Interfaces

[markt]

What are your suggestions for an interface, I am probably going to have two rotary joysticks, two Happ super joysticks, a trackball, a spinner and misc buttons.
I was looking at the Hagstrom ke72t and the ultimarc optipac.
Are these good choices?

[btp2k2]

Go with the Ultimarc MiniPac.

One board will cover your sticks, trackball and spinner, plus it uses a wire harness rather than having to cut and crimp everything by hand

[bamarquez226]

Or, go to www.groovygamegear.com, and check out the interfaces. You have a choice of keyboard, USB, or optical mouse.

[Jeff AMN]

I'm using the MiniPac, but the wiring harness is too short for my panel. I'm going to have to splice in longer wiring to get the project done. Other than that, I love the features of the encoder and all that it supports.

[Kaytrim]

Both Ultimarc and Groovy Game Gear (GGG) make excellent interfaces.  My personal preference are the ones from GGG.  You would need to get two interface cards from GGG a KeyWiz or GPWiz for the supers and buttons then an OptiWiz for your trackball and spinner.  The KeyWiz is a PS/2 keyboard encoder, the GPWiz is a gamepad encoder otherwise they perform the same function.  If you want an all-in-one solution go with the Mini Pac. 

The above will work for everything except the rotary sticks.  For your rotary joysticks there is only one solution currently, the rotary interface from Ulitmarc.  http://www.ultimarc.com/rotary.html

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[Tiger-Heli]

Here's a slightly out-of-date rundown by me of the various options: http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/index.htm

The above will work for everything except the rotary sticks.  For your rotary joysticks there is only one solution currently, the rotary interface from Ulitmarc.  http://www.ultimarc.com/rotary.html

I wasn't aware of that one.  The above is true for mechanical rotaries.  For Optical rotaries you need either a second Opti-Wiz or maybe use a DPDT switch to select between them and the spinner or trackball using either a single Opti-Wiz or Opti-Pac.

[Kaytrim]

Here's a slightly out-of-date rundown by me of the various options: http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/index.htm

Very interesting read.  I didn't spend the time needed to go through the entire document nor did I just gloss over it.  You cover all the options and wants for a MAME cab and give the best solution depending on what the purchaser wants.  I would suggest that you keep an eye out for the new GPWiz49 interface and 49-way stick.  Then do a comparison with the Ultimarc U360 and the new GGG 49way joystick and bring the above document up to date with the new interface.

[Tiger-Heli]

I would suggest that you keep an eye out for the new GPWiz49 interface and 49-way stick.  Then do a comparison with the Ultimarc U360 and the new GGG 49way joystick and bring the above document up to date with the new interface.

Thanks Kaytrim, the page has some notable omissions, especially the Opti-Wiz as well as the U360 and the Ultimarc Rotary Encoder that you mention, among a few others.  (The TOKN KB16 has also been revised (diodes are now pre-installed) since I last updated the page, but I still don't consider it a good value compared to the Ultimarc and GGG competing products.)

The biggest problem is I lack the time to properly maintain it, and I am too detail oriented to just slap the new product info up without flowing the data down through all the related paragraphs, and the page is a bit unwieldy as it is.

The other biggest problem is that (as I point out) - I have very little first hand experience with these devices, and don't have the time to wire up and test 15 or more different interfaces.  I have used the available manufacturer's data and user comments on BYOAC to develop my comments, but this approach lends itself to personal biases and some information that is not available until you actually use the product.

For example - The TOKN KB16 that I rip pretty hard in my testing originally got a great review on RetroBlast, and mixed reviews on the forum.  If KevSteele hadn't provided me with a reference board and I had to base all my info on TOKN's literature, the problems would never have been discovered.

I personally use a prototype KeyWiz encoder.  Until I actually got it, I thought Randy's obsession with Microprocessor speed was mostly hype and it wouldn't really be noticeable, but it's response is obviously faster than a standard keyboard would be.  I have little doubt that it is faster than the I-PAC's are also, but since I suspect the I-PAC's are also faster than a standard keyboard, not sure it makes much difference.  (RW example - Would it matter that a Hiyabusha is 5 mph top speed faster than a ZX-12, compared to a Ford Focus when driving at 55 on US freeways?)

