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New Encoder on the block!
rjarcade:
--- Quote from: mamemaster on October 08, 2004, 09:32:35 am ---....what issues did you have? I know some Mamer's don't like the parts (buttons/joystick) but I've personally never had any issues with the interface. Have you? ??? Just curious!
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The interfaces never worked right in either unit. One had a nonfunctional button, the other had two. Key mapping was intermittent as well. I tested each of them alone on two different PCs with and without keyboards connected. I achieved partial functionality with each one, but even so they were occasionally glitchy. I had assumed the nonfunctional buttons were due to a loose wire or two, so I opened them up, but the wiring looked okay. The t-molding kept digging into my wrist to the point that it was painful so I decided to cut my loss and threw them in a landfill. I have heard good things about x-arcade's service. Clearly they have many satisfied customers. I assume it was a fluke that I received two dog units, but since I was 0-2 and disappointed with the feel of the stick and t-molding, it seemed like a good excuse to start over and DIY. If I come across as bitter, I apologize.
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: Bgnome on October 08, 2004, 10:55:07 am ---
--- Quote from: brained on October 08, 2004, 09:28:16 am ---I think they used to sell this encoder before, but I dunno.
Pretty cool, for those people that are planning on a cab for console game / pc at the same time :)
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they used to be sold before. tiger-heli has them on his encoder comparison page. from what I understand, the card is the exact same thing as the one used in the retail controllers. this means that you get the exact same, somewhat buggy, capabilities. they all use that serial interface, so if you wanted to have multiple adapters connected, you would probably need a db-9 splitter or switch. daisy chaining is somewhat sketchy -- there have been a couple posts recently about keyboard pass-thru issues so i would go with seperate connections, ie usb and ps/2. i personally think the required adapters make this one somewhat cost prohibitive for 28 inputs..
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What Bgnome said is correct.
I think (but not sure) a DB-9 switchbox could be hacked and made to work.
Not sure if this is what they were offering before or not. From what I can see on the site (general layout and look and feel, also the mention of a programming switch and LED), I would say it is, but would like confirmation.
Would recommend going with all USB or PS/2 - USB rather than daisy-chaining.
Also - the previous units were similar to a positive gnd car electronics system - i.e. instead of individual +5V lines and a common gnd, you have individual GND line and a common +5V line. Not a problem for standard joys and buttons, but it means you basically can't use it with P360 joysticks, FWIW!!!!
BTW, (not much) more info at http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/
Grasshopper:
--- Quote from: arcadegamerz on October 08, 2004, 06:21:36 pm ---Hi guys,
I thought I'd take the time to address some of your unanswered questions, concerns and comments.
First off, I
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Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: Grasshopper on October 09, 2004, 05:24:24 pm ---However, I'm a bit concerned when you say your adapters won't work with other encoders such as the Ipac. If there is a genuine technical reason for the incompatibility then fair enough, and I'd be interested to hear the explanation. However, if as you imply, your adapters have been deliberately designed not to work with competitors' products then I'm afraid you're going to alienate a lot of potential customers with that attitude.
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I've never used them, but I don't see how it could NOT work with an I-PAC.
Both devices look like a keyboard to the computer. If a daisy-chained keyboard will work with it, then a daisy-chained I-PAC will also. It's possible that the X-Arcade disables the pass-thru for a small delay whenever an X-Arcade input is depressed. In this case, you would either want to use the Macintosh adapter with the X-Arcade and the I-PAC as either USB or PS/2, or use the PC (PS/2) adapter with the X-Arcade and use the I-PAC in USB mode. But I would think either solution should work. The computer just thinks it has two keyboards connected. . .
AndyWarne:
I am just guessing here but I suspect that the pins used on the 9-pin D plug which connects from the X-Arcade to a PC are not the same pins which are used by the adaptors. So when using adaptors the signal is not the same as a keyboard. This does make the design simpler because the adaptor does not need to be able to "read" PS/2 keyboard protocol which is rather quirky to say the least.
Our X-Box adaptor is totally keyboard compatible so will work with an I-PAC or any other PS/2 keyboard type of device. www.ultimarc.com/xbox_adap.html
It will be on sale in a couple of weeks. We had a delay on this because I wanted to sell it "cased" but the prototype casing I have just rejected and asked for a re-design as it was not very neat. So I'll be selling them uncased for now, with an optional casing later on. The price will be $35.
Andy