Not a bad weekend so far. The IPAC VE arrived this morning and I just won the eBay auction I had my eye on.
2 x joysticks, 17 buttons and all the microswitches for £20.01 - not bad, as new from Gremlin would have been about £35 to £40. Just hope I don't find myself on the wrong side of some eBay karma.
Might go and buy some wood tomorrow, and start making the control panel - round the weekend off nicely.
Showing posts with label interface. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interface. Show all posts
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
The story so far...again...
ROMS
OK. I had a couple of hundred ROMS, but as the MAME engine has been moving on, more and more of them have been marked as "not working" so I've bit the bullet and bought an eBay auction for a set of DVDs with 6500 ROMS. Nice :-)
The disks arrived yesterday and I spun disk 1 for the first time today without issues - I'll make the assumption the rest are OK and get round to playing them when I have some time.
INTERFACE CONTROLLER
If you scan back through the history of this blog, you'll see the fun I had hacking a keyboard to serve as an interface controller. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience, not least because I discovered a lot more about how they all work, but I suppose I get a kick out of that kind of stuff. Sad. I know.
I did occasionally experience a problem with my homebrew controller that I've spotted in a couple of google searches, that there's a limit to the amount of simultaneous keypresses on a standard keyboard controller - I think it's 6. I could have built 2, or I'm sure USB doesn't suffer, or 2 USBs. UPDATE: more searching reveals this is a hardware issue with almost all keyboards.
But, I've decided to buy a proper interface controller, so I've plumped for the I-PAC VE controller from Ultimarc. I looked at these carefully last time round, and back then couldn't justify the 30 quid for the little clever box, when I could crack open a keyboard and build my own for the cost of a bit of wire and a strip of block connectors.
Ultimarc have several versions of these gizmos - I've picked this one because I only need 2 players - I did think about 4, but know full well it'll never be used enough to justify it. The VE version has a couple of minor limitations over the standard version, buy I don't need them, plus it currently has a free shipping offer, which makes all the difference in price.
It's on order, and could be the best part of 3 weeks before it gets here. Watch this space.
BUTTONS
Back in Blighty, we have Gremlin Solutions, who I purchased my sticks and buttons from last time. They're not cheap (about 35 quid for my needs) so i've got my eye on an eBay auction of someone who, just like me the first time, bought the kit and never even unpacked it. I eBayed my parts last time for a pittance, so I'm hoping the Karma fairy pays me a visit and let's me win this auction for a reasonable outlay.
Cost so far = £35
Rom DVDs - £5
Interface Controller - £30
OK. I had a couple of hundred ROMS, but as the MAME engine has been moving on, more and more of them have been marked as "not working" so I've bit the bullet and bought an eBay auction for a set of DVDs with 6500 ROMS. Nice :-)
The disks arrived yesterday and I spun disk 1 for the first time today without issues - I'll make the assumption the rest are OK and get round to playing them when I have some time.
INTERFACE CONTROLLER
If you scan back through the history of this blog, you'll see the fun I had hacking a keyboard to serve as an interface controller. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience, not least because I discovered a lot more about how they all work, but I suppose I get a kick out of that kind of stuff. Sad. I know.
I did occasionally experience a problem with my homebrew controller that I've spotted in a couple of google searches, that there's a limit to the amount of simultaneous keypresses on a standard keyboard controller - I think it's 6. I could have built 2, or I'm sure USB doesn't suffer, or 2 USBs. UPDATE: more searching reveals this is a hardware issue with almost all keyboards.
But, I've decided to buy a proper interface controller, so I've plumped for the I-PAC VE controller from Ultimarc. I looked at these carefully last time round, and back then couldn't justify the 30 quid for the little clever box, when I could crack open a keyboard and build my own for the cost of a bit of wire and a strip of block connectors.
Ultimarc have several versions of these gizmos - I've picked this one because I only need 2 players - I did think about 4, but know full well it'll never be used enough to justify it. The VE version has a couple of minor limitations over the standard version, buy I don't need them, plus it currently has a free shipping offer, which makes all the difference in price.
It's on order, and could be the best part of 3 weeks before it gets here. Watch this space.
