best way to make switchable Controls?

[Brian]

As I continue to see things that i want to add to my control panel (Oscar Steering wheels, spinners, 4-way joystick, trackballs, etc) I am thinking that making switchable control panels might be the way to go. I am probably going to be using ArcadeFX for my frontend, but Raging Dragon and Emulaxian are still possibilities. I do not really have any programming skills Knowing this, I have a few things I have not been able to determine, and would appreciate any help:

1. Can this be done On-the-fly (with PC still on)?

2. What is the best way to connect them?

3. Can two steering wheels be used at once? What about trackballs?

4. Any other tips/suggestions/ideas?

[Jonathan_the_Red]

1. Can this be done On-the-fly (with PC still on)?

Yes.

2. What is the best way to connect them?

One slick way is to buy a cable that has identical connectors but with different genders at the ends. Buy.com sells a whole bunch of male-to-female monitor cables (15-pin), keyboard cables (6-pin) and printer cables (25-pin) for like $1.99 each. Cut the cable in half and strip away a few inches of the outer insulation from the cut ends. You'll be left with a fan of wires. Connect the wires from one half of the cable to your controls, connect the wires from the other half to your interface (I-PAC, Hagstrom, or whatever). Now, to connect the panel to the interface, just plug the male and female connectors together. They disconnect just as easily.

3. Can two steering wheels be used at once? What about trackballs?

I think so, although you may have to use Analog MAME or some other build. Your best bet for this sort of interface is USB.

4. Any other tips/suggestions/ideas?

I use velcro to hold down my panel to my control box. Cheap, easy, and seems to work pretty well

See my page for a highly-unfinished example of a removable control panel. I hope to have more completed pictures up this weekend.

[SirPoonga]

As I continue to see things that i want to add to my control panel (Oscar Steering wheels, spinners, 4-way joystick, trackballs, etc) I am thinking that making switchable control panels might be the way to go. I am probably going to be using ArcadeFX for my frontend, but Raging Dragon and Emulaxian are still possibilities. I do not really have any programming skills Knowing this, I have a few things I have not been able to determine, and would appreciate any help:

1. Can this be done On-the-fly (with PC still on)?

2. What is the best way to connect them?

3. Can two steering wheels be used at once? What about trackballs?

4. Any other tips/suggestions/ideas?

1) Yes.  Read on about my plan for my cab.

2) Again, read on.

3) Yes, with windows95/98/ME and analog mame (urebelscum.speedhost.com)

4) readon

What I am doing with my cabinet.
First, my control panels are removable.
My main control panal is the one seen here:
http://levin.jonas.com/images/cabinet1.jpg
The trackball and spinner are USB.  They will get plugged into a USB hub mounted just inside the cabinet.
The rest is hooked to an IPAC just inside the cabinet.  Used a 25 pin connector
http://kevin.jonas.com/images/ipac.jpg

NOW, my second control panel will have tron|battlezone|rotory joystick|qbert type controls.  They will all either be using the ipac or usb.

My thirs right now will be pinball, and maybe steering wheel panel.

Now, since my usb hub has 4 ports I plan on doing this:
I am extending two ports to theshelf in front of my monitor.  This will come in REAL handy having usb ports accessable from the outside world.  I can hook up a keyboard and mouse for pc games.  I also have two USB gamepads that can be used for the rare occurance of 3 or 4 players then.  Now if Act Labs comes out with the USB gun I can use those ports too for that:)

Note, my hub and ipac are in the cab, not the cp.
YOU COULD put a usb hub in each control panel and a usb ipac in each control panel and use just ONE usb cord to hook to the pc.  A 4 port usb hub (the one I'm using) is $9.

[lo_cash]

2. What is the best way to connect them?

I made my own 25-pin D-sub connections.  The parts came from http://www.altex.com.  You will need a male and a female d-sub crimp shells and male and female crimp pins.  I am going to redo this in the future using (2) 15-pin connections, 25 is not enough.

[ErikRuud]

I used strategicaly placed wooden blocks to hold the interchangeable part of my CP panel down.

I have posted photos on My Arcade Page

I would also reccomend looking at Jelloslugs Arcade site for some great examples of modular controls and connections.  I will be adapting his ideas for my CP in the future.

