No keyboard drawer?

[Donkbaca]

So I am getting ready to build my first cab and I have been thinking alot about the keyboard drawer.  I want to hide my keyboard and make it a little hard to get to so kids that come over don't highjack my system.  Then I saw these: 

http://bit.ly/byhacJ

And I started thinking, maybe I should just mount 2 of these discretely under my CP, that way if I ever need to use a keyboard/mouse I can just plug one in and not have to worry about concealing a keyboard drawer, or sticking one behind the coin door.


It would make for an easier cabinet build too, no drawers to make


Thoughts?

[Benevolance]

The concept will work fine. I have a single keyboard that I switch between my Xbox 360 and my arcade cabinet, so I mounted a USB hub just inside the cabinet to connect it. I don't have to worry about kids, so I made accessing my cabinet really easy with a pull-away door, but a little external port like you linked would work about the same. I just plug in the keyboard when I need it.

My cab as a trackball, though, which I use as a mouse. I don't know that plugging a mouse in would be quite as handy - my CP top is pretty oddly reflective and has more than a few dings. The once or twice I tried to use an optical mouse on the surface was frustrating, as the cursor tended to leap about all over the place. But my arcade cabinet doubles as my media center while I'm working in the kitchen, so I need the mouse more frequently. You might not need to use a mouse as frequently and/or have a better surface nearby that cooperates with an optical mouse better.

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, for more info, I am looking to do a CP with 2 joys, 7 buttons a piece and no track ball.  The cab will only be used to play games on, so the only times I would need a mouse/keyboard would be to maybe add something or fix something that breaks in the software.  So I don't intend on using them much/at all.

[Stobe]

I was never a fan of the keyboard drawer.  I usually hide a wireless keyboard/mouse combo either inside the coin door, on the top of the cab, or in a different room.  I seldom find myself using it anyhow.  Once you get everything right, stop messing with it!  Any changes in software you want to make should be implemented in the next cab you build 

-Stobe

[trevski]

I use one of these:



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keysonic-ACK-540RF-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad/dp/B002WB1JYQ

Has a usb receiver that plugs into your PC inside the cab then you can just stash the keyboard wherever you like
and then stand infront of the cab to use it (although 1 handed can be a little tedious) I just chuck mine on top of
the cab out of the reach of little fingers.

[Lewis Black]

I think the wireless KB is a more practical and discrete solution unless you need external USB ports anyway.

[Blanka]

BT keyboard.
Favourite ones:
Apple BT keyboard
Boxee remote

[Donkbaca]

Hmmmm. Come to think of it, I do have a wireless keyboard and mouse laying around.  But it may be handy to have a usb port handy, since i am trying to figure out a good way to hide light guns and console controllers.  Basically my goal is for the cabinet to look like a arcade cabinet, modest 2p control panel.  But I want light guns and I want to have a few emulators on there since the goal of the piece is nostalgia, you know?  So I would like to run Some console emu's and use control pads with them, but I don't want control pads and light guns hanging out all over the can (the wife just won't go for that look)  So the way I see it, I can either build a drawer/ hideaway to keep the controllers and light guns out of the way, then you can just pull them out when needed, or alternatively, have them nearby and then I could plug them in to the USB when I need them...

Any thoughts?

[Blanka]

Ports on the back are great.
It also keeps the wires from coming in your action-area.

[Donkbaca]

Any ideas on how to discretely store lightguns? 

[JustMichael]

I have a USB hub mounted to the right side on the back of the cabinet. If I really need to use a keyboard/mouse, I just plug them in.  For updating the roms, I have that drive shared so I do the updating remotely from my main pc.

[Lilwolf]

Also, if you have a smart phone... use can use simulated keyboard / mouse. 

[Donkbaca]

RE: smartphone, I have an iphone.  How do you use a simulated keyboard/mouse?

I am also thinking about maybe doing remote power on/off.  I know you can set up your system to Wake On Lan, and there are apps for the iphone that let you send the right packet to your pc to have it boot, but I am not sure how to remotely shutdown the PC, any ideas?  I am currently planning on setting everything up through a smart strip and then having my PC be the master, that way a one button power up would be attained by powering up my PC.  But, how cool would it be to have a "no button" power up? You could start the PC through WOL, and if I can figure out how to shut it down remotely, that would be perfect!

[Marsupial]

My Mame cab doubles as a file server. It is Wi-Fi equipped and I can access all of the MAME content remotely via network (when WiFi doesn't act up...)

