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History of the keyboard hack
spystyle:
Hello there,
Any old-schoolers out there remember the roots of the keyboard hack? I am writing an article about it and this is what I came up with :
The keyboard hack is an 'old school' device, conceived back when keyboard encoders were $150. The average arcade builder had no alternative to making one.
However, it's pure speculation. Anyone remember the first keyboard hacks, perhapse who concieved it, maybe a pic?
Thanks,
Craig
JoyMonkey:
The place I first heard about making a Mame cabinet was the PC2Jamma project (put together by a fellow Irishman no less).
It was the first place I know of that talked about hacking a keyboard.
Brian Lewis (the original author of ArcadeOS, which to my knowledge is also the first piece of software specifically written to be used in a home PC driven arcade cabinet) wrote those pages sometime in 1998 (I think). Brian is no longer in the emulation scene, but you might be able to email him a few questions if you want.
There's probably an earlier reference out there somewhere, but this is the first I can remember. When I Mamed my first arade machine, a DIY keyboard hack was the only option available (to me at least, maybe people had started using encoders in the US).
Edit: The above text could be way off the mark. Back in the day, I was unaware of ArcadeControls.com, and I have no idea how long BYOAC has been going - maybe Saint would be the best person to ask about such historic developments.
saint:
DeCosa (http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_joyofjoys.htm) is the first one I recall, and was 1 of the reasons BYOAC was born. DeCosa spoke about his hack on Dave's Video Game Classics message boards way back in the day. I don't recall if MameHAM was a keyboard hack or not, but that was another early pioneer and another reason BYOAC was born. Shadow was the third that inspired me to start the site (http://web.archive.org/web/20001204081600/www.cs.ius.indiana.edu/AK/Brian/web_docs/pcarcade/intro.htm).
From "About this site" on the main page (http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_welcome.html):
The FAQ is maintained by saint. It began sometime in late 1997. I believe it was in mid 1997 that I was frequenting Dave's Video Game Classics message boards following a thread between a few guys about how great it would be to make arcade controls for computers. Three guys, Eric, Shadow & DeCosa did more than talk about it - they made it happen. All of them were kind enough to pass on instructions on how to duplicate their work.
There was a lot of discussion about the hows and whys and such, and I asked if maybe someone could compile it all and post it on a web site. Then I asked again a few days later... Then I got the hint, and voila - Build Your Own Arcade Controls was born :)
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Cheers!
--- saint
Stingray:
Hell, up until I discovered this board I thought I invented the keyboard hack. :)
-S
Thenasty:
I dunno if this count but I have started a Cabinet with C64 hack w/ custom menu I created and hack the joysticks to Arcade Joystick back in 1991. So my interest in building an Arcade cabinet was before MAME came along. That Cabinet happens to be Donkey Kong and I fitted a a 19" Television (throw away the original monitor Duh!!) in there (thats was tuff). I still got some pics of it too... I only manage to program my menu for 52 games and controlled by the Joystick and an A/B switch to switch between PORT A and PORTB of the joystick port. Some games the joystick must be in Port A and some on Port B. I also hack the Keyboard Input part because some of the CRACK games, it has trainers and you must push "y" or "n" etc..
I also hack the GAMES itself, instead of saying "F1 to Start" I changed it to "Press Fire to Start" etc... It was alot of work. I no longer have the C64 cabinet (I sold it) cause MAME came into my life. However, I still visit the person who bought it from me and help them with little problem they would have on it.