Basic wiring guide

[lokesen]

I have had countless request for a completely basic guide to how arcade controls is hooked up to a computer. So I made this:

http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/basicwiringguide.htm

Probably too basic for you guys, but I thing many people have a hard time understanding how it works on a basic level.


Cheers!

[emphatic]

Nice guide.  I would add an explanation about NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) too. I've had to explain this myself on a few occasions. 

[lokesen]

Nice guide.  I would add an explanation about NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) too. I've had to explain this myself on a few occasions. 

Yes it's a little vague on that I will update it with a few extra words and correct some of the many miss spellings.

I know it's very basic, but it seems there is a need for a noob guide 

Thanks

[VanillaGorilla]

Really?

 

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Keyboard_Hacks
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Keyboard_Encoders
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Gamepad_Encoders
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Wiring_Push_Buttons_and_Conventional_Digital_Joysticks

 

If you think you REALLY have something to offer, you should add it to the wiki. Why devalue the forum?

[Cenobyte]

Really?

 

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Keyboard_Hacks
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Keyboard_Encoders
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Gamepad_Encoders
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Wiring_Push_Buttons_and_Conventional_Digital_Joysticks

 

If you think you REALLY have something to offer, you should add it to the wiki. Why devalue the forum?

Sorry, but I like lokesen's guide more, since it uses WAY less words and only the necessary schematic. Perfect for newbies and noobs (and I am one of them   ). The Byoac Wiki is nice for hardcore builders or when you want to dive deeper into the stuff, but IMHO has too much text and too little schematics.

But lokesen might want to add his stuff to the wiki, since it's so comprehensibly formulated?

[lokesen]

Well, no harm in more than one guide.

You probably read more than one paper too and watch news on more than one TV channel (I hope so)

Thank you Cenobyte, my intension is to make a guide for noobs, BYOAC was totally overwhelming when I made my first cabinet, but it's the best ressource anywhere and I recommend it again and again on my homepage.

[BobA]

I like it.   Short and sweet for newbies.  Pictures really help whereas the wikki over does the pics of different controllers and makes you go elsewhere for wiring detail.   Both documents serve a purpose and the different needs of people.

[mgb]

Very nice simple guide. Thats the good base info that new guys. pretty pictures too 

[Kevin Mullins]

I would add an explanation about NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) too.

I agree with this.... namely this section of your guide.

Sometimes you will encounter micro switches with three legs instead of two. The illustration shows where you need to connect your wiring. It doesn't matter which of the two you use for GND / Ground.

It should be clarified as to WHY you use those two particular terminals so that readers understand that one set is "always on until pushed" and the other is "always off until pushed". (NC and NO respectively) And add the fact that the microswitches are generally marked NO, NC, and COM as well.

And the GROUND should always be attached to the COM (common) terminal. Not that it electronically matters which wire goes where to make it function....but control panels should be wired consistently which aids in tracing and troubleshooting later on. Especially when daisy chaining control grounds, they should be consistent as to where the ground wire goes.

Nice simple guides like this are always welcome.   

[lokesen]

I would add an explanation about NO (Normally Open) and NC (Normally Closed) too.

I agree with this.... namely this section of your guide.

Sometimes you will encounter micro switches with three legs instead of two. The illustration shows where you need to connect your wiring. It doesn't matter which of the two you use for GND / Ground.

It should be clarified as to WHY you use those two particular terminals so that readers understand that one set is "always on until pushed" and the other is "always off until pushed". (NC and NO respectively) And add the fact that the microswitches are generally marked NO, NC, and COM as well.

And the GROUND should always be attached to the COM (common) terminal. Not that it electronically matters which wire goes where to make it function....but control panels should be wired consistently which aids in tracing and troubleshooting later on. Especially when daisy chaining control grounds, they should be consistent as to where the ground wire goes.

Nice simple guides like this are always welcome.   

You're totally right - I will correct this very soon.

Thank you for your input.

[SavannahLion]

Really?

 

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Keyboard_Hacks
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Keyboard_Encoders
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Gamepad_Encoders
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Wiring_Push_Buttons_and_Conventional_Digital_Joysticks

 

If you think you REALLY have something to offer, you should add it to the wiki. Why devalue the forum?

Sorry, but I like lokesen's guide more, since it uses WAY less words and only the necessary schematic. Perfect for newbie's and noobs (and I am one of them   ). The Byoac Wiki is nice for hardcore builders or when you want to dive deeper into the stuff, but IMHO has too much text and too little schematics.

But lokesen might want to add his stuff to the wiki, since it's so comprehensibly formulated?

I agree with the Gorilla but not for the reason he states.

