Mame for EasyLase

[mikkojay]

DrLava just had some decent results- he said the framerate seemed a little slow though. I noticed that my laptop does not handle it nearly as well as my desktop, but it has Vista and a minimal amount of RAM. I can't wait to make one of those sound card DACs- That will be great if (or should I say when) we could get it all smoothed out.
-Mike

[mikkojay]

I put a new version of this (sans roms) out on the ildaswap FTP site.
I cleaned up some of the memory handling, and I think it will run better on machines with less RAM now- it even ran OK on my POS laptop. Please let me know if anyone has any issues and I will look into it.
Also, please bear in mind this is a beta

-Mike

[drlava]

Ok, posted an update for the EzAudDac driver. mikkojay, my hats off to you, after a game has been tuned in, this really works quite well! Thanks for releasing this, now the antique games can live longer and we can have a little MORE fun with our projectors, and ANOTHER reason to covet the 50k scanners Maybe it's time to buy a joystick for the first time.
By the way, look for a PM concerning direct integration of EzAudDac.dll driver.

[mikkojay]

That is great to hear! I need to bust out my wireless controllers and see how they work- I will do that tonight and give an update.
Here is an old vid when I tried it with my old version of Asteroids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfH4L0lx-qM
I don't see why they won't work with Mame, but I need to test it.
-Mike

[drlava]

What is the 'right' way to control the games like tempest which were originally optical encoder wheels.. is there a usb equivalent? We could use some reccommended controllers here.

[Stuka]

How about "roll your own" controllers?

http://www.ultimarc.com/SpinTrak.htm

[mixedgas]

What is the 'right' way to control the games like tempest which were originally optical encoder wheels.. is there a usb equivalent? We could use some reccommended controllers here.

That usb joystick chip I make supports optical encoders

Steve

[mikkojay]

I just tried my wireless PS2 controller on Asteroids, and after a little bit of config in the Mame menu, it worked just fine (hit [TAB] to enter menus). I have a usb powered 2 port hub that I bought on ebay for ten bucks or so. The wireless PS2 controller is like any you can get at Best Buy, Wal Mart, etc.
As for a true spinner knob, I am working on that too. I actually have one in a full-size mame cabinet that I might "borrow". You would use a controller called an IPAC/OPTIPAC that connects to USB (oops just read link 2 posts up). The light-chopper/spinner wheel connects right to the ipac. So many people have Mame cabinets nowdays that parts and kits are plentiful.
I built my Mame cabinet about 7 years ago, and at that time, the common method to connect a spinner was using a serial mouse hack. That is what I did, and it worked so-so, but I would like to try it again with a true optipac controller to see if the sensitivity behaves better.
Spinner Info
I might not have time to play for a few days though, it is supposed to snow on Thursday, and the summer tires on my car are sliding all over the place! That, and my garage door opener just konked out. Between the two, I bet when the smoke clears I could have bought a nice set of scanners for the money I may soon depart with. Oh well, that's the way it goes.
-Mike

[mikkojay]

That usb joystick chip I make supports optical encoders

Steve

Hey Steve, Does that chip come with a board? What's the going rate for one of those- that sounds great.
-Mike

[mixedgas]

Hey Steve, Does that chip come with a board? What's the going rate for one of those- that sounds great.
-Mike

atmel mega 68, board design is in progress, but I can program one for you if you want to do a little wiring. Did I mention 100+ buttons as well?

yours is free for your service to the rest of us. I'm gonna try to convince james lehman to use it as well, since its NOT a mouse, but a HID.

PM me with a address and I'll do you one on a 276-170 solderable protoyping board by hand.

Steve