What cool projects have you got underway?

[Retroman839]

Mod a
The Gonbes GBS-8200
Anyone done this mod ?
Common Issues & the "GBS-Control" Mod
While the stock Gonbes 8200 is very cheap, users often report a few common issues: [1, 2]

• Screen flickering, digital noise, or artifacting on screen.
• Slight screen tearing or input lag due to its default frame-rate handling.
• Difficulties syncing properly with certain tricky signals (like the Amiga composite sync) out of the box. [1, 2, 3]

Because of this, many hobbyists modify the board using an ESP8266 or Arduino micro-controller to run custom firmware called GBS-Control (GBS-C). This mod bypasses the poorly optimized stock firmware, completely eliminating lag, adding clear scanlines, and turning the cheap board into a premium-tier upscaler.[1, 2]



Going to do this mod shortly as have 2 or 3 of these kicking around gathering dust ..

 

[soop]

So I recently got hold of an old Net City control panel. I originally had a panel cut out of plywood when I got the cabinet cut, which would sit on the cross beams, but tbt I didn't love the angle, it wasn't super comfy for my wrists. So when I got hold of this, I cut a lot of the back off, and cut it down so it fits nicely, and 3D printed an angled bracket to hold the mating pins and magnets. There's still a fair bit to do, but I'm quite happy with it.

The machine runs on a Raspberry Pi, and randomly turns itself on every hour through the day and boots a random game, and the marquee at the top also loads the correct marquee for the running game.

As an extension to that, I've decided that I'm going to do a similar thing for the instruction panel above the control panel, to display the correct instructions, or a default. I managed to find a display with the exact dimensions, but the resolution was pants (it was designed for shelving displays) plus it was about £150. Instead I'm going for 2 9.2" displays that cost me £30, and that I'll drive with a raspberry pi.

The other thing I want to do is have a quick release system to swap panels. I thought about quarter turn fasteners, but instead I think I'm going to go for magnets, and an electromagnet that can deactivate it with a button press. I can also use magnets and a mechanical guide system to connect the USB to save a bunch of hassle plugging stuff in.

Then I think I'll have the panels tastefully displayed on a sort of ladder display next to the cabinet eventually. I want a panel for Virtual On, a Flight Stick, and a trackball for Golden Tee, alongside the lightguns and Wheel I have right now, but those are all works in progress

 

[soop]

I love it when a plan comes together. took a while to source the right size screens, and there's still a vertical gap, but I plan to 3D print some buffers there. Need to make a websocket to the other pi and tidy up a bit, but the real task is going to be resizing a load of instructions. Anyone know a source for these artworks?

 

[bodgit]

Mod a
The Gonbes GBS-8200
Anyone done this mod ?
Common Issues & the "GBS-Control" Mod
While the stock Gonbes 8200 is very cheap, users often report a few common issues: [1, 2]

• Screen flickering, digital noise, or artifacting on screen.
• Slight screen tearing or input lag due to its default frame-rate handling.
• Difficulties syncing properly with certain tricky signals (like the Amiga composite sync) out of the box. [1, 2, 3]

Because of this, many hobbyists modify the board using an ESP8266 or Arduino micro-controller to run custom firmware called GBS-Control (GBS-C). This mod bypasses the poorly optimized stock firmware, completely eliminating lag, adding clear scanlines, and turning the cheap board into a premium-tier upscaler.[1, 2]

Going to do this mod shortly as have 2 or 3 of these kicking around gathering dust ..

I built one of these about five years ago. Seemed to work with most boards I had at the time to display the signal from a supergun on a TFT; it struggled with the signal from an Irem M72 board, (which is how I know I did this five years ago), but stuff like MVS and CPS seemed to work fine. It also worked with 24 kHz signals I think.

I suspect the firmware on mine is way behind now so should update it and see how it's changed, although I have OSSC and Retrotink scalers as well now.

 

[Double_dragon]

another addition to the arcade room, £100 off gumtree, wasn't really bothered about it but for that price I couldn't say no

 

[whitecomet]

I love it when a plan comes together. took a while to source the right size screens, and there's still a vertical gap, but I plan to 3D print some buffers there. Need to make a websocket to the other pi and tidy up a bit, but the real task is going to be resizing a load of instructions. Anyone know a source for these artworks?

View attachment 63916View attachment 63917

looks great, have you got a link or the model of those small screens? Im trying something that needs a screen similar and these might be the right size.

 

[nam9]

Need to start finishing more cool projects than new starting ones, but this was my first time working with a powder coating company…

Here is the before:


And the after:

 

[LawmanAUT]

Wow, they did a great job!

 

[nam9]

Really did… the original paint ranged from flaking off, to cleaned up with paint stripper to as one with the rust…

 

[soop]

looks great, have you got a link or the model of those small screens? Im trying something that needs a screen similar and these might be the right size.

