Serial Display (LCD & BetaBrite) Plug-in for MaLa V1.0 *Finished*

[loadman]

Circo - would love to see some pics of the betabrite in action....

He tells me that the beta-brite is not changing colors. 

I will change my code and then it will look good for a vid

[Circo]

I am charging my camera.....

[Circo]

Circo - would love to see some pics of the betabrite in action....

He tells me that the beta-brite is not changing colors. 

I will change my code and then it will look good for a vid

After the changes that you made so far this is the betabrite in action:

[loadman]

Looks nice...   

Shoud we change it to say B1:  or But1: to save space instead?

[Circo]

I think B1 would be a good idea!

[swindus]

Looks great!

[edge]

Nice demo, circo.  What is the width of the betabrite?  Did you uncase it?  I think I need to add one to my Golden Tee cab.

[Circo]

i am at work right now do I do not have the dimensions on me, but it is 100% intact and mounted directly to the top of my cab.  I had to bend the mounting brackets a bit to get it to fit but it was just about perfect.  I wll put up some pics with the lights on so that you can see exactlt how it is mounted.

[loadman]

i am at work right now do I do not have the dimensions on me, but it is 100% intact and mounted directly to the top of my cab.  I had to bend the mounting brackets a bit to get it to fit but it was just about perfect.  I wll put up some pics with the lights on so that you can see exactlt how it is mounted.

I sent you a new version of the plug-in to your e-mail with the minor mods you requested...

Maybe update the video then? 

[Circo]

Ok here is the video of v4 of the plugin!!

[loadman]

Nice clapper on the video   

I felt like I was at my work (Television station)

After you play with it for a few weeks
Let me know what you do and don't like about the beta-brite Plugin
- Color
- Transitions
- Data

I will change for the next version where you will also get more custom options and scrolling on LCD for MaLa data

[cornishHen]

Will this work with parallel lcds or do you have to use the Mala Hardware/Led Wiz hack?

Thanks!

[loadman]

Will this work with parallel lcds or do you have to use the Mala Hardware/Led Wiz hack?

Thanks!

Mala Hardware/Led Wiz hack  ... Which gives you better options than my plug-in   

[Timoe]

Can it read text from a user defined location?

For example:  Say you want the betabrite to read through some instructions for menus after the Front End Loads.

Like "Select game with trackball"  "Press Menu Select button to Start Game", etc.



Here is a link to a thread in the HARDWARE section regarding the betabrite unit itself

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=65493.msg659050#msg659050

[loadman]

Can it read text from a user defined location?
For example:  Say you want the betabrite to read through some instructions for menus after the Front End Loads.
Like "Select game with trackball"  "Press Menu Select button to Start Game", etc.

You can already have Custom Data displayed on MaLa Start- See Attached Pic

Is that the kind of thing you mean?  When else would you want Custom data?

[jace055]

I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.  I have built a cabinet of my own and I am to the point where I need to pick the color scheme.  I am going to include a beta brite as the marque but i wanted to know if this plugin could select what color the text is displayed in.  Every video and picture I've seen of the beta brite in action shows multipule colors.  I would want solid red on every screen to match the cabinet.  Is this possible within the plugin? or on the display itself somewhere? 

[loadman]

I was wondering if you could answer a question for me.  I have built a cabinet of my own and I am to the point where I need to pick the color scheme.  I am going to include a beta brite as the marque but i wanted to know if this plugin could select what color the text is displayed in.  Every video and picture I've seen of the beta brite in action shows multipule colors.  I would want solid red on every screen to match the cabinet.  Is this possible within the plugin? or on the display itself somewhere? 

The software driving the BetaBrite determines the Colour

Custom colour selection is not yet possible in my plug-in but it can easily be done for the BetaBrite.

 It was always planned for the next version.  I will push it up my 'To Do' List

[Dave_K.]

Wow, I can't believe I just found this.  I've had a betabrite 1040-4402 EZII for a couple years acting as a sign in my gameroom.  Only today did I stumble across loadman's plugin while trying out the Mala front end.

So I went to the electronics store to get the parts and make the serial cable (as described here http://wls.wwco.com/ledsigns/alpha/cable.html), hooked it up, and it works!  Unbelievable!  For those who have the same model betabrite as me, the com port settings need to be set to 4800,E,7,1 to work.

I'll post more feedback as soon I figure out the LCD files for custom msgs.

[jace055]

I just received 2 perfect  betabrites from ebay!    After 4 hours and no sleep I have one working great.  I am using silver's lcd files.

