Anybody Using Silver's LCD Gen Software?

[NinjaEpisode]

Saw on Minwah's site that he's got support for Silver's LCD Gen Software (http://www.silverfoxy.plus.com/LCDGen.html) and I'm just curious if anybody is using it and if you can post some sample screenshots?

Also, do you find it helpful?

As I finish gathering supplies to get started building, I came across this today, and it looks cool, but I don't want to go through the steps if you don't find it useful.

[Navmaxlp]

Not sure if the program supports MAME but, on my HTPC, I use LCD Smartie and it works flawlessly. Has great support for music ie, it can show "nowplaying" info as well as date/time info and custom info. I had it running a dialogue for a while that looked like the computer was talking to the viewer. Might want to check it out and see if it fits your needs.

[Silver]

Have a look at this thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,17856.0.html

Its what gave me the idea to get an little LCD screen. My program basically displays the info in exactly the same way as in the thread - there were originally other peoples programs that did the same thing.... not sure if they are still around.

Note that Minwah's support is not just for my program -  my program just makes a load of text files (named *.lcd) for each game in your collection and puts the best available description of the controls in it (Controls.dat or Mames own xml info). Mamewah will read in the text from this file and shunt it out to a Com port of your choosing and settings. This means that you will have to be using an LCD panel that supports this (typically with a built in rs232 interface).

Oh, I've just found out that the XML info in Mame changed slightly for 0.95...  no idea if this breaks my program or not, I'll have to go and check.....

[jfunk]

What LCD do you recommend using?  I've looked at CrystalFontz and such, but they all seem pretty pricey and don't have all that much 'space'..?  Can't be the (cheaper) parallel port stuff, because I'm running XP, right?

[Navmaxlp]

Parallel port LCDs work in XP. I'm using one myself. I'm not sure off hand what brand it is without checking the packaging info. It came with my case but it's a 2x16 parallel. I tested quite a bit of software before finally going with LCD Smartie. There's a good forum for this kind of stuff over at HTPCNews.com also at AVSForums. I'm sure you can find a good bit of help here but those two sited focus mainly on HTPC rigs which use LCDs much more frequently.

[JoyMonkey]

Good god! I bought one of these LCD screens for $20 about a year ago, now the auctions are starting at $45!!!! That's insane!
Still haven't hooked the thing up, I really need to prioritize all the projects I start. (can't remember the last time I actually finished anything) 

[JoyMonkey]

On a related note, does anyone know how to send a text file to the serial port? Preferably using a DOS command?

[GadgetGeek]

On a related note, does anyone know how to send a text file to the serial port? Preferably using a DOS command?

My DOS is a little rusty, but wasn't it something like

Code: [Select]

copy yourfile.txt com1:
Or something along those lines.  You might have to do a mode command prior to that to open the com port at the baud rate your device is expecting.  HELP MODE should give more help than I can.

[JoyMonkey]

Thanks GG, that's very helpful!
For anyone interested, here's info on the Mode command:
http://www.computerhope.com/modehlp.htm

I'll try this out tonight if I can dig up an old serial cable.

[Silver]

I've got one of those 24x8 serial LCD's.  And yes the price has gone up recently!

They are handy because they are so easy to drive - you can just copy a txt file. If you have one of those this should work:

mode com1: baud=19200 parity=n data=8 stop=1

then

copy text.txt com1

You can set similar settings in Mamewah (19200,8,n,1 or whatever order it is).
These screens also support a set of commands for different fonts (it has 4 in built), scrolling along the line, bold text etc... The commands can be included in the txt file - check the linked thread above or look at this site for detailed info on the commands:
http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/lcd_protocol.html

I've picked up a cheap graphical LCD I want to try out too, but need to hook a parallel port connector first....

[JoyMonkey]

I just tried it out (it only took me a year to get around to it, not bad eh?) and I've run into some trouble.
First of all, I tried the mode setting above, but I'm working from an old PC that doesn't support 19200 baud rate, so I set it to 9600 instead.
Now when I try to send a text file to it I get

Write fault error writing device COM1
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail ?

then I get

Fail on INT 24 - com1

I used a regular male->female DB9 cable and I'm giving the board 5v from the PC's power supply.

Any ideas?

Oh, and when I do a mode com1: /status I get
Status for device COM1:
Retry=NONE

Edit Never mind, after reading through the big old LCD thread I realized that a DOS machine needs a different cable pinout than an XP machine. So I hooked it up to an XP machine and it's displaying stuff now. When I have time I'll rewire that cable so it'll work in DOS for me. Right now I'm going to look into some of that fancy text formatting.....