I actually don't - I got them from Alibaba from this company:

https://chydz.en.alibaba.com/?tracelog=from_orderlist_company

but when I bought them they didn't include the driver board, so they cancelled the order and created a new one for me. the item description is
9.2 Inch 462x1920 Long LCD Screen + driver board set
but if you search 9.2 inch hdmi bar display you'll find some. Make sure it's HDMI though, there are a LOT of USB driven displays that are software locked, and you'd need to swap the driver board if you got one of those

 

[Cobra]

l’ve got a few arcade projects underway at the moment.

The main one is trying to recreate the feel of an old Suzo joystick setup I remember using years ago. The thing that always stood out was the extremely fast return-to-centre/rebound, particularly when tapping directions and doing rapid special moves that I find almost impossible to do with spring-based sticks.

I’ve now found a brand-new brown rebound rubber (grommet) that fits a genuine standard Suzo perfectly. It measures approximately 38mm diameter × 12mm thick × 6mm centre hole and is 60 Shore A.

It feels amazing so far, much firmer than my old worn-out Suzo rubbers, but still properly rubbery and flexible. I also tried an 85 Shore A grommet first as a replacement, but it was far too stiff and unnatural. The fresh 60A rubber I recently bought feels much more like what I’ve been looking for.

I still need some of the parts that sit underneath the rebound rubber. I need the small rubber ring/pad, metal washer and external circlip/snap ring. I have a spare washer and clip but can’t find the rubber ring. If anyone has a spare set of these, or even just the correct rubber ring, and can post it to me, I’d be very interested in buying them.

I’m also trying to identify and eventually buy one of the smaller old-school Suzo/STC-style rubber-grommet sticks I remember using about 15 years ago, not to be confused with an MCA or Suzo 500 stick, which I personally find terrible to use.... or Suzi inductive.

From what I remember, two of these smaller sticks were fitted to a Kung-Fu Master cabinet that had been converted into a Super Street Fighter cabinet. They looked like smaller versions of the normal Suzo/STC Rotterdam-style grommet joystick and had phenomenal rebound. I’ve also used standard-size Suzo STC sticks, which felt almost as good, but the smaller sticks felt perfect. Easily the best sticks I’ve ever used, even compared with modern Japanese sticks.

I’m curious whether they may have been similar to the smaller Q*bert/STC Suzo designs but modified for 8-way operation. If I get an opportunity to buy one, I’d like to test it with the new 60A rebound-rubber setup because I’ve heard the centering parts may be compatible or closely related.

If anyone has one of these smaller rubber-grommet Suzo levers for sale, or knows exactly which version of the Suzo/STC/Coin Controls rubber-grommet sticks was used in Kung-Fu Master, I’d be interested to know.

 

[Cobra]

Another project I'm working on is reproducingmy own optical arcade buttons. This is far more ambitious, and I won’t explain how I intend to design the buttons because my posts are already long enough 😆. I’m trying to get the electronics documented first, particularly the PCB, Gerber files and BOM, which should be relatively cheap to reproduce, before worrying about plastic mouldings or metal components.

Longer term, I’d also like to reverse-engineer the original Suzo/Happ P360 optical joystick. The goal would be to document and potentially reproduce the optical PCB/sensor electronics so people aren’t completely dependent on buying increasingly poorly made replacement models or relying on old, scarce expensive parts. Again, I’d concentrate on the PCB/Gerber/BOM side before looking at reproducing the mechanical parts which should be easier.

Nothing is guaranteed until I’ve assembled and properly used everything, but the new 60A Suzo rebound rubber is probably the most promising result I’ve had so far, and it’s what I’m mainly focusing on right now until my optical buttons arrive.

Apologies for the long response 😆

 

[soop]

l’ve got a few arcade projects underway at the moment.

The main one is trying to recreate the feel of an old Suzo joystick setup I remember using years ago. The thing that always stood out was the extremely fast return-to-centre/rebound, particularly when tapping directions and doing rapid special moves that I find almost impossible to do with spring-based sticks.

I’ve now found a brand-new brown rebound rubber (grommet) that fits a genuine standard Suzo perfectly. It measures approximately 38mm diameter × 12mm thick × 6mm centre hole and is 60 Shore A.

It feels amazing so far, much firmer than my old worn-out Suzo rubbers, but still properly rubbery and flexible. I also tried an 85 Shore A grommet first as a replacement, but it was far too stiff and unnatural. The fresh 60A rubber I recently bought feels much more like what I’ve been looking for.

I still need some of the parts that sit underneath the rebound rubber. I need the small rubber ring/pad, metal washer and external circlip/snap ring. I have a spare washer and clip but can’t find the rubber ring. If anyone has a spare set of these, or even just the correct rubber ring, and can post it to me, I’d be very interested in buying them.

I’m also trying to identify and eventually buy one of the smaller old-school Suzo/STC-style rubber-grommet sticks I remember using about 15 years ago, not to be confused with an MCA or Suzo 500 stick, which I personally find terrible to use.... or Suzi inductive.

