It's a nice idea and long overdue. But I'm a bit puzzled why one of the connectors is male and the other female. I understand the whole cutting a M/F cable in half thing. But why not cut in half a M/M or a F/F cable?
What am I missing? Is this to make it easier to swap panels?
Are the Max and Eco versions still going to be avaliable?
Are the Max and Eco versions still going to be avaliable?
Yes. The MAX version will remain unchanged, but this new board design will spawn a couple of other styles that we'll be offering soon. For instance, a solder ECO that will be much easier to solder than the current Eco. Even though the larger board will increase the Eco price by about a dollar, it will be worth ten times that in ease of use. The Eco's will also become repairable as CPU sockets will be standard with this style.
The future of the smaller Eco board is unknown at this time, but the new Eco design is likely to supersede them unless there are objections from our OEMs.
RandyT
To be honest though I don't see the need for all the duplication of contacts on the player one and two sides. I don't see the need for 8 action buttons though there may be some games that I am not aware of.
To be honest though I don't see the need for all the duplication of contacts on the player one and two sides. I don't see the need for 8 action buttons though there may be some games that I am not aware of.
Typo on the Input Sheet - Player two second entry - KeyWiz Uploader (TM) equivalent should be "B" not "8".
Also, you might consider adding ribbon cable and DB25 IDC connectors (or M/F RS-232 cables) to the site to go along with this.
Randy - if you can find a bunch of DB25 cables that all have the SAME COLOR WIRES inside and can sell the cables with a diagram showing which color wire goes to which pin it would be a huge bonus and time saver.Guess you mean DIFFERENT color wires?
What he means is the different color wires are the SAME from cable to cable. I.e. Pin 1 is always the RED wire, Pin 2 is always the Blue wire, Pin 3 is always orange.Randy - if you can find a bunch of DB25 cables that all have the SAME COLOR WIRES inside and can sell the cables with a diagram showing which color wire goes to which pin it would be a huge bonus and time saver.Guess you mean DIFFERENT color wires?
What he means is the different color wires are the SAME from cable to cable. I.e. Pin 1 is always the RED wire, Pin 2 is always the Blue wire, Pin 3 is always orange.Randy - if you can find a bunch of DB25 cables that all have the SAME COLOR WIRES inside and can sell the cables with a diagram showing which color wire goes to which pin it would be a huge bonus and time saver.Guess you mean DIFFERENT color wires?
Randy, any chance your USB products will incorporate the DB25 connectors?See Reply #11 by KayTrim above.
Also while I'm at it...could this come in a USB "flavor"?Doubtful and Doubtful - see my comments here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35840.0
Would a usb/ps2 adaptor work?
Also while I'm at it...could this come in a USB "flavor"?
Would a usb/ps2 adaptor work?
See Reply #11 by KayTrim above.btw Tiger-Heli, the T is not capitalized. ;) Kaytrim
btw Tiger-Heli, the T is not capitalized. ;) KaytrimMy bad - sorry!
which one is 'better'...?The QD is 'better' if you think you might end up with swappable CP's somewhere down the road. Otherwise it really doesn't matter.
the keywiz max or the keywiz qd...
the max has the switchable keyboard interface...the qd doesn't...is the switchable keyboard interface really that important...?Not to me, get a USB or wireless keyboard, or hot-swap in a PS/2 one when you need one. Some people really like this, but I wouldn't find an active pass-thru that useful, and with the KeyWiz Max being switched, even less so.
obviously the qd would be easier to install...plus it's two bucks cheaper...Perhaps, not sure about that.
which one(if either) works better with a ledwiz...?Don't think it matters!
which one is 'better'...?
the keywiz max or the keywiz qd...
the max has the switchable keyboard interface...the qd doesn't...is the switchable keyboard interface really that important...?
which one(if either) works better with a ledwiz...?
....hot-swap in a PS/2 one when you need one.
Yeah - I've seen computers lock up when "hot-swapping" a ps/2 port. Does stop me from still doing it on work computers - usually it's fine...In some cases it can do worse than cause a lock up. It's rare, but it can cause you to short out your keyboard or mouse port. I've only seen that once or twice in many years working with PC hardware.
In some cases it can do worse than cause a lock up. It's rare, but it can cause you to short out your keyboard or mouse port. I've only seen that once or twice in many years working with PC hardware.
Also, the port does not "short out". In the old days, keyboards were big, and power hungry. Lots of discrete hardware, mechanical switches and so on. The port wasn't originally designed for hot swapping, so on very old motherboards (we're talking 486 / Pentium 1 era and before) they had only a small fuse to protect the rest of the system from a short circuit in the keyboard. The ancient keyboards also had nothing that would ramp the power to prevent a surge from popping the fuse, and that is what caused the problem. BTW, those old motherboards weren't dead, they just didn't have 5v going to the PS/2 port anymore. A quick splice of the 5v supply into a short PS/2 extension cable and you were back in business.I know that it was usually the fuse popping, and not technically the port shorting out, but you can also fry the microcontroller that controls the port itself. I was avoiding making the distinction to save some people's eyes from glazing over, since most people, even some in a technically proficient group like this one, will probably just consider the port "dead."
I know that it was usually the fuse popping, and not technically the port shorting out, but you can also fry the microcontroller that controls the port itself. I was avoiding making the distinction to save some people's eyes from glazing over, since most people, even some in a technically proficient group like this one, will probably just consider the port "dead."
From the wikipedia article on PS/2 connectors:
"PS/2 ports are designed to connect the digital I/O lines of the microcontroller in the external device directly to the digital lines of the microcontroller on the motherboard. They are not designed to be hot swappable. Hot swapping PS/2 devices usually does not cause damage due to the fact that more modern microcontrollers tend to have more robust I/O lines built into them which are harder to damage; however, hot swapping can still potentially cause damage. Shorting one pin to another on a PS/2 port can easily kill one or both microcontrollers."
The full article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_connector
I did blow a PS/2 port once.
PS/2's, though, I thought it was standard that they just wouldn't recognise if you plugged them in after boot. That's always been my experience. No troubles, either.
I once fried an ipac hot-swapping from PS2.....
You can do it a thousand times with no problem. It that 1001-th time that is the killer.
I once fried an ipac hot-swapping from PS2.....Are you sure it died from the swap and not a static discharge to one of the pins in the connector when you picked it up?