David Sheeks

The cantenna project has had a bit more work done in the last few days.  To keep cost down, and to make the end result as efficient as possible, we are using an old school compass (you know, one of those things you made circles with in math class instead of paying attention?) to adjust the angle of the can with the dish.  In this way I can record the angles that provide the best range with the device. More data will be coming soon including some pictures of the finished project.  Also soon to come is more pictures of the arcade cabinet in its completed glory.

The arcade machine is almost complete.  I took a few days off to work on other classwork, but will begin Tuesday with the final little bit of trim on the cabinet.  I've got a few more pictures to show off the marquee and completed paint job on everything but the control panel.  Loading screen of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. Intro movie as the game is loading up.  You can see the coin door here as well; one of the two lights is not working; I'll snag a replacement bulb from the hardware store when I pick up the extra trim for the controller board.  Title screen of game before coins have been put in.  The coin door works perfectly now (and since I have the key, I can always get my quarters back!). Zoomed out to show the coin door, keyboard shelf (still without the cover so far), top marquee with backlight (I'll probably use some translucent colored paper later), etc.

After weeks of work the machine is FINALLY functional!  The first game: Street Fighter 3: Third strike.  And I got my butt kicked by the computer. But the joys of having my own cabinet: infinite coins and infinite replays. I'll have more pictures later on; the cabinet isn't done yet (needs some trim, luan for the controller board, a couple wiring bits done, and some more paint).  But IT WORKS!  The speakers are insanely loud as well, with a nice subwoofer that really adds to the experience. The cabinet sitting in my office.  Maybe after this project I can work on a new one: getting rid of that old '70's trim on the stairs.

The arcade machine is nearing its completion.  The following things are still on the list: 1: Finish etching the marquee 2: put the speakers, computer, and surge protector in the cabinet 3: Put the keyboard/mouse drawer in. 4: Finish the trim on the control board and add the luan to the front of it. 5: Mount the TV And that's it!  It should be one more full day's work and the project should be finally finished.  I've added a couple pictures of today's progress, one after the first coat of paint and the second after the painting was done and it was moved to our living room. First coat of paint on.  Still haven't added paint to the bottom trim for the door. Final painting is done for the cabinet.  I will be hand painting the controller board before attaching it permanently, but I need to attach the microswitches for the left and right paddle switches (for pinball games) and the coin door switches first.

Worked on the arcade project a little bit more today (around 5-6 hours).  A layer of luan plywood was installed around every part of the cabinet, the plywood for mounting the TV on was placed, and a cutout has been made for the keyboard/mouse shelf. The next step (which will start on Tuesday) will be the addition of trim around the entire cabinet, and the installation of the lighting and speakers (which is why the top and marquee panels have not been installed yet, as the lights and speaker pair will attach to them).  More pictures have been posted below.  View from above showing the graphic, the luan backing, and the keyboard insert.  Note that a drawer will be installed below the controller board, and unlocking the key will allow for the drawer to open and display the keyboard and mouse for troubleshooting purposes. Front view of the cabinet showing the opening where the access door will be located.  I've installed the first two pieces of trim on the bottom half of the mach

The arcade cabinet is coming along pretty well, and I have a few pictures to show off of the cabinet itself.  The shell of the cabinet is finally done, and now I can move on to adding trim, doors, the coin door, and paint before adding the bells and whistles. The cabinet before adding the front panel. Detail view of the bottom showing the USB cable trailing from the controller board. Detail of the top half showing the controller board and area where the widescreen TV will be mounted.  Image of the cabinet with the front panel installed.  The area that is cut out is where the front door will be located. This door can be unlocked so that it swings open, and holds the coin door assembly. When opened, the coin assembly swings out of the way and the computer and other components can be accessed.  Higher quality image (thanks to Ashley for using her camera for a better pic) of the top half.  I'll have some more images to upload once it is light out and I can start finishi

The next stage of the cabinet design was to install a graphic under the fiberglass to really make the arcade controller board stand out. I scoured the local Hastings electronics store but the only thing I could find was a Halo Reach poster.  Oh well; it looks good anyway.  Tomorrow work on the trim will begin, and if I have time I'll work a little bit on the cabinet itself.

