Q*bert knocker made easy

[whammoed]

With the changes that were made to the Q*bert driver adding a knocker output, I thought it was time to get a functional knocker up and running that anyone can do.



I modified the default ledutility to listen for the knocker on the scroll lock led and I wrote a listener app to ouput to the Data0 pin of a parallel port.  I used a PowermiteDD to send power to the knocker.  I used the parallel port in this trial, but you could easily use the scroll lock led instead.  I am only sending 12volts to the knocker instead of the 30volts the original game used so the knocker is a little weaker than it should be.  I just don't happen to have a 30v power supply around.  You could use a transistor or your own relay instead of the Powermite as well.  I will put up a "schematic" and post the listener apps on my site and post back to this thread when it's available.


grainy video, but you can hear the knocker:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHH8dRURw4Y[/youtube]

[polaris]

top stuff.
 is it just me or is there a major influx of ideas at the moment, people seem to be knocking out joy mods etc at a ridiculous rate

[whammoed]

Update:

After further testing I'm just not happy with using the parallel port.  In newer PC's the pins are all held high on boot, which blows the fuse before you can start an application to turn them off.
I still think it should work fine with the listener for the keyboard scroll lock led and will post more once I have it tested.

[scottb99]

This would be an awesome mod to have. Good work. Hope you can sort out the details.

[NOP]

Update:

After further testing I'm just not happy with using the parallel port.  In newer PC's the pins are all held high on boot, which blows the fuse before you can start an application to turn them off.
I still think it should work fine with the listener for the keyboard scroll lock led and will post more once I have it tested.

would changing the settings in setup for the LPT port have an effect there?  i'd think putting it in bidirectional mode instead of epp or ecp might let those signals float instead of being driven?

[(+_+)]

I Love it. I play Q*Bert regularly and have always missed the knock. Thanks in advance.