Out with the old ...

I've been really frustrated lately because it seems nothing wants to work properly. Damn you, Murphy! My two biggest problems (so far, anyways) have been the monitor and I-PAC control board. The monitor is just plain shot and I don't think there's much use in trying to get it repaired. As for the I-PAC ... who knows?

The remedy for the monitor situation was to take a ride over to our local Best Buy and pick up a new 20.1" LCD monitor. It looks great!

Compare the top picture (new monitor) to the previous monitor image:

Click image thumbnails for bigger pics.

Yep, its like night and day.

Here's a few more pics of the new monitor:












The game plays back real clean. The darkness and ghosting in the above images is from the camera and doesn't represent what the monitor is actually displaying (quality-wise). It was a wise choice to upgrade the monitor, especially considering 20" monitors are the norm in Dragon's Lair cabinets. Now what to do with the extra 0.1"? Hmm...





The I-PAC board is a whole different issue altogether. It worked fine, then all of a sudden it didn't. I really don't know where the problem lies. The original I-PAC was connected via a PS/2 cable to the PC. I ordered a new one, connecting via USB, and it works like a charm. I might check out the PS/2 I-PAC on the Marvel cabinet to see if it works. If it does, who knows ... maybe there will be a third cabinet on the horizon.


Long story short, the Dragon's Lair arcade cabinet works! I still need to replace the monitor plexi, since the first one cracked from bringing it inside after sitting outside in extremely cold weather (around -12°F) for a few hours. That's easy enough. I'm much more concerned with wiring the scoreboard. Yes, that still has me quite nervous. At least I get to play Dragon's Lair in all its arcade glory for the time being.

Come together, right now (damnit!)

Becca sure loves me. How do I know? She fixes everything I break and has the patience of a saint. Me? ... not so much. Its thanks to her that I can type up this update.

Click image thumbnails for bigger pics.

I wired up the control panel, taking up more than an hour of wire-stripping fun, and ... nothing happened. I went over my wiring, consulted the online diagram, and ... nothing again. Having finally reaching my peak of fustration, Becca came to my rescue and corrected my half-assed wiring job.






Becca also recently finished hotrodding the workhorse of the operation, a Windows PC with a new motherboard and mammoth RAM.






Since the control panel and PC were all wired up and rearing to go, it only made sense to go ahead and wire up the coin door. This was by far the easiest of the wiring jobs.






Yep, the monitor looks pretty shot. As bad as it is, the picture is an optical illusion. The Dragon's Lair text doesn't look green to the naked eye. Must be a combination of the camera flash and the monitor plexi. The colors are washed out and everything has a yellowish tint. I admit I was a bit rough with the monitor once it was removed from its housing. I'll replace it with a flat LCD in the near future.






Things are coming together somewhat nicely. Dragon's Lair is playable and accepts quarters for credits. I still need to mount the scoreboard plexi, wire up the scoreboard, and replace the monitor. I'm really nervous about frying the scoreboard, so that part should be fun. Replacing the monitor will be quick and simple, but somewhat unexpected and not accounted for in my budget. Mounting the scoreboard plexi is the most simple of the three, so I think that's what y'all will be seeing by my next update. Oh, and I still desperately need some speaker grills ...