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Author Topic: Ultimarc Update  (Read 34014 times)

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AndyWarne

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    • Ultimarc
Ultimarc Update
« on: December 24, 2014, 07:35:28 am »
Firstly, Seasons greetings to all our customers and thanks for your support over the years!

As we close at the end of another year I would just like to mention some changes for 2015.

The I-PAC 2, I-PAC 4, J-PAC and Mini-PAC boards will be different from now on.
No change in the number of inputs but now, all inputs can be configured as keyboard, mouse, gamepad button, volume up/down, sleep, wake, power. Macro capabilities are greatly expanded.

The older WinIPAC utility has been replaced with the newer version which is already used on the I-PAC Ultimate I/O board.
This auto-detects the board type and has fully interactive configuration as it reads/writes the board config on the fly. There is no "program board" button, changes are applied interactively.

The new I-PAC 2 also interfaces trackball and spinner.

The new I-PAC 2 has an on-board high-speed expansion interface which connects to a new console adaptor. This can be switched to Xbox360, Playstation 3 or PC XInput mode. The existing console adaptors which use the PS/2 interface will be phased out.

The price of the new boards are slightly lower than the older USB versions.

The long-awaited rotary joystick upgrade for Ultrastik 360, Servostik and J-Stik will be available in January.

Have a great 2015!

Andy






TimeCrisis

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2014, 07:51:07 am »
Would you offer a service where I could send you a namco gun and you would apply the recoil kit mod to it along with aimtrak OEM module?

obviously you would use the solenoid from the namco gun and not the recoil kits solenoid.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2014, 08:50:32 am »
Would you offer a service where I could send you a namco gun and you would apply the recoil kit mod to it along with aimtrak OEM module?

obviously you would use the solenoid from the namco gun and not the recoil kits solenoid.

You should email Andy directly or PM him for this kind of question as this topic is about the I-pac line.

Andy this is great news. Can you post a pic? If I upgrade to a new I-pac 4 can I config it so my PC thinks it's 4 xbox controllers?

AndyWarne

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #3 on: December 24, 2014, 09:16:02 am »
Would you offer a service where I could send you a namco gun and you would apply the recoil kit mod to it along with aimtrak OEM module?

obviously you would use the solenoid from the namco gun and not the recoil kits solenoid.

You should email Andy directly or PM him for this kind of question as this topic is about the I-pac line.

Andy this is great news. Can you post a pic? If I upgrade to a new I-pac 4 can I config it so my PC thinks it's 4 xbox controllers?

The pictures on our website already show the new I-PAC 2 board. The way to do 4 players would be to use two I-PAC 2 boards, each connected to 2 of the new adaptors.

AndyWarne

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2014, 09:19:04 am »
Would you offer a service where I could send you a namco gun and you would apply the recoil kit mod to it along with aimtrak OEM module?

obviously you would use the solenoid from the namco gun and not the recoil kits solenoid.

Our recoil kit wont work with the namco solenoid.
We are working towards ready-made guns with built-in recoil. Not there yet because I had a prototype USB cable made up which has the two heavy-gauge conductors for recoil power built-in to check that it didnt cause issues on the USB bus but it did, mainly because the cable manufacturers didnt follow my specification.
So I have another sample on the way.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2014, 09:46:42 am »
Hey Andy,

Any word on the RGB illuminated handles for the ServoStik?  Been meaning to pick a few ServoStik's up as a Christmas present to myself, but I wanted to wait to do one big order and they've been out of stock for the last few weeks.  Happy holidays!

So once again, we find that evil of the past seeps into the present like salad dressing through cheap wax paper, mixing memory and desire.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2014, 09:59:53 am »
I'm definitely interested in the rotary stick upgrades.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2014, 10:05:38 am »
The I-PAC 2, I-PAC 4, J-PAC and Mini-PAC boards will be different from now on.
No change in the number of inputs but now, all inputs can be configured as keyboard, mouse, gamepad button, volume up/down, sleep, wake, power. Macro capabilities are greatly expanded.

Are you saying one board can have inputs read by the computer as multiple devices?  Or that your board can be programmed to emulate one of a list of multiple devices?  If it's the former, that would be a nice improvement.

AndyWarne

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2014, 10:49:07 am »
The I-PAC 2, I-PAC 4, J-PAC and Mini-PAC boards will be different from now on.
No change in the number of inputs but now, all inputs can be configured as keyboard, mouse, gamepad button, volume up/down, sleep, wake, power. Macro capabilities are greatly expanded.

Are you saying one board can have inputs read by the computer as multiple devices?  Or that your board can be programmed to emulate one of a list of multiple devices?  If it's the former, that would be a nice improvement.