I have a mouse and keyboard inside the cab, that I pull from the coin door when I need it, which is rare.

Furthermore, the power switch on the top of the cab is wired to a modified powerbar that only powers the monitor, audio amp and marquee. The machine is always running.

I personally do NOT want to have a USB hub. I use tokens, to prevent from the chepenned feeling that games are free - you have a set number of tokens, games aren't really free. Gives a closer arcade feel IMHO.
In that ideology, I don't want to be able to easily plug in a keyboard, which could in turn be used to coin up instead of the tokens.

this said, if you really want to, you can hack up a USB port, use wireless or what not.
I don't quite like the keyboard drawer idea - not that its bad, but its not for me. Arcades are to play, not to navigate the net. The rare occasions I use the keyboard (setup new emulators, bugfixing, updates) I use a foldable table in front of the cab, keyboard and mouse on it. Works like a charm.


on another hand, I want to have some hidden connectors on the front of the cab - I'll want to have the possibility to add 2 extra players, and would like connectivity for my act-labs gun. Those wouldn't be standard USB ports...

BTW act lab guns are interpreted as mouse by windows, that's interesting too.

[BobA]

I use one of these but I also have a usb port available for a gamepad to add a player.

Wireless Handheld KB Touchpad review

[Donkbaca]

I am using Aimtrak guns.  Looking for a way to store them without cluttering up my cab. I want the cab to be simple, not have a bunch of stuff hanging all over it.

I think I am going with wireless xbox 360 controllers for my console emus.  Not authentic for sure, but neither is playing a console game on a cab.  I read in a thread somewhere that some guy is trying to port out connections for controllers for all the classic gaming consoles.  Cool idea, but I wouldn't want NES, SNES, N64, PS, AND Genesis controllers all hooked up.  I figure a wireless 360 controller has all the controls I need, plus its wireless so that cuts down on the clutter factor.  I can just keep them near my cab for when people want to play them.

I think I have the keyboard thing figured out.  I am going with a wireless one behind the coin door.  Don't think I'll ever use it, so heck, I might even go regular USB keyboard behind the coin door.  Still on the fence about mounting a usb port, might do one discretely on the back or bottom of the CP just to have one handy.

What I am really looking for is a good way to store my guns.  The wife isn't going to go for the holsters on the side idea.

Thanks everyone for your input so far... keep the ideas coming!

[severdhed]

in my showcase cabinet, i have a usb keyboard that sits inside the cabinet and i pull it out when i need to use it.  I also have VNC setup so i can remotely control the PC from any of the other computers on my LAN.  on my other cabinet, i have a wireless keyboard that sits on a shelf nearby that i use when i have to.  it is also set up with VNC.  i have a wireless mouse i use on my showcase, and a trackball on my other cabinet if i need to use a mouse.

as for storing guns.. do you plan on leaving them connected all the time?  i have a playstation 2 in my showcase cabinet that i use for gun games, when not in use, i open the bottom coin door and put them in the coin box.  i have two usb and video ports mounted inside one of the coin return holes on the coin door so i can connect the guns when i want to use them.  it works great.  i can fit two guncon2 guns and my reload pedal inside the coin box which works out great.

as for shutting down a PC remotely, that is pretty easy, assuming you are running windows and connected to your network.  you can create a simple batch file that will tell a remote computer to shut down.  I have two computers in my house that run pretty much all the time.  one is my media PC which is connected to my projector, and the other sits in my basement without a monitor, i only control it via VNC or RDP. During strong thunderstorms, i will frequently unplug my electronics to protect them, but when I'm not home, my wife doesn't want to be bothered with remoting into the computers to shut them down.  So i created a batch file and saved it on her laptop..she simply double clicks it and it tells those two computers to gracefully shutdown...

this functionality is built into windows.  open a command prompt and do a "shutdown /?" for the list of options.

off the top of my head...i think it was something like this:

shutdown /m \\computername /t 15 /s

[Donkbaca]

Severedhed:

I think as far as keyboard/mouse goes, I am going to go with the old hide behind the coin door in case of emergency tactic.  Because, really that is the only time I would ever use them.