There is nothing more irritating to find a link somewhere of what could potentially be useful information only to discover that the link leads to a dead (or reformatted) site. This problem is often compounded when dozens upon dozens of sites all link to the same source, but not one, not a single one, bothered to archive or replicate the information. The advantage of BYOAC is there is a source of income (I think) from the book and there is a vested interest for Saint to keep this site going. Not to mention all the hours all of us have invested into sites like BOYAC that if Saint decides to quit, someone else will most certainly want to continue the site. I know I would.

Not saying koening.dk is going anywhere soon, but it does look like a personal site and we all know the death rate for personal sites.

In that breath, at the very minimum, would it be alright to ask the information be replicated on the wiki with a link back to the original source? That way, on the off chance the OP decides to quit, die or whatever, the information is still cached somewhere.

<thread theft>
Not to steal the thread (sorry) but if there's a concern that the Wiki has too much "advanced" information and not enough "beginner" information then why not add a sort of category to the information at hand? Some sort of automatic icon on internalized links that indicates the difficulty level of the information at hand?

For instance. Each page is tagged with a Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced flag. At the top (right, left, whatever) there is an obvious indicator as to the level of information presented. So a page (or section depending on granularity desired) on basic wiring gets a Beginner flag. A page on winding your own coil for the CRT gets an advanced flag. From that point forward, any links created from within the wiki to other parts of the wiki will have icons attached that indicate the level of difficulty involved.

This allows a person to navigate the site without drowning in information or waste time picking out nuggets amongst beginner text.

Just an idea....
</thread theft>

[lokesen]

If I abandon my homepage at any point, I will make sure all pics and info will be available for everyone

I don't wan't to waste 4 years of work in the nothingness

[D_Harris]

I don't think "difficulty" is the problem.

The problem is omitted information. Even the easy things cause hang-ups when the instructions are missing something. It is assumed that certain things are known and that is not always the case.

To give an example, it was much, much easier for me hack a SideWinder and get it working perfectly with MAME than it was to just connect Andy's MiniPAC and get it working with MAME. In fact I still haven't been able to gather all the info I need to do use the MiniPAC and I've spent many times more hours on that than the SideWinder Hack.

Why? Because  even though there can be some improvements to StaticX's SideWinder instructions they are a lot clearer and complete than anything regarding the two MiniPACs, which I've had going on 7 years. (And the search on this site is terrible).

"A picture is worth a thousand words" can be so true. Whenever a component is referenced you should at least have a image of said component. If it connects to another component, then there should be a image of that also, so that whoever is reading the instructions can see that "A" connects to "B" and what they both look like. When you assume that everyone knows exactly what "common" means, a Daisy chain does, or barrier strip is, you leave out a lot of people.

All key words should be linked to definitions, so that if someone isn't familiar with them they can click on the link. And those who are more knowledgeable can bypass it. Not only should there be an image of all components mentioned, but all locations mentioned on each component should be labeled.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[Nephasth]

   

[VanillaGorilla]

There is nothing more irritating to find a link somewhere of what could potentially be useful information only to discover that the link leads to a dead (or reformatted) site. This problem is often compounded when dozens upon dozens of sites all link to the same source, but not one, not a single one, bothered to archive or replicate the information. The advantage of BYOAC is there is a source of income (I think) from the book and there is a vested interest for Saint to keep this site going. Not to mention all the hours all of us have invested into sites like BOYAC that if Saint decides to quit, someone else will most certainly want to continue the site. I know I would.

Actually, that is a large part of what I meant.

The members of this site, contributing their knowledge to this site provides value to the whole community, which in turn provides insurance that their contributions as well as others, dont disappear into the ether, should a vanity site, or vanity site owner, die off, lose interest, have a religious conversion, whatever.

This site is only as valuable as the users who contribute to it. Its a self evident truth.

If the OP's intentions for posting the guide are self-serving, or ego based, then my comments dont really apply...I'm happy to call a spade a spade when necessary.

 

Ohms law?! Now thats just mean!

[lokesen]

If anybody finds any use for the small newbie guide, I'm happy.

-->  Kevin Mullins  - Thank you for providing me with something constructive.

Let's just drop the pointless ideological debate and contribute to the community instead of wasting time with 

 

[lokesen]

"Click"

I just pushed the "Like button" for my own comment

[Cenobyte]

Btw: love your Weecade design (I thought the site looked familiar) and currently building one myself! 

[mgb]

If anybody finds any use for the small newbie guide, I'm happy.

-->  Kevin Mullins  - Thank you for providing me with something constructive.

Let's just drop the pointless ideological debate and contribute to the community instead of wasting time with 

 

Very well said