New Products from Ultimarc for 2004!

[AndyWarne]

This is a sneak preview of some of the new products we will be launching very soon. In fact some can already be ordered!

Mini-PAC.
This is a new family of keyboard encoders based on a wiring harness concept which are designed to save hours of work wiring up a panel. The tiny board comes with a full harness for switches and joysticks. There is a version already on sale with integrated switch/joystick/trackball/spinner support. Also the boards are available on their own and can be used with a standard IDE cable-based harness. A version soon to be available has 36 switch inputs for only $29!
Check out www.ultimarc.com/minipac.html (preliminary page awaiting some new graphics!)

T-Stik Plus MKII.
Available next week, this new version has the same pull-out-and-twist 4-8 way switchover, but with a new design which integrates the mechanism into the body of the stick instead of having an external bracket. Ball-tops available later in January.

I-PAC X-BOX interface. By popular demand! Expected March.

Analog Joystick/switch interface.
A combined USB composite interface which integrates analog stick support (gamepad) with keycode support (keyboard), so you can use your analog stick in either analog mode or to send keycodes.

I-PAC VE (value edition) End Jan. A terminal block encoder which is USB only.

WinIPAC Interactive Panel Designer.
This software will replace WinIPAC for new I-PAC / J-PAC orders next week.
The revolutionary software changes the way you install and use a keyboard encoder. It is two programs in one. First you can design your panel using the graphical assistant. Drag/drop any control variations onto the panel, color them, assign each one to an I-PAC input, and then save the panel. Then you can use this saved panel to create as many keycode configurations as you need, by clicking on each control and assigning to a keycode. You can forget about how you wired the panel because the program already knows this. You can even assign user text to a button as well, for example "quit", "throttle" etc, as a reminder of how the buttons are configured. Includes button-test mode, on screen keyboard launch, and a separate Windows application launcher. Also enables cumulative macros. Uses a new filter driver to download codes to the board in under 1 second.


Happy New Year to all our customers!

Andy and Nutaumar Warne

[Brad Lee]

The new winipac utility looks sweet!
Will we be able to use it with the older ipac/2, or is it strictly for new models?
I know on my version if I save .cfg files and use them in a command line or batch to change configs it pops up an OK box(or somehting similar, i havent had to change my layout in a while) Is this something thatll be cleaned up in the new app?

I know Ive been satisfied with the few things Ive gotten from Ultimarc and wouldnt have 2nd thoughts getting anything else in the future

[AndyWarne]

Brad,
The OK box was removed a while ago, the current version which you can download does not have this.
The new version uses a different method of sending the code block to the board, using a filter driver. This means that it's not compatible with older versions. I can arrange an inexpensive chip upgrade if there is a demand. This would be at "cost price" ie the cost of a blank chip plus postage as I'm not looking to make any revenue from the new program.

[SirPeale]

Neat.  Any plans to encompass a JAMMA ready model, like the J-PAC?

[b3atmania]

Andy, will you be offering upgrades to the T-Stik Mk II for the regular T-Stiks as well?

[Edgedamage]

Woah cool products. As always top notch!!

PS. Andy PLEASE do something about getting those Global Logistics ---daisies--- off our backs!!!! Us Canadians
are tired of getting hosed with their $13USD mystery handling charge.

[Lilwolf]

Looks GREAT!

Will you tell us some more about the analog joystick board?

will it only work with 5k pots?  How many axis (I have a flight stick with throddle I would LOVE to get hooked up!)

Is it configurable low range? (if configurable high range?)    If so I would LOVE to talk about another project I have (where getting a variable A-D is important)

And again... LOOKS SWEET!

[SirPoonga]

I will be selling my ipac now I think

The min-pac doesn't support leds though  Oh well, I don't need it on my upright, will need it on my cocktail which will use the jpac.

[slycrel]

  Apparently I ordered my optipac and ipac at just about exactly the wrong time.  Like...  December 27.    That's really unfortunate that the software will be incompatible, I've not been terribly impressed with the current solution.  Out of curiosity, is the mac port OS 9 or OS X?

  Congrats on the new products though, looks like a good upgrade to a few products and a few that are probably going to help fill a few niches that are out there.

