Home brew progressive - part 2

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by POPPO « on: December 05, 2006, 06:17:44 AM »)

In this thread http://newlifegames.net/techforum/index.php/topic,2410.0.html I posted some pictures of my home brew progressive display. It consisted of a Basic Atom chip driving a LCD that I mounted in the front of the slot. However, I also mentioned that I still wanted a larger display. So I decided to try and build my own for a few reasons.

1. The documentation for the 'real' progressive displays seems a bit confusing
2. The displays appear to be somewhat limited in what they can do. (i.e. displaying other things)
3. The software seems to be finicky as I've read it may not run on some PCs
4. (main reason) I like to tinker with stuff like this.

Now, cost was going to be a concern. I wanted to use an 'off the shelf' scrolling LED sign. It also needed to have a serial input. These are not cheap. There would also be the cost of the controller. However, with a bit of searching, I think I can do it for under $200.

My goals are:

1. Have the display show the progressive amount (duh!)
2. Have it display other things including animations when the slot is idle
3. Have it capable of linking multiple slots if desired.
4. Be relatively easy to make changes.

To accomplish this, I have come up with he following items (pictures attached):

The controller - I found a Basic Atom board on e-bay for $40. All that is needed to make this work is one pull up resistor per slot machine. I already have the software written to drive the LCD, so it won't take much to modify it. This board was designed for OEM applications, but since we only need one resistor, it is perfect and cheaper then using a 'standard' Basic Atom and carrier board.

The display - I found a Beta Brite (perfect condition) with serial input on e-bay for $100. The sign is capable of many display modes including animations and graphics. There are even some built in. See the 'slot machine' in one of the pictures which has animated spinning reels.

The holy grail - The hardest part of getting this to work is working with the odd protocol that the sign uses. Although it is well documented, it is not as easy as just sending a text string over the serial port. Or is it? Enter the RS51-SPR-BETA. Some genius built this nifty device that does all of conversion for you. Send it a simple text string and it will output what the beta brite wants to see. At $50, it was a no brainer for me. The added bonus is that the text strings (in this case the progressive amounts) do not interfere with anything already programmed into the display (i.e. the other messages and animations). Thus (in theory at least) the sign will cycle messages and animations continuously (including the current progressive)  and when a slot is played, it will immediately switch to the progressive ammount since serial input always takes priority.

Anyway, I have to wait on the RS51-SPR-BETA unit before I can really get into this. If anyone shows an interest in this project, I will continue to update this thread as I go along.

Here are the pictures of the Atom controller, Beta Brite sign and the RS51-SPR-BETA unit. Sorry about the glare with the sign, but they are not easy to take pictures of.



 

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« Last Edit: December 05, 2006, 06:51:21 AM by poppo » 
 

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by thedotster  « Reply #1 on: December 05, 2006, 06:21:12 AM »)

I for one am speechless, well done.   

Please keep us (well me at least) updated.

Paul

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by rickhunter   Â« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2006, 09:09:21 AM » )

Yes, I second that.  Keep us updated.  It's always good to see alternatives.  And displaying graphics is defintely a plus as the only other way of doing it is with a $upreme and a con2i.  So for $200 or so, it's a  no brainer if you want to display graphics and jackpot.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by CaptainHappy   Â« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2006, 11:32:11 AM » )

Poppo,

Cool..... Good tinkering project. Karma plus for sharing with everyone, and I am sure that everyone wants you to share your progress. Graphics are definately a plus for other people. Also it is much cheaper than my Con2I and "$upreme" as rick stated. Also seems a bit easier to do??

Captainhappy

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #4 on: December 05, 2006, 02:21:07 PM » )

Graphics are definately a plus for other people. ...... Also seems a bit easier to do??

I'm still trying to figure out the easiest way to load up the sign with text and graphics as there are several ways to do it. The unit is able to hold up to 26 'files' of each. A file is a line of text or graphics. I'm not sure what the limit is on each, but the unit has 32K of memory which should be more than enough. All of this can be done with the remote, but looks to be very time consuming especially with the graphics as you have to draw them using the buttons. OTOH, once you have the 'files' set up, you don't have to do it again. And you can pick and choose which 'files' you want to display and in what order. That can be changed at any time. I am still scouring the Internet to see what software is available to simplify that part. Since the protocol is open, people have written their own software. I found a few utilities already.

Where the Atom comes into play is sending a text string (progressive amount) to the 'A file'. Basically it's the same thing I did with my serial LCD. This should be simple enough with the converter board as the input format for that is almost identical to the LCD. I probably could have written the beta brite code myself since the Atom can output whatever you want, but for me it was easier just to order the converter (which is supposed to ship today).

