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P2 Arc8de Project - Page 2 — Parallax Forums

P2 Arc8de Project

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  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    Chip,
    I was just listening to some of the old live forum videos on Youtube and noted the concern with power over light duty cabling causing a large ground rise with this project.

    I'd recommend using isolation on the power at the remote end and use a dedicated pair for power. This way signal ground has no power loading at all. I presume there is already switchers in the power supplies, it's not a big step further to change the inductors into transformers instead.

  • @Cluso99 said:
    Should the joystick be on the right ???
    I don't play many games but as a right-hander I just presumed the joystick would be on the right. Am I wrong?
    Just curious.

    Or is there a way to rotate the plates at the bottom?

    Ray I'm with you. But I didn't want to upset the progress. :)

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    Joysticks go on the left basically because the buttons work better on the right for right-handers.

  • Hi

    Press enter to start?
    Well that's got me stumped!

    Getting too old for this ...

    Dave

  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,273
    edited 2021-05-08 17:39

    If the panel could be flipped 180 degrees? Good for left and right handers!

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    @tritonium said:
    Hi

    Press enter to start?
    Well that's got me stumped!

    Getting too old for this ...

    Dave

    It will make sense in time..... ;)

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    @VonSzarvas said:
    If the panel could be flipped 180 degrees?

    It's not a simple as that.
    The Joystick panel is two sheets bonded together with a captive space for the bolt head which secures the joystick to the plywood.
    I did this so there are no visible screws/bolts showing.

    I could do a variant that is mirrored, it's trivial in cad.

    Anyway all arcade cabs have the joystick on the left hand side but it wasn't always that way.....

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=LwyKx8TvRcE

    BTW I'm right handed too and couldn't imagine playing these games with a joystick on the right!

  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066
    edited 2021-05-08 21:40

    I’m not really a game player so I don’t know what’s normal so I’ll defer to others. I made the comment just in case it was an error.

  • It's been 40 years since I played Space Invaders so I probably played it with a left joystick. I can train my left hand to do the same. :)

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    Who's actually doing the circuit board layouts? Is the ground rise issue resolved completely?

  • Michael is at the moment for the main P2 board and the board per cab in the 8 in 1

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    @Baggers said:
    Michael is at the moment for the main P2 board and the board per cab in the 8 in 1

    Michael, AKA VonSzarvas

    @evanh said:
    Chip,
    I was just listening to some of the old live forum videos on Youtube and noted the concern with power over light duty cabling causing a large ground rise with this project.

    I'd recommend using isolation on the power at the remote end and use a dedicated pair for power. This way signal ground has no power loading at all. I presume there is already switchers in the power supplies, it's not a big step further to change the inductors into transformers instead.

    I think the ground problem has gone away, we are using a high quality Cat6 cable for each cab and any problems that were seen have been overcome in software.

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    I've been mostly testing audio amplifiers and speakers today.

    The speaker I am using is ether a 4 or 8 ohm, 3 or 5 Watt, it's easily obtainable and whilst not offering the best in HiFi sound it is very affordable ;)

    I'm also looking to use a TPA3110 based mono amplifier in the Arc8de 8 in 1 cabinets, I'll switch that to Stereo for the landscape variant with 6 buttons.

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126

    @Baggers said:
    Michael is at the moment for the main P2 board and the board per cab in the 8 in 1

    Thanks, I'll hassle him directly.

    @Coley said:
    I think the ground problem has gone away, we are using a high quality Cat6 cable for each cab and any problems that were seen have been overcome in software.

    Software certainly doesn't overcome such problems. It can even do damage to the I/O if left banging against the ESD clamps.

  • Looks great so far Coley.

    For the usual landscape vs portrait mode arcade emulator dilemma, wouldn't it be cool to have a way to switch between the two types on the same arcade machine. Imagine if you had a square shaped insert for the display and speakers that was attached with strong magnets and could be pulled out and rotated 90 degrees as required. Is anything like that even possible?

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    @rogloh said:
    Looks great so far Coley.

    For the usual landscape vs portrait mode arcade emulator dilemma, wouldn't it be cool to have a way to switch between the two types on the same arcade machine. Imagine if you had a square shaped insert for the display and speakers that was attached with strong magnets and could be pulled out and rotated 90 degrees as required. Is anything like that even possible?

    Not so easy to do in reality because of the construction methods used.

    It is a good idea though and one I will look into.

    I could move the speakers from the front panel and put then in the marquee facing down, that would give me more options.

  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,133

    If we can keep the current consumption reasonable with a good cable, there will be no problem.

    We looked into baseband video isolation transformers, but they are quite expensive.

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126
    edited 2021-05-10 23:24

    Isolate the power supply with a commonly used switching power transformer. Eliminates the actual cause then.

    PS: And prolly should go differential on the signalling too.

  • evanhevanh Posts: 15,126
    edited 2021-05-11 11:02

    The other thing that'll hit you is static discharge. Best to use heavy earthing straps for handling that. Right up to the joystick.

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    @rogloh said:
    Looks great so far Coley.

    For the usual landscape vs portrait mode arcade emulator dilemma, wouldn't it be cool to have a way to switch between the two types on the same arcade machine. Imagine if you had a square shaped insert for the display and speakers that was attached with strong magnets and could be pulled out and rotated 90 degrees as required. Is anything like that even possible?

    Excuse the rough and ready animation but yeah, it's possible ;)

  • Nice feature, well done Coley and team

    And even your 'rough animations' are mighty impressive

  • That's excellent Coley! Very useful feature. Way to go.

  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066

    Yes! Wonderful :sunglasses:

  • Way to go Coley!

  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,253
    edited 2021-05-18 17:59

    Great, work! The cabinet will now be DEFENDER capable.

    (Yes, that matters, and to this day I stop everything and play that one on sight.)

  • Don't forget JOUST too. LOL.

    Defender was a top game. I still remember how loud it's sounds were compared to many other arcade games. It really attracted your attention. Difficult game though.

  • @Tubular said:
    Nice feature, well done Coley and team

    And even your 'rough animations' are mighty impressive

    👍👌😎

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    Thanks guys, hoping to get some built this weekend time permitting.

  • Re: DEFENDER

    I will have to start a thread, but the code for it's sound board is out there. Pretty sure I have it too.

    It is a 6800 connected to a 8 bit DAC running at 800khz (ish) Takes input via 8 bit parallel interface

    The Williams sounds are algorithmically generated. Plunk in numbers and use the cool ones for games. One sound at a time. DEFENDER has a priority system that delivers the most important sound to the player at any given time.

    And yeah, that board, a fat AMP and a great cabinet speaker = goodness!

  • ColeyColey Posts: 1,108

    I did a build today that includes the new removeable/rotatable front panel.

    I think this is the design phase complete and I can start building them.

    A quick video of the cab that I sent to Jim earlier today...

    It's worth noting that this cabinet is not glued together at this stage it is just pressed/slotted together.

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