You can mix any of the controls mentioned, on one board.

AndyWarne

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2014, 10:51:22 am »
Hey Andy,

Any word on the RGB illuminated handles for the ServoStik?  Been meaning to pick a few ServoStik's up as a Christmas present to myself, but I wanted to wait to do one big order and they've been out of stock for the last few weeks.  Happy holidays!

Yes these have been somewhat sporadic since we launched them. We have been awaiting supply of the 4-way jack connectors and these are due in from the manufacturers on 30 Dec, so we should have these quite soon after we reopen in Jan.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #10 on: December 24, 2014, 10:53:09 am »
You can mix any of the controls mentioned, on one board.
Oh.  That's kind of...  awesome.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #11 on: December 24, 2014, 11:17:37 am »
Can this board now be directly plugged into an xbox 360 after being programed?

AndyWarne

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    • Ultimarc
Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #12 on: December 24, 2014, 11:23:07 am »
Can this board now be directly plugged into an xbox 360 after being programed?

No, the new adaptor is needed. This contains the Xbox360 encryption chip and also works in PS3 mode and Xinput mode.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #13 on: December 24, 2014, 11:40:08 am »
Awesome news Andy, Happy Holidays!  :cheers:

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #14 on: December 24, 2014, 11:41:17 am »
Bravo! :applaud: One encoder that does trackball, mouse and keyboard inputs! I'll be buying one of these very soon! Just the power option alone makes me very interested in this.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #15 on: December 24, 2014, 11:52:49 am »
How does a Power button work on an I-PAC?  I've been searching around for clarification on this with no luck.

Does it really let you power up a PC from total power-off state?  Or is it more of a wake-from-sleep button?  Since I don't see an input labelled "POWER" on photos of the board, I'm assuming you can program any of the inputs to work as a Power button -- right?
« Last Edit: December 24, 2014, 03:29:51 pm by RxBrad »

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #16 on: December 24, 2014, 02:57:48 pm »
How does a Power button work on an I-PAC? 

I imagine it works similar to a keyboard which has a power/sleep button on it.  Just sending a signal to wake by USB. 

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #17 on: December 24, 2014, 03:05:28 pm »

The long-awaited rotary joystick upgrade for Ultrastik 360, Servostik and J-Stik will be available in January.

Andy

 :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #18 on: December 24, 2014, 03:47:21 pm »
I assume the rotary upgrade is based on this old thread:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,122506.40.html

I'm excited. I'll be buying 4 upgrade kits for my Servo Stiks. For my cabinet and my friends.
 :cheers:
Joseph Elwell.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #19 on: December 25, 2014, 04:03:23 am »

Would you offer a service where I could send you a namco gun and you would apply the recoil kit mod to it along with aimtrak OEM module?

obviously you would use the solenoid from the namco gun and not the recoil kits solenoid.

Our recoil kit wont work with the namco solenoid.
We are working towards ready-made guns with built-in recoil. Not there yet because I had a prototype USB cable made up which has the two heavy-gauge conductors for recoil power built-in to check that it didnt cause issues on the USB bus but it did, mainly because the cable manufacturers didnt follow my specification.
So I have another sample on the way.

A forum member gstav managed to use your kit to make it work with namco's gun
https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=119610.160
http://www.snapthepix.com/NAMCO-GUN-AimTrak-MOD-Photos-by-gstav80

'Just followed the recoil kit schematics and skipped his solenoid and his gun halvs which you buy seperately'.

I thought maybe you could do the same thing?

-

sorry I didn't realise this was about i-pac, i thought it was a things to offer in 2015 thread.

« Last Edit: January 16, 2015, 03:05:57 pm by TimeCrisis »

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #20 on: December 25, 2014, 09:12:35 am »
Wow, so does that mean that the answer to my question asked here: 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,142843.0.html

Is a yes?  That is great news!

Any chance for a field firmware upgrade (I assume it's just a firmware change?)


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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #21 on: December 26, 2014, 06:27:32 am »
Wow, so does that mean that the answer to my question asked here: 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,142843.0.html

Is a yes?  That is great news!

Any chance for a field firmware upgrade (I assume it's just a firmware change?)

I am not entirely sure of your question but if you are asking whether the J-PAC supports trackballs the answer is no, because the JAMMA standard does not. We have trackballs with their own USB interface which can be used alongside the J-PAC.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #22 on: December 29, 2014, 06:19:11 pm »

The long-awaited rotary joystick upgrade for Ultrastik 360, Servostik and J-Stik will be available in January.


