Ode to Joy :o)

[Martoon]

Woohoo! Had my first taste of homespun arcade control goodness this evening.  I'm building a cab at work, and started with the CP.  Since this is my first one, I made a test CP first out of a piece of scrap plywood (for practice, and to make sure we like the layout).  I went ahead and mounted all the controls and wired them up.  Two T-Stik Plusses, a TopFire stick from GGG, a 3" trackball, a Vortex spinner, and lotsa buttons.  I put the last wire in place this evening, and dragged the CP over to my desk and plugged it into my computer.

I first started up the IPac programming utility, to test everything.  Everything worked correctly, except I had the player 2 coin and start buttons swapped (careless oversight due to tired eyes), and the joysticks had their directions reversed.  When I had the panel flipped upside down to wire it, I took into consideration that I had it flipped when wiring the joysticks, but forgot about the fact that the actuators move the opposite direction than the joystick handles (doh!   ).  So I swapped some wires around on the IPac, and all was good.

Then I took MAME for a testdrive.  Unfortunately, I couldn't test it very comfortably since the CP was sitting on my desk (too high when sitting down, too low when standing up).  But I did get a little glimpse of heaven.

First impressions:

Centipede with the trackball was absolutely perfect.  It was wonderful to play it "the right way" again (instead of a mouse).

Tempest with the spinner - I have an odd history with Tempest.  I somehow never discovered it back in the golden days of the 80s, but discovered it later with emulators.  So I've only played it with a mouse, but it has become my favorite classic.  I've really been looking forward to playing it with an actual spinner for the first time.  Now I see I'm going to have to learn to play with a spinner - initially, I really stink at it.  But the feel is very nice.  Looking forward to growing into this.

The joysticks - I find the T-Stiks to be very stiff.  I actually like the GGG TopFire better than the T-Stiks - much lighter action.  I tried a game of Ms. Pacman with the T-Stik in 4-way mode, and really understand the benefit now of having a true 4-way restrictor.  I just wish the T-Stik wasn't so stiff.  Maybe I'm just too used to the lighter action of a gamepad.

Now I need to get this thing positioned or mounted somewhere so I can try it at the proper height.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the joy.

[Sasquatch!]

Excellent!  And where are the pictures of the prototype?!???  

[Stingray]

Tempest with the spinner - I have an odd history with Tempest.  I somehow never discovered it back in the golden days of the 80s, but discovered it later with emulators.  So I've only played it with a mouse, but it has become my favorite classic.  I've really been looking forward to playing it with an actual spinner for the first time.  Now I see I'm going to have to learn to play with a spinner - initially, I really stink at it.  But the feel is very nice.  Looking forward to growing into this.

Tempest was back then (and remains to this day) one of my very favorite classic arcade games. No other controller you can possibly play that game with competes with the exerience of actually playing it with a real spinner.

Ah, joy indeed! I'll be playing a few rounds of Tempest as soon as I get home tonight since you planed the seed in my head!

-S

[Hoagie_one]

Someone else was also complaining about the t-sticks to be rather stiff.

I hope there is a simple solution to this as i want two of them

[Martoon]

Excellent!  And where are the pictures of the prototype?!???  

Heh heh, pictures?  Well, both of the digital cameras at work are out of commission right now.  And it is just a scrap of plywood.

[Martoon]

Someone else was also complaining about the t-sticks to be rather stiff.

I hope there is a simple solution to this as i want two of them

You wouldn't be refering to me in this thread, would you?
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=25047

The thing is, you may be just fine with them.  I just find them too stiff for my preference, but that's a matter of taste.  A lot of other people find them just right.  And I do like everything else about them (and Ultimarc is a nice place to deal with).

[daywane]

but forgot about the fact that the actuators move the opposite direction than the joystick handles

I did the same thing

[Wizard of DelRay]

You wouldn't be refering to me in this thread, would you?
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=25047

The thing is, you may be just fine with them.

You need to reread his post.  He never said he was fine with them.  In fact, he doesn't even have a T-Stik/T-Stik Plus.  He says that he wants to order a couple of them but your post about it's stiffness is making him wonder if that can be fixed.  So in a way he's kind of agreeing with you.

[Rocky]

I'm building a cab at work, and started with the CP.  

Okay, I want to know where you work