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PC power on/off switch WITHOUT modifying PC motherboard/switch
haplo:
--- Quote from: edub on February 18, 2011, 08:18:27 pm ---1. If I don't want to modify anything, what can I place between the arcade button and the smart power strip's "control" outlet?
--- End quote ---
Assuming the PC's bios has a feature that allows to turn it on from a keystroke on your keyboard: I would get an additional, used PS/2 keyboard and hack it by wiring one of the keys to the momentary button on your arcade cabinet. That way I can turn the PC on without modifying any of the original equipment.
Donkbaca:
The downside with shutting it of from the FE is that kids/guests will shut it down. My keyboard has a button to shut it off, I guess you could wire a switch to that. Seriously though, the easiest thing to do is to just hack into your pc power switch. Cut the two wires going to your pc power switch and crimp on insulated
Quick disconnects, then you can connect your cab switch to them and if you ever wanted to reinstall the original pc switch, disconnect the cab switch and connect the pc switch.
edub:
Thank you all for the suggestions. I actually PM'd Donkbaca as well and he explained the wiring using a "Y" connection using quick disconnects. I have a Dell Zino HD, which is kinda tough to get inside and fool around with - it's not a tower - just a mini "cube" that is 8x8x4 AND, again, this computer might need to be re-purposed and used normally. As Donkbaca mentioned, if I wire it right with disconnects, I could easily disconnect the arcade button, put the lid back on and voila, it's back to normal.
The power-on via keyboard is interesting. Of course, I'll need to check that when I get back home tomorrow to see if my BIOS allows this. It seems strange, though - how does an unpowered keyboard send a signal to an unpowered PC? In fact, my keyboard is wireless and the receiver is hooked to a USB port on a powered hub which then hooks to the PC's USB - all unpowered.
I am using Maximus Arcade as my FE. I honestly haven't explored its power-down capabilities yet, but I will.
I am leaning toward Donkbaca's solution - even though I'm not looking fwd to mucking with the Dell Zino...
cheers,
edub
bkenobi:
Depending on the FE, you might be able to keep the shutdown options off the main page. GameEx allows you to create custom menus, so you could put the shutdown option in the "admin" section. Of course, if the people playing with the machine are looking for something else they could do with it and are unsupervised, they could certainly find the menu item eventually. Trust your guests...don't trust your guests...tough question. :cheers:
Donkbaca:
Don't trust them.