I-PAC ULTIMATE I/O - USB interface 48 Inputs, 96 outputs 4.8mm Switch

Description: I-PAC ULTIMATE I/O - USB interface 48 Inputs, 96 outputs 4.8mm Switch I-PAC ULTIMATE I/O Advanced PC interface for arcade buttons,joysticks and LEDs. Full Speed USB 2.0. 48 Inputs, 96 outputs. Upgradeable Firmware. NO EXTRA WIRING required for most standard installations. All switch wiring supplied. Trackball and spinner simply plug in. RGB LEDs simply plug in (Ultimarc Ultralux or ClassicRGB).This board has a total of 176 connections. If you were to hand-wire every LED and switch this would be a total of up to 576 wire ends to strip and connect! Which is why we have done it for you.! 48 inputs each with it's own dedicated microprocessor pin. No interaction or delays, vital for multi-button games such as fighting games.Emulates a USB keyboard and yet breaks through the USB simultaneously-pressed-switch limit of 6 switches (plus ctrl,alt,shift) which afflicts all USB keyboard devices. This is because it has inbuilt full native USB support, and does not rely on an add-on adaptor.Multi-mode operation emulates either keyboard/mouse/LEDs, dual gamepad/mouse/LEDs or Dual Xinput controller.All input pins can be assigned to any keyboard key, gamepad button (including hat switch), mouse button or power/volume control. Also sleep/wake.Inputs can be assigned as trackball and spinner and our U-Trak and SpinTrak devices plug directly into the board.Shift function which allows ANY input to be assigned to a shifted secondary keycode and the shift button can have it's own function too so no need for a dedicated extra control panel button.Self-test LED which gives an instant visible check of your installation.96 channel LED controller with constand-current drivers. Also 6 high-current 1 amp drivers.INTERACTIVE configuration utility which applies and reads back any changes "on the fly".MAME Defaults pre-loaded.I-PAC Ultimate I/O retains it's programming after power off. Beware! Not all keyboard encoders do this! The I-PAC series (Interface for Pc to Arcade Controls) are boards which allow connection of arcade controls such as buttons and joysticks to a USB port on a host system. They are designed around the MAME emulator which supports over 1000 arcade games and can be used with other emulators. It is designed to be used inside an Arcade Games cabinet with the host system also mounted inside, but could just as easily be used with simply a control panel without a cabinet. Special shift function buttons mean that a normal keyboard is only be needed for game loading and configuration, not for gameplay. All key codes can be programmed but you dont have to as you can use the built-in default configuration which has all standard MAME codes for quick and easy installation. Programmed keys codes are stored even after power off. Full Feature ListINPUTSFully programmable key code set. Stored even after power off unlike some other interfaces which lose all data when powered off.Controls can be assigned to any keycode, gamepad button, plus mouse buttons, power, volume up/down, sleep or wake.Multi-mode operation, can emulate keyboard/mouse/LEDs, dual gamepad/mouse/LEDs or Dual Xinput controllers.Wiring harness supplied for 32 input connections. Additional harness options for the other 16 inputs. Connections marked on the board.Trackball and spinner interface. When enabled these use a total of 6 of the available 48 inputs.Example configurations include: 2 player with trackball/spinner. 4 player without trackball/spinner.Self-Test LED gives an instant check of all your wiring. Can indicate which, if any, input has a problem.All button inputs referenced to ground - no need to re-wire separate grounds to each button.Supplied USB cable plugs into PC USB port.Using host software, an unlimited number of keycode configurations can be stored and downloaded on-the-fly. Retained on power off.No separate power needed for controls.Does not use a matrix - no ghost keys.Does not use a scanning method which causes a variable delay. Each input has it's own dedicated connection into the on-board CPU .Fast running interrupt-driven software gives much better response than a standard keyboard controller. Key debounce uses a state method for each key. No delays between keys depressed at the same time. (essential for fighting games).2 operation modes. Either uses standard MAME keys or you can program your own character set.Shift functions. Holding "Start1" and pressing other buttons sends a range of codes for MAME functions such as "escape", "Coin 1", "tab", "enter". This means no extra buttons are needed on the cabinet. In programmable mode any input can be the shift key and all keys can be programmed with a shifted code.Special note for Windows MAME users! Shift key functions mean you can select and start games from the Windows interface without using the keyboard or mouse.No special drivers needed. USB drivers are generic Windows.Fully compatible with all Apple Mac (excl config utility).Supports the Apple Mac "command" key and the Windows "GUI" keys.OUTPUTS96 LED channels with 256 brightness levels for full