I like your ideas about the guns, but my coin door is functional (I got a SWEET deal on a nintendo cab door and already modified the mechs to take .984 tokens.  Got 200 used tokens off ebay for 10 bucks, shipped.  Its awesome, I plan on having an arcade pizza party when its built, give each guest 10 tokens when they show up )

I want the guns to be plugged in all the time, so that when guests play the machine, they can figure it all out themselves.  But I don't want the guns to clutter up the look of the cabinet when not in play.  Looks like I am either going to 1) discretely mount usb ports under my CP, then I can plug in guns before people come over, or 2 build a drawer or small door with a cubby to keep the guns in.  Depending on how big my CP is, I may mount holsters on the back of the control panels and then maybe have some sort of auto winding mechanism to reel the cords back in when the guns aren't being used.?

At the risk of looking noobish:  What is VNC?

I am running Win XP on my cabinet. I read about the batchfile thing.  Does it shut everything down gracefully? 

Ideally I am looking for a way to shutdown my computer with my iphone.  I know I can wake it with an app. I know you can set up outlook to run the batch file automatically, I thought about this option.  Basically you set up an acocunt with POP access, then you set up rules in outlook so that if it receives an e-mail like "shutdown pc now" as its header, then it runs the batch file.  I could set this up and then I could just send the e-mail to the cabinet from my phone and it would shut down.  The problem with this is I would need to install outlook and have it running in the background all the time, and it needs to check the e-mail account every so often to see if it has the e-mail. I am not sure if this will effect my performance and such, and I would prefer a more elegant way

If you could give me more info on the VNC thing and perhaps let me know, if you know, if I could use my phone to shut it down that would be sweet.

Thanks,

[bkenobi]

shutdown /m \\computername /t 15 /s

I think you need a /f in there as well to force the shutdown (in case something doesn't want to die nicely.

[severdhed]

shutdown /m \\computername /t 15 /s

I think you need a /f in there as well to force the shutdown (in case something doesn't want to die nicely.

if you run a shutdown /? it lists all the parameters, if you look at the description of /f it says:

"Force runnign applications to close without forewarning users. The /f parameter is implied when a value greater than 0 is specified for the /t parameter."

so as long as you use /t 15 (gives the user 15 second warning that the system is about to shutdown) then it will force the shutdown after the designated time setting

[upprc04]

shutdown /m \\computername /t 15 /s

I think you need a /f in there as well to force the shutdown (in case something doesn't want to die nicely.

if you run a shutdown /? it lists all the parameters, if you look at the description of /f it says:

"Force runnign applications to close without forewarning users. The /f parameter is implied when a value greater than 0 is specified for the /t parameter."

so as long as you use /t 15 (gives the user 15 second warning that the system is about to shutdown) then it will force the shutdown after the designated time setting

Haven't looked it up, but for shutdown I always used the /s flag instead of /m.

EDIT: Never mind, I see that /m is for remote shutdown and /s is if you are on the computer you wish to shutdown.

[wxforecaster]

Here's an option for the complete tek-geek with an iPhone/iPod touch.

Download the Logitech Touch Mouse app on your phone (and the matching app for your 'puter).
It lets you use the iPhone/iPod Touch as a keyboard and mouse on a computer over a wi-fi connection.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/494/6367&hub=1&section=downloads&WT.mc_id=usym_redirect_/touchmouse?geo=US

Evan

PS If you think a little more outside the box, you can really mess with someone this way too My friend installed it on his wife's laptop and after 10 minutes of her mouse moving and programs randomly opening, she called Dell tech support frantically trying to figure out why her computer was possessed. After about 30 minutes we couldn't take it anymore and broke into hysterical laughter. She didn't speak to him for days. A win win!!

[bkenobi]

shutdown /m \\computername /t 15 /s

I think you need a /f in there as well to force the shutdown (in case something doesn't want to die nicely.

if you run a shutdown /? it lists all the parameters, if you look at the description of /f it says:

"Force runnign applications to close without forewarning users. The /f parameter is implied when a value greater than 0 is specified for the /t parameter."

so as long as you use /t 15 (gives the user 15 second warning that the system is about to shutdown) then it will force the shutdown after the designated time setting

Interesting.  I've never used the /t option greater than 0 though which is why I never knew this.  But, when I tell the machine to shut down, I want it to shut down DAMN IT!   

[Marsupial]

I like your ideas about the guns, but my coin door is functional (I got a SWEET deal on a nintendo cab door and already modified the mechs to take .984 tokens.  Got 200 used tokens off ebay for 10 bucks, shipped.  Its awesome, I plan on having an arcade pizza party when its built, give each guest 10 tokens when they show up )

I have 500+ tokens, and modified mechs. During a party, I simply left the tokens box available... giving 10 tokens per guest is limitative IMHO.