From what I remember, two of these smaller sticks were fitted to a Kung-Fu Master cabinet that had been converted into a Super Street Fighter cabinet. They looked like smaller versions of the normal Suzo/STC Rotterdam-style grommet joystick and had phenomenal rebound. I’ve also used standard-size Suzo STC sticks, which felt almost as good, but the smaller sticks felt perfect. Easily the best sticks I’ve ever used, even compared with modern Japanese sticks.

I’m curious whether they may have been similar to the smaller Q*bert/STC Suzo designs but modified for 8-way operation. If I get an opportunity to buy one, I’d like to test it with the new 60A rebound-rubber setup because I’ve heard the centering parts may be compatible or closely related.

If anyone has one of these smaller rubber-grommet Suzo levers for sale, or knows exactly which version of the Suzo/STC/Coin Controls rubber-grommet sticks was used in Kung-Fu Master, I’d be interested to know.

That's really interesting. I don't actually know too much about Suzo (Happ?) levers. I believe the times I've used them notably were things like Wrestlefest (good) probably Mortal Kombat (good) and Street Fighter 2 (bad). I found the springiness sub-optimal for Street Fighter, and Capcom fighters are a fave, so I went straight for Sanwa levers in mine. But I didn't even know there were variations on these sticks!

I actually picked up a Hori RAP which was modded with a Crown lever. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but it can probably go in a slightly different panel

 

[soop]

little update. Just waiting on the perspex, and I'll have to wait longer for real clips, but I'll 3D print some to keep it all in place. But I think it looks really good

Out of interest, has this ever been done before? I definitely haven't seen it

 

[eliotcole]

Really like the screen for instructions, @soop ... also ... if you're after digital art ... then I'm sure that if it's not on places like the segaretro wiki (orwhateveritis) then a kind plea in the wanteds, here, for folks to scan them in ... I mean ... it can't hurt, can it?

I have a few of them ... probably not what you need, but ... still ... maybe? The only ones that I know that I have for sure are CVS2 & SF3:TS ... any use?

 

[soop]

Really like the screen for instructions, @soop ... also ... if you're after digital art ... then I'm sure that if it's not on places like the segaretro wiki (orwhateveritis) then a kind plea in the wanteds, here, for folks to scan them in ... I mean ... it can't hurt, can it?

I have a few of them ... probably not what you need, but ... still ... maybe? The only ones that I know that I have for sure are CVS2 & SF3:TS ... any use?

that's really kind of you! I have both of those, I'm up to about 60 right now, I'm resizing them myself and getting them from obscure places. But I plan on either distributing them or offering them up to some of the collections I've obtained them from when I'm done (for free obvs).

One thing I'm finding is that a lot of them are Japanese only, so Samurai Shodown V for example, but that's still better than nothing. Some older games either have half-length instructions, for those I'm adding a little art and the title on the other side. And some of them have vertical instructions, in a flyer format so for those I'm trying to chop them up into a long strip.

I won't get all ~330 of my games, but I'll get a lot of ones that will benefit like fighters, and then I'll just use a default astro city one for everything else

 

[eliotcole]

Amazing 🙏 ... also ... I mean ... you could do a 'phone camera translation thingy' with an Android and make up your own versions of the Jap only stuff.

 

[soop]

Amazing 🙏 ... also ... I mean ... you could do a 'phone camera translation thingy' with an Android and make up your own versions of the Jap only stuff.

that's not a bad idea... I might just bash out the easy ones first and then return to them. I might also have a look at Fiver or whatever it's called to see if anyone wants to earn a few quid doing some - if you have the art, the rest is pretty simple stuff

 

[eliotcole]

Agreed ... also ... an internet search that you have probably already thought about doing (avoid literally any search engine where AI is involved ... the good ones can take it out of the equation) ... is to search for assets.

I did similar for the side art for my (I think) UK/Euro spec Virtua Fighter ... and (if I'm right) it means that I have high quality, scalable, assets to essentially rebuild the original art for a printer to bosh out. 😍

 

[Cobra]

That's really interesting. I don't actually know too much about Suzo (Happ?) levers. I believe the times I've used them notably were things like Wrestlefest (good) probably Mortal Kombat (good) and Street Fighter 2 (bad). I found the springiness sub-optimal for Street Fighter, and Capcom fighters are a fave, so I went straight for Sanwa levers in mine. But I didn't even know there were variations on these sticks!

I actually picked up a Hori RAP which was modded with a Crown lever. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but it can probably go in a slightly different panel

That's interesting because the springiness you mention is exactly one of the things I'm trying to get rid of. I actually bought a Happ/Suzo back in 2005 and had a similar experience. I found it too springy on return to neutral, which made reacting quickly and doing fighting-game movements harder for me.

The older Suzo sticks I'm trying to identify felt very different, which is why I've become interested in the different Suzo variants and rubber grommets rather than assuming they all feel the same.

I've got a red-bottom Suzo coming and should be able to test it in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it compares once I've actually used it.