ServoStik - hardware or software control

[dth930]

Wondering if anyone has a creative solution to controlling a ServoStik that's in a cabinet running other things in addition to MAME.

I'm working on a cab with a MAME machine in addition to an ArcadeSD board. 

I really want to upgrade to ServoStiks and use the for the ArcadeSD and also have MAME switch them automatically.  Obviously ArcadeSD can't control them and once they're configured for an external hardware switch, they can't be controlled by software anymore.

My interest in the MAME auto-switching is to be friendly to casual gamers and not to have to remember which games use 4-way and which use 8-way.

Does anyone have a creative solution that allows the best of both worlds?

My best work-around is to to configure the ServoStiks for hardware control and then use LED ball tops that change color depending on the on the required configuration.  It will work, but is a poor compromise.

Has anyone else dealt with this successfully?
 - Dave

[JRobATL]

Are you using Led Blinky?  I believe that can control your servos.

If not, RocketLauncher should work. I don't know if it comes with an ArcadeSD module or not, but it will definitely control your servos for whatever game or system you can launch.

[dth930]

ArcadeSD is a JAMMA PCB... there's no PC or software emulator. 

I will probably use LED Blinky on the MAME machine, but that's exactly the problem.  I can control the servos via software for that setup.  But when I switch to the ArcadeSD board, I'm stuck.  I can't use the MAME machine to control the servos and if I switch to hardware control there's no way to go back to software control.

Has anyone set up a MAME front end to control the servos via the "hardware" interface?  This is basically just a switch.  Presumably it could be controlled with a relay if there was a way to drive a relay from a front end.
 - Dave

[Zeosstud]

Wouldn't you just have to dedicate a button or a switch and label it 4 way / 8 way on your control panel?

Just tossing out ideas, what if you got a 2nd controller board and wired it up all in parallel, any chance you could then use both?  Clearly that would be an extra expense and maybe that is not an option, just tossing out ideas.

Zeosstud

[dth930]

From the standpoint of manually switching that would work, but my goal is to have something that switches automatically so that people using the cabinet don't need to figure out whether a game as 4 or 8-way and make any adjustments.  That's the beauty of driving it from a frontend... it already knows the requirements of the game and can adjust accordingly.

Similarly, I'm planning to light the LED buttons to indicate how many are in-use for the current game.
 - Dave