New Jukebox project

[welshmark]

Specs
The design is inspired by the mameroom.com wallmount, but I didn't use their plans

The computer is an old Compaq Deskpro EN (800Mhz I think) I got off ebay for $20 and stripped out of its case.

The monitor is an NEC 15" LCD I just bought off ebay for $25 specifically for this project

The speakers are an old set of Creative Inspire 2.1s - the subwoofer will be on the floor below the cabinet

The hard drive, extra memory, dvd drive, sound card and usb hub are from an old computer I built back in 2000 that finally died last year.

I will be running Windows ME (to be able to access my jumpdrive which I can't get to work under Windows 98).

It will use SK Jukebox for albums, Wincab Jukebox for singles and PowerDVD for playing movies

I have written a simple little perl program which runs on bootup and displays a menu asking the user which program to run.  Used the module Term::Readkey to remove the need for the enter key - just press button 1, 2 or 3.

Contemplated a mini keyboard, but decided I will use Happ horizontal pushbuttons instead.  To be purchased from groovygamegear.com at the same time as the keyWiz keyboard encoder (as soon as I figure out how many I need and the wife which color combinations she likes).


Day 1
Cut out the sides, sanded them down and batoned them.
Fitted the base and the top and clamped overnight

Day 2
Cut out the first three pieces for the front and worked out the angles (bottom piece will hold the speakers and fan, the top piece will be my control panel)
Cut out the holes in the bottom front piece for the speakers and the LED case fan

Things to Ponder

• The Compaq Deskpro motherboard has a proprietary power connection so I have to use the supplied power supply, but the connector is roughly 2 inches long.  Need to figure out a layout to accomodate that
• The power button seems to be a physical push button to a microswitch.  Think if I can position the motherboard correctly near one of the sides, I can use a happ horizontal pushbutton (minus its microswitch) to activate it
• I want the speakers to be flush or slightly protruding as shown, but I need some way of disguising the cut.
• Does the KeyWiz keyboard encoder support key combinations as buttons?  For example, Power DVD uses a combination of <control> and various other keys as shortcuts.  Haven't found any way of overriding these
• The best way to secure the monitor.  Have a couple of ideas
• A name for the beast.  Still pondering that one....

Ok, I'm off to design my control panel (19" x 6.5" to play with - anyone know of a good source to print clear labels for the buttons?).  Meanwhile, here's some pictures of the first two day's construction.

[leapinlew]

Looking good. Be sure to test booting up that compaq without a keyboard attached.

[welshmark]

Hmm, good point.  Tried that and discovered it will not boot up without the keyboard attached.  Can I assume that connecting the KeyWiz keyboard encoder to the ps2 port will bypass this problem?  Guess if it doesn't I could always figure out something with a keyboard splitter.

[leapinlew]

ahh, cool. The keywiz will do it.

I was afraid you had a USB keyboard encoder or no keyboard encoder at all. You can also apply this compaq patch to fix the issue:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=60017.msg599593#msg599593

[jmricker]

....anyone know of a good source to print clear labels for the buttons?).

One idea you can use is clear mailing labels. You should be able to find them any office supply store.

Joel

[leapinlew]

....anyone know of a good source to print clear labels for the buttons?).

One idea you can use is clear mailing labels. You should be able to find them any office supply store.

Joel

I didn't even notice you posted that question... Check out MikeDeuce. I've used him and it's great.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=49291.0

[welshmark]

Thanks for the tips guys.  Got a bit more done tonight - framed out the back panel (a large portion of it will swing open and provide easy access to the inside) and starting thinking about my options for the monitor and marquee.  Probably not going to be doing too much for the next few days as I'm running a marathon on Sunday.  Did order my stuff from groovygamegear.com though, so I'll probably spend some time playing with my new toys.  Here's my control panel design - think that should cover all my options (the blank purple button?  Haven't quite decided on that one yet).

[fredster]

You could run a USB hub to the outside as a keyboard or auxillary hookup in case you needed it.

I think you can run a USB keyboard and a regular keyboard at the same time.

[welshmark]

Yes, I think that's what I'm going to do.  I have an old 3.5" front mounted usb hub which I'm going to put on one of the side panels along with my dvd drive.  The dvd drive is an old pioneer slot drive (as opposed to the tray variety) so I can mount it on its side.  Probably recess them a little and have a little access door to get at them.

[Karaokedude]

Hmm, good point.  Tried that and discovered it will not boot up without the keyboard attached.  Can I assume that connecting the KeyWiz keyboard encoder to the ps2 port will bypass this problem?  Guess if it doesn't I could always figure out something with a keyboard splitter.

