Main > Project Announcements
Arcade Bones (Marquee & Dashboard graphics finalised)
Bones:
Blessed with another rainy day in Sydney I decided now would be a good time to finalise the wiring on my dashboard pot/volume control.
I used an old computer to set everything up and wired a "pot testing" rig.
It took some time to wire as the concept was still new to me and I was working things out as I went. Despite reading the tutorials I still struggled with the concept, something unnatural about about having three wires when my brain kept telling me I only needed two....
When I was finished wiring it the way I thought was correct, I fired everything up and popped in a John Couger CD. I instantly had sound and the volume control worked!
My jig looks pretty crappy and I am sure the audiophiles with cringe with discomfort but it works fine, there is no crackling or static in the speakers so I might just leave everything as is rather than re-wire it.
It was quite a buzz to hear sound coming out of my cabinet for the first time and it put a stupid smile on my dial. A great bonus is the speakers sound heaps better than they did when I first purchased and tested them, I think it's has something do with their mounted position and the closer proximity to my skull. Either way, I am real pleased with toady's outcome.
I will put a graphic together on the wiring for my cab sound system when time allows.
Bones:
--- Quote from: BrokenBones on November 27, 2005, 02:09:32 am ---I will put a graphic together on the wiring for my cab sound system when time allows.
--- End quote ---
Much of the original wiring information was gathered from here and Oscar deserves the full credit.
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/volume
*Edit- Pic labels updated.
Bones:
Today I picked up my new cab PC. It has been built with the following specs;
3.0GHz Celeron CPU
1024Mb RAM
160Gb IDE HDD
DVD Rom
1.44Mb floppy (I didn't order this, looks like it was thrown in as a freebie!)
ArcadeVGA
*Ruuning XP
I also supplied the PC shop with a little plug (the same type I mounted on the rear of my CP for the coin mech connections), this little plug has been wired to the motherboard thingy where the on/off power button would normally connect to and has been externally mounted on the PC.
The idea is I just connect a microswitch into this plug so I can turn the PC on/off from a more convenient location, in this case from underneath my CP via a switch I will recess. The reason for a plug is so...well so I can unplug it easily if I need to remove the computer in the future!
At the moment I have not wired up the connecting plug so I have to turn the PC on by making the connection with a rusty old nail.
Many will say the computer is overkill, but I will only partly agree. I went this way because I didn't see the point in installing an older computer that could handle MAME, but would struggle with newer games. Right now I have a dedicated computer that should suffice for a few years and run most things I throw at it.
I have also been buying computers from this guy for 15 years and I got it for such a good price the decision was an easy one.
Bones:
Being excited to crack the PC's cherry was met with some initial video card problems. When first switched on the display looked horrible. The colours were wrong, the screen was flickering, this was not what I expected to see.
After some fiddling and several cigarettes, the problem was fixed by running some of the Ultimarc programs I downloaded from their web page.
Firstly I ran cat-uninstaller.exe to remove any previous ATI drivers.
Next I ran the supplied Ultimarc disc with the correct ArcadeVGA driver.
Finally everything came right after running the AVGA_TriSync.exe utility.
All I can say is WOW. The display looks bloody great!
Today I also purchased a 20 meter network cable so I could reach my PC office router and register the operating system. I also finally worked out how to network the cab PC to my office PC for easy file sharing, a process which is still running.
grueinthebox:
Was that a 10k ohm pot you used for the volume?