[mushmouth]

1) How do I check to see if the new software is compatible with the i-pac I bought?

2) When will you realistically start shipping the  T-stik mkIII with a ball top?

I too am feeling a little bummed. I ordered my i-pac and opti-pac a month or so ago, but haven't installed them yet so they're still brand new sitting there. It's unfortunate that they won't work with this software upgrade. As I'm just starting my Control Panels RIGHT NOW, that utility would have come in very handy for me. Plus, this being my first cabinet, I could have used all the automated help I could get...

I can tell you right now, if mine aren't compatible, I absolutely want the chip upgrades. I'd send them back and exchange them if it wouldn't cost me the price of a new ipac to cover the shipping both ways.  

Bummed.

[SirPoonga]

about the mini-pac, why not just put all the tball and spinner stuff on the J2?  It seems odd that you have to split it amoung the two connectors.

[RetroBorg]

Andy,

Those new products sound great, I wish my I-Pac was compatiable with that new WinIPac software, that looks awesome.

I was hoping you could give me a more detailed explaination of how the T-Stik Plus Mk II switches from 4-way to 8-way. The way it sounds to me is that you pull the joystick upwards and rotate the joystick 45 degrees and then release, is this right? If so, is this something that can happen during play by accident?

Anyway, good luck with your new products, I've definately got my monies worth out of my I-Pac 4.  

Retro

[gprime]

Woah cool products. As always top notch!!

PS. Andy PLEASE do something about getting those Global Logistics ---daisies--- off our backs!!!! Us Canadians
are tired of getting hosed with their $13USD mystery handling charge.

Yeah I know that feeling! I ordered my iPac (not directly from andy, but from GameCabinetsInc because they had other stuff I needed). Everything costed about $100 US (with shipping, about 200 canadian $$ -- yikes). And then finally when it arrived one day, and the guy was asking me to pay $26 because there was a COD attached. Apparently it was a duty fee from Customs. Costed me a fortune (about $225 CDN) for 18 buttons, 2 joysticks, and an i-Pac (ouch!).

Unless it's a gift, I don't think I'll be receiving anything for the US anytime soon

If you check off "gift" while sending a Canada a package from the US, there are no custom fees. But unfortunately a business can't do that without bad things happening to them

[canardo]

Thanks for your work Andy
I brought an Ipac (JStik and my buttons as well) last year and it has been faultless and worth every penny (being UK helped as it was also very good prices on the shipping unlike Happ for us UK people)

Look forward to seing the T Stiks as I am just redoing my control panels as we speak and adding a 3rd one(its a cocktail) and will be very intrested in adding those joysticks to my project

[AndyWarne]

A few answers:

The Mini-PAC does support LEDs. It has the same LED harness connector as the I-PAC. Or they can be manually wired. That's why the joystick stuff is split across the two connectors. When using optical controls AND LEDs things do get a bit interesting though..

I can understand people who have just purchased, being frustrated by the new software being incompatible. So, just drop me your address and I'll send a new chip free of charge if you purchased in the past month.

Yes I will be offering upgrades for the regular T-Stik. The only thing which might delay this is getting some decent instructions done. The upgrade process will not be trivial and needs some good drawings done and I'm crap at that!

The T-Stik plus is changed over like this: pull the stick outwards against the main spring. Rotate until two lugs on the shaft line up. While still pulling, when the lugs match the stick will come out a little further. Then rotate 45 degrees anticlockwise for 8 way, or clockwise for 4 way. It will never happen in gameplay.

The ball-tops are being shipped and due to arrive on 28th Jan. The chrome shafts will be ready before then.

The Opti-PAC is not affected by the new software.

The Canada thing is a bit O/T really, but of course this is a worldwide problem. Except for the USA who have a far more sensible attitude and don't even customs clear anything under $200.
It doesn't matter where it comes from, Canada will sometimes impose the charges, sometimes not. We will be offering an economy shipping option via DHL/Deutche Post Global Mail and I wonder if this will help? I suspect that random charges would still be imposed in Canada. In the UK, almost everything is charged which comes from outside the EU.