The only thing that probably will not work ideally is if it is linked to several machines. The Atom can take care of polling each machine for coin drops and updating the display as needed easily enough. However, a jackpot on one will not cause the display to 'lock up'. On a single machine this is not an issue since the slot will already be locked up for hand pay (and thus the display). But on multiple machines, it would just keep incrementing from the others. In a home situation, I don't really think it would be an issue anyway since if someone hit the jackpot, I'm sure game play would stop on the others within a coin drop or two.  Perhaps I could have the Atom poll for the jackpot light on each machine and if it detects that, stop updating the display. But that would only be good if only the top award turned it on. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to get it working on one machine first.

If anyone has any suggestions, including phrases/graphics for the display, feel free to post them.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by Jay  « Reply #5 on: December 05, 2006, 04:35:18 PM » )

I think this is very cool. Keep up the good work.

The next stage will be expanding it so it is a Link Controller that can be used for a single jackpot across several machines.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by wcw1223  « Reply #6 on: December 05, 2006, 05:15:31 PM » )

I have had a Beta Bright for a number of years they are nice signs I use it behind the bar. I have the software if you dont have it and want it.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by Cactusjack   Â« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2006, 05:22:27 PM » )

Graphics are definately a plus for other people. ...... Also seems a bit easier to do??

But on multiple machines, it would just keep incrementing from the others. In a home situation, I don't really think it would be an issue anyway since if someone hit the jackpot, I'm sure game play would stop on the others within a coin drop or two.  Perhaps I could have the Atom poll for the jackpot light on each machine and if it detects that, stop updating the display.

The way I understand the IGT prog protocol is short pulses for coin in, and stuck on (or at least one LLLLOOOONNNNNGGGG pulse to indicate Jackpot HIT (or lock up).  This signal is used not only to change the progressive display into a WIN Fanfare, but also to immediately reset the base jackpot value for all the other machines, just in case the unlikely happens and someone hits a top award before the winning machine has been cleared.

So, when you write your routings to monitor multiple machine inputs, you need to watch (or poll really fast) all the inputs for momentary closures for coin drop (jackpot increment) and longer sustained closures for Jackpot hit.  This is what some of the others have "hand simulated" on their Mikohn equipment by shorting the wires together for a while.  It triggers the Jackpot Fanfare.

Just some more food for thought......

CJ

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #8 on: December 05, 2006, 05:37:18 PM » )

The way I understand the IGT prog protocol is short pulses for coin in, and stuck on (or at least one LLLLOOOONNNNNGGGG pulse to indicate Jackpot HIT (or lock up).

Hmmm...interesting. I suppose I could use the PULSIN command instead of the IN command I'm using now. PULSIN will return a pulse width whereas IN just returns a 0/1 (i.e. button pressed or not). My only concern would be with timing. I only have about 200ms of leeway left between coin polls (less on multiple machines). However, that's still a long time in processor terms.  I'll have to test and see how much overhead the PULSIN uses. In theory it should work. But as I mentioned, setting it up for multiple machines is a long way off since I only have one.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #9 on: December 06, 2006, 07:36:58 PM » )


Minor but important update:

While waiting for my protocol converter, I have been playing with some of the messaging software utilities. I have found that all of the windows based ones will erase any existing messages stored in the sign. This was probably by design though.

Next I tried a command line program that is only supposed to write to the 'A file'. The good news is that it works just like I had hoped. As soon as the text is sent, it is displayed. And then the sign continues on to display whatever other messages/graphics were previously stored. This is good news since I was counting on that exact behavior for my project.

Now the bad news. There seems to be a bug (I'm hoping it's with the command line software) that if you display a $ and there are two 1s in the rest of the line, the text will not be centered, but instead becomes left justified.  So, $1,000.00 displays corectly centered, but $1,000.01 (the two 1s can be anywhere) will display all the way to the left. More than two 1s also displays fine. Since the windows based utilities don't exhibit this problem, I'm hopeful that it won't be an issue with my project. But if it is a bug in the sign's firmware, then I have a problem. 

 
 
« Last Edit: December 06, 2006, 07:40:12 PM by poppo » 
 

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by wcw1223  « Reply #10 on: December 06, 2006, 07:45:31 PM » )


The beta brite software I have lets you edit the current message. Do you have the beta brite software?

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #13 on: December 07, 2006, 05:51:41 AM » )

The beta brite software I have lets you edit the current message. Do you have the beta brite software?

I have BetaMsg v1.3 which allows me to upload messages. I have another version of Beta Brite software but it is only for the Prism version of the sign and doesn't work with the 'classic'. But if you have something else and would care to share, I would appreciate it.

