CRAZY IDEA??

[dumblemort]

I had a crazy idea the other day and wanted to see if anyone has ever tried this....Or if someone could program MAME to send this kind of control signal.

With so many buttons on the typical mame control panel, it would be cool to know/alert the player as to what button/joystick to use.

Has anyone ever put or considered putting a LED or one of those

[JustMichael]

Why not just light up the buttons?

[Tiger-Heli]

Been mentioned before, I don't think anyone ever completed it.  Search for the LAME project, and someone that started with a "D" (DinoRoger) was working on it.

Here's one thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,15674.0.html

And another where the project apparently died:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,16989.0.html

[GGKoul]

The LAME project appears to be dead.... you may want to search for LCD screens.  As people were talking about putting a mini  LCD screen to display button configuration.  But I'm not sure how far along the project is.

[maraxle]

The LAME project appears to be dead.... you may want to search for LCD screens.  As people were talking about putting a mini  LCD screen to display button configuration.  But I'm not sure how far along the project is.

I did that.  It works well.  The project is complete.  http://www.jhanson.com/aquajack.shtml

[LordDamo]

maraxle, do you have any more info you can share about your LCD screen? That is the coolest addition  to a cab i've seen yet. I looked at the product link from your site, im going to have to include one of these in my cab now i've seen it on yours! Nice cab by the way, look like new since you got all that paint off . . .

[RayB]

How's this for an idea guys.......
Print your CP overlay on "electronic ink" paper...

http://www.eink.com

Then program it so your OVERLAY ITSELF changes with each game!!!

 

[maraxle]

maraxle, do you have any more info you can share about your LCD screen? That is the coolest addition  to a cab i've seen yet. I looked at the product link from your site, im going to have to include one of these in my cab now i've seen it on yours! Nice cab by the way, look like new since you got all that paint off . . .

I'm not really sure what else I could share.  On the most basic level, it's simply copying text files to a serial port (copy blah.txt com1 - done).  If you want to display something fancy, like special fonts, you might have to format your text file a certain way depending on the particular LCD you decide to use.  Probably the hardest part was routing out underneath the control panel so it fit properly.

If you have any specific questions, I'll gladly try to answer them.

[LordDamo]

Hmmmmm, after looking at this a bit more maraxle, I think that this addition to my cab probally wont happen. Its looks a bit tricky and beonnd me.

Ive only really dont script programming (javascript, actionscript, ect) and the last time I did that, it was 2 years ago.

How do you send the info in the text file to the screen exactlly? How does it interface with MAME or your frontend?
I can probally come up with a zillion more questions. I recentally got a 15" monocrome LCD screen, that comes with its own special ISA card(for free ).

I was thinking of doing something like your idea with the text files, but either send text to it or a picture, like a pic of the origonal overlay or a generic pic just showing which button does what.

If you can understand my idea & can possibly help, please PM me, thanks in advance.

[JustMichael]

What if you set up windows to use 2 monitors (like 1 above the other) and then have the frontend use the bottom one (Mame too!) and display game instructions on the top monitor when you start a game or have the game selected for more than 3 seconds?

[LordDamo]

What if you set up windows to use 2 monitors (like 1 above the other) and then have the frontend use the bottom one (Mame too!) and display game instructions on the top monitor when you start a game or have the game selected for more than 3 seconds?

Yeah, thats the kinda Idea I was getting. Im just not sure what software to use to do this. As my LCD use's its own special video card, its easy to get it running two monitors (just plug it in).

Im just not sure how to send which application to what desktop, or what frontend I should use to do this. At the moment im running Win2k and Kymaera as my FE. What did you mean by Mame Tool?
Thanks 4 your input.

[JustMichael]

[quote authorWhat did you mean by Mame Tool?

Mame too! (It is an exclamation point after the "too")

[LordDamo]

Sorry, i'll look a little closer next time

[LordDamo]

Hmmm, are you able to provide a link for this? I tried googling for it. Do you realise how many times the word too appears the word mame in pages? Wowser. Sorry this is a little off topic for this thread. Any help you can provide is most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I was really hoping DinoRoger's project would get completed., but that guy just dropped off the face of the planet. Hope all is well...