Wonko Labs

[wonko]

Origianl post by: Cirvin

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The idea for the Artendo was concived a couple months ago as I was looking at websites where others had built full sized arcade cabinets and used computers running a program called Mame. Mame is an arcade game emulator that runs on most computers. It allows you to play the actual arcade games, via saved ROM images, on your computer. I messed with Mame a bit, but never could get it to work right. It was then that the idea hit me. Most of the games I play are for the Super Nintnendo, so why not just run an emulator for that and not bother with Mame?

The idea progressed from that point to what it is now.

As of now, (7/14/05) I don't have much done. I still need to finalize the design for the cabinet and buy some more components to finish.

Some pictures:

This is the power control board. When the computer is turned on, a data line on the parallel port will go high and trigger the relay that will power up the cabinet lights, the monitor, and any other device that needs it.

Here is the inside of the parallel port connector used to attach the controllers to the computer, and get the power on signal to the main power supply.

The same as the last picture, but with a cover on it.

This is the end of one of the ribbon cables from the parallel port connector. This will go to the controller interface board, wich has yet to be constructed.

Here is a mock up of one of the controllers. As you can see, I used actual arcade game buttons and joystics arranged in the same configuration as the actual Super Nintendo controllers. Not shown here is the L and R buttons, wich will be mounted just upper right to the 4 main buttons. Hmm, that makes it look more like a Sega controller doesn't it?


More information can be found at my website, Insane Ideas.
http://daxter12.topcities.com/Projects/Artendo/artendo.htm

More to come...
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Update: 7/14/06

After receiving the shift register chips from digikey, I built the first controller input circuit. I haven't tested it with the Zsnes software yet, but i was able to write a program to use the joystick to draw on the screen. It's pretty much an overly complicated etch-a-sketch.

The shift register board:


Buttons and joystick all wired up:


Using the drawing program:


A house I drew out of boredom:


I'll upload the program I used later. Next step is to get this working with zsnes.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

7/17/06

a day or 2 ago I tested the controller with Zsnes, but was disappointed by its performance. Mario would move erratically when more than 1 button was pressed and made the game quite unplayable. Today I was tinkering with it and noticed that it only seemed to work well whenever the oscilliscope probe was attached to the latch line. It didn't even need to be attached to the scope itself. I quickly concluded that the cable must have been acting like a decoupling capacitor and I tried attaching a small ceramic capacitor between the latch line and ground. Doing that cleared up all the problems I was having with gameplay.

I can now say that it works with Zsnes!


Next step: Build the second controller input.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
_________________
\/\/ () |\| |< () |_ /-\ |} _|¯ - updated at least once a week now!

[danie53595]

Thanks for sharing this post. This is a very helpful and informative material. Good post and keep it up. Websites are always helpful in one way or the other, that’s cool stuff, anyways, a good way to get started to renovate your dreams into the world of reality.
_________________
70-291 dumps | microsoft dumps | pmi certifications
| exam 70-680

[hectorloshuk]

you are correct...that was the conclusion I had come to...

but things change...."gay" used to mean happy...now it means Mike Poccia...you cant just go and say "yeah but it used to be associated with being happy". Jooknow what I mean?