This signal is used not only to change the progressive display into a WIN Fanfare, but also to immediately reset the base jackpot value for all the other machines, just in case the unlikely happens and someone hits a top award before the winning machine has been cleared.

After thinking about this for a while, I think it would be fairly easy to implement both. First, assuming I can detect the longer jackpot pulse, my Atom board will know it's a jackpot condition. At that point it can store the current progressive amount in a separate variable. It can then reset the base progressive and continue to poll the other machines (just not display that amount yet). Also, since the Atom will know it is a jackpot condition, it can simply loop sending several new messages to the 'A file'. In other words, instead of just sending the progressive amount, it can also send 'fanfare' messages. Since it will be looping these until reset, the normal messages won't have a chance to start cycling. Then by using a separate button on the Atom board (perhaps wired inside the slot) after the jackpot is 'paid', the button is pressed and it clears the Jackpot condition on the Atom and all goes back to normal.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by wcw1223  « Reply #14 on: December 07, 2006, 06:03:00 AM » )

I am not sure of the version number I will let you know this evening. It will allow you to edit an existing message and it has slot machine graphics. My sign appears to be the same as yours but I am not sure of that either.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by wcw1223  « Reply #15 on: December 07, 2006, 04:52:16 PM » )

Yours is a later version than minE. It's 1.1

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #16 on: December 10, 2006, 08:28:51 AM » )


OK, a little more progress and a slight setback. I received the Atom module and it works perfectly with the same code I have been using in my 'full blown' version. I had to make a few modification to the board to make it easier to work with. First, I added a double row of header pins because there is only one ground and one 5v pin on the main board. I just epoxied it on and ran jumpers. Then I soldered the pull up resistor directly to the board between VCC and the pin that I will use for coin drop from the slot. Next, the atom can output serial data on any of it's pins, but it is TTL level. The protocol converter however uses standard RS232 levels. You can use the programming port as a serial I/O too, but that means swapping cables between programming and testing. So instead I just used an unused 'port' of the MAX232 chip on the board. I just cut the output trace of the pin I was going to use and ran it through the MAX232. Now I have a true RS232 level on that pin. Oh, I also removed the 5V regulator as I will be using a 5v regulated 'wall wart' supply.

Now for the setback. I received the protocol converter board, but it was the wrong software version. Luckily the prom is just plugged in and they said they will send me the correct one on Monday. But on the plus side, I did get the Atom to talk to this version and I am able to toggle the on board relay on/off. So I have no doubt that it will work just fine with the correct prom.

Here are a few more pictures. The first shows the Atom board with my modifications. The next shows it connected to the protocol converter. That's really all there is too it. Just apply power, connect the coin drop wires and plug in the beta brite display.  Hopefully I will have a completed functiong unit by the end of next week. 

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[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #17 on: December 15, 2006, 06:40:06 PM »)


Success!!

I finally receive the right protocol converter chip and it worked exactly as expected. I had to fiddle with my code a bit in order to display the progressive amount with a comma in the thousand place, but it didn't take too long. As hoped, when a coin is dropped, the display immediately updates and displays the new progressive amount. Then it starts to cycle through the other messages (I currently have about 6) until the next coin drop. I still have to mount it and tidy up the wires. For now it's just sitting on a shelf I had some coin cups diplayed on.  Total cost was just about $200. Here are a few pictures of it in action. Sorry about the bad quality, but you can get the idea.

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[a69mopar]

(originally posted by CommTech   Â« Reply #18 on: December 15, 2006, 06:57:00 PM » )

Congratulations on your success Poppo!    Karma to you!  That is a beautiful thing! 

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by Jay   Â« Reply #19 on: December 15, 2006, 07:14:58 PM » )

Looks super - just need to open that candle for your wires....

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by poppo  « Reply #20 on: December 15, 2006, 07:26:49 PM » )


Jay, FYI, the progressive/300 'decals' were made from the templates that you posted. I only changed the font to bold Arial and they came out pretty good. So thanks again for posting those.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by rickhunter  « Reply #21 on: December 15, 2006, 08:02:17 PM » )


Too cool!! 

Karma to you.

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by Captainhappy  « Reply #22 on: December 16, 2006, 03:41:49 AM » )

Great going!!!

I gotta hit the karma as well! Thanks for sharing!!!

Captainhappy

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by StatFreak  « Reply #23 on: December 16, 2006, 04:15:56 AM » )

Yea!   Like to see my Haywire Deluxe Roundtop looking like that someday 
Another Karma in your bag..

[a69mopar]

(originally posted by Jay   Â« Reply #24 on: December 16, 2006, 06:33:43 AM » )

Very pleased that someone got use of the decals. !