mini-pac, keys sticking/pulsing

[gazz292]

not sure if i have a problem or not, i'm currently wiring my CP up, and in the i-pac test proggy, i have all the buttons and joysticks working,

but i notice that when i press the button for TAB, it stays on according to the i-pac test proggie... both on the panel designer, button asigner, and the keyboard test which shows which displays which letter/key the button is.

and my player 1 start... it only seems to trigger on release, i.e. press it down, nowt, release it and it will flash to show it's been pressed,

it is not the microswitch, i deffo have it wired up to the correct terminals, it does it even if i take the wires off the switch and touch them together,

is this just an anomilty of the test proggy? or will i see these things happen in mame.

[BobA]

That is the proper operation of the player 1 start key as it is used to shift functions for other keys.  It has to wait to see if other keys are pressed so only registers itself on release.

[LeedsFan]

Yeah as BobA mentioned the P1 start button is also a shift key. The iPacs, Minipacs, etc. from Ultimarc are already pre-programmed with the default Mame settings. You can change these of course but most people stick with the default, or maybe change just one or two.

For example I had a cab I converted to Mame and the only problem I had was that I'd be entering credits into a game with "Player 1 start" button (shift) with "P1 button 1". And then my mate would press "Player 2 start" to get his game going again. But because I was inputting credits at the same time the game would escape back to MameWah menu. (Happened a few times when playing Bomberman World).

Also when kids were let loose on the cab they would get the Mame Volume slide bar to appear at the bottom of the screen. (Player 1 start button (shift) and Joystick up). Kids are good at finding this stuff because they just press and hold and pull joysticks all at the same time and find stuff you wouldn't because you use your cab properly.    So you can disable it if you want to and just hide some admin buttons somewhere. Only the P1 Start button is the shift key as default. Any other combination of joystick directions/buttons will do nothing you don't expect.

[notroubleclubber]

Is it possible your sticky tab button is caused by it wired as NC and not NO? This will show it as stuck down until you press it.

[surface tension]

I was using programming one up the other day and tested the Tab key, and it displayed as being stuck on too. Even when pressing it on a physical keyboard. It works fine though.

[gazz292]

ahh right, so it's all normal then,

thanks for explaining the P1 start thing, makes sense now,

got no kids, so it'll be me pressing and holding buttons and joysticks to see what happens or the cats, one of them used the cab as a daytime nap box, so i expect he'll try to get in it when i have it all working and the back door on.

forgot to mention re: the tab key, the buttons i have for my admin buttons are small momentary switches (the ones used for admin functions in the golden tee cab behind the coin box door) so there's no NC connection as they dont use microswitches,

but yes i did notice the tab key 'sticks' when using the mini-pac input... even if i re-asign it to a different button or physicaly move the wires to anothe button, and it also does it using the keyboard,

i guess i have to get off me arse and connect the CP to the cabs computer, and see what actually happens in mame, as the key display proggy or any of the winpac displays have to fight with windows command keys, i.e. one of the fire buttons is 'left alt' and pressing that button to display it in the winpac proggy makes windows activate the menu's at the top of the window.