[jfunk]

Yeah, I was too late to get one of those 24x8's for that price 

Still looking for good prices..  Backlight would be nice, too 

[JoyMonkey]

I was just about to post another question, when...

YAY!

[vibez]

this looks cool!. will this lcd be ok to run on xp

http://www.watercoolingshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=62&products_id=392

its 20x4 display. will that be fine for showing control.dat info?

[Silver]

It is certainly capable of showing the text, although currently the way I do it - and the one posted above - and from within Mamewah is using a Serial connection LCDne - not a parallel port one like you have linked to.

Parallel port is actually superior for LCDs as it can sustain a much higher data transfer - allowing for pictures/constantly updating stuff like a Winamp equalizer.

You will need to find out how to send plain text to it (which should be extremely easy - have a look at the forums for the type of software linked to by the LCD)

[vibez]

so for compatabilty it looks like i'll have to find a serial lcd. These things are quite hard to find in the uk 

[NinjaEpisode]

Ok so I bought one.   Now the guy said I can backlight the thing but the website he pointed me to is out of kits.

Anybody know of  a place making backlights for the 24x8 LCDs?

[JoyMonkey]

Techknowman sells them, but he has a minimum order of 6 kits. If you don't find anywhere else that sells them and want to do a group buy, put me down for one.
http://www.techknowman.com/Kits/Kits.htm

[Silver]

@vibez

well I am sure a parallel one will work. I'm getting my hands on one to play with so when I get it running I'll look into using it for plain text files which I'm sure will be easy.....

[vibez]

Thanks alot Silver!

[NinjaEpisode]

Techknowman sells them, but he has a minimum order of 6 kits. If you don't find anywhere else that sells them and want to do a group buy, put me down for one.
http://www.techknowman.com/Kits/Kits.htm

I shot techknowman an e-mail regarding pricing.  Haven't heard anything yet.

fyi, gang, I actually picked up the 24x8 LCD for $25 bucks with controller card off of e-bay this weekend.

Do a search on Serial LCD and you'll find several at decent prices.

[vibez]

I spotted this one on ebay.co.uk http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4660&item=7507211411&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

But it looks like connecting it up to a pc will be well beyond my electronic abilty (I can just about put batteries in my remote the correct way )

looks like i'm going to have to go without an lcd for the moment

[vibez]

Techknowman sells them, but he has a minimum order of 6 kits. If you don't find anywhere else that sells them and want to do a group buy, put me down for one.
http://www.techknowman.com/Kits/Kits.htm

Is anyone seriously interested in doing a group order? I know a guy who wants 3, I want one, so we just need 2 more.

Any serious takers? (BTW we are based in the uk)

[jfunk]

Techknowman sells them, but he has a minimum order of 6 kits. If you don't find anywhere else that sells them and want to do a group buy, put me down for one.
http://www.techknowman.com/Kits/Kits.htm

Is anyone seriously interested in doing a group order? I know a guy who wants 3, I want one, so we just need 2 more.

Any serious takers? (BTW we are based in the uk)

How much are they?  Although, I'm in the US...

[vibez]

i'm having trouble contacting him to get a price. the guy just wont reply to my emails 

[Stu_C]

Hi Vibez,

I'm in the UK and interested.  Let me know the price if the guy emails you.

Cheers,

Stu

[NinjaEpisode]

i'm having trouble contacting him to get a price. the guy just wont reply to my emails

[vibez]

I hope he is only on holiday, I have a 24 x 8 that desperatly needs a backlight. Although I'm sure we might be able to build the kits ourselves. Shouldnt be too hard.

[NinjaEpisode]

So what's the easiest way to power that 24x8?

[JoyMonkey]

It takes 5v that you can grab from any power connector on a PC.
ie, those white plugs that power floppy drives, hard-drives and cd-roms in your PC - here's a pinout diagram

[NinjaEpisode]

LOL.  Good enough. Simple Molex hack.

[Silver]

In testing mine I found that it worked fine powered off the IPAC LED headers. (and one of the screw-down grounds).

However, no idea what load it pulls so this may not be a good suggestion as I suspect its more than an LED.

[vibez]

are standard molex connections 5v or 12v? I dont want to overload my lcd 

[Dire Radiant]

They're both. Connect red and black you get 5v, connect yellow and black you get 12v, connect red and yellow you get 7v. Doesn't matter which black pin you use btw.

[vibez]

thanks dire. I have power to it now.

Only trouble is I cant get anything to display on he lcd


Ok I have this hooked up to com1. i've gone to a command prompt & typed 'mode' This is what I got

Status for device COM1:
-----------------------
    Baud:            1920
    Parity:          None
    Data Bits:       8
    Stop Bits:       1
    Timeout:         OFF
    XON/XOFF:        OFF
    CTS handshaking: OFF
    DSR handshaking: OFF
    DSR sensitivity: OFF
    DTR circuit:     OFF
    RTS circuit:     OFF

I've created a little .bat file to test sending text to the screen

 here's my test.bat:
copy test.lcd com1

and here's my test.lcd:
work damn you!


The file gets sent ok

C:\>copy test.lcd com1
        1 file(s) copied.

but no text shows up on the screen.  Any idea what is wrong? I'm using xp by the way.

[Silver]

If you are using a 24x8 try:

mode com1 baud=19200 parity=n data=8

then copy the text file. you will probably have to reset the com port every time you open a dos box from windows....

[vibez]

interesting, why though?

I mean the port always keeps these settings, even after re-boot

    Baud:            1920
    Parity:          None
    Data Bits:       8
    Stop Bits:       1

::EDIT

i'm afraid that didnt work either. I have noticed there is a slider on the top of th lcd. I guess this is for contrast. Should the display change even without any text on it if I move the slider?

[Silver]

note there is a difference between 19200 and 1920. I am not sure that the 24x8 with a rs232 interface will work as low as 1920.

I gave those settings as they are known to work, and work with mine. If you enter the mode command with the settings as above, does it report the baud as 1920 or 19200? If it stays as 1920 it sounds like there might be a problem.

Could you elaborate how you connecting the LCD, what cable, what OS etc. Some of these 24x8 LCD's come with a mini daughter board plugged in the back with just 4 or 5 pins on it (+5v, ground, send, recieve..). IF you are using Win XP you can get away with only wiring the send and recieve to a comm cable, I think earlier versions of windows may need the various "Send ready" lines to activated to work. The thread I linked to above has info on some of this I think, although you may have to search for it.

Slider - yes its contrast. When powered, if you move it all the way to the right the whole display should fill with solid dark rectangles. This dark, and you can't see any text when you send it but you know its powered. I would suggest moving to the right fully, then move to the left and stop just when the rectangles don't appear obvious. This will let you see the text.

If you do not get a display full of dark rectangles with just the power attached and the slider to the right fully, I would suggest you are not powering it correctly.

[NinjaEpisode]

Got mine powered up tonight.  Looks awesome!  Really needs a backlight kit though, so, since Techknowman isn't responding to anybody, I guess I need to come up with something other method to light this baby.  I don't think I'll get the same effect from LEDs so it's time to search.

beingseen.com has EL sheets but they're not cheap.

Silver, two questions:  I noticed on a couple of the .lcd files that when I sent them to the LCD as a test, the title bar did nothing but a super fast scroll causing it not to be legible?  I assume it's the length of the title?

Second question:  For mamewah, do I just modify the .ini file to give the location of the .lcd files and mamewah will do the rest?

[vibez]

This is the lcd here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7507211411

I thinking its a power problem, because moving the slider does nothing to the screen. The LCD board has a little led in the right hand corner, that lights up, so I assumed it ment the power was ok. But i'm not getting these black blocks when I turn the contrast up, so I must of powered it wrong. I cant think how though. I'm connecting it to 1 red & 1 black of a molex connection, so that must be 5v. Is there a way to get 5v off the jpac?

[Silver]

@NinjaEpisode:

I got an backlight kit off techknowman very recently - think I got lucky as he had one available. He was great to deal with, I so I would suggest he is just away at the moment. I recommend the kit as the EL sheet is pre-cut, wired and Laminated ready to slide in (once you've removed the current polarizing sheet), and comes with polarizing sheets and power inverters - and I think is pretty cheap.

Hmm, the scrolling is nice and slow on mine at default speed. In my program you can select different scroll speeds - try a couple of different ones? If that fails, take a look at http://www.pjrc.com/tech/mp3/lcd_protocol.html - this is what I based the codes on. If you have a slightly different firmware or need different commands then its easy to add.....

Mamewah - yes check the docs, theres a spot in one of the inis to specify baud/parity etc and the directory. It will look for romname.lcd (as made by the program) and send them out to the LCD as you run each game. There is also an ini file spot for some default text ("Welcome to Mamewah!" or whatever) while in the menus.

@vibez

Hmm, not sure abot the jpac as I dont have one. I'm sure using the ipac it is not the best solution in the world... For testing try getting a cheapo multimeter to make sure your connections are good. Are you soldering directly onto the board or do you have a connector?

[NinjaEpisode]

Ok, I'll check the scroll rates.

I just e-mailed Techknowman again and told him I'd either buy 6 kits from him or that I'd get 6 people commited to buying.  Essentially, I'd work out a group buy and send them on to those that want them at whatever the cost would be.

[vibez]

@vibez

Hmm, not sure abot the jpac as I dont have one. I'm sure using the ipac it is not the best solution in the world... For testing try getting a cheapo multimeter to make sure your connections are good. Are you soldering directly onto the board or do you have a connector?

Can you tell me if this looks like a power problem. The lcd is a 24x8. it uses a daughter board with a max32 chip.

The 5v power is coming from a molex connector attatched to a 3pin small molex connctor, which plugs into 2 pins on the daugter board. I put a multimeter across the back of the pins (on the daughter board) & get a steady 5.1v That should mean the daughter board is power corectly?

Ok using the info from here I've looked at the pinouts from the daughter board. Pin 15 should read 5v pin 16 should read 5v & pin 17 should read -9v. is that correct?

http://www.btinternet.com/~e2one/lcd/lcd.htm

Code: [Select]

Pin one is on top of the display (the pin nearest to R1). All connections px.x are 8032 port numbers. Connections marked * are those required to run the unit - the rest can be hooked up if you want to be more adventurous.


Pin
No.    Signal
1 txd *
2 p3.2
3 rxd *
4 p1.3
5 p1.2
6 Gnd *
7 p1.4
8 rs from shift reg
9 pin 18 of pal
10 p3.3
11 p1.7
12 reset *
13 p1.0
14 Gnd *
15 Vcc +5V *
16 Vcc +5V *
17 Vee -9V * (from Max232)


when I slap my multimeter across them I get this


15=  2.23v
16= 2.23v
17= -4.4v

Can you confirm that the daughter board is giving out the wrong voltage? If thats the case then the daughter board must be faulty in someway. if thats not the case, can I just hook up a ground & 1 red 5v to the lcd to see if it powers up ( I want to prove the lcd works & that the daughter board is faulty)

Please help, I'm terrible at electronics!

[Silver]

Hmm well you are clearly not getting the correct voltages on those pins. Assuming you are reading them correctly (black wire from the multimeter on the Ground (pin14), red wire on pin 15 or 16 or 17). Note I don't have this max32 daughter board so I'm just reading this off the list you pasted.

I'm not quite clear on how this is all hooked up. If you are connecting pins 15/16 directly from a molex connector from a PC power supply (+5v) then you should be reading 5V on the pins. You seem to have half this on each - is this reading after the daughter board? Any websites around with more pictures available?

EDIT: ok I've seens a photo of the ribbon cable attached to the back of the LCD. You should be able to attach +5V directly to the correct connectors on this for testing - It looks like the -9V is required too though, which will make it hard to test if your daughter board is faulty. Does the +5V go through the daughterboard?

The 2.2 volts on pins15/16 could be a wiring error - is the +5v from your PC supply being split anywhere?


Note: be careful with testing - dont hook up wrong wires!

[vibez]

Thanks for the reply silver.

Yes I did have the black probe on 14 & the red on /15/16/17

The only info I have is from these 2 links

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7507211411
http://www.btinternet.com/~e2one/lcd/lcd.htm

I hacked a molex from my computers PSU, its attatched to the daughter board. indicted on this pic as 5v/GND



that is where I get a good 5v reading. The output pins in the board are what connect via a ribbon cable to the actual LCD. the output pins are the ones giving me the low readings.

This pic shows the layout a little bit clearer. Note how it worked just fine for the guy who sold me it. I think I must of damaged the daughter board some how. Who knows?



Click the picture & they open up full size

[NinjaEpisode]

What's he got plugged into the 3 pins just below the GND on that last picture?  Is that where you plug in the RS232?

[vibez]

What's he got plugged into the 3 pins just below the GND on that last picture?  Is that where you plug in the RS232?

do you mean the top picture? yes that is the  RS232 pins

EDIT::

it certainly seems like the voltage is getting halved somewhere between the input & output of the daughter board. I really need to debug this. 1st way, would be to hook up something directly to the lcd to test I can get power to it. but acording to the circuit diagram I need 5v on 2 of the pins & -9V on another. how would I achieve this?

Next question would be, what could be wrong on the circuit that is causing the voltage to be halved. I'm assuming the daughter board did work & I must of shorted something.

EDIT2::

I'm testing this without the RS232 cable plugged in. Do you think this might be causing the voltage drop?

[NinjaEpisode]

So according to that diagram, PIN 15 and 16 are your power.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the power from the RS232 looks to be a GND to me.

Since you're already grounded on PIN 15, you shouldn't have to ground twice just to get power to the LCD.

I'm no expert, but I'd say your problem is somewhere in the daughter board.

[vibez]

So according to that diagram, PIN 15 and 16 are your power.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the power from the RS232 looks to be a GND to me.

Since you're already grounded on PIN 15, you shouldn't have to ground twice just to get power to the LCD.

I'm no expert, but I'd say your problem is somewhere in the daughter board.

PIN 15 is not GND its +5v too. (I think) I'm unsure what the -9V is though. Here are the pin outs to be read with that wiring diagram


Pin
No.    Signal
1 txd *
2 p3.2
3 rxd *
4 p1.3
5 p1.2
6 Gnd *
7 p1.4
8 rs from shift reg
9 pin 18 of pal
10 p3.3
11 p1.7
12 reset *
13 p1.0
14 Gnd *
15 Vcc +5V *
16 Vcc +5V *
17 Vee -9V * (from Max232)

[NinjaEpisode]

So according to that diagram, PIN 15 and 16 are your power.

[vibez]

Sorry, I thought you ment pin 15 on the lcd.

Pin 15 is GND & pin 16 is Vcc (on the max232), this is the 5v power from my pc that powers the max232 chip. It may be the chip is faulty. I can test if the chip is working correctly by using my multimeter. Black lead on pin 15 (GND) Red lead on pin 2 should read 5v & then red lead on pin 6 should read -9v. is that correct?

EDIT::

Do I need the rs232 cable plugged in to power the lcd. so that I can fill the screen with black blocks when I turn the contrast up? Can anyone try this for me. I'm not sure if the rs232 completes the circuit somehow

[NinjaEpisode]

I was able to power mine up without my serial cable and get the black blocks by turning the contrast all the way up, so my answer would be no.

[vibez]

I think you could be right. It looks like the max232 chip has 2 functions. 1st it doubles the input voltage from 5v to 10v & feeds this out pin 2, then it inverts the 10v to -10v & feeds this out pin6.  So it would seem the lcd needs 2 of the +5v inputs & 1 -9v input plus ground to power it. From my earlier tests, its only getting half of this. I'll test the chip, if the correct power is coming from the output end of the chip then the pcb must be bad, else the chip is faulty.

I'm actually enjoying this, considering I know nothing about electronics its fairly simple to pick up with a bit of googling.

[vibez]

I think i've found the problem!!!!!

 There is what looks like a voltage regulator on the daughterboard. Anyone willing to bet that this is down stepping the voltage?

I bet this board is designed to be hooked up to 12v & not 5v like I thought!

[NinjaEpisode]

Well, rather than risk killing both daughter board and lcd at once, I would disconnect the lcd from the daughter board and hook the daughter board up to the 12v supply of the molex connector on the PSU and see if you're getting the right voltage.

Of course, that's if you're willing to risk killing the daughter board.

[vibez]

Dont worry, I had the lcd disconnected as soon as I realised the power source must the problem. I've found the data sheet for the regulator too, & it definatly documents the output as 5v. BUt if I put a 5v in the regulator, shouldnt 5v come out? or does it cut down the voltage by a percentage & the max in can output is 5v?

I really need to take a class in this elastictricty stuff

[vibez]

 

[vibez]

What do I put in the mamewah.ini for lcd settings? I'm not sure of the format. It just puts garbage on the screen. I copied one of the .lcd files through command prompt & it worked ok. But not via mamewah

EDIT::

Found the settings. (detailed below)  The lcd_fe_text command that Mamewah displays is a bit boring. It would be better if we could get it to point to a text file. That way we could do some fancy formatting, instead of just getting a single line

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In mamewah.ini, edit these settings:

lcd_com_port (place your serial (COM) port no. here)
lcd_settings (place settings here*)

# * baud rate (110/300/600/1200/2400/9600/14400/28800/38400/56000/128000/256000), parity ([e]ven, dd, [n]one, [m]ark, pace), data bits (4-8), stop bits (1, 1.5, 2) - eg 9600,n,8,1 (this will vary depending on your screen etc.)

In your emuname.ini (eg mame.ini):

lcd_display_file_path (place your lcd file path here*)
lcd_fe_text (text to display while in the FE, eg 'MAME - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator')

* This is the location of your LCD files; basically text files (with .lcd extension) for each game, containing text you wish to be displayed when the game is launched (& any additional characters required by the screen for carriage return etc.)

eg puckman.lcd:

PuckMan - 4-way joystick

[Silver]

Congrats! glad its all working...

Yes I remember mentioning to Minwah when we were trying to get the LCD output to work (he kindly added this feature even though he does not have an LCD, and so could not even test it himself...). I'm he was going to allow the standard FE text bit to be stored in an external file to allow for fancier text.  It may be possible to add it all within the ini file although I have not tested that....

Incidentally I should mention that I've updated the LCDgen a week or 2 back (Now on 0.96.3) - after a couple of bugs were pointed out. (It was adding unecessary carriage returns at the end of the LCD files, and it now gets rid of the empty lines if you tell it to when the number of buttons would go off the screen....)

[vibez]

Thanks, I running the latest version now. I tried adding a text file that your tool produced into the ini, but it seems mamewah only reads one line. for the lcd_fe_text command. I have managed to get it scrolling though

[Silver]

yes 1 line is the catch... it may be possible to add lines by using AScii codes for carriage returns, but not sure how mamewah will treat unicode stuff....

probably easier to wait for Minwah to return from the land of Oz and ask him then...

[vibez]

It could work. I'm not too good with ASCII code.

[NinjaEpisode]

Congrats on getting it working!  Trust me, I was just here for moral support.  I'm far from an expert when it comes to electronics, but troubleshooting overall is just a matter of deduction, ruling out one thing after another until you find the issue.

Regarding Mamewah, I guess I should have tested, didn't realize we were only getting one line!

My suggestion to Minwah would be to execute the copy command with the proper .lcd file to comX right before he launches the emulator.  That way you don't have to rely on anything native to mamewah.  Should be fairly easy considering everything else is running through .ini files.

[vibez]

I appreciate the moral support. Now all I need to do it find a backlight kit & build an enclosure

[vibez]

Ok I have a very crude way of getting mamewah to launch a .lcd instead of the lcd_fe_text command. I'm almost embarrased by the crappy way I have done it, so I would rather let someone else come up with a better idea. Question is, are these lcds liable to 'burn in'? I'd hate to leave my arcade on for a few hours & ruin the lcd screen

[JoyMonkey]

I can't imagine the LCD suffering from burn-in. Ever see a digital watch with burn-in?
I think burn-in is limited to CRT tubes.  I think.

[vibez]

Good point. I should be safe. Thx

[NinjaEpisode]

OK, I tested mine tonight and I can get a full .lcd file sent with no problem.  At first I was getting garbage, but then I went in and set my baud rate etc. and once I did that, for every game I launched, the .lcd file filled in perfectly.

I obviously have a different controller than vibez', but mine works fine.

[jfunk]

Well, I've got my LCD working..  Waiting to hear from vibez how the backlighting goes 

My only problem now is with LCD Gen    When I hit 'Go', I get:

Run-time error '429'
ActiveX component can't create object

I'm running XP SP2..  Any thoughts on why this might be?

THANX!

Edit: Also, when installing, I get the following error:

An error occurred while registering the file 'C:\Windows\System32\msxml4.dll'

I'm betting this is my problem, but I don't know how to fix it 

Thanx.

[jfunk]

Wait a minute..  downloaded the MSXML package from microsoft.com, and things seem to be working better    Thanx, anyways 

[jfunk]

I have everything running!!! 

My last questions, I believe 

1)  When I set the first line to 'scroll' if it's too long, it's WAAAAY to fast or something..?  I tried sf2.lcd as an example...  Any thoughts?

2)  When exiting from the game, MAMEWAH allows you to send a line to the lcd..  Currently, I've got it clearing the screen and printing MAME..  Any way to add more lines?  I'd like it to be instructions on using MAMEWAH..?  Even better would be sending a file, instead..?

Thanx for this thread!  It's been EXTREMELY helpful!

[vibez]

I have created a work around for getting it to send a text file when you exit back to the main menu.I currently use it to display a simple instruction card for each emulator. I'm at work at the moment, but i'll post the .bat files & .ini mods when I get home.

[jfunk]

That'd be AWESOME!  Thanx!

I really just need to brush up on my C/C++ and write something    Too bad Perl has so much overhead..

[vibez]

Ok you need to do a few things to get started.

Delete any settings you have in mamewah relating to the lcd. If mamewah manages to execute any commands its keeps hold of the com port until you quit mamewah, which means no other commands can be sent.

What we are going to do is get mamewah to run a bat instead of the mame.exe

This is my mame.ini, setup your in a similar fashion.......... Notice how it points to the batch file

Code: [Select]

### mame.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###

emulator_title                            M.A.M.E.

### List Generation Settings ###
rom_path                                  d:\roms
rom_extension                             zip
dat_file                                  c:\mame\mame.dat
nms_file                                  c:\mame\what.ini
catver_ini_file                           c:\mame\catver.ini
list_generation_method                    rom_folder_vs_listxml

### Execution Settings ###
emulator_executable                       c:\mameWAH\batchfiles\mame.bat
commandline_format                        [name]{nodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_1                  [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_2                  [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
Now create the batch file for mamewah to run.

This is my mame.bat

Code: [Select]

@echo off
copy c:\LCD_GAME_CONTROLS\%1.lcd com1
cd\
cd mame
start/wait mame.exe d:\roms\%1
copy c:\LCD_EMU_CONTROLS\mame.lcd com1
So in :\LCD_GAME_CONTROLS\ I have all my .lcd files created by lcdgen (this gets copied when you launch a game)

in c:\LCD_EMU_CONTROLS\ I one .lcd file per emulator, in this case mame.lcd

In this .lcd you put whatever you want the lcd to display when you are back in the mamewah menu.

So what should happen is when you launch a game, the correct game controls get displayed on the screen, then when you exit mame, it displays what ever you have put in your mame.lcd file.

Only trouble is that when you 1st start mamewah, the lcd will be blank, so what I did is drop a .lcd file in my startup folder

Let me know if you run into any probs

[vibez]

worth noting that there is a custom font designer here

http://www.btinternet.com/~e2one/lcd/graphics_character_definer.htm

I used it to create pacman & other custom fonts. Its a really handy tool

[jfunk]

I'll give it a try soon!  Thanx!

A question, though..  Did you have to set the COM settings somehow before this would work?

I have MAMEWAH as my XP shell, so I can't put the LCD file in the startup folder..  Maybe I can have the shell be a bat file, instead..  will have to try it 

[vibez]

Yes, the .bat in the startup folder set the com port settings. I've never run mamewah in a shell, but i'm sure you will be able to create an autoexe or something that sends the settings on startup?

EDIT::

actually you can just add the settings to all the .lcd files. I'm sure if you just add the settings line to lcdgen, you can do it that way

[Aceldamor]

I have a question 

Is it possible to position the button functions on the LCD to the layout of your panel.
For example for Mortal Kombat:

high punch           High Kick
                   Block
Low Punch           Low Kick
                                          Run
               

[NinjaEpisode]

All of the .lcd files are just text files with basic list format.  You theoretically "could" do what you're asking, but it would most likely be a manual process, and considering the amount of .lcd files generated for all the games, it's be a fairly large undertaking.

If you have just a few specific fighter games that you're looking to do it for, it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

[Silver]

Sorry not been paying attention recently....

I've looked into physically moving the location of buttons around - its feasible to do it for ALL games, which defeats the purpose of having it represent the controls for a particular game.

 The Johhny5 CP viewer essentially has the functionality we are talking about so it's doable, but what I've also realised is that on a 24x8 LCD like mine, its not really worth it as I don't have the space to place all the buttons with descriptions in the right place anyway.

Incidentally I've added basic functionality for other LCD's that use the "Alpha" protocol, such as a bunch of seetrons (This is a beta that's not on the website yet). Specifically the bpp440: http://www.seetron.com/bpp440_1.htm that Circo uses. It's a 4 x 40 display and you can see that Circo lays out the text differently: http://www.emumovies.com/pictures.html which has the button layout on the left in a compact form.

When you select BPP440 in the LCD list it will display it in this manner. I've also done some looking at BetaBrites - which happen to use the alpha protocol too - which means they could work with this as well.

[Netcat]

In case it hasnt been answered

to send data to your serial port in DOS

FIRST:
Set your com port with the following swttings with the MODE command

i.e.
MODE COM1:4800,E,7,1

SECOND:
Use the TYPE command to send a TEXT file to that com port

i.e.
TYPE myfile.txt >COM1

Regards.

Tony

[loadman]

FYI

MaLa Frontend also has support for LCD.

http://mala.arcadezentrum.com/hardware.htm

[Silver]

So it does.... Can't tell from the site or program exactly how Mala does it (the LCD config in the program seems to be unavailble until you have it plugged it).

I think the LCD type they use is a standard RS232 interfact type so it should all be very similar. Does anyone know if Mala creates its own data to send to the LCD on the fly?

[Dariusz]

Silver,

Just read you post for the first time. A few days back I started a thread to see if someone can help me connect a 240 x 128 LCD display to the parallel port. The replier gave a response to a web site the gives the solution to not just to my display but many others too.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=41518.msg378902#msg378902

Please note schematics can be found on the web site, and the details so simple it just takes a few resistors, capacitor and the connections to hook up.

I haven't yet had a chance to have a look at you software, but does it support 240 x 128 LCD's using the T6963C?

If not, is there any chance you can support the display in your software? The link above will give you all the code you need, and I'll even throw in a display too

Dariusz

[Minwah]

Does anyone know if Mala creates its own data to send to the LCD on the fly?

Sorry to go OT, but since I added the [name], [description] etc. placeholders, it would be relatively easy to get my FE to do this on the fly.  Something else for my todo list 

[swindus]

I think the LCD type they use is a standard RS232 interfact type so it should all be very similar. Does anyone know if Mala creates its own data to send to the LCD on the fly?