Could you elaborate a little? More details/price if possible. I was JUST about to pull the trigger on rotary joysticks, but I will gladly hold on if I can have less clutter on my panel.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2014, 06:48:15 pm »
Great update Andy! Looking forward to the rotary kit.

AndyWarne

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #24 on: December 30, 2014, 04:37:46 am »

The long-awaited rotary joystick upgrade for Ultrastik 360, Servostik and J-Stik will be available in January.


Could you elaborate a little? More details/price if possible. I was JUST about to pull the trigger on rotary joysticks, but I will gladly hold on if I can have less clutter on my panel.

Sorry, dont have any more details until later in January.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #25 on: January 16, 2015, 03:05:36 pm »
Quote from: TimeCrisis
Would you offer a service where I could send you a namco gun and you would apply the recoil kit mod to it along with aimtrak OEM module?

obviously you would use the solenoid from the namco gun and not the recoil kits solenoid.

Our recoil kit wont work with the namco solenoid.
We are working towards ready-made guns with built-in recoil. Not there yet because I had a prototype USB cable made up which has the two heavy-gauge conductors for recoil power built-in to check that it didnt cause issues on the USB bus but it did, mainly because the cable manufacturers didnt follow my specification.
So I have another sample on the way.

A forum member gstav managed to use your kit to make it work with namco's gun
https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=119610.160
http://www.snapthepix.com/NAMCO-GUN-AimTrak-MOD-Photos-by-gstav80

'Just followed the recoil kit schematics and skipped his solenoid and his gun halvs which you buy seperately'.

I thought maybe you could do the same thing?

-

sorry I didn't realise this was about i-pac, i thought it was a things to offer in 2015 thread.


May I ask if you would look into this and check if you will offer this service one day?

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #26 on: January 16, 2015, 04:03:49 pm »
 :laugh2:
         

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #27 on: January 17, 2015, 08:14:18 pm »
Hey Andy (if you're out there, somewhere...)

I'm late to this particular party (been out of the scene for some time.) Just for clarification: Are all these joystick upgrades stackable?

For instance, could one have a U360 which has automated 4/8-way switching (servostik upgrade, under the panel) AND rotary stick functionality at the same time?

I've already got a couple hundred bucks worth sitting in my Ultimarc shopping cart, waiting on me to pull the trigger... am I not done shopping yet?   ;D

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #28 on: January 18, 2015, 03:00:12 pm »
Hey Andy (if you're out there, somewhere...)

I'm late to this particular party (been out of the scene for some time.) Just for clarification: Are all these joystick upgrades stackable?

For instance, could one have a U360 which has automated 4/8-way switching (servostik upgrade, under the panel) AND rotary stick functionality at the same time?

I've already got a couple hundred bucks worth sitting in my Ultimarc shopping cart, waiting on me to pull the trigger... am I not done shopping yet?   ;D

The rotary upgrade will initially be for the U360 only, because it plugs into the U360 PCB, but we will have another version for the J-Stik and ServoStik in the future.

It is theoretically possible to fit the ServoStik Upgrade to a U360, but I am not sure how desirable it would be. I have not actually tried it. It might need the U360 map cell borders tweaked in the configuration to line up with the physical ServoStik restrictor. I dont think the U360 would add a lot to the functionality of the ServoStik because "full travel" analog would not be possible. The only real advantage is it would be a "click-free" contactless stick with motorized restrictor.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #29 on: January 18, 2015, 06:04:21 pm »
Andy,

If is possible to power the new Ultimate IO board off a PC power supply?  I was going to fab a harness, but I want to ask first.

Thanks!
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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #30 on: January 19, 2015, 07:17:28 am »
Only just seen this. Personally I would be very interested in the rotary upgrade for the ServoStik.

Will it be an optical or 12-position type?

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #31 on: January 19, 2015, 10:25:29 am »
Andy, I would like to commend you on building an analog/d-pad shift function into the xbox360 adapter. (using cp controls)

I currently have half a dozen games that don't work with my pad hacks because they only accept input from the analog thumbstick and not the D-pad.
My hacked fightpads have a tiny little switch on them which isn't very accessible.  I could switch it over to LS instead of DPad, but then a handful of other games wouldn't work.  :banghead:

While it would be nice to have the switching automated, it does make your interface superior to a pad hack.  :cheers:

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #32 on: January 19, 2015, 11:16:02 am »
The rotary upgrade will initially be for the U360 only, because it plugs into the U360 PCB, but we will have another version for the J-Stik and ServoStik in the future.

It is theoretically possible to fit the ServoStik Upgrade to a U360, but I am not sure how desirable it would be. I have not actually tried it. It might need the U360 map cell borders tweaked in the configuration to line up with the physical ServoStik restrictor. I dont think the U360 would add a lot to the functionality of the ServoStik because "full travel" analog would not be possible. The only real advantage is it would be a "click-free" contactless stick with motorized restrictor.

