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Modular controls panel discussion

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DougHillman:

--- Quote from: Lilwolf on March 09, 2004, 02:53:14 pm ---btw, it think modular control panels are pretty cool

before you finalize your design... shouldn't you consider the COMBINATIONS of controls you have?

It should be pretty easy to swap... why would you have a spinner and trackball with a flightstick AND 7 buttons?  What are you trying to take care of?

IE, you might have 4 modular plates... forget about different size spacers... or random locations for those spacers.  Because hopefully you will be setting up your controls for the games... not tyring to come up with a bunch of generic solutions..

I liked someones approach (sorry forgot who?) who had a joystick with two buttons next to it... and then the next moduler had 4 on it.  So you can have an 8way with 6 buttons or trackball with 4... ect...  they where all the same size


--- End quote ---

Well, I'd have a spinner and trackball along with a flightstick and 7 buttons because with the addition of a 4/8 way, it'll cover pretty much 99% of the single player games with a generic no-fuss solution.  The bottom configuration in my initial post exhibits exactly that and will be the way it's set up most of the time so that I can jump on and play something at random.   It'll change for specific games or gaming sessions.  

I want true Neo-Geo and Street Fighter layouts, so splitting the buttons between panels is not an option.

Due to the space limitations, I cannot have all modules the same size and have them all fit in a generic configuration.  I could maybe get the layout that I've pictured to work as 6" panels if I was able to combine the spinner & Tron type stick into one panel, but I've decided to go with an Oscar Up/Down spinner which will require more space that what it pictured.  It should fit in the generic layout with the removal of the spacers.


BTW, don't anyone feel rude if they wanna throw out constructive criticism or comments such as a couple people have.  The more discussion the better.  It helps anyone thinking about going modular and it may open our eyes up to better solutions than what we've got now.

DougHillman:

Lexan / acrylic overlay?

Anyone put lexan on their modules?  I'd like the protection that it offered to my CPO and the replacibility factor if it happened to get scratched, but I'm now keen on the idea of how visible the panel lines would be.

I'm of the mind that a printed high quality vinyl of some sort is gonna be the way I go.  If it's black & all my fits are pretty exact it should hide the panel lines fairly well.

D

DougHillman:

'Nother question.

What are you guys doing as far as hooking your modules to your keyboard encoder?  Seems like most guys doing this are using molex.  

I read in one of the threads about someone using Cat5 from the modules which plugged into a multi-port RJ45 wall jack.  I LOVE that idea.  As far as I can tell, a 6-port jack should be sufficient.  P1 Stick, P1 buttons, P2 Stick, P2 buttons, Tron stick (which would sometimes be installed on the panel at the same time as the normal P1 Stick, ergo it needs it's own port to the I-PAC) and maybe one extra for something else.  This would cover every possible module configuration I can think of.

If whomever's idea this was reads this, could you post a few detail pics of this setup?

I haven't yet recieved my Opti-PAC, trackball or spinner so I don't really know how these hook up.  Would it be possible to route them through Cat5 as well?  (I'll check some online installation instructions later tonite when I get a chance, I suppose.)

D

hyiu:
I'm the guy who is using cat5 with the RJ45 jacks... hee hee...  ;) ;D

but I'm not doing modular panel....

basically.... each player on my panel has 8 buttons and 1 stick...
and uses 2 cat5....

I use these because I'm building "interfaces" for my stick / panels...
so that the same stick can be re-used when I plug in a hacked gamepad...
or PSX pad... so that the same stick can be used for multi system....

as for pics... hmmm.... I'll need to dig it back out....
I believe I have some pics for the xbox hack and my sticks in the console section.... will need to do a search... and seems like the search button doesn't work for now....

[edit] here you go....

http://www.geocities.com/hyiu2/pics/gaming/

click on the xbox*.jpg....

[/edit]

NoOne=NBA=:
I don't have any pics posted at the moment.
I'll reply here once I get them posted.
I'm still working on the panels and such, in addition to all of life's other impositions, so that's taking alot of my time.

What I did though was cut a hole through the back wall of my control panel area and mount the 6-port wall jack directly to the back wall.
The permanent wires go from the wall plate backward to the I-pac inside the monitor area of my cab.
The modules are using 3' patch cables hacked in half.
I picked up the patch cables free when we moved into our new building at work, so it save me from having to actually crimp the male ends onto bare wires.

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