The analog joystick interface: Although I have a working prototype on the development system, I would like to start a discussion on the best way to finalize it. I am not over-familiar with the use of analog joysticks in MAME but I do know that I would like a pair on my cabinet, which is one of the reasons for designing the interface! I'll start a thread later.

Andy

[Tiger-Heli]

Looks good, some initial comments:

Mini-PAC.
A version soon to be available has 36 switch inputs for only $29!
Check out www.ultimarc.com/minipac.html (preliminary page awaiting some new graphics!)

Cool product.

Question:  The 28-input version is $29, and the soon-to-arrive 36-input version is also going to be $29.  I assume the 36-input version gives up some features to allow more inputs?  Correct, or not?

T-Stik Plus MKII.

Sounds interesting.

I-PAC X-BOX interface. By popular demand! Expected March.

Sounds good.

Analog Joystick/switch interface.
A combined USB composite interface which integrates analog stick support (gamepad) with keycode support (keyboard), so you can use your analog stick in either analog mode or to send keycodes.

Suggest this have a way to use either 5K or 100K pots so you can use either arcade gear (SW yoke) or PC gear (typical analog Joystick) with it.  You said there will be another thread for this one, so I'll be looking for it.

I-PAC VE (value edition) End Jan. A terminal block encoder which is USB only.

Interesting.

WinIPAC Interactive Panel Designer.
This software will replace WinIPAC for new I-PAC / J-PAC orders next week.

Looks cool!  Questions/suggestions below.

You can even assign user text to a button as well, for example "quit", "throttle" etc, as a reminder of how the buttons are configured.

Will there be an option to print this out and/or export this to a .jpg?  (I assume you could do a screen print and paste to Irfanview or Word.).  This would be useful to people using my Controls in a front-end project - http://www.mameworld.net/emuadvice/controls/controls.html

Also, if you interface this with the controls.dat file that Howard Casto and Sir Poonga are building, this info could be automatically generated.  Not sure how to integrate that, though, but it might be worth looking into.

Thanks for letting us know about the new product line.

[SirPoonga]

Andy, you have a cabinet?  where can we find pics?

[Zakk]

Andy, most awesome as always!  For those of us that make a few cabs a year, these could definitely be a godsend!  Now what would be the solution for a 4-player panel with trackball and spinner?  Can these be daisy chained or would one have to revert to the I-apc4/optipac combo?  

 I can't wait to start my next project though, cheers Andy!!!

[Xiaou2]

 Andy,
 
   I was wondering if you could institute a hardware switching method for optical controls.

  Analog+ mame can see and use up to 8 optical devices... however if you tried another emulator or a pc based game... they may not use the controller that is hooked up, that you intended to use. (if you have more than 2 optical devices...ect)

  It would serve some of us guys who like to make tons of controls on single panels - or with rotating control panels... handheld plugins, and more.

  Basically... youd hook up each optical interface to an input (daisy chain?),  and then at the press of a button or two, it would tell the interface which devices should be operational at the time.  (Maybe this should be software initiated?)

 ( This could possibly also be used for making a spinners single axis change (swap x to y),  or making 2 spinners that usually detect as a single mouse, act as dual mice instead of a single one.  This is bordering on complications that I hadnt really thought of... )

  The talk of analog inputs from pc pots and arcade pots also may need switching to tell which ones should be read/not read.  I know older games only use the first analog wheel/pedals thats plugged in.  Not sure about new games... and other emulators.

  As for 5k, 10k...ect... Maybe there should be two 1k inputs specifically for spyhunter panel interface.   Maybe a dual port set, that you can tell the encoder what k value it is, and have it use it?  (as maybe there are other arcade controllers that use odd k value pots?)

