a wireless arcade cab...?

[timsatari]

Hey all,

Has anyone attempted a wireless cab project ie. with computer in one room / mame cab in another...

[ashardin]

How would you do the controls?  Hack a wireless keyboard?

Seems much easier to do a remotely wired cabinet.  Wireless would quite a project, quite an expense as well when you consider than you will have to transmit at least three signals.

1.  controls from cab to the computer
2.  Video from the computer to the monitor
3.  Audio from the computer to the cabinet

I don't have any idea how many simultaneous key presses could be done remotely as well.

Maybe I'm missing something though, and someone else has figured it out.

[Metimbo]

Mine has a wireless router in it networked to a PC in another room, if that is what you are asking.
~Tim

[TheTick]

You'd need to hack a wireless interface for the controls. RF based keyboard and mouse (I've been eyeing the Logitech Wireless controllers). For the video and sound you'd need an RF based video transmitter (from Radio Shack and X10). All the RF based solutions I've tried are grainy at best. Thru a couple walls the video gets broken up. Don't get me started with my ex-roommates microwaving while I'm trying to watch a DiVX movie.

I used the X10 MP3 Anywhere transmitters at my last house, before building a dedicated HTPC. Right now, I've dumped the HTPC and replaced it with a 30 foot S-Video and TOS link cable going from the Den's computer to my big screen TV. Quality is surprisingly good.

I'm still looking at hacking wireless controllers for my stand-alone arcade panel as well. Response times suck with the wireless keyboard hack, and it has trouble with mutliple keypresses. The logitech controllers are fast, but the power saving features are a bit annoying.

[SirPoonga]

I had a wireless gamepad that's probably work.  Right now I just have my roms on this computer and network share them.

[patrickl]

You could try running mame on a Terminal Server machine and then you could use a simpler PC in the cabinet.

I don't see how you could get this completely wireless though. Wouldn't you need to connect the monitor somehow? If you don't mind some cables you could use a switch where you can attach multiple monitor/mouse/keyboards to one PC. You can then switch from the cab to the PC. These cables come in several lengths.

If you need real distance you could use a switch that uses CAT 5 cable. These can be quite a way apart (but they tend to cost more than an extra PC).

[nipsmg]

NO NO NO lol
you won't get near the FPS you need over a terminal server connection.

:-D

[patrickl]

He, he, LOL. OK, the terminal server thing is perhaps not really serious, but I'm struggling to understand what the idea is behind the question.

[jerryjanis]

You could probably use a generator and power it with gasoline.  You wouldn't need any wires coming out of the thing (But you'd still need a dedicated PC just for the Mame cab).

 

[CitznFish]

i thought the split second delay using wireless controls would make the games unplayable?  

[SirPoonga]

today's wireless is much better.  Many people run the gamecube wireless controllers.

I had one for the pc and it was very responsive.  The 2.5ghz ones are fast.

However, I'd only hack one controller per player.  I'm not sure if it could handle alot of buttons pushed at once.

[Jakobud]

I recently got a couple Logitech 2.4GHz wireless controllers I'm gonna hack.  I have determined a way determine the difference in latency between the wireless button presses and keyboard/wired joystick button presses using some special software.  I was planning on posting a little explaination on it soon.

[NoOne=NBA=]

If you are going to have a cabinet, why would you want the PC taking up room somewhere else?

I did have a special situation with my cabinet, in that it has my Mac inside (which is also my graphics rig).
I just built swappable control panels for it, one of which being a 16X30 desktop.

When I want to use it in graphics mode, I just remove whatever gaming CP is on it, and put the desktop in it's place.
I don't have any pics of it posted after I finished, but here's a WIP shot of it.
Work Table

[rdagger]

There are many video and audio wireless solutions that would work although they might be pricey.

An excellent solution for the controls would be a wireless USB hub.  You could plug your IPAC, Opti-PAC and a sidewinder into it.  I'm not sure if there are any vendors selling wireless USB hubs yet.   Cypress just released some wireless USB chips that you could use to build your own hub.  
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/32296.html

There is also a USB over IP extender available from Digi that you could use in conjunction with a 802.11b wireless network bridge.
http://www.kvms.com/nav/item.asp?item=8221

[Howard_Casto]

About wireless controllers..... even the best one's ont he market still totally suck.  I got a wavebird for christmas (nintendo brand controller)  and even though it's arguably the best on the market for any platform, it still cuts out from time to time.  Every time my neighboors use their cb station it goes crazy.  The Microwave also seems to cause minimal lag.  


Also keep in mind that the reason the nintendo controller is so much better is because nintendo games use far less buttons.  Think about it, the way the controller and gamecube games are designed you can really only hit a maxium of a direction and 3 buttons at once.  I think that has a lot to do with how good the response time is.  


