Whats the cheapest way to interface a coin door to a PC by itself?

[sfetaz]

Ok here is the situation.  I have 2 seperate products, 1 which converts Dance Dance Revolution arcade pads to work with a playstation or PS2.  The other is basically the PC2JAMMA project product.

These are designed to work in a DDR Machine.  The Playstation boards go into a box that is used by the players with buttons and such.

I am looking for a way to hook up the coin slots to the PC by themselves, without spending a lot of money on an optipac and such since its for 2 individual things.

[Minwah]

Not sure I understand exactly what you are doing, but the cheapest way to hook up a coin door is probably a keyboard, or PC gamepad hack - you might even have one spare lying around.

FYI an OptiPac wouldn't work anyway, they are for optical controls.

[sfetaz]

Oops I meant IPac

Is there a dirt cheap keyboard  or gamepad board I could solder to that have very small boards?

[SirPeale]

Sure, just go to pretty much any place that sells keyboards, and pick up the cheapest keyboard you can find.  I find the best ones to be made by Mitsumi, but your milage may vary.  Take it home and open it up.  More likely than not, the keyboard PCB will be very small.

[whammoed]

Even cheaper place for keyboard is a thrift store.  You can probably pick up a keyboard for a buck or two.  Doesn't matter if the outside is ugly, you're just gonna toss it anyway.

[MameMaster!]

...why not just order the Ipac VE (USB Only)?

It's only $35.....including shipping.

I personally used it to set up my coin door....and that's the only function I have it serving.

Seemed reasonable $$ wise to me to go that route.

MameMaster!