LED display for cab (uk)

[Marky_1979]

Hi guys I was wondering if its possible to fit an LED display that will display the name of the game that mame is currently playing. I have a cab that i have converted that has two spaces one for a marquee and the other had a golden tee led display which Iv since thrown away as it wasnt working.

The space for the display is not to big so the unit display will need to be 15 inches by 4 inches.

I need to know:

1. Can the game name be displayed? is there software that can do this?

2. Where can I buy a unit that fits my dimensions?

3. Has anyone already done this?


Many thanks in advance guys

Mark

[thatitalian]

1. Yes

2. Probably

3. Yes

Check here:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50889.0

[Marky_1979]

cheers for reply anyone know where i can buy the software and display from?

[grantspain]

my boss just bought a led display not too different to gt4 cabs dimensions and you can program the display to say anything

[Marky_1979]

Can it be linked to a pc and display the name of the mame game i am playing? Also where did he get this from mate? many thanks

[Blanka]

You can do it with an Arduino and some led matrix elements. Sparkfun has led matrices with a matrix-encoder board connected. This way you can send serial data from the arduino directly.

[Marky_1979]

Sorry blanka you lost me with this could you dumb it down for me whats an Arduino?

[Blanka]

Arduino is a super simple micro-controller running over USB.
www.arduino.cc
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/arduino-led-matrix-message-board-part-2/1843378908
http://www.electronics-lab.com/blog/?p=2310

[grantspain]

i will get the info for you tomorrow,it can be programmed using a remote

[headkaze]

If you check out the Video section on the GameEx website you can see a few videos of cabs using LED displays with my plugin. The plugin supports the BetaBrite (USB or Serial) LED sign.

There is also a plugin for MaLa by loadman called "Serial Display" that will output to a BetaBrite sign.

Finally for everything else there is LCDGen by Silver which will general .lcd files that can be sent directly to the com port via command line.

So the solution will depend on the hardware and front end you go for. But the BetaBrites are well supported although I think my plugin is the only one that currently supports the usb interface.

[Marky_1979]

thanks guys I'm using mamewah will this work with these led systems

[Marky_1979]

Thanks headkaze iv looked at these videos and the led displays just seem to be repeating a single message or 2 messages tops it looks like its been programmed to loop either the name of the cab or wwhat emulators are on the system.

I was looking for something that would recognise the name of the game i select in mamewah and display it above the marquee and when idle or not playing a mame game then it could say something like Mame cab insert coins to play or some other random phrases.

[headkaze]

With my plugin you can have it display random phrases as well as the name of the game your playing, the controls used or the emulator you select. There are different "events" you can assign to output different info to the device. So it's customizable but your right I don't think any of the videos show those features in action.

For MameWah it can only output the game name and control info because it must use LCDGen and .lcd files which are not generated in realtime so dynamic data is not possible.

The MaLa plugin has a similar limitation because it uses .lcd files as well.

[Marky_1979]

Is your plug in a piece of software or hardware and is the display i use the one that blanka was describing?

I need to find an led sign that will work with mamwah and your plugin but am unsure what i need to buy.

[headkaze]

My plugin is software that only works with GameEx I'm afraid The hardware I was talking about is a BetaBrite sign.

[Marky_1979]

Thats a shame thanks for all your help mate. Does anyone know if there is software available that will work with mamewah?

[headkaze]

As I said you can use LCDGen with MameWah

Check this out http://silverfoxy.blogspot.com/2007/12/silver-softwares-mame-lcd-gen.html

[Marky_1979]

You can do it with an Arduino and some led matrix elements. Sparkfun has led matrices with a matrix-encoder board connected. This way you can send serial data from the arduino directly.

Which Arduinio board and conectors do i need
what is sparkfun? a website?
Where can I get this led matrix board
and will this all work with the LCDGen program with MameWah

[Chazz]

I've done this with my cab.

[headkaze]

Go for a BetaBrite as that seems to be the most well supported LED scrolly sign. It's the same sign in Chazz's picture.

[Marky_1979]

Cheers mate where's best to get the beta bright signs from? ebay? and do you know if they do it in the size i require?

[Marky_1979]

Bump

[roger]

As I said you can use LCDGen with MameWah

Check this out http://silverfoxy.blogspot.com/2007/12/silver-softwares-mame-lcd-gen.html

This works great indeed.

MAMEWah nicely sends the info in the .lcd files to the display when a game is started. What I haven't been able to figure out is  how to get it to display generic information about the emulator when no game is running, i.e. after MAME quits and we're back in MAMEWah. Is there a default .lcd, and if yes, what is the proper filename?

Thanks.

[roger]

Cheers mate where's best to get the beta bright signs from? ebay? and do you know if they do it in the size i require?

Yes, ebay is a good place to start. There are three different models that should work fine. The 1026 and 1040 are somewhat older, and the 1036 is the newer model of the "BetaBrite Classic" series. They all have RS-232 connectivity and they all use the same protocol. The files that LCDGen generates are compatible with all these display. More info here: http://www.betabrite.com/pages/bbclassic.htm
They are all the same size (see specs).

There also is a new "BetaBrite Prism" display with more colors, but all the ones I have seen for sale use USB, although the specifications state "USB or RS-232". I haven't been able to figure out if, although it is a USB device, it mounts as a COM port. A lot of devices like this use the FTDI USB chipset, which the PC sees as COM port. This is probably the case for the BetaBrite Prism as it would allow for the same protocol to be used. However, I have not been able to confirm this yet. Perhaps someone here in this forum can shed some light. Until you know for sure, I would not buy a "Prism". I would go for a "Classic". More info on the "Prism" here: http://www.betabrite.com/index.htm

You can also find BetaBrite displays at amazon.com.

[Paladin]

If anyone is interested, I was searching ebay for arcade stuff and found some Golden Tee LCD scrolling signs.  I don't know how hard they'd be to hack, but they don't seem too expensive considering they come with the whole marquee box as well.  I'm not affiliated with the seller, but thought it'd be a cool project for someone.

ebay item# 180340138795