Posted by MameMole on 14, 2000 at 8:00 AM:
In Reply to: Control panel wiring question posted by supermegagoon on 11, 2000 at 10:18 PM:
: I'm in the planning stage for my control panel, and need some advice on connections. The plan is to have minimum clutter with maximum flexibility. The current layout includes 2 eight way sticks with three buttons per player, a trackball and spinner, and a central 4 way stick with two buttons on each side to allow for right or lefthanded play. Unfortunatly, my wiring knowledge doesn't extend beyond high school electronics class.
: 1. Can the connections for the left 8 way stick (and buttons) be passed directly to the central 4 way? The two will never be used simultaneously and this would eliminate the need to reconfigure many of the games(just use mame default settings).
Your setup is very similar to the ControlPanel I just built with 2 8way sticks and a 4way in the middle. I would suggest going to the trouble of reconfiguring Mame since there might be a rare instance where you would like to play a "crowded" 3 player game and use all sticks simultaneously.
To answer your question though, if you go with a programmable encoder such as the Hagstrom KE-72 you can wire both sticks independently and just program them for the same key outputs. This would also give you the option of reprogramming the controller if you should change your mind later and choose to use both sticks at the same time.
: 2. In a similar fashion, could the two connections for the trackball buttons be wired to two of the three buttons next to the left side 8 way? This would close two circuits per button press, but again, they would never be used together.
I'm not exactly sure why you would need to do this? You could use the buttons on the control panel IN PLACE of the trackball buttons which would eliminate the need to wire them together.
: I know these questions may be simple, but I don't want to unwittingly commit an electronics blunder, and I don't want my panel to look like a set of space shuttle controls.
Well, I hope my input helps...the situation changes drastically if you are talking about wiring the controllers to a hacked keyboard or a non-programmable controller. In that case, ignore my previous suggestions. Personally, if I was using a hacked keyboard I'd still wire the sticks to different outputs and configure Mame accordingly.