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HARDWARE

Here's an inside look at the controls and interfaces used in Pac-Mamea.  Be warned--as finished as the cab may look on the outside, it's a mess inside!  Not for the techno-squeamish.

All the controls inside Pac-Mamea are interfaced using only one 28-input I-Pac, and one Opti-Pac.  Both of these devices use a USB interface, and both run into a USB hub inside the rotating control panels.  This way, only one USB cable is needed to connect all the controls to the PC.

Here you can see how the first set of controls are wired to the I-Pac, mounted at the top of the panel in this view.  The wiring is a mess right now, but each wire is labeled at the end, so I know where it belongs on the I-Pac.  The player one 8-way joystick is daisy-chained to the dedicated 4-way joystick (center) so they can both use the same set of inputs on the I-Pac.  The controls include: 2 Happ Super joysticks, 1 Ultimarc E-stick (set to 4-way) with a rotating switch plate for Q*bert, and 14 Happ Horizontal pushbuttons.

Here is the second set of controls: 2 Happ Super joysticks with Raider Pro grips (you can see the trigger and thumb button wires coming out the bottom of the shafts), 5 Happ Illuminated pushbuttons, an Oscar Pro spinner, and a Crayola Kids PC Trackball (aka KYE Kidsball.)   I have modified the Kidsball so that it now interfaces thru the Opti-Pac (visible on the right side of the pic.)  This was done to avoid having to run an additional serial cable out to the PC, which would have required cutting the original cable, since a serial connector is too large to go thru the wiring slot.  Also, it seemed like a waste to only use the Opti-Pac to interface the Oscar Pro, when it has inputs to interface up to 4 optical devices!  Again, all the joysticks and buttons were daisy-chained with the corresponding buttons on the first control panel, using the same set of I-Pac inputs.

Here is the third set of controls.  ...Well, it isnt' quite done yet.  In fact, at present, it's nothing but a white panel, but it will eventually become the modular control panel, which will host my Star Wars yoke, and two Terminator 2 guns.  The small black squares show where the USB jacks will go, and the dots show where the tee nuts will go.  These will receive USB plugs and connecting bolts from each removable control module.  More on this when I have time to finish this panel and the modules.

And here's the rest of the guts of Pac-Mamea.  Another mess.  The PC is in the back, where I can get at it from the rear access door.  The speaker housing in the middle holds just the amplifiier of the Labtec speakers, which are mounted above the monitor.  This allows me to reach in thru the coin door to adjust the volume.  To the left is the 12V DC inverter, which powers the glowire in the Raider Pro sticks.  And of course, the keyboard, which I can pull out thru the coin door for occasional Windows maintenance.

The information on this site is for the purposes of education and entertainment only.  The owner of this site makes no warantees as to the accuracy of the information, and takes no responsibility for any damage or injury sustained due to the use of information herein.  The design of the Pac-Mamea cabinet and all photos, computer renderings, drawings, schematics, and printed information relating to such are Copyright © 2002-2004 Robert Meyers.  No ownership of other copyrighted material found on this site is implied.