More Atari LED Cone Button ?'s

[Paladin]

I just picked up some Atari cone buttons that all have a type of cone on them that I haven't seen before.

[JODY]

I'm working on a Tempest cab project and verified with someone that it does use the tall cones.

For the keyboard, I'd check with a volt meter.  Wouldn't assume anything.

[RayB]

Nintendo used the really flat cone buttons like that. Not sure if Atari ever did...

So you're going for a keyboard hack rather than using an encodeR?

[Paladin]

Partly due to saveing a few $$, and partly due to never having done it before.  I built two cabs with the IPAC and can't say enough about how good it is, but I had an old gameport Sidewinder that I wasn't using - so I cracked it open and wired it up.  Works great, gives me more inputs than I need and didn't cost me a cent.

That's what I love about this group!  You see everything from high dollar professional cabs with all the bells and whistles, to low buck home grown solutions.  Just take your pick of what works best for the current situation.

[JustMichael]

You can wire Atari volcano buttons (and leds) to the I-Pac.  I just followed the circuit diagram at http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac2.html.  The diagram is a little more than 1/2 way down the page.  Those are 220 ohm resistors in the diagram.

[Paladin]

Well, I never paid attention until now - MAME turns off the keyboard LED's when you start a game that doesn't use them.  Bummer, anyone know if it's difficult to change the source code so that it turns the LED's on instead?

I may have to choose between having the lights always on, or only on for supported games.  Unfortunately I don't think I have any supported games in the ROM set I'll be using on the cab.  It's a one joystick with two button machine, so I wasn't even planning on Centipede (trackball), Tempest (spinner), etc...

[Paladin]

Well, from the RGVAC crowd I have found out that the cones are problably from a Nintendo VS cabinet.

[JODY]

Why not bypass Mame and wire them up to constant power thus having them lit all the time?

[RayB]

Are they a vivid opaque red? Those don't light up anyway!

[Stormy151]

Are the actual lighted pushbuttons availiable new anywhere, or are they out of production?

[Samstag]

Are the actual lighted pushbuttons availiable new anywhere, or are they out of production?

Well, you can get them from this guy, if you want to pay $17 each!

I've been looking around for new switches that are even close to the right size, but so far haven't had any luck.

[RayB]

Occasionally there are auctions where they aren't too expensive.

Here's one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13716&item=6152294559&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Another two, but it's hard to tell if these light up:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13716&item=6152295961&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Occasionally there are lot sales, where it seems expensive, but per button it ends up cheap (use what you need, Ebay the rest):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6150424819&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

*BUT* The main "trick" I recommend is to search for auctions of Atari or Kee Games control panels! For example, I scored 3 lit Atari buttons (with aluminum cones) for $2 because the auction was really for a partially stripped Sprint 2 control panel.

~Ray B.

[Witchboard]

I do the same thing.  Most of the time the sellers will remove the buttons and just ship those if you ask.  I'm usually beat out though by somebody else.