| Main > Project Announcements |
| Paul's Modular Control Panel |
| << < (8/14) > >> |
| Paul Olson:
I have been working on this quite a bit lately, but I haven't gotten very far. A nasty virus actually killed my harddrive, so I started over with a fresh install. I tried to upgrade MAME to .125, but my computer can't handle Donkey Kong on that version, so I dropped back to .120. I decided to try Ultimarc's new U-HID. The wiring on my CP is now much easier to manage. Old: New: I am still working on configuring everything. Joysticks, buttons, spinner, and my Happs trackball are working great. My 360 wheels and wico trackball are not compatible, so I will need to try different optical cards, or rewire my optipac. I still don't have any analog panels made up, so I haven't tested those yet. I think I am really going to like this encoder once I get everything working right. I have been working on a layout for mala. Here is a screenshot of what I have so far: I am going to use definables in mala to display the right panel for each game. I hope it works good, because that is going to be a lot of work, I think. I was planning to buy a Happ 2 1/4" trackball for centipede, but my 3" works really well, so I think I will save a little money. |
| Paul Olson:
wbassett - sorry, I forgot to post pics of how the panels are mounted. The panels sit on top of 2 pieces of unistrut; one at the top, one at the bottom. I use socket cap screws to screw the panel down into the unistrut nuts. The nuts can slide anywhere along the length of the strut, but I try to add nuts for any panel layout and just leave them in position; it speeds up the swaps quite a bit. Here is a pic of everything that goes into making and attaching a panel: The unistrut and nuts are mounted in the cp as seen here: I just use a T-Handle hex wrench to tighten the panels down. The panels are all wired with cat 5 patch cables, and the plug into a patch panel mounted in the back of the cp. I haven't labeled any of the plugs on the panel yet, mostly because I change things a lot. Since I switched to the U-HID, I am now using 3 ports for player 1, 3 for player 2, and 1 for the start button panel. 2 coin buttons and a pause button are wired directly from the encoder to the buttons mounted in the bottom of the CP. These buttons are shifted so I also have esc, tab, and enter. Please let me know if I need to explain anything better. I am in the (slow) process of writing a documentation site for this project, and I want to explain it well. Paul |
| huygens:
Nice design! I'm working on a modular panel myself. About the Tapper tap control, the base is the same as used on Galaga, Galaxian, Mappy, and Driving Force, just with only one switch mounted. The manual has an exploded view of the controller. |
| BASS!:
--- Quote from: pcolson on July 11, 2008, 04:36:47 am ---I have been working on this quite a bit lately, but I haven't gotten very far. A nasty virus actually killed my harddrive, so I started over with a fresh install. I tried to upgrade MAME to .125, but my computer can't handle Donkey Kong on that version, so I dropped back to .120. I decided to try Ultimarc's new U-HID. The wiring on my CP is now much easier to manage. Old: New: I am still working on configuring everything. Joysticks, buttons, spinner, and my Happs trackball are working great. My 360 wheels and wico trackball are not compatible, so I will need to try different optical cards, or rewire my optipac. I still don't have any analog panels made up, so I haven't tested those yet. I think I am really going to like this encoder once I get everything working right. I have been working on a layout for mala. Here is a screenshot of what I have so far: I am going to use definables in mala to display the right panel for each game. I hope it works good, because that is going to be a lot of work, I think. I was planning to buy a Happ 2 1/4" trackball for centipede, but my 3" works really well, so I think I will save a little money. --- End quote --- I have seen a lot of wiring jobs on this site, and this has to be one of the most epic examples that I have seen. Hats off to ya if it all ends up working :applaud: |
| Twin-X:
Clever idea using a patch panel. I still have 1 lying around. Nice for a future project. Looks real profesional. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |