Move

Well, as with all things, the upsides are balanced by downsite.

Upside: New Place is awesome
Downside: Spare parts box has become dangerous

Status: On Hold

Unfortuantly, due to the following factors The Porject (sic) (tm) has been delayed:

• Coming into the busiest time of the work year
• Requiring additional surgery
• Having the owner of my unit sell the place from under me with bugger all notice

The project will re-commence work shortly after i sort all this out.

IT LIVES!

Yeah, I couldnt wait, (Plus the guy whos painting it is coming over Friday to see what im describing) so i re-fitted it together. Then went a bit mad with double-sided velcro and velcroed the speakers in and the monitor in. End result, is very very much what it will be like.

What a blast to play on.

Can you splice a DVI-D single channel cable?

YES YOU CAN. WHEE. Yep, that mishapen lump is the splice in the DVI cable I did with just twisting wires and duct tape, and yes, that's the actual cable the monitor is running of. Ill call her Frankensplice.

Well, at some point I had to face splicing a monitor cable. I was going to use VGA, but i found a old DVI-D cable lying around. I never saw the difference in image quality so it ended up in the magical box of spare cables.

However, I decided to research the difference for this project (as the video card is DVI out and the LCD supports VGA and DVI input) and found one massive surprise: While I really couldn't see the difference in quality on the LCD (as I believe newer LCD's are very good at converting the analogue VGA signal) I did notice one thing: The scaling and repositioning of the screen was gone.

Under VGA, the screen has to detect where and how to fit the screen, resulting in it flickering on and off, changing in size and sliding around to fit. This was annoying on my test runs as it happened going into each game, and sometimes (5-10%) it wouldnt get it right and slide the screen a centimeter to the left, obscuring part of the screen.

DVI DOES NOT DO THAT. It displays the image crisp and clear, no flickering and always in the right position instantly. I didnt know this beforehand!

So it had to go in. Question was, was it possible to splice the cable without signal degredation? I have to fit the cable through a loom tube (just big enough for the cables between top and bottom), I certaintly couldnt get the connector through. Downside was, this cable is sheilded with tiwsted pairs, and removing these for a splice has a risk of interupting data, much like untwisting CAT-5 can make the cable less than optimal in use.

What was more fun: Not only did it look scary enough when I opened it up (four pairs of sheilded wire, with 5 lying speerate = 13 cables), but when I got into it i found a third uninsulated wire inside each of the four shielded pairs (4 times 3 + 5 = 17 cables!)

So I had a go as a trial run before the real deal next build time, and I got it right the first time without solder or heatshrink. All I did was twist the wires and insulate with duct tape. Little help sourced from this thread: http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=printview&t=44543&start=0.

Im going out tommorow to invest in some heatshrink and a small blowtorch for the real deal, which will be done with a lot more precision in care. This was just the test run, proof of concept to ensure I could actually do it.

Cable or a HL1 Headcrab? You decide.	Om Nom Nom Nom. Nearly set me back 30 mins work, thanks cat.
Halfway through, sheilded pairs done	Added some old dowel to help reduce mechanical force acting on join.

Speaker Epic Deveat

The speakers I had installed seemed like epic win. They fit well and cranked out some tunes from my Ipod. Or so I thought.

It wasn't until later I unplugged my Ipod and plugged it into my PC. The noise. Oh the noise. I thought having it plugged into the running PC and into my Ipod was a good test. Apparently not. It had the most horrible line noise ever. So that USB speaker idea went in the bin after hours of trying to fix it. EPIC DEVEAT.

So I ended up going back to my old 2.0 powered speakers, which are working even better.

Deveat (Verb): Something that seems like complete fail, but has a hidden win.
Antonym(s): See VICTOLY

So Ive had to redo the speakers with a powered set. The sound quality is much improved, with NO LINE NOISE. Huzhaa.

Ive also completed the top wiring in terms of 240V power. I had to use a junction box and split of another mains for the powerpack for the new speakers.