However,  I connot seem to get the plugin to save the congfig to only use the Mala data.  I fill in the bubble and hit save then I close the program and I get the "I hope you saved" bit but on next open, it hasn't changed.  The Game select menu is also greyed out.  I can't select any options on it at all.  Did I miss something?

[loadman]

I just received 2 perfect  betabrites from ebay!    After 4 hours and no sleep I have one working great.  I am using silver's lcd files.

However,  I connot seem to get the plugin to save the congfig to only use the Mala data.  I fill in the bubble and hit save then I close the program and I get the "I hope you saved" bit but on next open, it hasn't changed.  The Game select menu is also greyed out.  I can't select any options on it at all.  Did I miss something?

Nope....  You are the first one to notice      

They will be finished in the next version 

[jace055]

I don't know if anyone has told you this but...

YOU ROCK!!!   

This is a great plug in!!  Thanks!!

[loadman]

I don't know if anyone has told you this but...

YOU ROCK!!!   

This is a great plug in!!  Thanks!!

Kewl ...  I have your e-mail so I will post you a 1.5 Beta soon......ish   

[jace055]

I would be more than happy to test.

[loadman]

I would be more than happy to test.

Attached

Can you confirm that every betabrite screen is RED? 

I don't have one   

[jace055]

I have had a chance to test.

The original:  During mala game select the text is red and always scrolls left to right.  While in game the text is red and scrolls from down to up.  When using silver's lcd files, the "in game" screens are multiple colors with random swipes and fades.

new plugin:  During game select the color is red with random swipes and fades.  Some of the built in transitions do have color that comes through like the fireworks and the rainbow fade.  During the game, its red and still scrolls bottom to top.  Silver's files are multiple color with random transition. 

hope this helps!

[loadman]

I have had a chance to test.

The original:  During mala game select the text is red and always scrolls left to right.  While in game the text is red and scrolls from down to up.  When using silver's lcd files, the "in game" screens are multiple colors with random swipes and fades.

new plugin:  During game select the color is red with random swipes and fades.  Some of the built in transitions do have color that comes through like the fireworks and the rainbow fade.  During the game, its red and still scrolls bottom to top.  Silver's files are multiple color with random transition. 

hope this helps!

Thanks for the feedback. I will look at the settings for the 'MaLa Data'

FYI I have no cotrol over color and transitions when you are using Silver's LCD files as that is built in to the file when you create them using his software.

[roger]

I know this is an old thread, just in case this has not be resolved yet and someone out there is interested, I have come across some code for the BetaBrite Prism (USB) display that could be intergrated into the Plug-in for MaLa.

http://www.industrologic.com/prissoft.htm

Take a look at the example PRISMMES.BAS to see how to talk to the display. The key is betabriteusb.dll, which is a talks to the BulkUSB driver. The DLL exposes a few simple methods such as USBBULK_Open, USBBULK_Close, USBBULK_Write, which is all that is needed to talk to the Prism.

The protocol is the same as for the BetaBrite Classic (RS-232) displays. I have successfully written a small application that sends files from Silverfoxy's LCDGen to the display. The only problem with these files is that the message format used there cause a 3 second delay from when the data is sent to when the display shows it. According the PRISMMES.BAS example, this can be overcome by sending a somewhat more complicated message with an embedded string file. Perhaps Silverfoxy can update his software to incorporate that.

[loadman]

I know this is an old thread, just in case this has not be resolved yet and someone out there is interested, I have come across some code for the BetaBrite Prism (USB) display that could be intergrated into the Plug-in for MaLa.

Sure,

Someone want to lend me one to test it? 

[Eddie_Brock]

Sorry for the thread necromancy...

I just came across this plug-in and thought it was a cool idea, and would be a great addition to the cabinet.
I've looked online and through the thread, and I wasn't able to find an answer to this:

Is it possible to have an LED display show the current high-scores in games? Similar to how they work on a Pinball machine, however for all the games? Maybe just the most recent high-scores, something to that effect.

[loadman]

Sorry for the thread necromancy...

I just came across this plug-in and thought it was a cool idea, and would be a great addition to the cabinet.
I've looked online and through the thread, and I wasn't able to find an answer to this:

Is it possible to have an LED display show the current high-scores in games? Similar to how they work on a Pinball machine, however for all the games? Maybe just the most recent high-scores, something to that effect.

Not without a lot of work, so don't hold your breath