RGB color mixingCan be used with single-color or RGB LEDs (RGB use 3 channels)Constant current negates the need for resistors for each LEDCan be used with LEDs with inbuilt resistors if required128-command flash storage for “attract-mode” or test sequences which run immediately on power-up with no PC presentSupplied configuration utility allows customisation and storage of attract-mode LED sequence.Supports single-command fades with preset speed on-board. Multiple fades can overlapComes with power cable for plugging into a PC disk drive power connector.Extensive software support including test application, Software Development kit for adding support to your own programs, and LedBlinky third-party softwareCompact modular connectivity. Our Ultralux RGB and ClassicRGB pushbuttons simply plug in. Other harnesses and connectors available.6 X 1 amp MOSFET drivers which are suitable for LED strips and other high-power LED applications. Configuration Software LED test and scripting utilityWinIPAC for reconfiguring controls LED CONTROL APPLICATION SOFTWAREIn addition to our own test and script utility shown above, Ultimarc LED and output controllers have great software support, including PC and Linux software and our own SDK which enables easy addition of output control to your own programs. For Windows For Linux LEDBlinky overview This is a third-party application available in free or paid versions. It is actually a suite of programs enabling configurations to be stored, animations to be created, and has special MAME features.Note that LEDBlinky supports direct control of the board via USB only. It does not support creation of scripts for storing on the board.Version 5.0 required.With RGB LEDs, you can specify colors for individual controls or using a pre-defined colors.ini file. Colors or intensities can also be customized on a game-by-game basis.Use audio output (music or game sounds) to blink, fade, or animate LEDs – great for use with Jukebox software.Blink and speak front-end UI controls by pressing a pre-defined “Help” button.Blink and speak controls when pausing a game and/or play a LED animation (selected, random, random montage) or use audio output (music) to animate the LEDs. This is a MAME only feature.Flash start buttons when credits are available - this is a MAME only game dependent feature.Light start and coin buttons based on active player count for the current game.Flash all or active buttons when any is pressed.Full support for other MAME Outputs - light LEDs based on any output. Outputs can be linked to controls (P1_Button1, P2_Button2, etc.) or directly linked to a Device/Port.Extensive audio animation options let you completely customize how the LEDs blink to music or game sounds.When starting a game, LEDBlinky can play a LED animation (selected or random), speak the game name, speak each button “action” while blinking the button in its correct color, speak the primary controls, and speak a custom message. When speaking the game name or custom message, LEDs can blink in sync with the speech.While playing a game, LEDBlinky can play a continuous LED animation (selected, random, or random montage) or use audio output (game sounds) to animate the LEDs. The LED animation will only effect unused controls.See the LEDBlinky website for all details Installation InformationThe diagram below shows some examples of connected devices. For clarity only a few items shown. Click tabs above for default key codes, wiring and power information. LEDs can be controlled using our SDK or the third-party LEDBlinky utility. The board is supplied with a power cable which supplied 5 volts to the LED power black connector from a spare HDD connector. Alternative power source can be used such as a wall-plug power supply. Voltage should be 5V for all LEDs supplied by Ultimarc. Current 0.02 amps per LED channel. Ensure CENTER pin on the connector is 5V, BARREL is ground. Connector is 5.5mm diameter, 2.1mm pin. The board is shipped with a pre-configured LED script which fades up all LEDs, then down, then enables each LED in turn, to one color, then cycles. You can change this script if you wish. The LED script runs from power-on even before the PC is running and stops running as soon as any control is activated. FeaturesConfigures each pin of the board as the correct device type, ie keyboard, gamepad, analog, mouse, volume/power.Displays a pictorial representation of the boardFully real-time interactive. Reads and write board configuration "on the fly"Can be run in command-line mode or GUIRead/Save configuration to a fileRunning from command line This program can be run "invisibly" from a command line by simply appending the name of an already-saved IPC (config) file: Winipac.exe This will load the configuration specified. This will also cause a mode change if needed, if using multi-mode firmware. There is more on the "Multi Mode" product tab. Note the IPC file must be accessible by using its full path or saving it in the WinIPAC install folder.Operation PIN drop down This displays the selected pin you are configuring. You can select pins from here or from