MVS-99-6 - Project on hold until further notice (2014-03-10)

[Yvan256]

Here's the difference between the two Neo-Geo "1-slot" marquees, the first one with the square so-called 132x132 LCD and the second one with the 128x160 LCD that I still need to order from Adafruit Industries.

Also attached is a real Neo-Geo marquee for comparison (photo taken from QuarterArcade.com, where the marquee is up for sale).

[Yvan256]

I will be ordering that Adafruit 1.8" LCD from Solarbotics in a few weeks.

I'm also half-way done (again!) with re-doing all the marquees graphics, this time in 128x160 pixels. A few games have been removed (mostly sequels), others have been added. It's incomplete, most missing games will be back on the list (especially the Neo-Geo games), it's changing every day. The goal is to cover all the classics that can be played with one 2/4/8-way stick with four buttons.

As you can see I'm having trouble because it seems there was two common "colors sets" for Donkey Kong Jr. and Frogger. Not to mention the two different Galaga marquees, though the black one was the most common AFAIK.

Which DK Jr. and Frogger marquees are the most common ones? The "light" or "dark" ones?

[Nephasth]

Hmm... I think darker on the frogger and lighter on the DK Jr.

[Mister Hat]

Hmm... I think darker on the frogger and lighter on the DK Jr.

I'm thinking the exact opposite.

[Bender]

Hmm... I think darker on the frogger and lighter on the DK Jr.

+1 on that

never seen a DK jr. that dark, but actually the other one looks a little too light, but better
Don't remember frogger that well but the dark one looks better

Plus I'd go for the Galaga with the Black surround that's the classic one me

[Yvan256]

I was able to find a Donkey Kong Jr. marquee in EPS format, the colors seem indeed much better IMHO.

[Yvan256]

I need funds to help buy parts such as that 1.8" LCD, so I've listed my 6-slot MVS board for sale on eBay.

I also have Samurai Shodown with mini-marquee, Samurai Shodown II with mini-marquee and Crossed Sword (cart only) for sale, though I would like to at least keep the Samurai Shodown or Crossed Sword cart until this project is over to make a "comparison photo" for the size reference.

edit: 1.8" LCD ordered with the help of one of my best friend.

edit 2: package left Solarbotics in Calgary.

edit 3: package is supposed to be on its way.

[Yvan256]

The new 1.8", rectangular TFT LCD for the mini-marquee has arrived, along with some other parts.  

You can see the footprint of the two PCBs are nearly identical in height but the new LCD display is taller.

Included is a comparison between a Neo-Geo marquee displayed at 130x130 vs 128x160. Less black = better Neo-Geo mini-marquee ratio.

[Yvan256]

After a bit of research, I've decided that TIFF is way too complex for the code space and RAM available in the ATtiny861.

So after some reading I've decided to go with the TGA file format for the marquees. It's a fixed 18-bytes header followed by the pixel data itself (for 24-bit color images anyway). Couldn't be any simpler, even BMP is more complicated. Even if there's variations, I don't care since it's a closed system where I control which images are used.

Preview, on Mac OS X 10.5, can save TGA but only with RLE compression, meaning it's quite simple to de-compress on the fly and doesn't require huge amounts of buffering to decode either. Worst case scenario, the TGA format also supports uncompressed images so all I'll have to do is find software to save them as uncompressed TGA.*

I'm currently wiring and coding for the new LCD and compressed TGA graphics, I should have photos in a few hours days.

* I did some tests on a web page with PHP and I was able to decode RLE-compresed TGA graphics with no problems. Apart from the graphic data itself it only takes eight 8-bit variables for the whole thing if I limit the decoding logic to the size of my new LCD display.  

Attached is a picture of the Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Bubble Bobble marquees:

• Left picture: RLE-compressed pixels
• Middle picture: non-compressed pixels
• Right picture: all pixels, resulting in the final graphic

Of course, it's all done in one pass when it's decoded but I thought some graphics might help understand RLE compression for non-coders.

[Yvan256]

I'm not even done with initializing the LCD and I'm almost running out of code space.  

Never mind accessing a microSD card via FAT16 and communicating with the computer via the serial port.  