BUTTONS
Back in Blighty, we have Gremlin Solutions, who I purchased my sticks and buttons from last time. They're not cheap (about 35 quid for my needs) so i've got my eye on an eBay auction of someone who, just like me the first time, bought the kit and never even unpacked it. I eBayed my parts last time for a pittance, so I'm hoping the Karma fairy pays me a visit and let's me win this auction for a reasonable outlay.
Cost so far = £35
Rom DVDs - £5
Interface Controller - £30
We're going again!
So...
We're gonna go again!
A couple of years later, a little older, a questionable amount wiser, and a completely new life. I've always regretted not continuing the last attempt. But there's a different woman in my life and all the things that were important to me, that I never started or never finished, are important again.
As most everything in life, my renewed interest in this came entirely by chance. My son is now 5, and he's as addicted to all things computers as much as me - a good thing or a bad thing - I can't yet tell. We were on the laptop together a few weekends ago - he stumbled across my mame roms and said "what's this, dad?".
Yes - you're absolutely right. A five year old asks you THAT question when browsing your laptop and you panic.
We spent the next while (I'll claim 20 minutes, but it probably was a couple of hours) cracking open the old games and bashing away on the up, down, left and right, ctrl and alt buttons until they nearly came off.
I asked him if he remembered the last attempt (from here on in, referred to as version 2.0) and he didn't. Shame. We used to play the Work In Progress together, but he was 2 or maybe 3 at the time. They're too young to remember the stuff you'll cherish forever.
So, I'm going to have another go at this arcade machine thingy. I'm sure I'll try and kid myself that this is as much for him and his sister as for me, but the jury's out on that one.
Version 3
The new one's called gMame 3.0 - might knock up a marquee at some stage with that on. Not sure, but I think I should mark the passing of those that came before.
Ubuntu
I'm still a massive Ubuntu fan (haven't used windows for a few years now - Windows 7 - that was NOT my idea) so we'll keep the Operating System, but obviously the later version - 10.04 is round the corner.
The interface
I'm not as keen on Java as I was, and I've been playing around with a little Python lately - not 100% struck but there's a lovely little environment in Ubuntu called Quickly that has a great Interface editor, source editor and it all packages up nicely, so when I get round to coding my own interface again, I'll likely pick this. Coming to a sourceforge near you soon.
So that's the new start. I'll let you know where I'm up to in the next post.
Wish me luck?
We're gonna go again!
A couple of years later, a little older, a questionable amount wiser, and a completely new life. I've always regretted not continuing the last attempt. But there's a different woman in my life and all the things that were important to me, that I never started or never finished, are important again.
As most everything in life, my renewed interest in this came entirely by chance. My son is now 5, and he's as addicted to all things computers as much as me - a good thing or a bad thing - I can't yet tell. We were on the laptop together a few weekends ago - he stumbled across my mame roms and said "what's this, dad?".
Yes - you're absolutely right. A five year old asks you THAT question when browsing your laptop and you panic.
We spent the next while (I'll claim 20 minutes, but it probably was a couple of hours) cracking open the old games and bashing away on the up, down, left and right, ctrl and alt buttons until they nearly came off.
I asked him if he remembered the last attempt (from here on in, referred to as version 2.0) and he didn't. Shame. We used to play the Work In Progress together, but he was 2 or maybe 3 at the time. They're too young to remember the stuff you'll cherish forever.
So, I'm going to have another go at this arcade machine thingy. I'm sure I'll try and kid myself that this is as much for him and his sister as for me, but the jury's out on that one.
Version 3
The new one's called gMame 3.0 - might knock up a marquee at some stage with that on. Not sure, but I think I should mark the passing of those that came before.
Ubuntu
I'm still a massive Ubuntu fan (haven't used windows for a few years now - Windows 7 - that was NOT my idea) so we'll keep the Operating System, but obviously the later version - 10.04 is round the corner.
The interface
I'm not as keen on Java as I was, and I've been playing around with a little Python lately - not 100% struck but there's a lovely little environment in Ubuntu called Quickly that has a great Interface editor, source editor and it all packages up nicely, so when I get round to coding my own interface again, I'll likely pick this. Coming to a sourceforge near you soon.