So to sum it up, everyone thinks it's the best and it's really not so hot, so I can only imagine what kind of problems you'd have with a totally wireless cabinet.  Remember you need enough frequencies to carry the audio, the video and all of your controls. (a wireless kb would NOT work, you'd have to hack gamepads.)  That seems like a pretty tall order to me.

[eightbit]

I have logitech wireless controllers for my xbox and they work awesome. There are few games that I can tell the difference between being wired and being wireless.

If you used a modded xbox for your PC it would be pretty easy to go completely wireless but I don't really see the advantage of going wireless with the video.

[gprime]

Wireless controls would be perfect for a rotating control panel. Just spin it and wouldn't have to worry about wires getting caught up anywhere. The newer technology from logitech provides really fast reaction timing. My neighbor has this keyboard/mouse combo set (the newer one with the new technology -- forget the name of it) and it's honestly amazing. I also have a wireless gamepad from logitech and I honestly don't feel lag at all when I play any PC game. I've had it for over a year and still havn't had to replace the batteries.

Video on the other hand ... well ... I don't think it will ever get desirable quality / speed without a huge chunk out of your pocket.

I hear there are alot of different wireless audio things (like you can get those wireless headphones now and stuff -- not *that* expensive), so it's still very possible.

Wireless controls tho, I wouldn't mind using it using it in my next cab

[NoOne=NBA=]

Again, what is the advantage to wireless controls in a cabinet?

You are AT the cabinet, the computer is IN the cabinet, where would wireless controls help at all.

You are still going to have to wire it all up to the transmitter, so you don't save any wiring time/effort.

I use a wireless mouse with my cabinet, but that was because I use it for a graphics rig as well, and didn't want to have a mouse hanging off the cabinet when I was using it for an arcade.

[rdagger]

Again, what is the advantage to wireless controls in a cabinet?
You are AT the cabinet, the computer is IN the cabinet, where would wireless controls help at all.

One advantage is you don't use 2 computers.  You could have your computer on a desk in 1 room and the arcade cabinet in another room.  That is my goal.  However, the wireless technology is expensive and less than perfect.  I wired my house for CAT 5 so I will probably build a cabinet without a computer that is connected via 2 CAT5 lines.  One for VGA using an IP extender and the other for the controls using a USB over IP solution.  Or if that doesn't work I will just get a USB extender and drill some more holes in the walls.  For the sound I think I could get away with wireless.

Removing the computer from the cab also reduces heat and weight.

[bluGill]

And you end up spending more money on the parts than on a seperate computer for the cabinet.  

VGA over ethernet might work, but odds are you will not like the results.

If you do VGA over IP and USB over IP, what decodes the IP on the other end?  Some sort of computer anyway.  Not to mention there is a limit to what you can do with cat 5, and I suspect the best results will still not be satisfactory.

And all when you could get around the whole problem by scrounging a computer from somewhere (garrage sale).  

I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm saying that either the results will be unsatisfactory, or the cost will be more than a second computer.   Most likely both.

[Jakobud]

You might as well give up now trying to do wireless video.  I have messed around a lot with sending wireless video signals and you should not expect a good picture from it.

[ErikRuud]

A friend of mine is having his basement redone.

He is having a large plasma screen built into a wall that will be driven by a very high end PC.  The PC will function as the TV Tuner, DVR, MP3 player, DVD/CD player, etc.  

Instead of a seperate MAME cab, he would like to have a control panel that could be used from the couch.  A wireless USB setup might be idealfor this.

[patrickl]

VGA over ethernet might work, but odds are you will not like the results.

If you do VGA over IP and USB over IP, what decodes the IP on the other end?  Some sort of computer anyway.  Not to mention there is a limit to what you can do with cat 5, and I suspect the best results will still not be satisfactory.

It's not video/usb over IP, but it just uses CAT 5 cables. A Cat 5 extender can be used to connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse to a PC up to 150 meters away. It uses a CAT 5 cable and consists of (at least) 2 boxes. They work fine (especially at these low resolutions), allthough they cost a fortune. I guess somewhere around $400 (hav

[temazur]

Would a wireless keyboard work thru the cab?  I'm going to give building one a go this summer, after I move (I'll have room for it in my new apat!   ) and was wondering if this would be a solution to the keyboard drawer?

[NoOne=NBA=]

Would a wireless keyboard work thru the cab?

It should work fine.
I use a wireless mouse all the time on mine.
Another alternative would be to sneak a USB hub in somewhere, so that you could plug a regular keyboard in.
I did that on my cabinet.