I have a compaq and with the keywiz connected get a press F1 message
if you go ito the bios theres an option to disable the checjking for a keyboard

[welshmark]

Latest pictures of the jukebox project.  Got it up and running for a dinner party last night, and it was a big hit.  Still need to glue the front panels down,  putty and paint, and design the marquee (the piece of wood above the monitor is a temporary placeholder).  Waiting for the marquee retainer I ordered to arrive.  Went back to using car speakers in the end and powered them via a hacked computer speaker amp - they sound surprisingly good.

It powers on and off via a pushbutton on the side with the microswitch disconnected and the plastic tab modified to make the connection.

Thinking of something to name the beast and put on the marquee.  Here are my ideas - at the moment, my favourite is the first one:

Gavin a Blast (after my 2 year old)
Midnight Rumbler
Haunted Highway
Daydream Receiver
The Juke's on You

Now the hard part - having to take it apart and do without it while I finish it off and paint!!!

[welshmark]

It's finished!! 

Actually it's been up and running for a while - just spent a bit of time designing the Marquee and then waiting for it to be printed by mamemarquees.com (it arrived today - well worth the wait too).  Couldn't resist the urge to add some classic Mame games to the juke (pacman, frogger and that ilk - the crappy graphics card won't handle much more).

Things I've Learnt

• It's well worth the time to plan everything out before you start, but be flexible and willing to change things as you go along
• Glue guns are awesome and a lot of fun
• It is very difficult to find black 1/2" wood screws
• Take photographs as you go along.  They're great fun to look back on
• Spend a bit of time on the marquee - it makes a huge difference to the look.  Mamemarquees did a fantastic job printing it
• 2 year olds will very quickly learn how to turn it on and off, even if you hide the button at the side
• The Keywiz Eco solder version is an awesome product.  I've never soldered before, but wanted a challenge.  I was convinced I'd burnt out the board, but all 31 buttons worked first time.  Still, discovered I don't like soldering - next time I'll buy the max version!!!
• Cable ties are wonderful things

Here are a couple of pics of the finished product (well, finished except for button labels).

[leapinlew]

It's done well - it's hard to get that many buttons lined up straight. Speaking of - all those buttons look intimidating. Hows end user feedback?

[Barry Barcrest]

IMHO 31 buttons is way over the top  Also what software is that? Is it silverjuke? I'm just wondering becasue it's hard to see why you would need so many buttons to control the thing.

[DrewKaree]

• It is very difficult to find black 1/2" wood screws

They seem to sell them in 2 pound boxes by the boxload at the Home Depot near me.

[welshmark]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  It does seem like a lot of buttons (sheepish grin), but bear in mind only a small number of them run the jukebox part of this.  The software in the pics is Wincab, and it also runs SK Jukebox.  There's a dvd player stashed in the side which plays movies under PowerDVD, and quite a few of the buttons are specifically for that - changing audio track, skip forward, reverse, root menu, pause etc etc.  It's also eventually going to run a recipe utility and database I have yet to write.

Used a little trick to get the buttons lined up - I designed the template in Paint Shop Pro, printed it out in real size and clamped it to the mdf to get my pilot holes.  Once I had those, it wasn't a problem.

As for user feedback - my wife has no problem with it.  The jukebox functionality is basically controlled by the buttons on the right hand side.  A B C D and coin on the top and the white buttons are the numerics.  The 4 blue in the center are your up, down, left and right and that's it.  Works for me!!!

[DrewKaree]

Also what software is that? Is it silverjuke?

Silverjuke or WinCab

[Barry Barcrest]

Also what software is that? Is it silverjuke?

Silverjuke or WinCab

Yep, Wincab.. He said.

How do you switch between programs on there then without a trackball or mouse?

[DrewKaree]

I have written a simple little perl program which runs on bootup and displays a menu asking the user which program to run.  Used the module Term::Readkey to remove the need for the enter key - just press button 1, 2 or 3.

Contemplated a mini keyboard, but decided I will use Happ horizontal pushbuttons instead. 

[welshmark]

Yep, Perl is pretty cool for setting up stuff like that really quickly.  Select an option and it simply threads out to whatever application I specify.

[MPTech]

Your project looks GREAT!   In fact, it's very similar to what I'd like to build and you've further inspired me to begin.

Can I ask:
did you dismantle and mount your PC to the cabinet?  how do you access it? I was considering some hidden cabinet hinges on the left-side, such that the back would be mounted to the wall and the whole cab would swing open.
(do you have any PICs of the interior?

What are your overal measurements? (trying to estimate the actual sie, heighth, width, depth) Do you have plans that you would share?

Any tips for what you would avoid or do differently?

Again, excellent job, it looks REALLY nice!!

Thanks, MPTech

[Space Fractal]

Personlly it far too many buttons, and should maybe smaller buttons for the admin things, or just move to them to remote controller?

