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A Mame machine in an antique buffet - USB probs solved (I think!)
drventure:
Wow, I go away for the weekend and you guys are all over this!
Thanks for all the input and ideas.
@Severedhed
Dang, nice drawing! I see what you're getting at but I'm not sure how I'd do it. the base is solid slate that I'm not sure I'd want to drill through or even could drill through without getting a diamond bit. But, I MIGHT be able to put some kind of non-conductive mask IN the contacts that are there so that closing it momentarily swipes the contact, even though the switch appears to be completely closed. It's an interesting idea. I guess it's the partial EE in me that was looking for the circuit solution.
@Bender and Dash
Yeah, i'd considered a switch like that but, there's that whole messing up/with the slate base that I'm not sure I want to do.
@gryhnd and Dash. Yeah, I'd definitely not want to run anything more than 12v through an exposed switch like that. Actually, I'd rather not run even 12v. But I think I've got a circuit together that'll convert a constant switch to a momentary switch with just 5v and few capacitors, resistors, and relays.
I just need a full on EE to verify it for me.
The biggest problem is that when everything is OFF, I'd like for there to be NO VOLTAGE anywhere exposed. So the switch needs to toggle power on for the PC with no voltage available, but then once the PC is on, there will be 12v or 5v obtainable easily from a HD power plug that I can use to power a circuit to toggle the PC power on connector when the knife switch is disengaged.
I'm going to draw up the circuit a little better than the scratchings on a napkin that me and my dad put together this weekend and post here it for some critique :)
My prob is I have no idea how to calculate the values of any of the caps/resistors/ etc. Did I mention I +really+ didn't care for my EE classes way back when ;)
drventure:
Well, my initial magnetically attached hanging PC case didn't exactly work as planned.
It held, for almost 2 days. Then one morning I was making coffee and heard a pretty load "crash".
Took a bit of searching till I discovered that the case had "separated" from the buffet and dropped about 1.5feet onto a hardwood floor.
Fortunately, everything was off at the time and there was no damage.
But, that told me my magnets (even with the solid bolt backer rods) just weren't quite enough.
I got online and looked up the string. These particular mags are .5 in dia and .125 in thick, with a pull strength of 5.3lb.
My case,fully loaded is 16lbs.
Since there are 4 mags, I thought 20+lbs of pull would be enough, and it IS, but it doesn't take much more to knock it loose.
So, I picked up a set of these.
http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/detail-ID-139.html
And a few of these
The magnets are rated at 16lb pull, so 3 times more than what I'm using now.
The hooks are decorative and definitely look good with the red upholstery, but will serve as a backup to the magnets as well.
I still like the magnet technique just because it's so much easier to lift up and get set into place. No manhandling the box while fumbling with hooks at the same time.
It's overkill, but what about this cab hasn't been :)
BTW, if you want/need to awesome magnets, browse around that site. They have a .5 dia by 1in thick rod magnet with 28lbs of pull force. Yikes. and that's a pretty dang small magnet.
drventure:
I posted a few days ago about finally getting an old Knife switch for use as the power on device.
Thanks again to everyone that threw out ideas on how to implement it.
I'm still formulating a plan, but, I just discovered something tonight that I didn't know, maybe everyone else does, but I thought I'd share.
If your PC motherboard BIOS supports the WAKE ON USB feature, and you've got at least one USB port that receives +5vsb (the 5v standby power), you +should+ be able to set a button on your control panel (shifted or not) to act like the POWER button on many USB keyboards.
Just run the WIN IPAC program, right click on a button and there's the POWER option right there!
I don't think this will work with a continuous ON switch like the knife switch, but that's a heck of an intriguing option
I've got some experimenting to do tomorrow. Also want to try and get WAKE ON LAN over a Wireless USB dongle working. looks like it might be possible too...
Time for bed....
drventure:
I've had the screen I'm going to use for a a few weeks now, just propped it up on a table next to my cab to check everything out.
I had to work up the nerve to go drilling holes in a very nicely finished piece of 1" thick walnut, even if that's the only way I'm going to get this monitor mounted <sigh>
So, A few days ago, i bit the bullet.
First, I marked off the extents of the monitor (even mocked up a cardboard box that's the exact same size to make SURE I had clearance (I did, but only about 1/4 inch all the way around, so much for using a 4" wide fancy gilt victorian frame for it :)
Once I was fairly certain I had the right placement, out came the bits. I used brass insert nuts to provide the flushest mount possible.
I didn't really trust the 2 fairly thin screws that came with the monitor mount bracket. Plus, there were ONLY 2 holes for mounting the bracket. That didn't seem like enough, so I picked up some beefier screws, drilled 2 more holes in the mounting plate and used 4 bolts instead of just 2. With that, i don't think I have to worry about the monitor pulling free (at least, here's hoping!)
The end result? I've done a +very bad thing+ ;)
The cab is now actually playable!
And, of course, not much more has been done on it in the last few days other that configure sticks, buttons, boot screens, etc.
Still got a lot to do. There's all the LEDs to wire up to my LEDWiz, that backplate (that the monitor is attached to) +really+ needs some trimout (the Nixie tubes, a brass gas lamp, some gears, maybe that chain sprocket assembly....), all the wiring is going in brass or copper pipes, etc, etc.
But, one surprising positive. Multiple mice support in Mame 129 worked AMAZINGLY WELL. I had 2 simultaneous player trackball games working in about 2 minutes. Flawlessly. And the spinner works independently as well!
The Bios on this asus mobo even recognizes them all (2 keyboards, and 5 (yep 5) mice!.
Unfortunately, even though the USB ports remain powered when the PC is off, the mobo doesn't appear to support Wake on USB. :(
It's got the option to wake on PS2 keyboard or mouse, which works just fine, but my IPac4 and trackball mice are all USB.
Doesn't make any sense why they'd leave power to the USB ports, but NOT support WO_USB. Hopefully, I find out I just have some weird bios setting off, but I haven't found it yet.
Bender:
Wow, looks great! Haven't seen the whole thing in a while, you really have made some major progress! :cheers: :cheers:
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