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Any plans or pics for rotary interfaces.

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Lilwolf:

btw... just to give you a little insite on your project.

If you are using a standard build of mame.

1) You will need to convert the 12 inputs into a "L" and a "R" as you might know... but You also have to hold it down for a set amount of time... And then get mame to run at the same speed.

2) If you are using AnalogMame.  This will help.  Just a single click for "L" and "R"... But also take note.  Do it to fast (push, release) and it will miss a few and you will have to click more then one.



Just a note

geekbrain:

A friend and I are building almost identical MAME cabs.  He has a second CP to swap out that will use LS-30 rotaries.  I do not plan on using the rotary joysticks.  A couple of weeks ago he emailed Druin several times to see if Druin would share the PIC micro hex code.  No response to ANY of the emails.  Not exactly in the spirit of MAME, but Druin's entitled to do what he wants.  For those who like to build our own, the parts should come to less than $15.  The PCB is the biggest cost driver and is not part of the $15 estimate.

I was even thinking of building a competing PCB but I don't think there is enough volume to warrant it.  Besides, the spirit is to share, not stab in the back.  Being an electrical engineer and having hacked my way through Microchip's assembly code once before, I wrote code to slip the same uP into Druin's circuit.  It's straightforward, a few pullup resistors on the inputs and inline resistors for isolation.  The idea to use double up lines is clever (and wasn't even Druin's).  It's just a matter of debouncing the inputs and converting to CW and CCW rotations.

I wrote some assembly code and it appeared to work but seemed to run slow.  I haven't had time in the last month or so due to work related projects.  That should change on Friday and I hope to wrap up the effort shortly.  When I get the code working I will post a hex file for those who have access to a PROM burner.  I might consider to burning PROMs later on - I'll see how it goes and how much interest there is.

By the way, I owe a BIG thank you to Pat D. in TX - he took all sorts of detailed dimensions for me on a Phoenix cabinet he owned.  From those dimensions I was able to create the dimensions for our present MAME project.  Thanks AGAIN Pat!

Anyway if you (rdagger) send me your compiled code and a blank (Microchip PIC) uP I will burn it for you.  I'm so sure that you were able to code it in a dozen lines of high level code though.  A few words of caution if you go the PIC route.  The uP Druin uses is a OTP (one time programmable).  You get one shot at it.  If it doesn't work, there goes a couple of bucks out the window.  For the prototype I am using a PIC16F84 - a flash part that can be reprogrammed.  Once I get it working right I can migrate it to the other part with just a few minor changes.  If you're interested, post your email address or email me.  And like I said, I post a followup message containing the hex file when I get it working.

eightbit:

WARNING Soap box alert


--- Quote from: geekbrain on December 16, 2003, 09:28:53 pm ---A couple of weeks ago he emailed Druin several times to see if Druin would share the PIC micro hex code.  No response to ANY of the emails.  Not exactly in the spirit of MAME, but Druin's entitled to do what he wants.
--- End quote ---
This makes me mad. Just because mame is free should everything related to it be free? Druin invested time and money into building and selling a circuit that those of us with no electrical experience could use. Why would you slam on him for not sharing that information with you? You even admitted to thinking about selling a circuit of your own. If you do decide to sell your circuit are you going to still make your code freely available? Would you have a problem if I took your code and made the circuit and sold it for a $1 less than you?

We have more choices available to us today than we did a year ago because of the little people that are able to fund the development of these advancements by selling them.

Mame is only free because they couldn't do it otherwise. If someone could find a way to charge for mame they would.

rdagger:

I decided to go the AVR route with an Atmel AT90S2313-10PI flash microcontroller.  I picked up a few chips for $2.70 each.  I also picked up the parts to build an in-system programmer for around $5.00 and the compiling/programming software is free.   The total cost to build the interface should be about $10 (not including ISP).  I can't wait to get some free time so I can start soldering.

btw:  I'm all for free distribution of ideas and software.  Anyone who is interested in my spaghetti source code can have it.  I'm also open to any programming suggestions and I agree that combining every 6th wire was a clever trick (I never would have thought of it).  Eventually, I will create a web page with schematics, code and instructions.

rdagger:

I was thinking more about the crossing of wires 1-7,2-8,3-9,4-10,5-11 & 6-12.  This is clearly a clever idea.  However, why not take it one step further and cross 1-4-7-10, 2-5-8-11 & 3-6-9-12.  This would cut down the number of inputs from 6 to 3.  Since we are only concerned with directional rotation, 3 inputs should be the minimum.


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