new home brewed TITO system in the works

[staz]

I am using a PIC16F687 and will be using cat 5 cable between boards when I move to that step.  Right now I am focusing on just getting it to work on one machine before I start trying to build in the networking aspect

can you make it work on a s2000? id be so happy to be able to use tickets in my top dollar.....

[bhinkley]

I actually have an s2000 myself so it will work there no problem.  As long as the machine supports SAS in the right way it would work on any machine.

[bhinkley]

Another update for everyone.  My initial coding is done now.  I have boards on order for testing and if people want them from me directly.  I will have 8 boards that are not spoken for yet.  PM me if you want me to hold one for you.  I should be ready to start assembling the test board on thursday or Friday of this week, so it is getting close. 

[IGTfanman777]

Great job man!

[bhinkley]

UPDATE!!!
We are getting very close now.  I have the boards and I have assembled the test board.  Now I just need to get the coding programmed into the chip and testing can be done.  I still have 4 boards available for now.  If I get enough response I can always order more.  If you want me to build the board for you, it would be $37 plus shipping for the board with all chips and programming.  You would need to make the cable for the power and the connection to the comm board.  If you are not interested in me building them I will be posting the schematics and the material list.  The coding involved will not be posted though.  Here is a pic of the test board.  As you can see it is very small.  Just over 2" x 3" total.

[TZtech]

Your project is coming along nicely - Great Job

Are the 2 * 8 pin chips EEPROM and RS485?
Where did You have Your PCB's fabbed and how much does it work out to per board. Have You seen http://batchpcb.com. This will allow You to sell Your PCB directly from their website.
Unfortunately only US citizens can put up boards for sale

[bhinkley]

One is the RS485.  The other is the flash memory.  The 20 pin is the EEPROM micro controller.  I use www.pcbwing.com to print the boards, then I personally put the components on myself.  At that site it cost about $62 to have 10 boards printed.  The more you buy at once the cheaper it is for each one.  Then there are the actual parts that I get from various sources.  Most come from www.mouser.com

[bhinkley]

Does anyone know how to easily compile c programming code to a hex file for a PIC18F13K50 micro controller?  I can't get the compiler I have to work right.  That is all I have left before testing.

[bhinkley]

Initial testing hit a minor snag.  One part I have is not compatible with my circuit, but one that is shall be here soon.  We are getting very close to being ready to roll this out.  I will be immediately starting the networking coding once I get the initial board working, and will be able to start producing the boards while doing the coding possibly as well.

[TZtech]

Hi

Are You using standard or enhanced validation or the host generated System validation  that Tom suggested  ?
Would like to add similar functionality to my project next and would be interested to see how You did it.

[bhinkley]

It is enhanced validation

[bhinkley]

Well, this is sort of a downer so far.  I have the circuit assembled, and programmed, but for some reason it is not running at all (not even on a serial port on the computer).    I am still troubleshooting.  I am very determined to make this work for everyone. 

[staz]

keep on it im sure you will figure it out.......

[TZtech]

Which compiler are You using ? With PICS one of the most troublesome aspects is getting all the peripherals defined correctly and defined properly - Ie is external oscillator enabled - Is serial port enabled etc. Break the program down into blocks and get each subsystem working. On mine once I got the poll to the machine working (Ie getting the ninth bit manipulation working) the rest fell in place easily.

[bhinkley]

I am using mcc18 for the compiler.  Do you have knowledge in various PIC configurations to help determine what is wrong?

[TZtech]

for the PIC18F25K22 the setting look something like this - http://www.myamicus.co.uk/showthread.php?931-PIC18F25K22-Fuse-Settings

I am afraid I have almost no expericence when it comes to C Compilers so I am not sure how You would define them in that dev environment. Have You tried the microchip forums ?

[bhinkley]

Not yet.  I will have to check the forums out.  I don't know anything in c either, but I have a programmer working with me to get what I need into c code for me.

[bhinkley]

Just an update for everyone again.  Still working to get the PIC chip to work correct.  Please hang tight.  it will be well worth it once this chip gets going to have the stand alone TITO working for systems.