 (I have no clue how people interfaced a SpyHunter yoke cause its gear ratio is too high for a pc pot... and the 1k pot didnt seem to work with a hacked joy i had)

  Now theres more optical interfaces than ever since 49 way support has been added into analog+ mame.  Thats 6 optical inputs alone! : )  Ohh... and now sprint 8 is able to use 8 spinners!  So daisy chaining a lot of devices is pretty important... else many of us will have to seek alternative encoder solutions.  : (   (which really dont exist - without some pain of manual connect/disconnect - switchboard style ):

    edit:

 Ohh, and also... the number of Analog Axis's should be chainable as well.  Hard Drivin alone uses 4 axis (pedal y, brake y2, analog shifter x3 & y3, and steering x4).   Many of us might have multiple analog controls like dual players, afterburner pot throttle, motorcycle throttles, 4 pot sticks (dual tanks)..ect.

 
  And finally, I just saw this on tv last night:

 http://www.quikstrip.com/

 It can strip up to 4 wires at once with nearly any diameter!  I may have to get one of these babies : )
 
   

 

[AndyWarne]

For a 4-player cabinet, at the moment you would need to use two of these boards, either daisy-chained or plugged into USB ports.

The 28-input version and the 36 input version (switch only) are the same price. The 36 input version will replace the 28-input version. It's just a new firmware. The chip used on the board has 36 usable inputs, so they can be used either as all switch inputs or a combination of switch and optical inputs. Eventually the board will be available in either version.  (ie all switches or a combination).

Note that I mentioned the new WinIPAC software will be for the I-PAC and J-PAC only. It won't work with the Mini-PAC yet. This might seem a bit strange, but the reason is that I didn't consider the new chip code sufficiently tested in time for production of the first batch of Mini-PAC boards. It's pretty scary actually, with a basically non-replaceable SMT chip of this type, if there are any serious bugs in the code, the whole batch of completed boards has to be scrapped, or at least expensively re-worked, and it just wasn't worth the risk.

Tiger-Heli the suggestions about the WinIPAC IPD software are quite exciting! I'll certainly look into this.

My Cabinet? Well here is a picture but as you can see, it needs some work (more buttons for example!!) It only has a VGA monitor in it, which I will replace with a Hantarex PoloStar.

[Xiaou2]

 Edit:

  Another thought...

  Individual pot axis mapping (hardware or the new software).

  Reasoning...  Some games use single axis instead of dual axis.  

  You can see unclets new cab he had to wire up a pedal set for both because of this.  If you could select weather the pots were combined into one stick or not.  This would help in windows games too.

  You might also have multiple controls that you want to be active and you then select which ones were active based on thier pots input.  (this is especially helpfull for inverted controls on rotating panels - as you dont want vibrations to interfere)    

EX:  Like if you wanted out run pedals operational, with a single pot gas,  with the analog shifter..ect.

  If these are all done via software... you might want to make a 'game profile'  setup so that you just click on the name and it configures the controls on the spot.  (sorry - i didnt look closely at the software if thats already instituted)

 Maybe the software could be auto ran from a mame ini as well.  Once you have configured all the controls, the software saves the file to a mame folder.  When mame starts a game, it sends a signal to your program to read and institute the changes?  (im grasping cause i dont fully understand)

 (sorta like how in visual pinball... 'pinMame' starts automatically if you run a table that it supports)

 

[slycrel]

  email sent, thanks for being understanding Andy!  Nice cab too.  =)

[sk8er_boi]

this looks really gd but how much will it cost in pounds(

[mahuti]

That's an interesting cab. What was it originally?

I guess the mini-pac could solve some of our modular panels problems. For a little more than 1 iPac we could use 2 mini-pacs for 2 different boards. Each new board would be $29 bucks. OR you could use the harness, and just use the 1 mini-pac board.

Cool.

Excited to see the rest of the products.

[gprime]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm in love with that cabinet There's no bulk and only takes up the room it needs to.

About the free upgrade chip: what if we purchased an i-Pac from a third party dealer? I got mine a couple days ago (ordered a couple weeks ago) from gamecabinetsinc. I still have the invoice if it helps. If not, could you make upgrade chips available for sale?

Thanks

[SirPoonga]

That's an interesting cab. What was it originally?

I guess the mini-pac could solve some of our modular panels problems. For a little more than 1 iPac we could use 2 mini-pacs for 2 different boards. Each new board would be $29 bucks. OR you could use the harness, and just use the 1 mini-pac board.

Cool.

Excited to see the rest of the products.

