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Keyboard hack idea using an AND gate..
HoopstarsGarage:
I have been asked to build a cabinet for a friend which will only play the Donkey Kong series (DK, DK Jnr. & DK3)..
To keep costs down, I thought using a hacked keyboard would probably be ok.. the only thing that bugs me is not having the shift function as found on some of the better inferfaces out there - the major reason for this is as an "exit" from the current game button..
I thought about using an AND gate who's inputs are tied to say the Player 1 and Player 2 buttons.. pressing these two buttons together would output a high, which could then activate another key on the keyboard (ie. Escape)..
Has anyone ever tried this or can anyone see any problems with this??
Hoops
EDIT: I do NOT want to add any other buttons to the control panel or for that matter hidden buttons on the cabinet..
Lilwolf:
you don't need a special encoder or anything to do this. MAME handles it perfect.
button one - press the button and twice the 'shift' key. So it would look like this "Z" and not "S" (assuming the "Z" is the button 1 and "S" is the shift or other key)
then for exit press "Z" and then "S". So it will say "Z" and "S"
The trouble with not adding extra buttons is that you hit both player 1 and player 2 ALL the time. Any other combination you will also hit at times you really wish you didn't. Add a seperate shift key isn't bad... Or make a 3 key combination maybe.
Tiger-Heli:
I agree with Lilwolf, but:
I would put a dedicated pause button on the cabinet, then use it as a combo so P and another button would escape the game.
cbmeeks:
Your idea would work. The AND gate probably has 4 outputs so you could do something like:
Player1 Start + Player2 Start + Fire1 + Fire2
If you are going to the trouble of not adding another shift button or exit button for authenticity, then you would make the key combo complex or near impossible to accidently do.
If it were me, and I wanted to keep the CP lean, I would put a pause and exit button on TOP of the cab...out of eyesight.
cbmeeks
Chris:
--- Quote from: HoopstarsGarage on June 21, 2005, 01:49:49 am ---To keep costs down, I thought using a hacked keyboard would probably be ok..
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