*****UPDATE******   Progress is being made.  I finally got my PIC to blink an LED, which it wasn't even willing to do before, so now we are on the right track, so now things are moving forward all be it slow progress.  I still have a list of everyone that is interested in the boards.  Initially I did say the boards would be $37 a piece plus shipping.  Depending on how many people order them the price could be lower as parts I can order do have discounts for higher quantities ordered at once.  You will have to make the cable to connect to the power and to your machine, but I will include instructions on how the cable connects to my board to make that part very simple and I will include all settings you need to do for the key chip config to get the machines set up to do so and have the machine know how to communicate once this is running.  If you have not let me know of your interest in purchasing a board when they are completed, please let me know and I will add you to the list.  That way when I am ready I can let everyone know what the updated price for their patients with the delayed development will be.  Anyone that does not do a pre-order will not get in on the discounted price as I will not get the qty discount for the parts.

[bhinkley]

Now I am starting to see the fruits of my labor.  I have another progress update for everyone, and sort of a minor setback.  First the progress.  I have the PIC micro controller now actually running basic serial communications that I can monitor with my computer, so no that we have that step of the process up and running we are getting extremely close to getting the first phase of the TITO board up and running so I can move on to the networking phase and get this project up and live for everyone that has been so patiently waiting..

Now for the minor setback.  I broke my custom made cable yesterday to connect my machines to my computer or boards while playing with a new machine I just birthed yesterday, and don't think I have the parts needed to fix it, so I may need to wait for new parts to make a new connector on that before the next step of TITO testing can commence, but that is just a minor thing. 

For everyone that has already put your name on the list for boards, a big thank you goes out to you.  Due to your pre-orders you are going to be pleasantly surprised how much it is helping to reduce the costs of the boards that you are going to be getting thanks to the very large number of identical parts I will be getting to order at once so I can get discounts on those.

[knagl]

Congrats on your current progress, and keep up the great work!  Let me know if I can help.

[staz]

i cant wait im excited!!!!!  congrats on progress

[bhinkley]

Sorry about the delay everyone.  Getting the pic to work together with the slot machine is proving to be a little more work than I expected.  I have made progress though.  I have reliable communication from the pic to the computer for testing now.  All I have left is getting it to respond correctly to input back from the computer to the pic correctly and then putting the coding in place I already have for the slot interface to do testing.

[idesign]

Is your version going to validate the ticket so it can't be used again?

[bhinkley]

It will validate the ticket to make sure it is a valid ticket, but will not remove it from the database, so yes the ticket will be able to be used repeatedly.

[bhinkley]

UPDATE FOR EVERYONE
We are making some good progress.  I finally have the pic responding consistently to input from a computer now, so I am working to get the coding for the slot machine responses in place that I already have worked out.  Once that is worked into place I will just need to do testing with my machines and phase 1 (working with one machine) will be complete.  For those of you that are looking for the set up where you will be able to network multiple machines together I hope to have that completed very quickly after the single machine setup is done.  The boards I currently have designed will work for both phases, it is just a matter of different coding in the PIC and a jumper setting to have those work once done.  As I get closer to finishing I will PM each person that has pre-ordered to find out where it will be mounted in the machine for them so I can make sure the cable to connect to the comm board is appropriately set up.  If you wish to and have pre-ordered and want to get a jump on the info, you can send me a message to let me know where you will be mounting the board.  It is a 2.5" x 3.5" board approximately.

Important info
For anyone else that has not already pre-ordered and is interested in pre-ordering, the machines this will work with right now are IGT machines that are able to run SAS Enhanced validation.  I will be accepting pre-orders until 12/1/2012.  The final pre-order pricing is still yet to be determined as I am giving the lowest possible pricing based on the delay and what kind of qty discount I can get for all the parts I need to order at once, but right now the pricing for pre-order is looking like somewhere between $30-35 plus shipping per board complete.  All you would need to do is supply a source of power to connect to the DC input plug that I will have installed on the board when I send it to you.  If you are interested and have not already let me know, please let me know before 12/1 if you want to pre-order.  Payment is not due until the project is ready for production so that I know everything will work for people.


Special thanks to TZtech for working on helping me with the PIC issues.  I appreciate your assistance with keeping this project rolling so we can get this moving for everyone.