I-PAC Shift Key Limit?

[Xochi]

I'm going to use I-PAC for my keyboard encoder in my cab. MAME is the primary app for the cab but in setting up the machine, it seems that a few of the other apps that I have are not remappable and really want to use the F* keys.

I figured I'd set the I-PAC to 'ALT' and then setup shifted keys for F1, etc. In looking at the I-PAC's mame default layout, I can't help but wondering if there isn't some limit to the number of shifted functions it supports since so many signals do not have a shifted function by default on the I-PAC.

Does anyone know if this is the case? I didn't see anything in the I-PAC documentation about it (although I didn't look super hard ), but figured someone here almost certainly knew the answer!

I'm basically wanting the default MAME set plus shifted combos for F1-F5, Ctrl-Alt-Del , etc.

[Rocky]

There is no limit to the number of shift keys. The only key that cannot be shifted is the shift key itself.

Also, I was just thinking.... has anyone setup the ipac with a non-momentary button for the shift key... like a toggle switch. That way, you could throw a switch and instantly have another set of keys. This would eliminate the delay in programing the keys.

just thinking out loud.


Rocky

[Apollo]

I like your thinking. I would never have thought of that. Thankyou, I am going to do that on my as yet unmade CP.

[meta87]

That is a good Idea, I might try that.

[Brad Lee]

Yes.

I rigged one of them keylocks, like you find on a PC, so that off=normal and on=shifted
I did this as an alternative to having to save/load different configs, especially for PC games that didnt like some of my default keymappings

I used P1button6, which is unused on my normal CP. It worked pretty nicely, but it was a little flaky in some games, Need 4 Speed for example- it worked but sometimes it would "stick" or not register properly.

Eventually my cat jumped through the coin door, where the keylock was mounted. He got tangled up and panicked, pulling out a nice chunk of door-related wiring. I havent gotten back to re-doing it yet, so Im back to using what keys I can(unshifted)

[AndyWarne]

I have another way of doing this, a beta version of a launcher for PC games and other apps. It allows a menu to be configured and then when an entry is selected it invokes the correct IPC file (keycode file) for the I-PAC and then starts the app. I have not tested it properly yet but could post the beta on my site anyway.
Should be a bit more cat-proof..

[Minwah]

I have another way of doing this, a beta version of a launcher for PC games and other apps. It allows a menu to be configured and then when an entry is selected it invokes the correct IPC file (keycode file) for the I-PAC and then starts the app. I have not tested it properly yet but could post the beta on my site anyway.
Should be a bit more cat-proof..

I hope to implement something very similar into MAMEWAH too, when I get chance...

[ErikRuud]

Andy,

I alraedy use the Pre and Post command options in GameLauncher to do this.

It works very well.

Before David added that option I just used batch files to accomplish the same thing.  GameLauncher would launch the .bat file and the .bat file would load the .cfg and then launch the game.

[Brad Lee]

I have another way of doing this, a beta version of a launcher for PC games and other apps. It allows a menu to be configured and then when an entry is selected it invokes the correct IPC file (keycode file) for the I-PAC and then starts the app. I have not tested it properly yet but could post the beta on my site anyway.
Should be a bit more cat-proof..

At the time it was the older version of the winipac software though, that popped a dialog up. If you've got a beta I'd be willing to give it a go

Before i took it out, I also tried moving the shift-key to P2B8(?) whichever the 3rd led is triggered by, so that when I was locked into shift mode it lit a led that I had on the CP. That was actually kinda cool since you could quickly tell which way your keys were laid out

[Tiger-Heli]

I'm going to use I-PAC for my keyboard encoder in my cab. MAME is the primary app for the cab but in setting up the machine, it seems that a few of the other apps that I have are not remappable and really want to use the F* keys.

I figured I'd set the I-PAC to 'ALT' and then setup shifted keys for F1, etc. In looking at the I-PAC's mame default layout, I can't help but wondering if there isn't some limit to the number of shifted functions it supports since so many signals do not have a shifted function by default on the I-PAC.