But anyway, I guess label them would just been fine, since it do have a well strutured button setup  .

[welshmark]

Thanks Space Fractal/Denmark.  My father-in-law liked the look of the final version and asked me if I could build him a more old-fashioned looking one.  Have a few ideas, and since he would only use Wincab that may be good therapy for my "button fetish".   

Thanks for your comments MPTech.  I don't have too many pictures of the inside, but I've attached what I have.  To answer your question, the dimensions are as follows:

height : 36"
width : 20"
depth : 11" at its deepest, tapering to 5" at the top and 8" at the base

I did dismantle the PC originally, but the Compaq Deskpro I used has a proprietary power connector to the motherboard with a REALLY short cable.  It was a real pain to figure out what to do with it so I ended up partially recasing it - that was a lot easier.  I secured the case (minus the top) on its side at the bottom of the cab and built a liftout shelf above it to put the caged hard drive, dvd drive and usb port on one side, and the speaker volume controls on the other (see pics).

Since I'm not mounting it on the wall, I made an access door in the back with a sliding bolt to keep it closed.

I did draw out a cutting diagram in Paint Shop Pro before I started (the design part was a lot of fun), and I have a few design sheets detailing the batoning of the side pieces and things like that.  I've been meaning to put together some more detailed step-by-step guides, but I've emailed you what I have at the moment - may give you some ideas.

Hmm, what would I do differently?  I'm actually pretty pleased with the way it turned out.  I do remember getting frustrated with a few things - the biggest one being the soldering.  Next time I will definitely spend the extra money and get a no-solder keyboard encoder.  I remember being worried about heat inside the cabinet, but I installed an LED fan between the speakers near the bottom of the case and put a few vent holes in the back.  The slight upward angle is perfect and heat has never been a problem for me.  Looks cool too.

[MPTech]

emailed me? I didn't see anything, can you try again? (my spamfilter may have eaten it)

So you don't have it mounted to a wall?  Does it free-stand OK?  My reason for asking it=s that my friend wants to build one with me (we built 2 MAME cabs last year), but he soesn't want to mount his to the wall.  If it's free-standing, that design may work for both of us!

i've kinda decided to go with a 17" flat panel, as opposed to a 17" touch-screen monitor, due to the size / weight / looks.  Is that what you used?

[Barry Barcrest]

i've kinda decided to go with a 17" flat panel, as opposed to a 17" touch-screen monitor, due to the size / weight / looks.  Is that what you used?

You keep saying this, what exactly do you mean? A 17 Flat Panel will look the same if it is Touch Screen or Not. How much extra weight do you think the actual touchscreen part adds, i doubt you could tell the difference by holding them in your hands.

[welshmark]

Yes, it's very stable freestanding.  I used a 15" flat panel, but a 17" should work just as well.  I had quite a bit of room left over at the sides, and if you need to you could always change the width of the cross pieces from 19" to 20 or 21.  You could also design a smaller control panel than I used - that would give you a little extra height without taking anything away from the marquee.

[MPTech]

Welshmark, thanks for responding.
Free-standing will be great news for my build partner!  I PM'd you.
I don't want to hi-jack your post.

Barcrest,

You keep saying this,

I do?  I counted once. 

maybe it's terminology, the only touch-screens I've seen in this forum are Monitors, I'm assuming there are touch-screen panels as well, but haven't seen anyone in here use them (maybe I missed the post).
Tthe difference between a Panel and a Monitor is significant. A Flat-Panel is about 2" deep, a Monitor (ie: CRT, Picture Tube, etc) is over a 15" deep and weighs a hellava lot more.  Sorry if I confused you.
 

[Barry Barcrest]

Ah you assumed they were all CRT? All the new ones are flat panels... Admittedly they do cost a fair bit more but for the coolness factor you can't beat them.

[MPTech]

OK, I think we were talking past each other. 

Yeah, admittedly, it is cooler, but cost is one issue, I also prefer the buttons because I think it has more of a nostalic touch "selecting" with a push button.  (I know, the irony of "Nostalgic buttons", with a Flat Panel display).

I considered it and may change my mind later, but for the moment I've decided non-touch screen.

[(+_+)]

Yep, Perl is pretty cool for setting up stuff like that really quickly.  Select an option and it simply threads out to whatever application I specify.

Ahhh Perl. Regexes and TIMTOWTDI. I miss those days.

Nice job on the Jukebox. Are the buttons going to be labeled so guests can navigate?

[welshmark]

Yes, several ways indeed.  Thanks +_+.  Yes, the buttons are going to be labelled, mostly along the lines of the control panel template picture I attached many posts ago.  Just haven't got round to doing it yet.  Need to stop listening to my new toy long enough to go and get it done.