So that's the new start. I'll let you know where I'm up to in the next post.
Wish me luck?
Friday, 1 February 2008
Speaker Panel - Electronics
After lunch yesterday I set about the speaker electronics.
I have a bunch of speaker "guts" that I ripped (carefully of course) from a cheap (fiver ($10)) set of speakers I got from eBay.
On the inside of the speaker panel, I mounted the odd shaped speakers as close to centre of the "speaker holes" I cut in the panel, with a few 1/2" (12mm) screws - I almost burst through the facing surface with one screw tip so I was very careful with the rest.
I've had a real debate with myself about the speaker controls - there are going to be times when I want to adjust, as a minimum, the volume if not the bass/treble, so how can I get at the controls without compromising the semi-authentic look I am going for?
I could cut a little hole in the speaker panel and adjust the volume with a small screwdriver, I could mount the speaker controls on the top or back, etc.
I've decided that I'll mount the controls on the back of the speaker panel, and access them through the "vent panel" (to be constructed) and somehow make the vent panel "quick release" - by doing this, I can also put the controls for the marquee backlight here and access those too - maybe even the USB ports I intend to install, although I still think I want those more accessible - a decision for another day.
So the controls and the AC/DC transformer are mounted in the centre of the inside of the speaker panel. One concern I have is the heat generated by the transformer - these do get warm and I've mounted it in direct contact with wood - not inspiring. I'll keep an eye on this and run the speakers for several hours - if I'm concerned enough I'll drop a little metal panel between the transformer and the wood. I sense this is more likely than less, as I'm not keen an explaining to the wife why and how the house burnt down.
You'll see that I had to cut plenty of wires to get the "guts" out of the speakers, as such, there is now plenty of soldering and repairing of cut wires, and a tidy up job on the wiring using my handy cable tie mounts.
Hook it up to my iPod for a quick test - works first time, no crackling or interference. An unexpected but not unpleasant effect is that the sound is a little muffled at a distance and at angles if the listener is not directly under the angled speaker cutouts, but perfectly clear and sparkly directly undernearth - this seems very reminiscent of my childhood memories of arcade machine sounds so I'm not unhappy at all.
THE REAL TEST!
Now that I have the speakers, monitor, and controls all working, time for a "REAL" test - I hook up the cables to my "as yet unmodified (as in, still in it's pale cream case)" PC and run the latest version of my gMame interface software available at sourceforge (for those joining us late, I'm writing my own interface software in Java as well as constructing the cabinet) - it's all working beautifully, and using the arcade controls with my software is working really well.
I'm a very happy bunny at this stage. The only panels left are non-electronic ones, except for the panel that will house the reconstructed PC, and I hope to make a start on them the weekend.
I have a bunch of speaker "guts" that I ripped (carefully of course) from a cheap (fiver ($10)) set of speakers I got from eBay.
On the inside of the speaker panel, I mounted the odd shaped speakers as close to centre of the "speaker holes" I cut in the panel, with a few 1/2" (12mm) screws - I almost burst through the facing surface with one screw tip so I was very careful with the rest.
I've had a real debate with myself about the speaker controls - there are going to be times when I want to adjust, as a minimum, the volume if not the bass/treble, so how can I get at the controls without compromising the semi-authentic look I am going for?
I could cut a little hole in the speaker panel and adjust the volume with a small screwdriver, I could mount the speaker controls on the top or back, etc.
I've decided that I'll mount the controls on the back of the speaker panel, and access them through the "vent panel" (to be constructed) and somehow make the vent panel "quick release" - by doing this, I can also put the controls for the marquee backlight here and access those too - maybe even the USB ports I intend to install, although I still think I want those more accessible - a decision for another day.
So the controls and the AC/DC transformer are mounted in the centre of the inside of the speaker panel. One concern I have is the heat generated by the transformer - these do get warm and I've mounted it in direct contact with wood - not inspiring. I'll keep an eye on this and run the speakers for several hours - if I'm concerned enough I'll drop a little metal panel between the transformer and the wood. I sense this is more likely than less, as I'm not keen an explaining to the wife why and how the house burnt down.