So... long story short, I've switch to another microcontroller I already had laying around, ATmega644P. This one has eight times more code space and RAM than the ATtiny861, it should be enough for everything. As a bonus, I'm gaining a real UART (for the serial port connection) and two more SPI ports (if I use another SD-card interface I got here, I should be able to both read from the SD card and write to the LCD at the same time).

I could even have enough code space left at the end to store the MVS logo as a "boot screen" (currently takes 14162 bytes as an RLE-compresed TGA file).

Below is the obligatory photo of the current setup. For those into electronics, you might be wondering how many rows of pins are free on the breadboard. There's none. It's a 30 rows breadboard, the ATmega644P takes 20 and the LCD takes 10.

[Yvan256]

Stage 1 Complete: Display bitmap from internal memory

 

I'll need to work a bit on the display routines to make it faster (takes about 1/4 of a second right now) but otherwise it's working fine.

The viewing angle is also better from a bit below the connector, so I'll simply invert the image display routine and install it upside-down inside the marquee holder of the cabinet.

The photos really don't do it justice, it's as clean as the LCD monitor you're probably using right now to view this web page. There's no moiré pattern in real life, it's probably due to the grids of the LCD pixels and the CCD of the camera.

I had a bit of space left*, that's why I added the "Apple boot screen" image.

* actually the code space is only 27.3% full even with these two RLE-compressed TGA files embedded inside the code.


Stages:
- Stage 1A: Write pixels on LCD
- Stage 1B: Hardware SPI communication with the LCD/microSD
- Stage 1C: Functions to write ASCII characters on the LCD
- Stage 2: microSD raw blocks card access
- Stage 3: FAT16 microSD card access
- Stage 4: Serial communication with a computer

[Nephasth]

Good stuff! Can't wait to see it in action in the marquee!

[Yvan256]

I can't wait either, in the meantime here's a crappy black and white laser printed marquee on top of the LCD.  

Here's an update on my LCD mini-marquee progress (one of the most complex part of the build):
- Write pixels on LCD in 18-bit mode
- Hardware SPI communication with the LCD/microSD (success - it's a lot faster than software SPI)
- Decode and display compressed 24-bit TGA graphics (still need to add a bit of error-checking for size, format, etc)
- Functions to write ASCII characters on the LCD (to display error messages such as "TGA file dimensions too big", "no microSD card present", etc and to help debug the microSD raw/FAT16 access and the serial communication later)
- microSD raw blocks card access
- FAT16 microSD card access
- Serial communication with a computer

[Yvan256]

I hit another tiny problem: the LCD for the mini-marquee is going to be "trapped" inside the marquee holder at the top and bottom so I won't have access to its built-in microSD card socket.

No problem, since I already had ordered an SD card breakout board from Sparkfun, so I'll be able to have the SD card socket exactly where I want it behind the printed part of the marquee. It's also going to make it easier to find a smaller capacity, lower cost SD card because 1GB would be a waste. 100 marquees (99 games marquees + generic MVS marquee) will require at most 6MB. Hopefully I'll be able to find a 32MB card, 32MB being the smallest capacity allowed for FAT16 if I remember correctly.

But that tiny protoboard you've seen in the previous photo was too tiny to add anything else. So, I've transfered the whole thing to a bigger protoboard (see first photo).

I've also added a 3.3V regulator since the whole thing is going to be powered by 5V but the SD cards requires 3.3V only. Yes, I know, the wiring is a bit messy at the moment. The weird thing is, the ATmega644P is powered at 3.3V but still clocked at 20MHz. According to the datasheet it shouldn't even work. Not sure if it's damaging it but so far it's working fine.

Since this SD card socket has a "card detect" pin I've also added a routine for that. My error messages are on a black background with a 1-character margin all around it, centered in the display. It looks better this way IMHO.

Other error messages are going to be about wrong TGA files ("TGA image is bigger than display", "TGA image is in the wrong format", etc).

edit: small note, I just did a test with a "pattern" image like on my previous LCD and this new one is indeed 128x160 pixels, no rows or columns missing (previous one was listed as 132x132 but was actually only 130x130 visible pixels).

[Nephasth]

WOW. That SD card next to the LCD really puts the size into perspective. TINY!

[Martijn]

WOW. That SD card next to the LCD really puts the size into perspective. TINY!

Yeah, great job. That screen can also be used for a watch sized cab 

[Yvan256]

WOW. That SD card next to the LCD really puts the size into perspective. TINY!