What are your tokens? I got a lot of different japanese tokens off ebay; didn't want all identical tokens. Some are nice... but the ones that aren't that good looking are in bigger quantities (like 75 of the same ugly design. lol.)
Sadly, local arcades have smaller tokens.

That might sound strange, but I "hide" the gun on the top of the cab, over the marquee area. My gun cord currently exists the cab by the backdoor (until I alter the whole setup) and when not in use I simply lay the gun on top of the cab.

I also got the habbit of hiding a pile of spare tokens there (around 8-10) and the administrator key (which isn't the same as the coin door... I need a key to get back to the front-end or change volume. I have another set of keys for the coin door.)

[severdhed]

Severedhed:

I think as far as keyboard/mouse goes, I am going to go with the old hide behind the coin door in case of emergency tactic.  Because, really that is the only time I would ever use them.


I like your ideas about the guns, but my coin door is functional (I got a SWEET deal on a nintendo cab door and already modified the mechs to take .984 tokens.  Got 200 used tokens off ebay for 10 bucks, shipped.  Its awesome, I plan on having an arcade pizza party when its built, give each guest 10 tokens when they show up )

I want the guns to be plugged in all the time, so that when guests play the machine, they can figure it all out themselves.  But I don't want the guns to clutter up the look of the cabinet when not in play.  Looks like I am either going to 1) discretely mount usb ports under my CP, then I can plug in guns before people come over, or 2 build a drawer or small door with a cubby to keep the guns in.  Depending on how big my CP is, I may mount holsters on the back of the control panels and then maybe have some sort of auto winding mechanism to reel the cords back in when the guns aren't being used.?

At the risk of looking noobish:  What is VNC?

I am running Win XP on my cabinet. I read about the batchfile thing.  Does it shut everything down gracefully? 

Ideally I am looking for a way to shutdown my computer with my iphone.  I know I can wake it with an app. I know you can set up outlook to run the batch file automatically, I thought about this option.  Basically you set up an acocunt with POP access, then you set up rules in outlook so that if it receives an e-mail like "shutdown pc now" as its header, then it runs the batch file.  I could set this up and then I could just send the e-mail to the cabinet from my phone and it would shut down.  The problem with this is I would need to install outlook and have it running in the background all the time, and it needs to check the e-mail account every so often to see if it has the e-mail. I am not sure if this will effect my performance and such, and I would prefer a more elegant way

If you could give me more info on the VNC thing and perhaps let me know, if you know, if I could use my phone to shut it down that would be sweet.

Thanks,

see, i have two small kids in my house (and a third on the way) if i left my guns out, they would be destroyed.(plus my wife doesn't want the kids playing with guns). so the only time they get used is after they go to bed, so it is easier for me to plug them in when i want to use them.

as for the tokens, that is cool.  i have my vertical classics cabinet set up to take tokens (or some quarter sized steel washers i picked up at lowes) but i dont really have enough of them, so i am always having to open up the coin door and dump the bin.  so i set up the cab so the coin reject buttons can be pressed to add coins also. this keeps it relatively authentic, but eliminates the need for tokens.(which if my kids find them, they like to throw them all over the place (like down in the heat ducts).

on my 4player showcase cabinet, it was originally a 2 player cabinet and only had a 2player coin door, so i just added coin buttons to the front edge of the control panel box. it isn't as authentic, but I had to do something.  since the coin door isn't being used, the coin box seemed like a good place to store the guns.


as for VNC, it is a free program you can install on your PC to remotely control it from another PC.  there are actually several different versions, i prefer UltraVNC...
http://www.uvnc.com/

you install it on your cabinet, take the option to register as a system service.  then you set a password.  you can then install the client on your other computer.  you just open up the client, tell it to connect to the name of the other computer, enter your password, and it brings up the remote computer's desktop in a window, where you can use your keyboard and mouse to manipulate the remote PC.  it is a very handy tool. It is similar to the windows remote desktop functionality, but with a few differences.  remote desktop seems to respond faster over the interenet, but on a local network, speed shouldn't be an issue with vnc.  when you connect via remote desktop, you take control of the PC, but if you walk over to the remote PC, it will be locked and unusable.  with VNC, you connect and take control, however it doesnt affect the remote computer, so you can simultaneously control that PC locally and remotely. vnc also works on other operating systems.