Does anyone know if this is the case? I didn't see anything in the I-PAC documentation about it (although I didn't look super hard ), but figured someone here almost certainly knew the answer!

I'm basically wanting the default MAME set plus shifted combos for F1-F5, Ctrl-Alt-Del , etc.

As said before, all 27 keys can be shifted.

Not sure if this is what you meant, but you can't do combo's - i.e. you can have 3 shifted buttons for Ctrl, Alt, and Del, but you can't have a single button execute C-A-D.

Also, your suggestion and the idea of using a switch to turn the shifted mode on and off is fine if you only use the I-PAC for MAME and one other program (or group of programs using the same inputs).  If you have two programs besides MAME with non-configurable inputs, you are better doing the following:

Create a .ipc file for the new games using the WinIpac software.  Write a batch file for the new game to load the new codeset, the game, and then the original codeset on exit.  (There are probably options to keep the menus from popping up.  I don't remember them, but the Winipac docs cover it.)  Been a long time since I've done this, but I think it looks something like this:

C:\Winipac\winipac.exe quake.ipc
C:\quake\quake.exe
C:\Winipac\winipac.exe default.ipc
exit

FWIW

[ErikRuud]

That is what I did, except I used the dos ipacutil, because there was no winipac then.

I have a config for MAME, Retrocade, O2Em and another just for Game Launcher.

[grafixmonkey]

I'm gonna build this thing (schematic) for shifting.  Thought you guys might like to share, for those of you who want to be able to toggle back and forth from one set to the other quickly.

It toggles from one control set to the other by hitting a pushbutton, and the pushbutton lights up for "shifted" and turns off for "normal".

[Brad Lee]

How does this stay shifted though, if it's just a pushbutton?

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to electrical drawrings like above- if the answers in there, I sure dont see it

[grafixmonkey]

yeah the answer's in the circuit - notice the 7400 chip.

I designed that this morning, so it 'simulates' correctly but real life is not quite tested yet.

The 74LS74 chip is a flip flop.  When the pushbutton is pressed, it causes the flip-flop to toggle between high and low.  
So, if the SHIFT line is at 5v, you press the button and it goes to ground, press again and it goes to 5v

[Brad Lee]

Haha crap, yeah thats what I meant I was readin quick and just assumed the chip was the Ipac, didnt even see the big 74's on it

Well hell thats pretty cool then! Hopefully it'll work out when ya put it together

[grafixmonkey]

for anyone's information who's considering building this I determined that resistor and capacitor values of 400 ohms and 1 microfarad were best.  

I have yet to see if a TTL output pin can successfully drive the inputs on the IPAC.

[grafixmonkey]

  oops - ATTN anyone who's actually gonna do this, I forgot something in the diagram.  There must be a resistor attached to the power supply transistor, between its base pin (the one that faces to the right in the diagram) and pin 5 of the 74LS74.  (but not between pin 5 and the wire that goes to the IPAC.)  Since the value of the resistor depends on both the transistor and lamp you use, best to get a small screwdriver-adjustible variable resistor (pot) that maxes at about 2 Kohms, start it out at maximum resistance, and decrease it until the lamp lights up nicely.

I also forgot that the IPAC reads active-low signals, so as is the button light would be on when not shifted, and off when shifted.  This can be fixed by connecting pin 6 to the IPAC instead of pin 5, and just having pin 5 go to a resistor and then the transistor.

Also, since this is even more a custom hack than keyboard/gamepad tapping and requires a decent amount of skill in setting up, don't plug it into your IPAC until you've tested it first!  and only do it if you're willing to accept the risk (not me) that something might go wrong and damage the IPAC.

[grafixmonkey]

Just ascertained that a TTL chip can indeed drive an IPAC pin.  (see topic "Rapid-fire using a keyboard encoder???")

The circuit with the TTL chip on it must be on the same power supply as the IPAC and the computer it's connected to.  This can be done by drawing 5v and ground from the IPAC, as long as your circuit does not draw too much current (100 mA or so by guesstimate).

The rapid-fire circuit drew 40mA so the toggle circuit should draw very little, probably less.