Noob with big questions

[farmerjane]

Hi,
I am so new to DDR I haven't even tried it, and I'm
way to chicken to try it in public. I've been reading this forum all evening and finally decided to register so I
could ask questions, of course it wasn't till after I
registered that I noticed there was a forum for guests to post to. Oh well. Guess what else I've never done - posted anything anywhere so I'll probably break some rules. Sorry in advance.
Okay here's my big question. All's I have is a computer, no playstations or anything. That's another thing I've never done is play video games. I'm an old lady and only ever played pacman a couple times like twenty years ago. So after reading a bunch of the threads I think I should get a PS or PS2, not an xbox.
I know I haven't formulated a question yet but I should give a little more background. I will be playing on a bare cement floor (we are remodeling this house) if that makes a difference. I would like to be able to put everything away real fast, I can usually hear mi viejo get home in time to switch from playing jigzone online to watching the stock market, but with ddr I would have to turn off the tv, put the mat away..., I hope that's it. It would be nice if I could set the machine sideways and call it a server, or put it under the dvd player and stack a lot of papers around it to hide it. The reason being that I dance like a spaz, of course he dances like ricky martin and loves to laugh at me when he can manage to drag me out there. I would rather die than let him catch me trying to learn to dance.
So anyhow, since I'll probably never play anything but ddr on whatever I wind up getting, do you all think I should get a used ps or a new ps2 or what.
Thanks to anyone who read this whole thing, I tend to
ask a lot.

[abrannan]

If your computer is in a place where you could play, you could use Stepmania or DWI (Dance with Intensity). Buy a couple of mats (You'll probably want some sort of padding under them if you're playing on cement (The RedOctance Ignition, or LevelSix 3.1 mats would be good for this). You'd also need a Playstation to USB adapter (The Super Dual Box is a good one, find it at electricquarter.com, $18.99 shipped). That way you don't have to hide a playstation or anything. You'd still need a place to stash the mats though.

[Laura Moncur]

If you are worried about stashing the pad fast, then I would definitely recommend the Playstation unit over trying to get Stepmania to work. The PC unit takes a lot of downloading and setup work to get it working and if you're not too computer literate, I would recommend the Playstation 2 console. It has several games and is really easy to use.

I stash my pad under the couch. Abrannan is right, the Red Octane pad is the best because it's really squishy. It's pricey, but it's worth it. Having a console system connected to your TV is the easiest because then all you have to do is stuff the pad under the couch to get it out of the way quickly.

More importantly, there is no reason to be ashamed. I'm sure your "viejo" wants you to be healthy and happy. I suggest you talk to him about it. Getting him excited about it will help you on your journey far more than you know.