Control board comparison/questions

[Slippyblade]

I'm a little confused.  In the one cabinet I've built so far (a Vigolix style) I use a Xin-Mo board.  Easy enough.  I'm in the process of gathering the parts for a full size, full featured, cabinet at the moment.  I intend to use a standard Knievel layout.  Two 8-way sticks, dedicated 4-way stick, trackball, spinner.  Here's where I start to get confused...

Control boards.  There are so many different ones and I'm not totally sure what is what.  Groovy Game Gear has a few, Ultimarc has a bunch, even Paradise has a couple.  I'm a little lost in the list of features that each has, and there seems to be overlap and duplication within the products that each maker offers.

Ultimarc
I-Pac2: Vanilla encoder, outputs keyboard codes? Seems like the same board is used for PS/2 or USB interface with only a cable difference.
Opti-Pac: Trackball/Spinner controller.  This seems to be able to run 2 trackballs and 4 spinners all at once, is this right?  Seems like major overkill for my application.
A-Pac: This is pretty much an I-Pac2 that supports analog controls?
Mini-Pac: Is this an I-Pac2 with trackball/spinner control added in?

So it seems that if I go the Ultimarc route I would need either an I-Pac 2 & an Opti-Pac combo or a Mini-Pac.  Is this correct?

Groovy Game Gear
GP-Wiz: Encoder that is seen as 2 gamepads?
LED-Wiz+GP: This is a 16 input controller with eye candy, right?
Key-Wiz: Straight up switch encoder, outputs keyboard codes.  Only PS/2?
Opti-Wiz: Controls 1 trackball and 1 spinner?

So going with GGG I'd need either a Key-Wiz or GP-Wiz and an Opti-Wiz.

Wow, it's nice to see that this hobby has options!  What do you guys suggest or what have you used in the past that worked?  I'm trying to avoid doing any hacks.

Thanks in advance!

[yotsuya]

iPac.

[kahlid74]

Don't forget the howler arcade controller is still out there too: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2034467396/howler-arcade-controller

It really depends on what you use for the trackball, spinner, etc.  I've been a big supporter of the IPac because it's pretty straight forward and super easy to use.  I know GGG has good stuff too.  I also however always use HAPP trackballs which have a built in encoder so I don't need an additional one.

[Asmotron]

I'm using the iPac2.  It just plain works and works well, and the Win iPac software is neat.  Also Andy at Ultimarc is pretty awesome.

[severdhed]

i've used both the keywiz and the ipac 4 and they are both great products.  keywiz is a little cheaper, but has less inputs than the ipac 4...if you are building a 4 player cabinet, i'd recommend the ipac 4...if just a  2 player, it's hard to say.  the big difference between the ipac and keywiz is that the ipac remembers it's programming after power off...the keywiz does not.  if you keep the default config, it is irrelevant. 

i have an optiwiz i used with my wico and ultimarc trackballs, it works very well.

[Generic Eric]

KADE - useful for Android tablets and Xbox
Zero Delay encoder
Paradise Arcade has several options.

Personally, I have had good use and good support with my KeyWiz.

[Slippyblade]

Loving the feedback guys, thanks a lot. 

So are any of my interpretations of the products incorrect here?  If I'm reading the info sheets correctly then I'm thinking I should be going with a Mini-Pac due to it having effectively all the features of an I-Pac2 with added trackball and spinner all on one board.

[Brian74]

Im using 2 ps360+, so far so good!

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 2

[mgb]

My ipac2 has been going strong for probably close to 8 years.

[PL1]

I'm thinking I should be going with a Mini-Pac due to it having effectively all the features of an I-Pac2 with added trackball and spinner all on one board.

That sounds like an excellent choice.

Works just fine in my portable/modular testbed.

One word of warning, some UTrak trackballs (like mine) had trackball wire colors that didn't match up with the default harness wire colors. 

Andy told Chucklepie in April that the next batch of trackballs would have the right color wires so you can match the connectors by colors.

Just be sure not to plug a trackball axis into the spinner connector since the wires are in a different order.   

KADE - useful for Android tablets and Xbox

It's good for a lot more than that -- keyboard encoder, gamepad encoder, multiple console support, PS/2 to USB adapter for mouse hacks/trackballs, etc.

With the new extended mode firmware it can handle up to 26 dedicated functions using "impossible keypresses" (Joystick Up and Down at the same time, etc) without the potential problems with shifted functions. (unintended functions triggered)


Scott

[mgb]

Loving the feedback guys, thanks a lot. 

So are any of my interpretations of the products incorrect here?  If I'm reading the info sheets correctly then I'm thinking I should be going with a Mini-Pac due to it having effectively all the features of an I-Pac2 with added trackball and spinner all on one board.

if you plan on needing that support, then I'd say that's the way to go.

[jimmer]

With the new extended mode firmware it can handle up to 26 dedicated functions using "impossible keypresses" (Joystick Up and Down at the same time, etc) without the potential problems with shifted functions. (unintended functions triggered)

Can you explain please? How do you use it, and can I use it in MAME ?

[PL1]

With the new extended mode firmware it can handle up to 26 dedicated functions using "impossible keypresses" (Joystick Up and Down at the same time, etc) without the potential problems with shifted functions. (unintended functions triggered)

Can you explain please? How do you use it, and can I use it in MAME ?

The default keystrokes are for MAME, but you can customize them as you see fit using the KADE Loader program v1.0.9.0.

The specialized "backward" wiring pattern is shown in this diagram -- encoder inputs on the left are connected to the COM (common) tab and ground is connected to the NO (Normally Open) tab.

When the switch isn't pressed, the COM is connected to the NC (Normally Closed) tab which connects to the next switch to the right as does the other inpupt for the combination.

When the U+D switch is pressed, both the Up and Down inputs are connected to ground, the firmware does some math to see if a combo has been triggered, filters out the component (Up and Down) keystrokes, and substitutes the appropriate keystroke for that combo.



There is also a diagram with diodes that shows how to connect 5-pin joysticks (LS-32-01, etc.) and 2-terminal buttons (Goldleaf, Sanwa, Seimitsu) for this firmware.

The nice thing about this firmware is that unlike shifted functions, you don't get an accidental other function because the other player is pressing buttons or moving their joysick while you're coining up or pressing start. 

If you still want to do shifted functions, those are still available with this firmware:
20 regular dedicated inputs - 2 joysticks and 12 player buttons
6 "impossible" combinations - U+D, L+R, and U+D+L+R for each player
up to 12 shifted functions using HWB - one for each of the 12 player buttons


Scott