You'll see that I had to cut plenty of wires to get the "guts" out of the speakers, as such, there is now plenty of soldering and repairing of cut wires, and a tidy up job on the wiring using my handy cable tie mounts.
Hook it up to my iPod for a quick test - works first time, no crackling or interference. An unexpected but not unpleasant effect is that the sound is a little muffled at a distance and at angles if the listener is not directly under the angled speaker cutouts, but perfectly clear and sparkly directly undernearth - this seems very reminiscent of my childhood memories of arcade machine sounds so I'm not unhappy at all.
THE REAL TEST!
Now that I have the speakers, monitor, and controls all working, time for a "REAL" test - I hook up the cables to my "as yet unmodified (as in, still in it's pale cream case)" PC and run the latest version of my gMame interface software available at sourceforge (for those joining us late, I'm writing my own interface software in Java as well as constructing the cabinet) - it's all working beautifully, and using the arcade controls with my software is working really well.
I'm a very happy bunny at this stage. The only panels left are non-electronic ones, except for the panel that will house the reconstructed PC, and I hope to make a start on them the weekend.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
"Second" Release of gMame - the Software
I've just launched the "second" release of the java interface, with lots of nice support messages to help people get started, rather than innocuous error messages, a change of colour scheme to reflect the logos I designed, and some code optimisation.
Available at gMame@Sourceforge
Available at gMame@Sourceforge
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
A lot of Java, and a little woodwork...
Today I spent about 5/6 hours working on the software available at gMame@Sourceforge - although I haven't uploaded my changes as they are part way through. I'm trying to add a lot more error handling so that the new user is not put off by odd error messages just trying to get the thing started.
I'm trying to get to grips with CVS (the version control stuff) so that I can keep my up to date working copy at sourceforge instead of a number of memory stick.
Tonight, when I got it, I had half an hour to install the marquee and the speaker panel, then offered the monitor panel back in. As pointed out in a previous post, I've finished the monitor panel too early - I need to unpick it all and pass it back over the table saw to get the right angles top and bottom.
Next time I get some time on the project (hopefully Thursday morning) I'll either do the electronics work, or get the monitor panel angled and installed, or hopefully both.
A picture of everything in place (monitor just positioned not installed) to get your appetites wet...
I'm trying to get to grips with CVS (the version control stuff) so that I can keep my up to date working copy at sourceforge instead of a number of memory stick.
Tonight, when I got it, I had half an hour to install the marquee and the speaker panel, then offered the monitor panel back in. As pointed out in a previous post, I've finished the monitor panel too early - I need to unpick it all and pass it back over the table saw to get the right angles top and bottom.
Next time I get some time on the project (hopefully Thursday morning) I'll either do the electronics work, or get the monitor panel angled and installed, or hopefully both.
A picture of everything in place (monitor just positioned not installed) to get your appetites wet...
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Started my SourceForge!
Joy of joys!
A great day.
I've just found that my gmame sourceforge project request was approved on Monday (funny I didn't get the notification email, but no matter) which now means I have a place to properly support the software side (my custom interface) of this project.
Woo-hoo!
Now, all I have to do is figure out how to use it...hmmm....
UPDATE: think I've sussed it - have posted my first set of zip files via sourceforge - time to get slaughtered by those who know how to program properly, not some wannabe code monkey like me! :-P - my code looks SOOOOO rough - I really will have to split my time been blogging, coding, and building - core, tricky doing this in quasi-realtime.
A great day.
I've just found that my gmame sourceforge project request was approved on Monday (funny I didn't get the notification email, but no matter) which now means I have a place to properly support the software side (my custom interface) of this project.
Woo-hoo!
Now, all I have to do is figure out how to use it...hmmm....
UPDATE: think I've sussed it - have posted my first set of zip files via sourceforge - time to get slaughtered by those who know how to program properly, not some wannabe code monkey like me! :-P - my code looks SOOOOO rough - I really will have to split my time been blogging, coding, and building - core, tricky doing this in quasi-realtime.
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