The Supergun discussion and Q&A thread.

[dpful]

Anyone?

If it was the coin button, then you'd have to check whether it used jamma's "test" or "coin" to coin up (test is usually most convenient since you avoid "coin errors"- and some CPS 1 if not all don't recognize "test" as a coin).... as for the start button, there's nothing it could be but a lack or connection with the board or a short- some kind of mechanical error. I wouldn't think that the start button worked differently than any other button no matter what which pcb you plugged into it.

[zakk]

One thing to keep in mind/try is that despite all intuition to the contrary, sometimes all pins labeled "ground" are not equivalent.

If you have buttons that don't work on certain PCBs, grab a piece of wire and touch the jamma pin for that button to the various jamma ground pins; some will likely work and some may not. Your button's ground likely goes to one that doesn't work.

Yes it sounds crazy but it happens.

[core]

Finished my supergun.

http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Zagiem ... 1882.phtml

[neorichieb1971]

Funny.

[Ed Oscuro]

Finished my supergun.

http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Zagiem ... 1882.phtml

Haha, nice writing:

If you really wanted to you could find a stick and some buttons and attach them to a plank of wood or even your dog.

[gundamalpha]

I've got a AV Combo recently and can't figure out what's the usage of the 10 pins located below the coin/1st/2st LEDs (nothing written on the manual). Anyone knows what's the purpose of those pins?

[Love2Tate]

Hello all. Does anyone know where you can get an RGB cable for a Vega 9000DX Supergun? I can't find any anywhere on the web, although I have found a site that sells them for the Sigma Raijin and AV7000. Would they work with the Vega? I would just buy one and try it out but they're not cheap at least not from where I've seen them.

[blinky]

I recently purchased an xrgb2+ and have always wanted to build a supergun. I am going to buy an rgb 21 to scart converter off ebay soon and I was wondering how I would wire a supergun to output to a regular scart connector. I would be guessing that I would need 220uf capacitors on the r,g,b lines, would I need to add any caps to anything else? does anyone have any documentation on this?

thank you very much

[Sinneslöschen]

I recently purchased an xrgb2+ and have always wanted to build a supergun. I am going to buy an rgb 21 to scart converter off ebay soon and I was wondering how I would wire a supergun to output to a regular scart connector. I would be guessing that I would need 220uf capacitors on the r,g,b lines, would I need to add any caps to anything else? does anyone have any documentation on this?

thank you very much

For my supergun I did not use any capacitors (between JAMMA and Euro-SCART); I used this digram:
http://www.systemshock.info/supergun-loeten2.htm

[Mills]

How much would a DIY supergun cost nowadays, and is it more costly than its worth?

[ZOM]

Building a new supergun; Does anyone in here know of a tiny enough PSU giving +5 & +12 with enough ampere? I can't seem to find one good enough to integrate into the supergun without having to use an überdimensional casing. I don't mind if I have to do some mods to it like hooking a switch and others.

I have a few fully working PS2 PSU pcb lying around but they just have two +12v.

EDIT: How complicated is it to get +5v from one of the 12 volt pins? A LM2576 works with max 3 amps, so that won't do right? I'm asking because the one from the PS2 would be a perfect size, but if I have to put in heatsinks and additional shielding just to get a 5v... yeah, would totally defeat the purpose of using it.

[neorichieb1971]

How much would a DIY supergun cost nowadays, and is it more costly than its worth?

I found this the other day -

http://www.consolepassion.co.uk/JAMMA/c ... _Setup.htm

Never heard of it before. Uses megadrive pads, but I'm sure its a simple pad hack for a joystick.

[Mills]

How much would a DIY supergun cost nowadays, and is it more costly than its worth?

I found this the other day -

http://www.consolepassion.co.uk/JAMMA/c ... _Setup.htm

Never heard of it before. Uses megadrive pads, but I'm sure its a simple pad hack for a joystick.

Would have thought the price of a supergun would have significantly dropped these days, i was wrong.

[drunkninja24]

Anyone know where I could get a PSU that supplies -5v? Been looking around, but I can't find anything that supplies that, seems like it hasn't been part of the ATX standard for years....

[neorichieb1971]

I'd say that 95% of all Jamma PCB's don't use it anyway. Double Dragon I heard uses -5v for the music, but its still playable without -5v.

In fact out of the pcb's that do use -5v, its usually an onboard amplifier for the audio that is using it. I've had a supergun before that didn't have -5v and everything I tried on it worked.

you could always email a supergun seller to see if they have a spare PSU.

[antron]

Does anyone else get bands of interference that move across the screen? I am using an Antec 430W PC power supply with a Vogatek MKIII supergun board. The SCART cable is 2m, but well shielded. Thanks.

UPDATE:
Tried an HP brand supply and it's all good. wtf?

[undamned]

Does anyone else get bands of interference that move across the screen? I am using an Antec 430W PC power supply with a Vogatek MKIII supergun board. The SCART cable is 2m, but well shielded. Thanks.

UPDATE:
Tried an HP brand supply and it's all good. wtf?

Dirty power can wreak havoc on pretty much anything running off of it. Apparently the HP supply has smoother output.
-ud

[mojo]

I am in the process of building a supergun and thought I would share some thoughts and ideas.