Thanks for the response Andy.

I've never had a U360 before (time to upgrade!), and I don't think I've ever seen pics of the pcb on its own.

So, is it safe to go ahead and purchase the currently available U360, with the assurance it will be compatible with the rotary upgrade? There won't be a new version of the U360 pcb?

My interest in the ServoStick upgrade on a U360 was purely for the automation of the feel of physical restriction. Does having the below-mounted restrictor installed reduce the throw of the stick so much as to make "analog" mapping unusable for games that used analog sticks? Anyone else with the U360 have any opinion on this?Edit - Sorry, I see now that's pretty much what you're saying in the previous post.

I understand I could use the front-mounted restrictor, but it is a less elegant solution...
« Last Edit: January 19, 2015, 11:19:48 am by RyoriNoTetsujin »

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #33 on: January 21, 2015, 11:03:27 pm »
Does one I-PAC emulate multiple gamepads? E.g. I want all the P1 controls mapped to the first "virtual" gamepad and all the P2 controls mapped to the second.

I downloaded the software, but I can't look into the gamepad dropdown menu with no I-PAC attached.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #34 on: January 22, 2015, 04:46:10 pm »
Does one I-PAC emulate multiple gamepads? E.g. I want all the P1 controls mapped to the first "virtual" gamepad and all the P2 controls mapped to the second.


This is something I would be interested in as well.

Also, is the ipac4 board getting an update with the headers for the trackball like the ipac2 did. Either way the 4 should be enough for 4 players, trackball and two mouse buttons. Just the headers would make it easier.

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #35 on: January 23, 2015, 05:48:41 pm »
Andy,
Can we finally agree that it's the end of January and it's time to spill the beans!

Thank you
The impatient

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #36 on: January 26, 2015, 09:04:28 am »
Andy,

If is possible to power the new Ultimate IO board off a PC power supply?  I was going to fab a harness, but I want to ask first.

Thanks!

Not sure about your question, the board comes with a pre-wired power harness which connects to a PC power supply HDD power connector.

Andy

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #37 on: January 26, 2015, 09:08:45 am »
Only just seen this. Personally I would be very interested in the rotary upgrade for the ServoStik.

Will it be an optical or 12-position type?

Iys an optical type with the same resolution as the SpinTrak.

AndyWarne

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    • Ultimarc
Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #38 on: January 26, 2015, 09:11:15 am »
The rotary upgrade will initially be for the U360 only, because it plugs into the U360 PCB, but we will have another version for the J-Stik and ServoStik in the future.

It is theoretically possible to fit the ServoStik Upgrade to a U360, but I am not sure how desirable it would be. I have not actually tried it. It might need the U360 map cell borders tweaked in the configuration to line up with the physical ServoStik restrictor. I dont think the U360 would add a lot to the functionality of the ServoStik because "full travel" analog would not be possible. The only real advantage is it would be a "click-free" contactless stick with motorized restrictor.

Thanks for the response Andy.

I've never had a U360 before (time to upgrade!), and I don't think I've ever seen pics of the pcb on its own.

So, is it safe to go ahead and purchase the currently available U360, with the assurance it will be compatible with the rotary upgrade? There won't be a new version of the U360 pcb?

My interest in the ServoStick upgrade on a U360 was purely for the automation of the feel of physical restriction. Does having the below-mounted restrictor installed reduce the throw of the stick so much as to make "analog" mapping unusable for games that used analog sticks? Anyone else with the U360 have any opinion on this?Edit - Sorry, I see now that's pretty much what you're saying in the previous post.

I understand I could use the front-mounted restrictor, but it is a less elegant solution...

The upgrade will include a new PCB because it needs to have the connector on board for the encoder.

Andy

AndyWarne

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Re: Ultimarc Update
« Reply #39 on: January 26, 2015, 09:15:13 am »
Does one I-PAC emulate multiple gamepads? E.g. I want all the P1 controls mapped to the first "virtual" gamepad and all the P2 controls mapped to the second.


This is something I would be interested in as well.

Also, is the ipac4 board getting an update with the headers for the trackball like the ipac2 did. Either way the 4 should be enough for 4 players, trackball and two mouse buttons. Just the headers would make it easier.

The current firmware implements one game controller device on the board. It would technically be possible to implement  two game controllers. If there is a clear benefit I will do this in later firmware.

The I-PAC 4 will not support the trackball/spinner/expansion owing to all the I/O pins on the microcontroller being used up.