Interface / Controller board for a business product

[mlalena]

So I actually have an opportunity to use my arcade building knowledge at work.
We are in need for a USB I/O board. Most of the boards our EE's are finding are priced higher than Ultimarc or GGG products, have less features, and less support. Some even require polling to get the data.

Most Interface / Controller board will simply produce keyboard input which is not what we want. I figure a device that produces joystick button input might be a good solution. Ex: I listen for MM_JOY1BUTTONDOWN events from Windows. Then the input doesn't conflict with the keyboard and I don't need to tap any custom API from the controller.

One product I was looking at was the GGG LED-WIZ+GP. With 16 inputs and 16 outputs, it is much more than we need. I figure 8 total is fine for what we are doing. But at $40 it is the same price as some other boards we are looking at.

So, any solutions/companies other than Ultimarc or GGG that I should look at?
Any problem with ordering 500-1000 controllers / year from these companies?
Any other interfaces other than Joystick events that make sense for my problem? - It shouldn't matter, but our code is C#.

Other desires - but not required.

• Ideally the wires connect to the board through some harness. No screw down terminals.
• The unit is well built - can withstand vibration... Some of the connectors on some boards are heavily misaligned and make me wonder how well the connection is.
• The boards (software/firmware) can come pre-programmed - each pin is tagged with a certain windows event so we don't have to reprogram each board.

Thanks for the help.

[MonMotha]

I'm guessing Ultimarc of GGG can help you out, here, but if not, I do this sort of thing.  PM me for details.

[mphuie]

If you don't mind a bit of disassembly and soldering, you can buy USB gamepads for cheap.  I picked up a few for $8 from Amazon a few months ago.   12 inputs.

[mark shaker]

Just in case you are not familiar with Ultimarc's business arm:

http://www.u-hid.com/home/index.php


The "U-HID Nano" seems to be exactly what you are looking for.

    - Mark