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Control Panel
Creating the control panel was the best part of the whole project. I got into some wiring which was the first time
I felt comfortable during the whole project. I purchased all of the buttons and the I-PAC encoder from
Ultimarc. I purchased the T-Stik which you can switch from 4-way to 8-way
mode under the control panel. In hindsight I would probably get the T-Stik Plus which allows you to switch modes
without opening the control panel. I have to admit I didn't really understand the difference between 4-way and
8-way until after I had finished the control panel and I got lucky that it is easy to get underneath the control
panel because I switch between 4-way and 8-way modes all the time. I highly recommend making the underside of
the control panel accessible, because you will need to get under there from time to time to switch joystick modes
or for button debugging.
All the 8-way mode does is allow all of the diaganol motions as well as up/down/left/right. I didn't think it
would make a difference, so I just set each joystick to 8-way mode originally. The first time my wife played
pac-man she couldn't control pac-man at all. I switched the joystick over to 4-way mode and then she was
smokin'. I can't really tell the difference, but it makes a big difference for some people.
The Ultimarc I-PAC encoder is nice because it has a "shift" mode where you can access extra keys. The keys along
the top are wired to:
| Coin 1 |
Player 1 Start |
Escape |
P (pause) |
Player 2 Start |
Coin 2 |
In shift mode I also can get "Tab" and "Enter" with the keys along the top row. I never need to hook up the
keyboard to my arcade machine with this setup. If I ever need to change configurations I use my desktop machine
(real keyboard and real mouse - big plus!) and the VNC client to access the
arcade machine.
I ended up creating my own graphic for the control panel using the GIMP. I
had read a bunch of things on the net about matte finish versus glossy. Seems like some people have had problems
with the control panel graphic getting pressed down too hard by the Lexan and giving it a wet look all the time
in some areas. I ended up going with a matte finish on the image itself since the Lexan gives it the sheen and
also put a matte laminate on top. I don't know if the matte laminate was necessary and if I were to do it again
I would probably try it without the laminate at first. The laminate made it a little more difficult to work with
and I am not sure it added any benefit.
To cut the holes I used a 1 1/8" drill bit that I think is called the blue mole. I ended up clamping the control
panel board to the Lexan and then put another piece of scratch board underneath the Lexan. I made a few practice
holes at first and learned quickly to go from the underside of the control panel (wood first, then Lexan, then
wood again) for the cleanest holes. I didn't have any problems with the Lexan cracking and this whole process
went pretty smooth. Things are finally going right, the control panel is in place and I can finally play some
games! After this, progress drops dramatically. It seems like most people start with the control panel first -
if I would have done this the cabinet would still not be finished.
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