Power Supply. Obviously one of the most critical parts. I have been experimenting with various options and have come to the conclusion that either a dedicated arcade/industrial PSU or an ATX PSU is fine as long as it is a good quality one. Arcade boards are actually not nearly as difficult to power reliably as many computers because they tend to run everything on full all the time where as a PC uses power management to save energy which results in fluctuating demand.

Basically cheap PSUs don't have enough regulation or filtering. Older ATX and especially AT PSUs can struggle to provide enough current on some lines. A quality modern ATX model is fine though. The only disadvantages with ATX is the minimum load requirements and the built in fan. The former just needs load resistors adding but the latter depends on the PSU. Some will not turn on if they detect that the fan is not spinning. Best to get a quiet one.

Sound. I am in two minds about it. An integrated speaker is the easy option but does require a larger case with a hole/grille. Most older games are mono but newer ones are stereo. Using an audio transformer the speaker output can be converted to proper line level for injection into SCART or hifi and of course stereo is no problem... Well, unless you consider TATE mode games which on a monitor with integrated sound (e.g. NEC XM29+) will put one of the speakers against the table and the other pointing upwards, but you can just use power PC speakers instead. That seems like the best option as it allows you to get the most from the sound with a descent set of speakers and a sub. I will have a mono/stereo switch.

On the line level side I am going to have some limiter diodes to prevent excess voltage, just in case.

Video. I am going to build a video amplifier to generate SCART/VGA compatible levels and produce combined sync for SCART. My monitor uses separate syncs but I want SCART as well. I also have BNC, mainly because it was easy and convenient for connecting to my oscilloscope.

Controls. I will use an AVR for each player's input supporting both Saturn and Playstation controllers. Between those two you have the best gamepads and the best arcade joysticks. I developed a prototype USB input using a USB AVR with host support as part of another project but I don't think there are any really good USB controllers to justify it.

Both controllers will have multiple button mappings and coin/start available. They will have autofire as well. I'm not 100% decided on how I plan to implement it yet. It could be part of some of the button mappings but with some extra work I could have switches for each button like some Hori arcade sticks do. That might be the best option I think. Six button games will be supported.

Other stuff. Since the coin/start buttons will be on the controllers there is no need for them on the main unit. I will have a service mode switch though, and an on/off switch. A power LED is a must but I was also thinking of having "voltage good" LEDs, or perhaps even an LCD. The idea with the LCD is to have a master control chip which can store various parameters for different games, such as button mapping and autofire. Everything would be set up via the controller. When you change game you just switch profile with a few button presses and start playing with everything set up perfectly for you.

It's a shame there is no standard header for DIP switches or I could have added those to the list of parameters with full text description.

[ZOM]

^^About the power supply, I got one of these(German) and I'm pretty much satisified with it... for now. The thing is small enough to cram into a medium sized supergun, it doesn't generate all too much heat, the picture is crystal clear and seems to work reliably.
Note that I haven't use it for all too long yet tho.

[mojo]

That looks like a nice PSU. At that price it seems that using an ATX PSU is a bit of a waste of effort unless for some reason you need much more power.

[Ed Oscuro]

Random question: Are the usual supergun setups sufficient for running System 24 games? Is anybody using a Micomsoft product to upscale the video, and are any RGB monitors sufficient to handle the signals?

[ZOM]

I don't have any of those to test it so take following with a grain of salt, but I'm sure you need a System 24-to-Jamma adapter since the pinout is different. Other than that, looking at the system specs on the net, I don't see why those boards wouldn't work as long as you hook it up on a 24kHz capable monitor.

[drunkninja24]

Thinking about maybe trying one of these to power my Vogatek superguns:

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/picopsu_80

Think it'd provide the power necessary?

[ZOM]

If I got that one right, the picopsu is just a DC-DC converter - you'd still need an additional PSU to feed it the 12 DC it wants.

[drunkninja24]

Yeah, I think I've got a power brick that'll provide the power necessary for it though.

[drunkninja24]

Eh, decided to forgo the picopsu, found a case that would hold a normal PC PSU fine. I'll get some pics later, but I'm pleased with how the supergun setup turned out. Only thing now is figuring out how to get the composite video connector to be outside of the case without being pushed in when I try to hook it up (using a Vogatek Mk II as the basis). Thought about perhaps using velcro to keep the PCB in place or perhaps some small bumpers or something.

[drunkninja24]

Alright, got everything up and running!
The supergun case and internals, mostly just a PC power supply and a Vogatek Mk II. Yellow button soldered to the board for use as coin button. DB15 connectors up front wired to Neo Geo layout.


Everything but power connected and ready to go, with one of my personal faves Trigon connected.


Everything connected and running perfectly on my tated TV! The 2-Player stick was modified from how it originally came. It contains Sanwa buttons and Seimitsu LS-33 sticks wired to Neo Geo DB15 sockets.

[Ed Oscuro]

Uhh....(editing profanities out of post)...Pull the board out of the bag and put it on a piece of wood at least.

That also doesn't look like an antistatic bag to me, which you should replace that bubble with ASAP (for storage), or yesterday, whichever was soonest. As your mishandling demonstrates, boards is tough (at least it's not shag carpet, tho the pictures make it look like a pile of tiny little brown inchworms, very appealing) but heat and static are known killers of electronic components.

[cools]

What Ed said.

Don't run boards in bags.
Don't rest boards on static filled surfaces (plastic/carpet)

[Ed Oscuro]

Don't rest boards on static filled surfaces (plastic/carpet)

Also don't store in static-generating bags (the aforementioned non-pink ones).