Yes, it creates all (multiple, timer controlled switchable) screens and informations on the fly. Here is a list of all available placeholders: http://mala.arcadezentrum.com/wiki/doku.php?id=lcd (in german, but you will understand)

[swindus]

I think the LCD type they use is a standard RS232 interfact type so it should all be very similar.

No, it's connected via usb. (HD44780 or HD44780 compatible controllers)

(the LCD config in the program seems to be unavailble until you have it plugged it)

usb = plug & play -> no plug = no play

[Silver]

Silver,

Just read you post for the first time. A few days back I started a thread to see if someone can help me connect a 240 x 128 LCD display to the parallel port. The replier gave a response to a web site the gives the solution to not just to my display but many others too.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=41518.msg378902#msg378902

Please note schematics can be found on the web site, and the details so simple it just takes a few resistors, capacitor and the connections to hook up.

I haven't yet had a chance to have a look at you software, but does it support 240 x 128 LCD's using the T6963C?

If not, is there any chance you can support the display in your software? The link above will give you all the code you need, and I'll even throw in a display too

Dariusz

Hi,

not supported at the moment but most are not hard to add - i normally just need some documentation on the control codes the lcd needs to display text (I note thats yours is a graphic LCD so probably capable of a lot more). My program creates text files with the correct control codes for a particular lcd for all the roms you have, then you can use Mamewah to send the text files out automatically (or another FE using a batch file to launch mame).

Did you say that there was a link to info on what codes you need to send to the display?

[loadman]

Yes, it creates all (multiple, timer controlled switchable) screens and informations on the fly. Here is a list of all available placeholders: http://mala.arcadezentrum.com/wiki/doku.php?id=lcd (in german, but you will understand)

Here is a basic automated German translation:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmala.arcadezentrum.com%2Fwiki%2Fdoku.php%3F&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

[Dariusz]

Silver,

I have a number of links below for sample codes/programs, schematics on the LCD that uses the Toshiba T6963C. You are right, the LCD  is Matrix, so its cabable of displaying plain text and graphics. The graphics option of the LCD maybe of use to you one day?

Its good to hear that you program can be easily possibly adapted to support other LCD chip sets. If you are able to support the above chip set that would be sweet. The control codes for it I have links for you below:

Toshiba T6963C Datasheets (details control codes, and the later datasheets, simple example pseudo code):

Document by Steve Lawther, based on Toshiba T6963C Data Sheet (32 KB):

http://www.skippari.net/lcd/t6963c.pdf

Toshiba T6963C data sheet (1,5 MB):

http://www.lcdinfo.com/lcd/datasheets/e007211.pdf

The above two links come from this site:

http://www.skippari.net/lcd/t6963c_data.html

The above site has a forum on programming for the LCD displays and a whole lot more:

http://forum.lcdinfo.com/index.php?

the link below has links to source code and programs:

http://www.skippari.net/lcd/t6963c_prog.html

Schematics on how to connect the display can be found on the web site. all you need is basically a DB25 pin connector, the lcd (contact me if you need one), wires and some soldering tools. There is no electronics involved!

Also the displays are simple to get and cheap. Many displays are backward compatable as long as the have the same chip set.

Regards

Dariusz

[Silver]

Hi,

Thanks for gathering all the info together....

  What would be great is if you could test out your LCD by copying a text file out to it, via the parallel port, and report back.
  All the displays currently supported normally connect on the serial port. Most graphic displays connect via the parallel port as they need the greater baandwidth available. My program simply creates text files which can then be copied either manually from the command prompt or by a supporting FE (Mamwah and others) out to the serial comms port.

A lot of the funcitons on graphical displays seem to require the setting of various pins high/low for communication which you will either need a seperate application running to do, or convince an FE author to write code to allow parallel port control.

I know you can copy text files to the parallel port just like the serial port (eg "copy display.txt lpt1:" instead of "copy display.txt com1:") but I don't know how its passed down which pins. With the serial port its easy as there is only really transmit on one pin and recieve on another - it may be very simply in a parallel port, I just have no experience of it at all.

I don't have a parallel LCD to play with which makes it near impossible for me to investigate. What would be great is if you could find out from eg that site you listed what the simplist way is to display a text file on the LCD. Some of the programs on the LCD sites have there own parallel port drivers available, so it may be that all we need to do is install the driver or launch the app and then we can easily send a text file. I'd just post in a forum with people with the same board as you - then report back with the findings.

Sorry I can't really be more helpful at this stage, its a lot easier when you own the kit your writing for! I'm away for a few days but I will take a look myself when I get back and see how it looks....