The control panel for the arcade project is nearly finished, and I finally have some pictures of the design.  I still need to add the joysticks (the mounts for these are already installed), and wire the micro switches from the back.  In addition, a nice graphic will be added between the plexiglass and wood, and trim will be added to the sides to give it a smooth, finished look.  Note: Picture taken with substandard camera in substandard lighting, but hopefully should be smooth enough to give a good idea of how it's coming along. The completed board, showing the P1 and P2 buttons as well as the joystick mounts and button configuration for each side. Detail view of the Player 1 side. The most difficult part so far was cutting the fiberglass.  One crack did appear in the fiberglass edge during the drilling of the button holes, but there will be a decal covering that particular part so it may not be necessary to redo the fiberglass entirely.

The arcade projected continued on today with a few updates.  Legacy Engineer, the company that I had ordered my Arcade32 interface card from, failed to respond to any of my queries or give me any kind of update on the product I ordered for the last 8 days. Finally today after half a dozen calls to their answering machines, they sent me a response via email: apparently they are "out of stock" and it'll be a week or so before they come in. A company that takes almost a week and a half to find out they don't have something in stock isn't one I plan to do business with any time soon. I've requested a refund and will be using the money on an Ipac-2 interface from Ultimarc, which is the most recommended keyboard controller for this project in the first place. For about three hours today I worked on the controller panel; it now has both joysticks and all 18 buttons mounted on it (1 and 2 player start buttons, and 8 buttons for each player).  The last two buttons

The AT&T Microcell seems to be working as good as advertised (or better).  As of today I have officially dropped my Windstream landline service (a whopping $70 a month after taxes and features).  Remember guys: this generous offer probably isn't going to last long with AT&T; they can (and do) charge customers $200 for this thing normally, and while it is probably worth the $200 for many people, it's still a steep charge when other users are getting it for free.  So I highly recommend anyone who has AT&T and is in a bad service area to get ahold of their local rep, or talk to them on the phone, and see if you can work out a deal for a free or reduced Microcell.

After a pretty decent testing period it seems that the AT&T 3g Microcell is doing extremely well.  I drop down to only 4 bars when I am in the opposite corner of my house (around 28 feet and 4 walls between the phone and antenna), but even then the signal is stellar. Of course it's using my Internet's bandwidth, but overhead seems to be pretty minimal and I can surf the web or talk on the phone without any noticeable slowdown.  I'll post more information as I continue my testing.

I got an interesting letter in the mail today from AT&T, my cellular service provider.  The letter was pretty straight and to the point: I have bad coverage where I live, so I am entitled to a (completely free) "microcell." After checking to make sure this wasn't just some scam (yes, it's legit, and yes, they are being offered to certain qualifying customers in poor coverage areas), I headed out to the sore with the paper. They took it, and handed me the box.  I went home, plugged it in, and typed the serial number into my online account page, and within 15 minutes, I had something I never had before from my house: Perfect signal. AT&T's Cisco-powered 3G Microcell uses your broadband internet to give you perfect quality voice and data service, emulating a cellphone tower.  I have 5 bars anywhere within 40 feet of the transmitter, and a full 3G signal.  In addition, it has a boosted GPS and as my home address already programmed in for 911 purposes.

The parts for the MAME cabinet were supposed to come in today, but the severe weather in many parts of the country seem to have caused considerable delay.  Hopefully the package with the microswitches, buttons and joysticks will arrive tomorrow, but at this point I'm at the mercy of the weather and FedEx.  Work on the coin separator has begun, however.  I have created my first prototype, a slide-style separator, but will probably move to a roll-style separator instead just for greater accuracy (where the coin rolls down a plastic ramp, and anything below the height of a quarter will fall off the ramp into the REJECT slot.  Any quarter that makes it to the end will hit an electrical switch, signaling a successful coin addition). The coin mechanism has an anti-theft device installed as well (also of my own design).  This should stop individuals who try the "quarter on a string" trick to get free plays out of the machine.  The overall design won't be perfect, and won