Yeah, great job. That screen can also be used for a watch sized cab  

If you're willing to go a little bit bigger than a huge watch, this LCD display has a resolution of 320x240 which is perfect for older arcade games, from Pac-Man up to Neo-Geo. I'm just not sure if the interface and the LCD are fast enough for the job. You would also need a way to convert the video signal of your system to digital information for the LCD.

At that point it's easier to do what Bender did and use an open handheld system like the GP2X Wiz.

[Yvan256]

Another small step completed: communication with a computer via the serial port.

The way it will work is that I'm going to send the rom name via the serial port with a start character, such as "*dkong   " (three spaces after "dkong"). It has to be 8 characters, padding the end with spaces as required, because otherwise sending it "dkongjr" it would display the marquee for Donkey Kong (dkong) first before showing the marquee for Donkey Kong Jr. (dkongjr). Using "dkong..." vs "dkongjr." solves the problem (I used periods instead of spaces to make it easier to read).

When the microcontroller receives a complete 8-character string for the rom filename (since "*" is an invalid MS-DOS filename character, it's safe to use as a start character), it will look on the SD card to see if such a file exists and display it on the LCD.

So for now the "received strings via the USART" is complete.

The text you see on the LCD, in the second photo, was typed via HyperTerminal on Windows XP inside VMWare Fusion on Mac OS X, while connected via a USB port from my Mac mini, converted to serial via an FTDI USB-to-Serial adapter, connected to the STK500, converted by a MAX202 chip, connected to the USART pins of the ATmega644p via the red and black wires in the first photo. It can get a little bit confusing.  

And since I'm using the MAX IC of the Atmel STK500 board for now, I'll have to wire my own converter on the final pcboard later.

[BobA]

Great work to date.  The larger screen really looks good.  Looking forward to seeing the results. 

[emphatic]

Cool! 

[Yvan256]

Topic: MVS-99-6  (Read 18000 times) 

[Unstupid]

Topic: MVS-99-6  (Read 18000 times) 

I probably account for half those... I keep checking for status updates!   

[HaRuMaN]

I'm up to 95,000...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64050.0

I gotta talk to saint about profit-sharing...   

[shanghaiguide]

Ironically looks like you're using the LCD I suggested in the first place

Wouldn't mind a copy of the code and a circuit diagram if you're up for sharing.
If you're feeling really ambitious, I could get some pcb's made up and you could sell some of these ready made.

PM / Email if this is something thats interesting.

[Nephasth]

Any progress on this one?

[Yvan256]

Any progress on this one?

A lack of time and money have put this project on stand-by. But the LCD prototype for the mini-marquee is still on my desk. 

[404]

nice to see someone working on some avr stuff for use in arcade projects. friend of mine sent me some avr dev stuff and I've been slowly tinkering with a few things when time permits.

Could have also used the avr to control your joystick and buttons, making it into a generic usb stick using the LUFA library. That's sort of what i'm tinkering with right now. 

[Yvan256]

nice to see someone working on some avr stuff for use in arcade projects. friend of mine sent me some avr dev stuff and I've been slowly tinkering with a few things when time permits.

Could have also used the avr to control your joystick and buttons, making it into a generic usb stick using the LUFA library. That's sort of what i'm tinkering with right now. 

AFAIK I'm not using an USB-enabled AVR, not to mention that I already have an interface for the buttons and joysticks.

And since the cabinet is going to run either Linux+MAME or FreeDOS+MAME, USB may not be an option depending on my choice.

One thing that I remember on my to-do list is to replace the level shifter on the back of the LCD for a faster one or just bypass it, as it is right now I have to slow down the output or else the LCD doesn't receive the data.

[404]

nice to see someone working on some avr stuff for use in arcade projects. friend of mine sent me some avr dev stuff and I've been slowly tinkering with a few things when time permits.

Could have also used the avr to control your joystick and buttons, making it into a generic usb stick using the LUFA library. That's sort of what i'm tinkering with right now. 

AFAIK I'm not using an USB-enabled AVR, not to mention that I already have an interface for the buttons and joysticks.

And since the cabinet is going to run either Linux+MAME or FreeDOS+MAME, USB may not be an option depending on my choice.

