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NEW PRODUCT: Ultimarc ServoStik. 4-8 way joystick with powered restrictor.
jasonbar:
Splendid product!
Can you comment on the throw distance? With my Mag-Stik Plus, the throws are rather short, which I believe to be an inherent issue with any switchable joystick. Just checking to see if you were able to improve the throw on this product.
Thanks,
-Jason
Mysterioii:
--- Quote from: jasonbar on August 08, 2012, 03:43:41 pm ---which I believe to be an inherent issue with any switchable joystick.
--- End quote ---
Fair question but I wouldn't expect that to be the case. The bigger the hole in the restrictor, switchable or not, the further the actuator has to move to hit the switches. It would really depend more on the overall geometry of the joystick in question but I can't see it being a limiting factor of switchable joysticks at all. You're just rotating a plastic disk.
Le Chuck:
Please don't judge the throw of all rotatable joys by the magstick plus. That is an extreme example of short throw. The GGG Omni 2 is standard in throw and there is no reason this mod would shorten throw on a regular stick.
RetroBorg:
--- Quote from: jasonbar on August 08, 2012, 03:43:41 pm ---Splendid product!
Can you comment on the throw distance? With my Mag-Stik Plus, the throws are rather short, which I believe to be an inherent issue with any switchable joystick. Just checking to see if you were able to improve the throw on this product.
Thanks,
-Jason
--- End quote ---
The joystick is a J-Stik (Sanwa JLW-TM-8 type), check out the Retro Blast review and the joystick comparison table.
http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/reviews/joysticks/ultimarc_jstik.html
http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/reviews/joysticks/Joystick%20Roundup.pdf
AndyWarne:
--- Quote from: Mysterioii on August 08, 2012, 09:18:25 am ---
--- Quote from: AndyWarne on August 04, 2012, 06:29:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on August 04, 2012, 10:08:42 am ---You are a madman Andy - that's awesome! :applaud:
Any way of being able to manually fire the motor to switch for JAMMA setup (i.e. via an outside button)?
--- End quote ---
Yes we have alternative firmware which enables the USB cable wires to be connected to a buttons instead, to control switching.
--- End quote ---
This looks really cool Andy, but I don't suppose it's configurable for both USB and button control simultaneously? I have several console emulators in my cabinet, I can envision wanting to have my MAME frontend set up to automatically toggle the controller using the controller info but still might (occasionally) want to manually toggle to 4-way mode if I'm playing some old console game that I think it might be better suited for. (I know, I could start a big discussion with people that don't think console games are fitting for an arcade cab and should only be played with a gamepad etc., but it is what it is).
I don't know what uC you're using and if you have free GPIO, but here are some features I can see being of use. If the hardware doesn't support it now perhaps you'd consider it for a future rev.
Software control to command it to 4-way or 8-way (already present) as well as a "soft toggle" to invert the current state.
A software means to query the current state.
GPIO pins configured as input to command it to 4-way, 8-way or toggle whatever the current state is... available concurrent with the USB control, not instead of it.
GPIO pins configured as output to indicate the current state.
With these features I could for example have MAME automatically set it to 4-way or 8-way as it believes is correct for the current game. Then I could have a hidden (or not-so-hidden) button on my CP to toggle the state, in case I for example want to try a game with the "incorrect" setup to see how it feels, or if I want to toggle things for a console game. With the 2 output pins I could for example use a hollow shaft (if/when they're available for this stick) and perhaps have the joystick illuminated blue when in 8-way mode and red when in 4-way mode. Alternately, indicator lighting could be built into the CP if that's the user's preference or in the absence of hollow shafts.
Just some thoughts sir. This is very interesting.
--- End quote ---
But... If you are using Mame this suggests you must have some kind of keyboard encoder installed. So why not simply connect two extra buttons to it and program them as F4 and F8? Or use inbuilt shift functions and already-existing controls?
Not really sure why you would want to query the state. If its set to 4-way for example and you set it to 4-way again, this would not cause any issues.
Each connector added to the board adds to the cost and it would only be worthwhile if they are connectors which would generally be used.
Andy
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