Connection to PC and consoles?

[JamesMolloy]

Is there some way to be able to plug PS2, Dreamcast and PC to your arcade controls in an easy switchable manner?

As much as I like MAME it would be nice to play Ikaruga, Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter 4 when I feel like something more modern.

[rampy]

Is there some way to be able to plug PS2, Dreamcast and PC to your arcade controls in an easy switchable manner?

As much as I like MAME it would be nice to play Ikaruga, Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter 4 when I feel like something more modern.

here's a link for ya

quickly:  A. hack a console controller (see link) and get converters for different sytems

B. Get an x-arcade PCB and get the different adapters...

C. hack a billion different controllers and figure out some new magically way to switch between them without one consoles controller interfering with the other consoles controller (i.e. isolate them electrically from eachother)

Good luck!

rampy

[radiator]

i have a question about this...

i plan on having a pc and dreamcast in my cab...for pc, buttons hooked up through my ipac, and for dreamcast the buttons will be directly wired to the pad (hack) - just want to know if this will be ok (no interference), as long as both machines aren't on at the same time?

*m

[AX]

I thought of this but decided against it.  somehwhere somehting is going to go wrong no matter how careful you are.  What I am doing is making my control panel easily removeable na dmaking a sep control panel for console games.

[seaner]

You should be safe as long as only one is powered on at a time.
You're doubly safe if you aren't also driving 5V or something into either system.  ie. if your controls all work by grounding switches.

[rampy]

i have a question about this...

i plan on having a pc and dreamcast in my cab...for pc, buttons hooked up through my ipac, and for dreamcast the buttons will be directly wired to the pad (hack) - just want to know if this will be ok (no interference), as long as both machines aren't on at the same time?

*m

It's my understanding (as this question has come up before) that it's not a good idea, particularly with the dreamcast...  unless you find a way to isolate each control element (i.e. diodes or switch(es), or to plugin/activate only one at a time or something)

*shrug* ymmv

rampy

[JamesMolloy]

Hrm.. complicated. I thought I'd be able to get connectors to plug into an iPAC. Maybe they'll come up with something like that in time. The X-arcade PCB can handle it so it's obviously possible. I'm just not wild about going down that route because they charge alot for simple connectors and crap controls.

OK, so I can build a control pannel from hacked PS pads and buy connectors to hook to PC or DC. Lucky I have a friend who knows something about wiring.

[rampy]

Hrm.. complicated. I thought I'd be able to get connectors to plug into an iPAC. Maybe they'll come up with something like that in time. The X-arcade PCB can handle it so it's obviously possible. I'm just not wild about going down that route because they charge alot for simple connectors and crap controls.

OK, so I can build a control pannel from hacked PS pads and buy connectors to hook to PC or DC. Lucky I have a friend who knows something about wiring.

Well it's not *that* expensive... you can get the pcb separate y'know...  if you aren't savvy with a soldering iron you can pay a smal premium for a ready made solution...  (although the switching part would still need to be manual, regardless)

*Shrug*  good luck, though!

rampy

[radiator]

has anyone out there actually done this (PC and DC in same cab) and got it to work well?

if anyone can give me any tips that'd be great

*m