[Dan]

I mounted cabinet fasteners on either side of my control box.  Ya know, the kind that have two rollers with a spring on one side and the v-shaped piece of metal on the other.  It makes a nice satisfying "snap" into place.  I'm also thinking about putting some velcro strips around the perimeter to secure it better because the cabinet fasteners have some give in either direction (which is good for making little adjustments to make sure it's flush against the bezel).  BTW, the interchangeable panels are for my ArcadePC!  The enclosure is done.  I just need to design and wire-up some panels and then I'll submit my project to this site.

Dan

[telengard2]

I've got swappable panels that are metal.  This adds
some stability but makes them a pain to create.  I've
got the details on how I did it at my site.   Also I used
molex connectors rather than DSub connectors.  IMO
they're easier to crimp etc.

http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~bsturk/mame.html

[1UP]

Two words: rotating panels!



This is a test platform for my 3-sided CP that's going into my cab.  It's missing the Star Wars/analog panel in this pic (I'll post a complete pic later.)

At this time, it contains two 8-way trigger sticks, 3" trackball, up/down spinner, 2 happ Super 8-ways, 1 Pac Man type 4-way, a Star Wars yoke, and an add-on platform with 2 T2 guns (this will be made into a pull-out drawer under the monitor).  Yet to be added are an F-15 Talon analog stick, throttle control, and pinball flipper buttons.  All the unused controls will be automatically hidden behind the front coin-door panel, and everything is connected and ready to go at all times.  Most everything interfaces thru USB, so they would be hot swappable if need be.  And there will be a USB hub mounted under the monitor bezel for additional controls.  Also, each panel can be easily hinged up for maintenance.  Works great so far, can't wait to build the final product!  

[ErikRuud]

Too me, rotating panels seem to take up too much space.

One of the things that I really like about Jello Slugs modular system, is that you can easily rearrange the pieces to suit the player.

[Agent Davis]

There are about as many different opinions on this topic as there are members of this community.  There really is no "best way" at all and its one of those things that you just have to find out what suits you best.  With that said, I won't stop there and leave you with the typical "do what suits you best" message, but offer to you what I think are the best ideas.

Frankly, if you are going to make swappable cp's you MUST make them so that it is done extremely easy.  The reason I say that is if it is a hassle to swap the panels then you aren't going to do so, and you'll just wish you had a more "all-in-one" panel.  If you are going to have swappable panels, have one connector to plug, unpug, lift panel, replace panel.  The velcro idea is very good.

On that same note, I'm not a big fan of "all-in-one" panels.  They are too cluttered, big, and things just get in the way.  Again, personal preference.  However, I also wouldn't like to have a panel for virtually every different type of control, leaving you with 4 or 5 different panels that you have to swap every time you want to switch games.  These also take a long time to build and you also have to store them somewhere when not in use.

The key is to find a happy medium between number of panels (or modular inserts) and controls on each.  IE:  The fewer panels with the most controls without getting "cluttered," the best.

This is vital:  Combine your buttons with as many controls as possible.  Too many people use too many unnecessary buttons.  If you have a panel with 2 joys and 6 buttons each and you have a trackball and a spinner on that panel too, there is no need for any extra buttons.  Just use the same buttons for each control!

I hope that this gives you a good guideline, and if you need any further help, just ask away!

AD

[Agent Davis]

Also,

To answer your questions:

http://www.mamecab.com/Howtos/How%20to%20Make%20Swap%20CP.htm

1.  You can swap controls on the fly though its generally not recommended that you do so with the ps2 mouse port.  Not sure if it really matters though.

2.  Use the link above.

3.  Two steering wheels can be used at the same time AND it doesn't have to be through Analog Mame.  Analog Mame is a good option but you can also make one wheel ps2 and one serial or both serial.  You can also (best solution) wire two wheels to just one mouse, using each of the axies.

4.  Above.

[screaming]

All of these seem to be really great suggestions, but seem to leave out one specific detail:

  *how* do you wire <insert connector with 4/5/6/7/8 wires here> to about 100 wires coming off the CP (take a look at the crude pic)?

  I have an I-PAC/4. I don't want to have to buy more I-PACs for every CP I build, so that leaves me with having to install some kind of connector in-between the controls and the I-PAC..

[tmasman]

All of these seem to be really great suggestions, but seem to leave out one specific detail:

  *how* do you wire <insert connector with 4/5/6/7/8 wires here> to about 100 wires coming off the CP (take a look at the crude pic)?

  I have an I-PAC/4. I don't want to have to buy more I-PACs for every CP I build, so that leaves me with having to install some kind of connector in-between the controls and the I-PAC..

Wow... Went digging up some old threads...