One thing that I remember on my to-do list is to replace the level shifter on the back of the LCD for a faster one or just bypass it, as it is right now I have to slow down the output or else the LCD doesn't receive the data.

yeah, saw your mini pac shortly after my original post. Just as small and useful.

I also have a box full of minimus avr dev units here so I've been slowly learning and tinkering around with the LUFA libraries; Quite fun. Jamie Lentin did manage to finish a usb arcade stick using the minimus32

http://jamie.lentin.co.uk/embedded/arcade-joystick/

Unfortunately, using his diffs on a standard minimus with 16kb doesn't give me the same effect. Pretty sure there are some other changes between the two besides the memory size. Just need to take some more time to tinker and read up on some docs, I'm quite the AVR n00b.

Anyway, you project is going by great. Your Neo Geo project and that of Unstupid are by far my two favorite projects on this site. Hoping one day i can make something as nice as what you guys have.

[saloonstudios]

Back from the grave. What ever happened with this? Good news I hope?

[Yvan256]

Back from the grave. What ever happened with this? Good news I hope?

No good news but no bad news either. It's still on hold for the time being, I plan on cutting all panels again more precisely using CNC256, which I need to build using CNC64, which I'm close to completing. 

[Yvan256]

Alright, the title of my post probably requires a bit of explanation. 

MVS-99-6 is the name I have given to my desktop-sized MVS cabinet.

Frankenstein-style is because this version will be made from 148x97mm (maximum) panels, so all parts of the cabinet will require plates to assemble them, resulting in a Frankenstein-style monster with patches and bolts everywhere. The more I work with the design in Sketchup, however, the more I think it looks kinda like a plastic version of steampunk in some strange way.

MDX3-cut because the panels are currently being cut by my Roland MDX-3 (CNC64 isn't up and running yet, but it's almost finished).

PVC version because frankly, I've had it with MDF. I can't stand that stuff anymore. I may use birch plywood in the future if I can find any locally. But in the meantime, I get free PVC panels so I'm going to use them!

2013-12-03 is the date in ISO 8601 format. 

MVS cabinets are usually black with red sides, however since I don't want to paint the PVC I'm going with a reversed-colors theme for this one. Everything red will be white and everything white will be red, except maybe the marquee and control panel overlay. I'm still testing things out with Sketchup.

[Yvan256]

Here's a tiny update for those of you still following this years-old project.

The speakers panel for the CNC-cut PVC version is completed. Small change on the assembly plates, I will be using 10 mm PVC for the interior plates since I'm don't have much 3 mm PVC. A side effect is stronger assembly and the ability to add things to them, such as the restrainer for the speakers cable.

[Malenko]

thats pretty awesome

[Yvan256]

I thought I was done with the top marquee panel, but something seemed strange once assembled. Turns out that I need to be more careful since there's different thicknesses in my PVC offcuts. I'm guessing it's because of different suppliers for the local sign shop.

The right part is 10.04mm and the left part is 10.30mm. It doesn't sound like much of a difference until you assemble the two parts side-by-side.

The MDX-3 is busy cutting the left part once again, this time in 10.04mm PVC.

edit: problem fixed.

[Yvan256]

My Roland MDX-3 needs to be repaired (again), I need to rebuild the Z-axis with a new metal bracket and bronze bushings, the original design is so weak that I'm shocked it lasted this long (i.e. for the right rod, there was a single bronze bushing at the top, an HDPE hole at the bottom and three small HDPE fingers for the left rod).

[Typefighter01]

Sorry to hear Yvan, things where coming along nicely.

Do you source regular bronze sleeves for your bushings, or do you use oil impregnated bronze like Oilite?

[Yvan256]

Sorry to hear Yvan, things where coming along nicely.

Do you source regular bronze sleeves for your bushings, or do you use oil impregnated bronze like Oilite?

I think the MDX-3 has regular bronze sleeves like printers and scanners, so I'm trying to find the same thing from old printers, scanners, CD-ROM and floppy drives, however 6mm rods aren't exactly a popular design choice for these devices.

[Yvan256]

Just a small update, the MDX-3 is "kinda fixed", I got 6mm bronze bushings from China and I hot-glued one in place for the time being. The plan is to use the MDX-3 to cut a new Z-axis assembly for itself, I also plan on making that assembly compatible with the Black & Decker RTX mount I already have. It will offset the work area of the MDX-3 but I should be able to work around that easily enough.