Your vision is limited.  For modular panels you just need one minipac and one ide cable.  You just need the 2x20 connector on the cp  if you want a tball also you will need two cables though.  at least if I read it correctly.

[mahuti]

Like I said, you could use the harness and just the one board.

Personally, I don't like plugging in more than one cable  (i.e., why I said you could use multiple minipacs.

[Grasshopper]

There's certainly some mouth watering stuff there!

I have a few questions if you don't mind.

Will it be possible to fit the T-Stik ball top replacement handle to other types of joystick, and will the handles be height adjustable?

It's occured to me in the past that it would be possible for someone to manufacture a generic replacement ball top handle that could be fitted to a wide variety of joysticks. As far as I'm aware all the IL and Suzo joysticks have a 10mm steel shaft. So it would simply be a case of cutting a number of grooves (for fitting the c-clip) at different positions for each type of joystick. Alternatively you could cut just one groove and supply different length spacers for the various different types of joystick out there. I like the T-Stik but I think there would be a much bigger market for generic handles.

I'm wondering why you have chosen to make an X-Box interface and not say a Playstation interface? Was it easier to implement because the X-Box uses a modified USB interface or is there another reason? The reason I ask is not because I think the Playstation is superior (I don't own either console and I have no opinion on this). However there are loads of convertors available to enable Playstation gamepads to be used with almost anything. So a Playstation interface would have been a more generic solution.

I'd also be interested to know how much your cab cost and where you bought it. It's presumably one of the Sega Naomi variants?

[2slk]

Andy,

 I'd be very interested in an Ipac chip upgrade. Please let us know when this is available. Thanks for all the neat stuff. Ultimarc does it again!!!!

[SirPoonga]

Like I said, you could use the harness and just the one board.

Personally, I don't like plugging in more than one cable  (i.e., why I said you could use multiple minipacs.

Me neither.  I'd prefer to just do one cable.  You can do that with the mini-pac if you don't have spinners or tballs.
Right now I have three cables I have to hooks up.  The db25 to the ipac, the usb tball, and the usb spinner.

[reel]

Will the ipac4 (if i buy one now) be upgradeable for use with a x-box-cable?

Would it be just a cable or will a new chip be needed and in that case, what would the price be for the package (approx)?

[Sasquatch!]

Wow!  So if I'm reading this correctly, the MiniPAC does keyboard encoding PLUS optical encoding?  Will you be discontinuing the current IPACs and OptiPACs, since this thing will almost render them obsolete?

[AndyWarne]

The new board will not render the older ones obsolete, at least I hope not. The Mini-PAC will only ever be able to handle 1 player on the optical control side whereas the Opti-PAC can handle two players. The Mini-PAC cannot be used in DOS if optical controls are used.

There will still be a demand for screw-terminal encoders I believe (and hope) whether they be the I-PAC or the other suppliers products. The wiring-harness concept will not suit everybodys panel design and I think many people will still prefer to do the wiring themselves, especially people who are building their "one off" dream machine. The Mini-PAC was aimed at people who regularly build cabinets. In fact the reason it came about was when I sold my original cocktail table cab, and then later sold my Japanese sit-at cabinet, and then needed to wire up my third cabinet (the one in the picture) I was thoroughly bored with the idea of doing the wiring so I thought I would get someone else to make up some harnesses and it went from there.
BTW That's a Sega Naomi sit-at cabinet. It was somewhat expensive but I did at least manage to get back some of the cost by Ebay-ing the original Naomi guts, with NBA Jam cartridge.

The X-Box adaptor will be completely standalone so no worries about new versions of the I-PAC etc. In fact a Playstation adaptor is much easier and cheaper to design. The X-Box needs two high-speed USB chips on the adaptor. The X-Box adaptor is the first game-related product I have designed that I didn't really want for myself! It was done as a specific project for an OEM customer which is the only reason why the XB not PS-2.

Yes I will honor the chip upgrade for boards purchased from 3rd party suppliers. This free offer will be for boards purchased in December/Jan only, and will only be available by emailing me. It will not be on the site, but there will be a orderable inexpensive upgrade on the site. That's also the reason it's taken so long because it always gets bumped to the bottom of the priority list as it's something I'm not personally interested in having!