Anyhow, you basically use connectors with enough... um... connections.
Like using 1 or 2 printer cables. a single printer cable has 25 pins.
Or you can go with other cables / connectors that have more.

The general idea is to have as few connection points coming from a CP as possible when you've got swapable panels. So 2 Parallel cables hacked might do it for you. Or you could find a centronix (I think that's right) cables... They've got like 36+ wires in them. Just look around for "extension cables" with lots of connections. Then just cut it in half & wire one side to the IPAC/OPTIPAC and the other side to the control panel.

[Lilwolf]

use what you have around.  Or what you can get cheap.

I went with 25pin serial cables.  Why?  I had a TON around (for backplate on computers that never got installed).

Also consider getting some cheap serial cables (there IS a name for a serial cable that all 24 pins go end to end... normal serial cables only use 9 I think)...

On ebay, you can also get a few normal ones (that you cut in 1/2) and a bunch of male-male or female-female.   Because one side will not be used on each control panel.

My latest trouble... I rewired so that one 24 pin goes to the control panel, and another 24 pin goes to the base (pinball buttons, coins, starts, ect)... BUT... on my SNK control panel I'm missing 1 @#$ connection with the current... So I need to wire another 24 pin to for some control panels... sigh...

[screaming]

All of these seem to be really great suggestions, but seem to leave out one specific detail:

  *how* do you wire <insert connector with 4/5/6/7/8 wires here> to about 100 wires coming off the CP (take a look at the crude pic)?

  I have an I-PAC/4. I don't want to have to buy more I-PACs for every CP I build, so that leaves me with having to install some kind of connector in-between the controls and the I-PAC..

Wow... Went digging up some old threads...

Anyhow, you basically use connectors with enough... um... connections.
Like using 1 or 2 printer cables. a single printer cable has 25 pins.
Or you can go with other cables / connectors that have more.

The general idea is to have as few connection points coming from a CP as possible when you've got swapable panels. So 2 Parallel cables hacked might do it for you. Or you could find a centronix (I think that's right) cables... They've got like 36+ wires in them. Just look around for "extension cables" with lots of connections. Then just cut it in half & wire one side to the IPAC/OPTIPAC and the other side to the control panel.

Okay, that makes sense then.  By the way people were talking, it seemed like they were wiring all thier CP connections to a simple 4-wire plug.

Thanks very much for clarifying!

/Steve

[eightbit]

All of these seem to be really great suggestions, but seem to leave out one specific detail:

  *how* do you wire <insert connector with 4/5/6/7/8 wires here> to about 100 wires coming off the CP (take a look at the crude pic)?

  I have an I-PAC/4. I don't want to have to buy more I-PACs for every CP I build, so that leaves me with having to install some kind of connector in-between the controls and the I-PAC..

Heres pics of this in action. I only have a 2 player ipac so I was able to get away with a 25 pin connector. If you use a smaller 4/5/6/7/8 you would have to use more of them. With a 4 player panel you might be able to get away with 2 25 pin connectors or look for a different connector. 25 pin is popular because its a printer or serial extension cable and all 25 wires go straight through. Since they are common they are cheap or can often be found laying around. A standard scsi cable has 68 wires so that might be an option for you. You just buy a scsi extension cable. This will have a male end on one and a female on the other. Cut it in half, plug it into itself, and wire one end to the interface and one to the controls. Then for each additional panel you only need one half of the cable.

The wires you see not connecting to the plug go other places like coin slots and hidden credit buttons that don't get swapped with the panel. So to swap my panel I unplug the trackball  (mouse) and the 25 pin interface cable. It would be hot swappable if the trackball was USB instead of ps/2. The encoder plug is hot swappable because you aren't unplugging the encoder your just unplugging the switches from it so your pc still thinks a keyboard is plugged in.

[telengard]

I've got swappable panels that are metal.

[screaming]

Heres pics of this in action. I only have a 2 player ipac so I was able to get away with a 25 pin connector. If you use a smaller 4/5/6/7/8 you would have to use more of them. With a 4 player panel you might be able to get away with 2 25 pin connectors or look for a different connector. 25 pin is popular because its a printer or serial extension cable and all 25 wires go straight through. Since they are common they are cheap or can often be found laying around. A standard scsi cable has 68 wires so that might be an option for you. You just buy a scsi extension cable. This will have a male end on one and a female on the other. Cut it in half, plug it into itself, and wire one end to the interface and one to the controls. Then for each additional panel you only need one half of the cable.

Wow! Those pictures really help reassure me that I'm now thinking right about this.  Thanks very much!

/Steve