Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Arcade cabinet hardware and accessories
mattsoft
Please Continue...
Posts: 28
Joined: November 30th, 2015, 5:22 am
Location: Seattle

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by mattsoft »

Congrats on the cab! The red and black looks really sharp. I notice on the Chinese clones that there is always rust on the pieces. I wonder if they store these in damp locations (potentially confirmed with your finding of mold on some of the wood pieces).
Kwoken
Please Continue...
Posts: 18
Joined: June 12th, 2016, 11:09 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by Kwoken »

Jan wrote:any chance you can open the back cover of the the vewlix and check what screen is inside ? LG or Samsung ? Would also love to see a picture of the monitor remote board.

I take it, it is a 1080p Screen ?
Looks like it's an LG screen. It's not 1080p, just the ol' 768.

Is this the remote board? (it's situated to the left (looking at the back of the monitor)
Is there a way to adjust the colour saturation/brightness on this?

Image
Kwoken
Please Continue...
Posts: 18
Joined: June 12th, 2016, 11:09 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by Kwoken »

mattsoft wrote:Congrats on the cab! The red and black looks really sharp. I notice on the Chinese clones that there is always rust on the pieces. I wonder if they store these in damp locations (potentially confirmed with your finding of mold on some of the wood pieces).
Thanks Matt :) Yeah, I was tempted by the white & blue for a bit, but I swung for the red and black in the end. I also liked that the CP had 'Taito' printed on it rather than 'Hua Qiang Star 2' :lol:

To be fair, I've only found two places where there's any sign of rust and even then it's just on the surface by the looks of it. Some of it is on the metal brackets on the side of the wooden speaker enclosures (not part of the cab), and the rest was on the seam at the very bottom of the cab, in the cavity below the section the coin collection box goes into. The rest of the cab's metalwork looks brand new.

Though I have since noticed a couple of other minor wonky bits:
  • The back, bottom left edge of the black arched surround (which sits at the top of the cab) has a small crack in it
  • (Looking at the cab from the front) The upper black side bracket on the red edging (to the right of the monitor) is bent ever so slightly out of alignment
I'm not too fussed about the crack, and once I suss out how to remove the side edges, I figure I should be able to nudge the black bracket back into the right shape :)
Kwoken
Please Continue...
Posts: 18
Joined: June 12th, 2016, 11:09 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by Kwoken »

I've been having a further fiddle and taken a few more panels off. It turns out that there's an LED strip at the top (to light up the marquee I guess). I think it's a PC 2 pin power connector coming off it, but it's not hooked up to anything, it was just hanging inside the side assembly.

Image

It'd be neat to hook it up, but it's a bit moot at the mo as I don't have a plexi to put up there anyway :eh: Maybe I could repurpose it for the move strip.

Speaking of which, is there any particular source favoured for these? I was thinking a Streety move list would be nice (not decided whether it'd be SF3TS, USFIV or V yet =)

Oh, and I don't fancy my chances with the metal bracket now I've had a closer look :( It's not just bent downwards, the edge is cut slightly out of alignment with the rest of the edges as well. Hoping for a replacement piece, will see what Mo comes back with.
Kwoken
Please Continue...
Posts: 18
Joined: June 12th, 2016, 11:09 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by Kwoken »

Ok, found the monitor controls. They're embarrassingly easy to find once you bother to look with the back panel taken off :lol:

Looking at it from the back; There's a green LED on the right side of the monitor. There's a button above and below it;
Upper = Power
Lower = Image auto adjust & 'Back' when in the menus

Below these, there's a cluster of 3 further buttons:
Up
Down
Menu =)

It's all in Chinese, so I'm hoping there's a language option in there somewhere 8-)
Edit: There is! :D
Last edited by Kwoken on November 9th, 2016, 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mattsoft
Please Continue...
Posts: 28
Joined: November 30th, 2015, 5:22 am
Location: Seattle

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by mattsoft »

I have a 2-pin connector near the header of my Vewlix too. It probably is for a marquee light -- I haven't hooked the multimeter up to it to see what sort of power it is providing. As for move strips, check out Milspex's http://instructionspace.net --he has several for the Vewlix.
Kwoken
Please Continue...
Posts: 18
Joined: June 12th, 2016, 11:09 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by Kwoken »

Thanks for the link Matt. I got in touch, but he doesn't have the backlit friendly versions in-stock at the mo (plus I don't know if he'd be willing to sell 'just' the move sheet). At this rate, I may just knock one up myself, see if any of the local print shops can do it to size on the right material.

In other news; the 'Jamma to PC USB with audio' board arrived :awe:
Hooked it all up and nothing worked :cry:

Actually, the audio worked. In so far as a cheap solution to getting working audio without buying a dedicated amp, mission success. However, none of the controls worked. Win7 had recognised the board as x2 HID game controllers, but gave me no test options. So one 3rd party app later, I verified that none of the inputs were working.

Perhaps it was expecting too much, but now that I've had a quick look online, it all makes sense (I hope).

While I was shopping around for adaptor boards, I noticed this particular one was often accompanied by a Jamma connection chart. In my ignorance, I didn't pay it much heed...
Then I recalled that Mo had mentioned these clones work perfectly with the Chinese Pandora multi-carts. And they work off a modified Jamma layout too.

So I believe I've got a non-standard Jamma>Pandora harness connected to a non-standard modified Jamma>PC board :problem:
Am I right in my assumption that no inputs should work as their ground wires are all daisy-chained together to a non-ground pin on the adaptor board?

I've got the connection charts for both; It looks like it should just be a case of re-positioning the cab's joystick & button ground wires (currently wired to pin 28) to pins 1&2 (where there's already 4 ground wires). Is this right?

Here's my handy chart:
Image

I now know what a kick harness is and how I don't appear to need one.
#brightside
Kwoken
Please Continue...
Posts: 18
Joined: June 12th, 2016, 11:09 am
Location: Ireland

Re: Vewlix Connectivity & Monitor options

Post by Kwoken »

Quick update:
Re-wiring went perfectly. Only had to relocated the 2 ground wires and now both joysticks and all accompanying buttons work and are recognised in Windows. Coin mech works too, so overall, the 'budget' adaptor card was totally worth a punt! :awe:

The on-board sound controller is a bit OTT, at 40% output from the laptop, I probably will only ever need to crank it up to around 10% on the volume controller for comfortable levels. Going up to 50% results in noise being introduced, so not an impressive amp by any stretch, but about what I expected from such a tiny board based 'amp'.

Controls are snappy and feel good. I tried setting up Mame to use '1P Start + 1P Button 1' as a credit button, but in practice, it starts the game instantly as well. I've gone back to using the coin mech, but now I need to get some tokens or put more coins aside for cab use :lol:

Other start button combos for pause, mame menu, etc. all work fine.

Guess I've answered my own last question, so I guess this is it for this thread.

Other notes for anyone who might be interested:
Got Hyperspin setup with JoytoKey and added it to the Steam library, then got Windows setup to auto-login and load up Steam in Big Picture mode. Decided against using ICE to import Mame titles directly into Steam for now as I've already spent a bunch of time organising my collection in Hyperspin.

Stuff I'm queuing up next:
  • Replace all cab fans (Noctua)
  • Integrate USB/Mic/Headphone panel
  • Knock up crib sheet for control deck (Probably split sheets explaining Mame shortcuts and Streety V moves)
  • Reskin/remove Windows boot-up/UI elements
  • Reskin Hyperspin/switch to alternative, maybe Retroarch?
  • Buy another Chewlix and mod it for 'tate :awe:
Post Reply