The ball-tops will not really fit any other stick. The shaft is a complex design with a thread, followed by a 9mm diameter shaft, 13mm shoulder, 10mm section where it goes into the stick, 8mm section for the 4-8 switch mechanism, then M6 thread for the nut.

 

[Minwah]

I like the sound of the analog interface - at some point I have to hook up a pair of pedals, a steering wheel, and an analog stick (not neccessarily all at the same time).

I also have some other spare devices (mixture of 5k and 100k pots) I probably won't use for my cab, but I could use for testing if it's any help Andy

[reel]

I'm wondering about the inputs of the x-box ipac. I'm in the middle of designing a control panel and I want it to be compatible (ie number of buttons and so on).

Will there be any switch-buttons or something like that to switch between the different thumb-sticks on a original X-BOX pad?
Will I need to take such things in mind when designing the cp layout or will it be fine with the coin/start-buttons for each player?

I do not own a x-box yet so I'm am not familiar with how the games use the different thumb joysticks on the pads.. I will certianly buy an x-box to be able to play soul calibur II (and other games) with my soon to be arcade cpanel.

Per player: 1 stick, 8 player buttons + more?

[shmokes]

Andy,

You mentioned that the Mini-Pac will not support the new software initially.  Do you have any idea when it will support it, and is there a possibility that it will never support it?

Also, how long do your products take to reach the U.S.  I am frantically trying to complete my cab in time for my Superbowl party on Feb. 1st, but I need the 36 input version (or two 28-input versions - *expensive*) for my cab.  Your site lists the 36 input version as available as of mid-january and I'm trying to decide if I should wait.  I suppose I could just order the Ipac4 but I really like these new products.

Last question.  Will there be a 36-input Opti version of the Mini-Pac?  If so it isn't listed on your board.  If not, I assume the Opti-Pac will still work perfectly well alongside the new Mini-Pacs.

Another Thanks.  These new products look great!

[IceCold]

 And finally, I just saw this on tv last night:

 http://www.quikstrip.com/

 It can strip up to 4 wires at once with nearly any diameter!  I may have to get one of these babies : )

I got one very similar from one of those dollar stores(forgot which one) for a couple bucks.  It works pretty well, but sometimes jams, but it's easy to unjam.

[bdsjake]

Andy, looks like a great product!

Will these have a 5v source available for power Happs 360's?

Thanks,

[kujina]

Hi Andy

Sorry for sounding like a spoiled brat   but is a new version of the arcade vga on the horizon?

...Thanks...

[AndyWarne]

The X-Box adaptor will need a 2-player panel with 6 buttons per player. It will have 4 modes, left analog, right analog, digital and 2-into one, where both the joysticks are used by one player. In this mode the joysticks will be the left and right analog sticks respectively. If it would be better for this mode to emulate the left analog and the digital pad, let me know and I'll re-think this. I am not an expert on consoles!
Each mode will be selectable using a shift key ie Start1 and Left = switch to left analog mode. It will have a PS/2 input and can be used with any PS/2 source but the source must be programmed with MAME key defaults plus the required shift keys to be fully effective.
Usual disclaimers apply: we are using digital switch controls to play games which were designed for analog controls so there are limitations here.

Shipping: We have just switched over from Airborne Express to DHL, and are promised a 2 day USA service instead of 3 day. But I would personally stick with a 3 day expectation. We have been offered a $6 economy option which I am considering.

ArcadeVGA: I will do a later version but no idea when. The Radeon 7000 chip is still the best for this because it supports two analog monitors as opposed to one analog and one digital port. But flat screen monitors are about to plunge in price so this would be less of an issue. Note I dont imply using a flat screen as an arcade monitor! I mean as a secondary PC monitor. Mind you, I'm not sure many people use the second port anyway...

All boards have 5 volts available.

There will not be a 36 input plus optical Mini-PAC because that's too many inputs for the chip to support.

Thanks for the interest in the products, can I ask that any further questions be addressed via email? I would like to close this thread, don't want to be seen as hogging the top of the list here..
Thanks

Andy