Final example - The KeyWiz programming software is fairly slow.  Doesn't make much difference as I have a removable desktop controller so basically always use the default codeset, and usually wouldn't be a big deal on a full standup where it could be programmed at boot-up.  I have heard the Ultimarc software is SIGNIFICANTLY faster, but again, without having actual hardware, it's hard to really quantify any of those statements.

[BobA]

I'm using the MiniPac, but the wiring harness is too short for my panel. I'm going to have to splice in longer wiring to get the project done. Other than that, I love the features of the encoder and all that it supports.

I thought that that would be a problem but I think I will use terminal blocks or euro blocks as they are sometimes called to terminate the ends of the ribbon cable and extend my wires to the switches.   I think it looks alot neater then having many splices.  I also like the minipac very much.

[RandyT]

Final example - The KeyWiz programming software is fairly slow.  Doesn't make much difference as I have a removable desktop controller so basically always use the default codeset, and usually wouldn't be a big deal on a full standup where it could be programmed at boot-up.  I have heard the Ultimarc software is SIGNIFICANTLY faster, but again, without having actual hardware, it's hard to really quantify any of those statements.

Hey TH!

A new version of the software came out while you were away....things picked up quite a bit in that department, plus no more manual startup configurations.  You can still do it manually if you really want, but it's all "one-click" stuff on the main menu now 

You can download the new version for free at the website.

RandyT

[Tiger-Heli]

A new version of the software came out while you were away....things picked up quite a bit in that department, plus no more manual startup configurations.  You can still do it manually if you really want, but it's all "one-click" stuff on the main menu now 

Hi Randy,

I knew you were working on the new software, but I didn't know it was out yet.  I'll check it out!!!

However, I really wasn't criticizing your old software as much as making a point about my comparison pages.  I have tested your previous software and programming time was between 15-20 seconds under XP, IMS.  I have heard reports that the I-PAC software was somewhere in the 1-5 second range.  I can test your new version out, but I'm still relying on second-hand reports for the I-PAC speed (but I have neither the time, nor the incentive (beyond idle curiosity) to verify the I-PAC data.

Anyway, thanks for the updated software and for all your support of the BYOAC community.

[Tiger-Heli]

Tested out the new Keywiz software.  Question:  Is there still a “stealth” version of it like there was previously.  (I don’t think I’ll use it, but the pack-rat in me would like to have it just in case.)

Anyway, in the interest of brevity.  I did a fairly quick test of this.  First I tried to do a baseline, but I had moved my KeyWiz folder from my C:\ partition to the G:\partition and it no longer worked.  (Shows how often I re-program the KeyWiz . . . ).  I re-installed the version .99 software and it only would install to C:\keywiz, copied over my previous .kwz files and it worked fine.  Using a digital watch, load times (WinXP SP2) were 16 seconds (2 tests) from when the software popped up to when it closed (give or take 1 second either way between when I looked from the screen to my watch, etc.)

The new version allowed me to install it to G:\keywiz (or any other directory) like I wanted, looks a lot more polished, and load times were 8 seconds under the same conditions as above.  Literally half the time and the software has nice shortcuts to the virtual EEPROM and load at startup features, although for my usage I won’t need these, but it’s a nice touch.

Thanks for all the hard work, Randy!!!

[RandyT]

Tested out the new Keywiz software.  Question:  Is there still a “stealth” version of it like there was previously.  (I don’t think I’ll use it, but the pack-rat in me would like to have it just in case.)

No, but the stealth feature is now part of the regular program.  Just click on the Stealth option and the next time you boot, you will only see a very subdued progress indicator in the windows taskbar (if you have it set to be visible.)

FWIW, 98SE speeds have increased by the same amount and are now in the ~3 second range

RandyT

[Tiger-Heli]

No, but the stealth feature is now part of the regular program.  Just click on the Stealth option and the next time you boot, you will only see a very subdued progress indicator in the windows taskbar (if you have it set to be visible.)

Cool, I'll check that out!!!