the main graphic.NICKNAME You can type text in here which will remind you of which device this pin is connected to. The test is saved with the configuration (on the PC only) and is not sent to the board.FUNCTION area Here you configure the selected pin as the required device type and assign values to it. You can select one of the radio buttons to define the pin as the following:Switch (which includes keyboard key, gamepad button and mouse buttons)Trackball/Spinner (includes optical steering wheels etc). This is only relevant to certain pins on the Ultimate I/O board. NOTE: Trackball/Spinner uses 2 pins per axis. The partner pin will also automatically be assigned. You can select X, Y or Z (wheel) axis.Trackballs use two axes (4 pins). Only the appropriate pins on the top two smaller connectors on the I-PAC Ultimate I/O can be assigned as trackball and spinner. It is recommended that you assign trackball on the left connector and spinner on the right otherwise you cannot use the special connectors for the U-Trak or Spintrak devices. The connectors for these devices are not unique. They use two or 4 of the total 48 input pins available. The I-PAC 2 and Mini-PAC also support trackball and spinner but these use dedicated pins. Detail Configuration Example (Switch) The switch is connected with one terminal to the required pin and other terminal to GND. Select the pin by clicking on require pin in the graphic area. Select "switch" radio button in the function area. You now can select the control type eg whether keyboard key, mouse button or gamepad button. In the primary drop-down all possible keys are available plus macros defined separately (see later). Note that the I-PAC sends key scan codes just like a keyboard. It does not send characters so has no concept of upper/lower case. An upper-case key is a macro consisting of the Shift key plus the required character. If required, you can select a secondary keycode. This is sent instead of the standard code when the I-PAC shift button is held. (This is by default the Start1 button but can be changed). There is no need a secondary code unless you wish to use shift feature. Macros To assign a macro proceed as follows: Click on the MACRO tabClick NEW In the drop-down box, select the first character of the macroClick "Add Entry"In the drop-down box, select the second character of the macroClick "Add Entry"Repeat above 2 steps to add further charactersClick "Add Macro".Return to the main tab. Select the macro in the drop-down when configuring the required pin. Variable De-Bounce Delay In the "Config" tab, the setting can be changed to 4 values as required. The default is the "standard" setting. This value affects the rate at which the SAME input can be re-activated. Setting a low value will allow faster repeat of presses of the same button, but may also cause unwanted key repeat caused by switch bounce. This is a specialized setting and should only be changed following testing with the specific switches being used. It does not affect overall performance because it only affects repeated action of the same input. Dual Board Usage This applies to the Ultimate I/O when one board has the standard firmware and a second board is connected with the "ID#2" firmware. There is a command-line switch /2 which when used causes the board to skip the first board when detecting boards on startup. This can be used in various ways. One method would be to copy the entire application to a different folder so you have two versions. Then edit the shortcut to the program to add the /2 switch. Another way would be to use only one version and either apply the switch or not. Care would be needed when saving and loading IPC files. If both boards are required to be reconfigured on the fly, a batch file would have two lines, each specifying a different IPC file and one with the /2 switch. Upgrading Firmware The firmware upgrade is a two-stage process. First, the board is placed in firmware upgrade mode. Also a driver is installed on-the-fly if this is the first time an upgrade has been done on the PC. Then, a program called UUPLOAD performs the upload of the firmware to the board. This program will not detect the board unless it has been placed into upgrade mode from within WinIPAC. The following steps need to be followed:Run WinIPAC as administrator (right click and select "run as administrator")Ensure the board is detected and click "File, Firmware Upgrade".OK the prompts. The board should reset and change to "Firmware Upgrade Device" (If you have Device Manager open you will see the new device appear under the USB Controllers entry.A program called UUPLOAD.EXE should automatically start. If the process fails you can manually run this program if you have a "Firmware Upgrade Device showing in Device ManagerSelect the firmware fileUploading to the board should take approx 2-3 minutes. After that, the board should reset again and re-appear as a keyboard, mouse and game controller and be ready for use.

Price: 149.95 USD

Location: Bessemer, Alabama

End Time: 2024-08-16T07:06:34.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD