Hagstrom KE18

[D10]

I was looking for an encoder for the project I am working on, and was looking at the I-PAC, but after talking to a friend of mine he has a KE18 (which he will give me). The only thing is he received it in a group of items he bought at an auction. So he doesn't know anything about it. My question is this. I know the KE18 can be setup to act as 18 inputs or a 9x9 matrix. If used as 18 inputs is it a preset group of keys or can it be changed to anything I like?

Thanks.

[Tiger-Heli]

Hagstrom E-mailed me on the KE-18 years ago, but I only have a printed copy of the .jpg they sent and it's not readable.  It's definitely not programmable and only has 18 input or 9x9 input mode (and 9x9 will have ghosting) (no 16x3 matrix, for example)

The inputs I can make out are:

A
C
D
E
F
I (maybe T?)
L
O
Q
R
S
X
<something>
<something>
F1
<Space> (maybe)
<something>
<something>

You could get keyscan or keymap from the utilities section here and wire it up and see what it sends.

[rocket2600]

Hey get that KE18 if it's free, you won't be disappointed. I've used a Hagstrom LP-24 for over 2 1/2 years now and it's the best. I could run it in a 12x12 config, but opted for 2x22 which gave me 44 inputs. Biggest thing if you get that encoder is to find the driver for it, which you could get from Hagstrom most likely. You can read more about the setups here:

http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap/interface.html

This guy has a great write up on how he setup his encoder.
Good Luck and Game On!

~Rocket2600

[Tiger-Heli]

I could run it in a 12x12 config, but opted for 2x22 which gave me 44 inputs.

Right, but you can't do that with a KE-18, only 18x1 or 9x9 inputs (no 16x2 matrix, for example).  And it's not programmable.  (Actually, it may be 17x1 as one of the "outputs" may be GND.) And 9x9 will have ghosting problems.  See http://www.mameworld.net/emuadvice/keyhack2.html under "Common Misconceptions" for an explanation of ghosting.

Basically, what it means is you can't press certain combinations of keys at the same time.  So, with a KE-18, you end up with 17 independent inputs in non-matrix mode, enough for a SF layout, but without coin or start or esc keys.  Matrix mode is basically unusable, b/c you would only have 9 non-ghosting inputs and if you only needed 9 inputs (a simple joystick and 5-button layout) you wouldn't have more than 11 other keys (start, coin, etc) so independent mode would work here as well.

Also, the KE-18 is non-programmable.  This doesn't matter for MAME as long as all the default outputs are assignable in MAME, but could be a problem if you wanted to use other (primarily DOS) emulators with the KE-18.

[~D10]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will probably take the KE18 since it is free, but I think I will order an I-PAC as well sounds like I will be much happier with that than the KE-18 as a long time solution.

[Lilwolf]

The KE18 is all you will need if 18 keys is all you care about.

you can play with the matrix's, but that will cause problems.

if you only care about 18 inputs (4x2 for 2 joysticks and 5 buttons each) its great!  If you want streetfighter games.. you will have to deal with key combinations that don't work or you can get an ipac.

one more option.  If you ever considered hacking real joystick or a mouse for a trackball ... you could do this

use the the ke18 for joysticks and all but 2 buttons... then hack the mouse buttons for two.  

Or if you want a true analog arcade flight stick, hack a microsoft dualI(whatever... the 1up hack)... that will give you a few extra buttons also