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swappable control panels with minipac
sodapopinski:
I'm not shure why you can't have your mini-pac inside the conrtrol panel and just use the usb or ps/2 cable for swapping. Mabey i'm missing the point, but it would make changing them easy without touching the pins on the board.
Flinkly:
uh...soda, that would mean buying multiple minipacs for one single machine. now i'm not saying that this hobby is cheap, but that would be a little too much for most of us.
sodapopinski:
Thats true, guess I did'nt think about that. ??? I just got up. Another $100, my visa is maxed out from this project. Yah, a pin connector would be alot cheaper.
Lilwolf:
minipacs advantage is they are pre crimped and ready to go.
but you will have to redo this for each control panel hands down.
You might consider what other control panels you want to start off with and what controls you want.
If you want a trackball one + a few buttons. Well, you don't need the minipac... you just need a hacked mouse (but if you want the third button for missile command... you might have to ask if Oscar can sell one that he hasn't clipped the third button for the ground... he will understand)
If you want a steering wheel second same.
If you want an analog joystick / starwars / ect. You would want to look into a AKI... and that has 14 inputs..
IE, you might not (at this point) care to have access to the minipac on any control panels but your main.
If this is true... then put the minipac on the control panel and be happy.
greywolf22:
Lilwolf,
I remember this very topic coming out awhile ago with the tac strips...glad to see that you have found a way to make them work. Keep me in the loop when you plan to start selling this solution because I'd be VERY interested (so interested, that I might just make my swappable panels, but hold off on the input).