Re-done speakers.	Testing the junction wiring
Looks safe	Completed wiring

Ive also done some work on the Jukebox side of things, and neatend up the playlist (also got something for all the album artwork)



EDIT: My first Bubble Bobble Million.

Day 5 (?) Casebuilding

I think Ive missed two days. Oh well.


Case sat together in its closed position


Case in the open position

Another day of work brought us to this. The top part is assembled, and just needs the speakers and LCD put in.

The word of the day was DREMEL. I used it a lot, for sanding out slots for the speakers and LCD, to cutting the mounting out of the speakers (As we couldnt just screw the speakers to the wood)

As for the speakers, I had to sand out some of the pine reinforcment to fit the speakers.

Speaker mount removed from casing	Hole cut and sanded out
Mounts glued in place with liquid nails	Speakers mounted

We also got the LCD fitted (but not mounted) at this point.

LCD from front

Dremel line where we had to sand back the pine to fit the LCD

HIGHSCORE! Wait, whered it go?

Alright, long delay between updates as I havent had access to the WIP case. Between my mate going to QLD on business for two weeks, and upon his return going in for surgery, I have had little time to get out and work on the case. Since I have now spent two weeks only able to lie down and either watch Stargate or play Eternal Sonata on my PS3, I've gone half mad and decided to set up The Projects components in a old computer case and tinker with the software/hardware.

Ive picked myself up a Dremel 300 from Bunnings and a few extra bits for it from Jaycar, along with a peice of sheet steel from Bunnings. This will enable me to cut out some of the finer square holes/etc out of the sheet, which was posing a problem (cutting out 30mmx 25mm square out of 6mm sheet steel would be difficult with a standard tool) I shall do some work on this tomorrow (as tomorrow it is when I shall be next working on the case, wound or no wound)

Ive also done some work on the software, mainly MAME. Ok, so by 'Work' I mean playing Bobble Bubble for a while (and still only a maximum of level 32 on Easy starting with 5 lives). However, one thing I have done is re-enable High Score saving for games in MAME.

MAME's goal is to achieve 'perfect' emulation of cabinets, or as close to it as possible. Also, many MAME games did not save High Score tables. This is due to the original games not saving the high score in their firmware. Why? Because most arcade ops back then would have left them running for weeks or months on end, meaning that saving the high score table was not really a issue. This meant on power-down high scores were lost, and when you quit mame and start again its the same as a power-down. There is a autosave feature in MAME, but who wants to start up MAME and find themselves halfway through a game they rage-quitted?

MAME devs patched in a hack of saving high scores into MAME for a while (somewhere in the originals 0.60 -> 1.03 region from memory) but then removed it as it was causing more problems than good. Their goal was to recreate the original hardware, not add features.

Of course, someone had to add it back in for people like us. MKCHAMP over at the BYOAC forums was that person, who has released patches and compiles of newer MAME vers with the old highscore saver enabled. I found a highscore enabled MAME compile and matching highscore.dat file here (http://highscore.mameworld.info/)

Ive installed and tested it - works a treat for all the games ive tested (ok, ive only tested one, Bubble Bobble). Thanks guys!

Ive also got myself a very cheap pair of USB powered speakers for the box (http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=XC5191&keywords=usb+speakers&form=KEYWORD) which should be excelnt for the box (Analogue volume control and no clunky transformer for power [The more expensive ones all had digital volume, which isnt what I want])

More vids

Uploaded these a while ago, hadn't got around to updating.

Day 4 Casebuilding

Alright, forgot to well, update after the last day. Mainly because Rod has visitors and not really anything was done, except I bogged the hell out of the box. And the ending of BSG did make me shit myself.

Note to self: Really really really don't use much hardener.


