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Product Announcement, LONO Arcade to USB Controller
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Nephasth:

--- Quote from: ark_ader on May 16, 2011, 04:45:52 pm ---So based on your report of the device in question, how practical would it be for an existing arcade cabinet owner, to change software and hardware to accommodate this new device?

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Like I said, this is not for everybody. For owners of existing cabs, it could be hassel if one were to completely rewire the CP with the supplied harness, and the same could be said for changing out any piece of hardware. It wouldn't be too big of a job to wire on some of the header connectors though. Practical? Depends on if the owner wanted the speed advantage of this board, which surprised me. Why change what has been working well for you already? For new builders it would be just as easy (if not easier, depending on how that person chose to wire the cab) to use this interface vs any other. I didn't think it would affect my game play, but it was a nice "boost". Before testing this board, I most likely would not have purchase it, as game play seemed fine to me with my keyboard encoder. But after giving it a try I would definitely consider purchasing another for a future build. "Changing software" wasn't a hassel at all.


--- Quote ---Simply put, is this product faster than a GGG or Ultimarc product?
--- End quote ---

You have a PM.

I tried it out. It performed better than my expectations. I provided my opinion on the product (without bashing someone else's this time), and hopefully it will help someone out when it comes time for them to make a decision on a purchase.
rcub3:
Nephasth, I'm not the OP this time, so we should be good. 
Hoopz:
Is there a scientific way to quantify response time?  I don't think that simply going off of feel or scores is indicative of true response time.

I would like to see a non-biased third party who has a history here (positive history if at all possible) do a review based off something that can be quantified.  Tiger-Heli comes to mind but he hasn't been posting much.  I think that getting Robin's perspective about the specs would be good also, but he hasn't logged in here in over a year (last I checked it was April of 2010).

To be open, I've bought parts from Andy, Randy, Christian, Divemaster and had recently (yesterday) sent Armi0024 a PM about a small purchase through him.  Probably the only one I haven't personally dealt with is Kelsey. I don't count Dave/Harpal since they're liars and thieves but for the regulars, I've had positive experiences with all of them. 
CheffoJeffo:

--- Quote from: EVEGames on May 16, 2011, 04:04:25 pm ---Cheffo, I'm really surprised.  You think ark_ader's "advice" is good... another encoder, yawn, you got some balls trying to bring another encoder to market, eye-roll.  Bryan is obviously not creating hand-made keyboard controllers in his basement and selling them out of the back of his van.  The man is trying to establish himself in a wide-open (yes, still wide-open) market, and he's obviously way beyond the point of, "ya sure you're not getting in over your head, kid?" type of advice.  He wants to become a one-stop shop, and I think he's off to a great start.
--- End quote ---

Thanks. I'm kind new to this whole thing so I really appreciate your telling me that I am unaware of the market.

 ::)

If you take the time to read what I wrote, I said that I wouldn't dismiss ark's statement out of hand, like you did. I never said that his advice was right (did he even give any advice ?)

Back in the day, Tiger-Heli would beat the living crap out of every encoder that he could get his hands on and wrote amazingly detailed reviews.

Nowadays we get people chiming in who have never even read TH's reviews (which really is required if you want your opinion to be taken seriously), yet expect to be allowed to stand on the lawn shaking their fists.


--- Quote from: EVEGames on May 16, 2011, 04:04:25 pm ---You ask for a clear and obvious advantage to the consumer, I'll give you two, even though Bryan has already stated them earlier in the thread.  Bryan's product is not a keyboard encoder, it's a USB joystick device.  One advantage to that is, not only will it work right out of the box with MameUI (or any version of mame with mimumal tweaking), it will most likely also work with most of the 20 other emulators on your system with minimal or no tweaking.  Think of how many emulators have a checkbox to turn on joystick support, rather than mapping each control to a keycode.  With this encoder, you can do that.  
--- End quote ---

I do now have some reading to do based on information that has now been kindly provided to me by PM from a few parties. I will read that information and respond to the parties privately. I am not Tiger-Heli and am not going to get sucked into the type of debate that Hoopz properly anticipates.

I find it strange that you write "USB joystick device" as if that, in itself, is something revolutionary. If you think that is, then please shut up now and let the grown-ups talk.


--- Quote from: EVEGames on May 16, 2011, 04:04:25 pm ---Here's another one.  Read the 5th post in the thread.  The ability to engage Shift functions only within your own "bank" of controls... Player 1 can use a Shift function in the middle of game play, let's say Coin Up, and not worry that Player 2 is going to hit a Shifted button on his side and screw up the game.  I don't have admin buttons on my current control panel, so when I'm playing Gauntlet with a friend, and I need to coin up, I have to ask him to stop playing for a second while I use the Shift function of my IPac to coin up, because I have shifted functions mapped to nearly every button for use in other emulators like C64.  Now picture each player has their own shift button that doesn't affect the other players' controls.
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Now, that is the type of thing that I was talking about. However, I am not sure that it solves a problem that wouldn't be solved better through alternative CP design. My first MAME cocktail suffered from exactly the problem that you describe. IMOP (sorry, channeling Xiaou2), if you want to coin-up then use a coin -- that was how I solved that problem. I see how having a shift within each bank can be valuable ... I'm just not convinced that it is revolutionary. Some folks really like that the 6-in-1 JAMMA switchers have a remote. I think the remote is a crappy way to switch games. My preference.


--- Quote from: EVEGames on May 16, 2011, 04:04:25 pm ---So maybe you can point out what part of my post was foolish, Cheffo, if you show me, I'll cop to it, unlike Ark.  :cheers:

--- End quote ---

I dunno ... I think it was the part that said that the market was wide-open.

How many encoders have come and gone in the past decade and why ?

Some of them sucked, but many didn't.

While I think that ark was over-the-top with his attitude (and, really, when isn't he?), I do think that this is a fairly saturated market and, if you bring in a new product, you had best be on top of your game and bring something new.

I'm not saying that Bryan isn't bringing something new or isn't on top of his game, just that it is foolish for you to dismiss the naysayers just because they are obnoxious.

 :afro:
CheffoJeffo:

--- Quote from: armi0024 on May 16, 2011, 03:43:12 pm ---Cheffo made a great suggestion, we are waiting for our harnesses to arrive... A great deal of thought went into trying to lay this out so it made sense.  For the harnesses, we wanted to make sure that it was easy to wire up.  There are 18 connections per joystick and once you get out to the end of the run, knowing if you have button1 or button 10 can be tough unless you have a clear system.  So what we did was to have 10 colors per 20 pin connector

--- End quote ---

That's because "Cheffo's right"(tm) ... at least some of the time.

The harnesses look great and I do think they are a serious selling point.

 :applaud:
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