller $7
Screws $7
VGA Y splitter $12, so can have both Dreamcast and PC plugged into screen
2M 3.5mm Extension Cable $6.50, audio cable extension
X-Arcade Two Player Arcade Joystick $285, the ultimate arcade joystick (currently borrowing this but will be buying one very shortly)
X-Arcade Dreamcast Adapter $16, can use the X-Arcade controller on the Dreamcast as well
17" Dell flat screen CRT Monitor $35, brought this but didn't end up using it
Already Had
PC
Dreamcast
17" Philips LCD
The Controls
The cabinet came with some basic controls. I
wired up a sidewinder control to it using
some of the best drunken soldering ever ... but it turns the PC didn't have a gameport!
So I ended up using a dual X-Arcade stick setup. Unfortunately using the X-Arcade
means that it is not possible to use a wireless keyboard.
I mounted a piece of bench top custom board for the
control deck.
 The gap between the control deck and base
The Screen
As most games are low resolution (640 x 480 and 320x200) I was looking at using a 17" CRT monitor
as they display it better than a LCD. Using a CRT monitor will also allow the Dreamcast
lightguns to be used. The CRT was too
bulky to easily fit into the cabinet without some major alterations so for now I
just cut a gap into some custom board to mount the LCD. 
Fitting
Everthing fitted very nicely. I left the front bottom panel off so can easily change Dreamcast games.
 Capcom Vs. SNK on DC
Ouch looks like I will not be making much consumer use of Capcom Dreamcast games outside of Japan.
Left Overs
There is a few small things left to do. The whole cabinet needs a paint job.
The control deck needs some rubber edging and a beer holder. The sliding keyboard shelf
needs to be fitted under the control deck. It will eventually need the LCD replaced with the CRT, in the meanwhile I will have to resort to The Typing of the Dead instead of The house of the Dead 2.
Final Thoughts
While the cabinet does not look the best, it is totally awesome to use and suitable for wasting many hours with some friends, for some reason standing up just makes it way more enjoyable.
It just a shame that the Capcom Dreamcast games look rubbish using the VGA box. Their backgrounds and menus look great, but the sprites are very pixelated and show how lazy Capcom is by recycling all their sprites from 10 year old games...
At least Guilty Gear X and Soul Calibur look great!
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I brought an old arcade machine cabinet. It is now in my lounge and I am in the process of fixing it up.
Kool Keith the Commi$$ioner 2 has had a limited release of 1,100 copies. I was quite surprised to hear this had already been released, as it hadn't been talked about for a while.