Builders version of Clerasil

We started cutting out the parts for the top the last time I was down. Unfortunately, i didn't take and shots of it. Although, i did have to strip down the monitor too see what size it would fit into, and I decided to fire up the pc stripped down to see if there was any more viewable area behind the plastic (there wasn't)


Firing up the pc stripped

Around about here I was permanently banned from sanding, as I had sanded so much that I sanded out the bog id meticulously put in, and I've sanded back the dimensions from 400mm wide to 399mm wide, making fitting the top part harder.

At this point I'm out of project pictures, so heres a picture of a little kitten. This is the latest addition to their household. His favorite hobbies appear to be eating, sleeping and chasing toys.

Video!

Quick link to a vid on the inner guts of the case:

Working guts

Well, its been a while, and I havent been bothered updating the "blog", however I have the case running here and playable. This info is nearly a week old - been updating all my PC's (barring my fileserver) to Windows 7 RC and hammering out the last season of Battlestar Galactica. If BSG gets any more awesome I may poop myself. Stupid me for thinking it was a cheap Star Trek knockof when I saw it in the TV Guide.

The wiring, temporary instalation of the components (As it has to be painted its all temporary) using stick-on clips and tabs. It may sound stupid to do it twice, however it has the following key advantages:

• Any failures now can be rectified for the final
• I can trial how it all fits and make changes
• All the wiring will be carefully taken out and put back in - making the final version a 'quick' affair
• I WANT IT WORKING NOW! IVE BEEN WAITING SINCE FEBURAY DAMMIT

Components installed and working. Ready to play!

Had to slice the corners of the PS2 M-M cable to get it through the hole we drilled

I adhesive clipped the Hard drive to the roof of the box. The zip-ties gave me something to clip to.

The security-lock from behind. Certaintly not the best soldering, but functional

The completed wirings of the main buttons

Playing Bubsy II on the 'finished' base

Playing 1942 on the finished case

First steps

Got around to doing a clip of the case as shown below. I crap on a bit about the making of it.



Also started on the wiring a bit. Not much details to be had really on this part - wiring up a IPAC isnt hard.

Day #3:Casebuilding

Sigh, better part of a month before I got a chance to work more on the box. I guess that's what happens when you have friends fly over here to Tasmania for a holiday, and find out you have to have butt surgery.


Hinge done and parts ready to screw

After putting some of the components in to ensure it would fit, we got into making some more pine structure reinforcement.


Extra pine reinforcement to ensure good structure

The pine skirting was added for something to screw then MDF to and to hold it all together rigidly. Thankfully, I had allowed enough for this in the plan to fit everything into it.


Assembled base component. Note metal to the left of the box for control panel.

After assembly, we added in the cam-action lock I had bought from http://www.jacksonssecurity.com.au/. Unfortunately this isn't keyed like a arcade circular security lock, I had to order one of those in. The camlock you see in the picture is the closest lock in a 'normal' key, which I will swap around when i get the proper lock.

We drilled a appropriate hole for this lock by drilling two 16mm holes slightly adjacent to each other to give it the elongated circular with flat sides shape [What a lousy description]. This ensures that it will not twist at all, even under force, whereas just drilling a circular hole would allow motion if twisted hard enough.

We also added a second layer to the joystick area, and then screwed the joystick in from the bottom. This avoids using ugly bolts at the top (we could countersink them, but screws are even neater) I'm not 100% sold on the MDF holding the joystick in place, however I figure if it fails we can then go with the bolt option.

Which leaves us with:


1 base box with a bad case of Acne. A pack of 100 wood screws disappeared into this.


Side view of box. Obvious sandmarks here where I've been getting the edges lined up.


Inside view of box. Here weve added the lock, two fans (with part of the grill on the other side of the box) and the joystick.


Base view of box (part that sits on the table). Ventilation port here (minus the top part of the grille) and 4 foam feet to protect whatever surface its on from all that awesome.


Back view (tilted sideways). One half a grill added here, didnt add the second grill due to lack of bolts.

Day #2:Casebuilding

Since all the parts were cut out last time, surely a finished base case and the top part cut out and sitting ready to assemble follows in this post right?

