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Keyboard Hack

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Searcher7:
I have a bunch of MS Sidewinder gamepads.

As for hacking, are these adequate for games like Gunsmoke(8-way joystick, 3-fire buttons,2-start buttons)?

How about Mario Bros. or Joust?(Both of which use two 2-way joysticks, 1(jump/flap) button, and 2-start buttons)?

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Searcher7@mail.con2.com

Tiger-Heli:
Keyboard hack how-to is here: http://www.mameworld.net/emuadvice/keyhack2.html

Saint, could you add a link to this on the main page.  It gets asked a lot!!!  I wrote it, BTW.

Having said that, I agree with all the I-Pac comments.  A keyboard hack can work perfectly for 2 players and 6 buttons each (see the write-up), but it is not configurable (you are stuck with only a few keys available per button), is a lot of work, and if it ever breaks or you mess up the traces when soldering, you must redo the entire process.  An encoder is well worth the money for the convenience and utility they provide.

WiZeR:
GAH!

You've convinced me.. !!

I-PAC it is!

Thanks guys :P

Zipper:
You will not be dissapointed.
I'm a bit like yourself - building something like a MAME cab is half the fun, and the i-pac is taking all the fun out of building a control intercace.

But keyboard hacking is not fun  :(
Unless you're lucky, or do specific research on particular keyboards. You could end up throwing the whole lot in the bin.

Andy Warne is a great bloke too. Good support and amazingly cheap prices.

Hrothgar The Great:
 Going with the I-PAC is a good idea; my controller now has one inside... However, my controller originally cost about $90-$100 to build, and that was WITHOUT the additional $45 cost of an I-PAC.  I used a gutted Gateway 2000 kb in the original model, and I've got to tell you, you guys saying it's expensive are dead wrong.  I spent exactly $0 on the keyboard and needed NO additional equipment to make it work correctly.  

 This is not to say that it was without its little problems.  I managed to set up the matrix for 26 inputs (2 4-way joysticks, 6 buttons each, 2 coins, 2 starts, and two extra function buttons for reset, pause, etc...) It worked decently, but I'm pretty sure I burned the kb controller a bit whilst soldering, since the letter 'F' started to appear at random from the damn thing after I'd used it for a few weeks.  This threw a monkey wrench into my whole matrix plan, but I eventually routed around the damage.  Still, it was really fun to do, believe it or not... I finally opted for the I-PAC route to get rid of those small annoying problems I was having (the random F's would cause my computer to beep while nothing was running - or select whichever file on my desktop that happened to start with F).  Anyway, you'll have made a wise decision - but missed out on all of the fun! (I'm not kidding).

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