I-PAC the way to go?

[ProCon]

I have been eyeballing the I-PAC for quite some time now and I was wondering if it was the way to go?
What I want to do is have 1 trackball, 4 players with 8 buttons each, 1 joystick each (I think the 8 way or if something else will work for all games that is better let me know), and how many ever buttons I will need for other things. 

So the next obvious question would be what buttons besides the player buttons will I need?
I know I'll need a Shift, a Start, Reboot, Coin1-4, Player 1-4, and an Exit,

[ViciousXUSMC]

The I-PAC4 would be great for your buttons & joysticks but lacks support for the trackball.

The I-PAC2 has the player 1 start button as a shift button by default but you can change it.  I think the I-PAC4 gets 2 shift buttons (though both would do the same thing)  So you really do not need a dedicated shift button as the start button works perfectly it wont do anything in game if your already playing.

The default shift buttons were P1 Start+

P2 Start = Escape (exits mame)
P1 Left = tab (to navigate mame menus)
P1 Right = enter (to navigate mame menus)
P1 Up = tild (to enter master volume setting)
P1 Down = Key P (to Pause)
P1 Button1 = P1 Coin (and P1 coin is good for all players in most if not all games)

From there you can add as many more shifted keys as you need, but the default has worked perfectly for me so far.

Though since you need a trackball you should look at the Mini-Pac - http://ultimarc.com/minipac.html

It will support the trackball & 28 switches (enough for 2 joysticks and 8 buttons per player)

So looks like you have to choose I-PAC4 for all your buttons & joysticks and find a separate pcb for the trackball, or Mini-PAC and find a separate PCB for your other buttons & joysticks.

There may be an all in one device out there but I do not know of it off the top of my head.

[ProCon]

Alright,
Lets say that I bought the IPAC4 and the miniPAC.  Can they work simultaneously?
Or is there going to be more to mess with?

[ViciousXUSMC]

Alright,
Lets say that I bought the IPAC4 and the miniPAC.  Can they work simultaneously?
Or is there going to be more to mess with?

Yeah but the minipac is overkill just for a trackball, they make PCB just for that, that should cost less.

[Fordman]

I've used 4 I-PAC's in 4 different machines and they all work Great! 

I've made the use of the I-PAC's simplistic as possible because if you re-program the I-PAC after using each different emulator, then back to a front-end, it takes 3-5 seconds for re-programming and for some reason, that is just too long for some and if you move the joysticks or press any buttons during re-programming, then the re-programming fails.

I would get calls from my buddies or my nephew at 2:30am  (most were ignored) because the re-programming failed each time they ended the emulator session and the I-PAC went back to re-program itself for the front-end use and they couldnt wait 3-5 seconds. 

I have only made 2 player control panels, so here is what I did. I used the Ultimarc Interactive Panel Designer to reprogram the P1 joystick and buttons to:

P1 UP= Arrow Up
P1 Down = Arrow Down
P1 Left = Arrow Left
P1 Right = Arrow Right

P1 Start= 1
P1 Coin=5

P1 Button 1 = Q
P1 Button 2 = A
P1 Button 3 = Z
P1 Button 4 = W
P1 Button 5 = S
P1 Button 6 = X

Player 2 joystick & buttons:

P2 UP = I
P2 Down = M
P2 Left = J
P2 Right = K

P2 Start = 2
P2 Coin = 6

P2 Button 1 = T
P2 Button 2 = G
P2 Button 3 = B
P2 Button 4 = Y
P2 Button 5 = H
P2 Button 6 = N

Admin Button 1 = ESC (End Game)
Admin Button 2 = LCtrl (CP Wizard default 'Execute' button)
Admin Button 3 = P (Pause)
Admin Button 4 = R (Reset)

I programmed this button setting into all my emulators through each emulator buttons settings. Programmed the I-PAC 1 (ONE) time, and have never had a single issue since.

I tried to stay away from the shifts, Alt's, Ctrl's, Backspace, Spacebar and F# buttons because of what they do for each emulator and their functions within WinXP. I only use the LCtrl button because that is the default for CPWizard and I was just too lazy to change that. If I need to change something in any of the emulators, I just place a USB keyboard in the computer box and use the other keys (like TAB) as needed!

I used the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) method and every one is happy. My buddies and nephew dont need to know about save states, pic & movie recording and all the goodies MAME & all the other emulators offer! Hell ,the whole arcade concept is way over their heads anyway!