No. Stop asking. Im looking at you Jeremy.

I started the day by turning up over a hour late as I got half a hour out of Hobart before realising I had forgotten the continuous hinge. Turned around to go get it, and back again.

When I got there I immediately went to start on the angled upper control panel. Figured I could drill the holes out on it while Rod got working with the jigsaw on the cutout panel parts.

Unfortunately I Epic Failed with my measurements (Read 2mm back from 35mm instead of 2mm back from 40mm) so my control panel arcade buttons turned out a bit tighter than I wanted. Fortunately, I noticed immediately after I drilled so I was able to do the same on the other side to make the mistake symmetrical and therefore look planned.


Ready to assemble control panel. Notice the very tight grouping of the two sets of arcade buttons due to my eyesight. Spare hole is for volume control.

After drilling a 12mm hole for the barrel switch and Rod jigsawed out the holes for the push buttons, all was good after a little sanding. I ended up sanding out the second set of pushbuttons to match up with the mistake. The hole to the left is empty as it is where the potentiometer will go when I unsolder that from its motherboard (for volume control).

After a 'unacceptably' long lunch break which consisted of some awesome muffins, Coffee and toasted sandwiches, we resumed work.

Next up was the pinball button holes, which were also not centered correctly. Some more sanding fixed this up. We drilled a larger hole on the exterior of the case, and drilled the correct size hole on a piece of mdf on the inside. Apparently this is called doubleskinning.



1x Countersunk pushbutton for pinball games.

After that, there was a lot of jigsawing out and brainstorming how the heck were going to do xxx (mainly about the continuous hinge) We think we have a solution to the hinge problem, it will just have to show on the bottom of the box. And be bolted as nobody trusts screwing into 9mm MDF.


Yeah, lots of fiddly jigsawing/sanding. Rod insisted on following the curvature of the ventilation ports so they were completely flush, which looks awesome (see last pic) however fiddly with the sanding.



Yep, base part just sitting together again, however all drilled and ready to go. Put in all the buttons and crap for a good photo. Its looking incrediawesome. Here you can see the pinball pushbutton well.


Back view. Note how good the ventilation ports look as they fit well in to the mdf. You can can also see the motherboard I just stuck inside to ensure it all fits.

Day #1: Casebuilding

1 unit of base case parts, cut.

A full day wound up with the parts for the base of the case unit cut and finished to the correct sizes. I managed to cut the holes for the buttons on the lower panel (leaving the upper control panel until next week) however basically all the rest has been done by a professional carpenter.

This base part will need some holes cut for ventalation, side buttons (for pinball), piano hinge on the base for fold-out access, and finially assembly. Then its onto construction of the top part.

Im anticipating at least another two full days of work until the woodworking is done. Then its onto painting.

Video capable

The Project is no longer Video challenged!

Radeon HD2400 card with mobile and cat paw for scale.

Yeah, its a ATI Radeon HD 2400. $60 bucks down at the computers store second hand. Just removed the mounting bracked and presto.

Works a charm for the project, AND has more grunt than my main PC. Polishes up Half Life quite nice.

So why did I change my mind?

• Anaglyph games, like Quake (i.e. old awesome games with red-blue 3d glasses)
• S-VIDEO out, means I can link it to a RCA output for TV's (and S-VIDEO). This means that I can fold it up, plug it into a TV, plug in surround sound, and turn it into a damn console using the wireless xbox360 controller!
• Better performance/resolution/graphics out of old DOS games and some MAME games.
• This card is small enough to fit neatly and doesnt obstruct airflow
• Removes some load from the 1.5ghz CPU
• $60 is cheap enough to warrant the cost

Vid #6

Due to popular demand, I bring to you:

Half Life on the project with xbox360 controller.

Finished Case*

* Note some assembly required

2 sheets of 9mm MDF 1200x900 ~ $17 a pop from bunnings

Since im planning to start the case this Sunday, I thoght it would be prudent to get the actual wood required.