Removing scratches from CRT tube

Well, I don't know how much of anything I could contribute, not being as knowledgeable about these things as I should be, however I would be willing to help out, contribute what I could (time dependent) and of course proof read, test, photograph things other people put together or whilst pulling one of my 'cades to pieces.

Although, that said, I don't mean to just invite myself to the party lol - just if you thought an extra pair of hands was needed! ;-)

At present my main aim this year is actually to get a music website up and running.

 

Any help is welcome... well, will be considered, at least ;-) lol.

Ahh, you're getting back into the music then, eh? Nice!

 

nowadays, everywhere I look there's posts of retro.. I think he's trying to get to me by reaching me in posting-numbers, I m really afraid

 

Haha, nah - just boredom, mate ;-) I'm unable to work due to illness so have bouts of nothing to do!

When the forum in its current form first started, I had the most posts for a long time. Due to my illness and other commitments, I had long periods where I wasn't on the forum, otherwise I'm sure I'd be up there with you lol. Not that I'm bothered about that sort of stuff.

*EDIT* Oh, if I wanted to bump my post count up, I'd double post... like several people do! lol. I always edit, like this ;-)

 

double posting sometimes upkeeps coherence, especially with regard to quoting different individual users, it's only fair to deal with each in his own space, no?=)

 

That's what quote boxes are for ;-)

Why, that sounds like a marvellous idea! Well done there!!

(just to prove a point lol).

I only edit when noone has posted after. If it might alter the flow of the conversation somehow, I'll edit it and clearly mark the new text at the bottom.

*EDIT* like this, lol.

 

It doesn't always have to be JAMMA, my Supergun for example uses the Mahjong harness and I need a Mahjong to JAMMA loom to play the few JAMMA games I have. You might just want to play MVS games so you could wire it to MVS and use a loom to make it completely JAMMA safe.

Surely .info would be better?

 

I dislike .info domains. For one thing, they're bloody expensive! I could have ordered it at the same time super cheap, but I didn't see the point. The price just rockets next year. It's a sprat to catch a mackerel.

OK, it is normal to have it wired to JAMMA standard and have a loom to play other games. Technically there's no standard for "superguns" (I hate the word) - technicians would usually call them a JAMMA test rig. Personally, I see the "supergun" as a JAMMA rig, and anything wired to other standards is something different ;-)

Weren't mahjong games all differently wired? I know some manufacturers made their own wiring standards such as Nichibutsu. I would have thought that any standard would have been overseen by an organisation like JAMMA. It seems odd that the games industry would accept a generic wiring standard for all games other than mahjong, and that JAMMA would say "ah do what you like, we're not making one"! ;-)

 

Surprisingly apart from some really early games which used generic connectors most early games used the Nichibutsu connector which used 36 way (inputs and outputs) and 20 way (power) connectors. This was mainly because Nichibutsu made tjhe vast majority of Mahjong games and cabinets so the others used it so they could be used in the same cabinets.

However the Japanese Amusement Machine Manufacturers' Association decided to standardise all boards which included Mahjong boards which is why most late 80s to current boards have a standard Mahjong connector which uses the same connector and pitch of JAMMA boards but is wired completely different and as they knew it wouldn't leave Japan they didn't have to key it to stop idiot operators plugging the board upside down.

The reason why Mahjong boards have their own standard is because of the large number of buttons needed. Normal Mahjong games use 20 buttons A to N, Ron, Pon, Chi, Kan, Richi and Start, Gambling Mahjong games use another 5 (Big, Small, Push, Bet, Double), double that for 2 players and you have other buttons and switches for Coin, Service, Test, Memory Reset and Analyser so it wasn't possible to wire it to the JAMMA standard. The Mahjong boards use a keyboard matrix of 5 common pins and 6 pins for each player plus single switches for the other buttons.

Some games have 36 way and 20 way IDC connectors on them so a loom can be connector to connect them up to a second machine so a single board can run two cabinets either seperately or in VS. The Psikyo boards that run Taisen Hot Gimmick are one board that use this.