CYAPPS

I was running an older version of mame I believe 1.23 but I updated to 1.30. And my frontend is MaLa 1.05. That is what I was figuring... When I open notepad and swipe a card I get %S3UNIQUE ALPHA NUMERIC CODE?;ID NUMBER OF CARD?;E? for a valid swipe and ;E?;E? for a bad swipe. From what I see the string will always start with a ; or % no matter what card is swiped and the ; is used to separate the tracks on the strip (I am using a 2 track reader). As I said I may just figure out how to make a plugin for MaLa that will capture a key swipe while in the frontend then process the data and if it is an accepted "good" swipe then it can load a keymap that will have another key mapped to the credit key and on my control panel I would just have a free play button that will be activated and lit. Just another option :). Thanks

Yes, if I knew anything about programming I may have an easier time of things. But I only have very little experience with php. According to everything I have read mame grabs the keyboard input at a low level I believe it uses DirectInput. I have read some people talking in 2006 about editing the source of mame but that seems like it would be much. According to the specs of this reader it is usb and serial. Maybe it sends serial data to a converter on the device that converts it to usb. If so I could bypass the usb conversion. That is exactly what got me interested in the hardware solution but of course I wanted to go even further and thought about the arduino. But as I said either way I am going to most likely get a arduino and teensy to play with anyways.

Sorry, for some reason I bookmarked the page and downloaded the program but never looked at it... It should work for the more simple approach of catching a string that is entered by the reader and sending a keystroke back but I was also looking to use some sort of a database of card numbers and then I will be able to process and log all the swipes and stuff. But I guess I could call a bat file from this program but how would I get a key press back to the program? I am looking at it now to go more in depth. But windows key hooks looks to be what I would need to learn on the programming side. Thanks EDIT: I just tried it with mame so when I press 5 it would output 5555 and it didn't even see it so it may not work.

That would be great, thanks. The magswipe is just acting as a keyboard hid I believe. So being able to grab input from a unique hid device would be the same idea. Don't most hids use unique identifiers?

I am running windows xp pro with mame running on top of that. From what I hear mame is running at a low level so it is difficult to interface with on the software side, but as I am not a programmer I am not real sure. The money amount isn't really that bad, what I listed would be under $100 and if I can bypass the ethernet module then that would subtract $40. I will most likely be buying a arduino anyways as I want to have it to "play" with. But if I can I wouldn't mind doing this entirely with software.

I am thinking about getting the Arduino Duemilanove (or compatible) and maybe an arduino compatible LCD module to show the user if there card was accepted, etc. I will handle the processing and card data parsing on the mame system so I was thinking on getting the Arduino Ethernet Shield as well to allow me to "simply" take the data that was swiped and pass it to a local webserver running php then I will use php to decode and process everything then pass a simple accept or not accept string back to arduino over the ethernet shield which will display the results on the lcd and pass on the appropriate key press back to windows. Is there an easy way to make a program for windows xp that can communicate back and forth with the arduino over the usb/serial without needing to use the ethernet shield because as of now the whole setup will be in one area and ethernet seems like overkill. Could the arduino send data directly to a program on the computer running in the background and also send key presses as a emulated keyboard? Also if I get the freeduino kit you linked to, will all the arduino shields work with it? Is the serial version of the freeduino you linked to the same as the Arduino Duemilanove but with serial instead of usb? Does anyone know of another arduino compatible ethernet shield that will be a little cheaper but close to the same quality? Thanks

Thanks so much everyone for the input you have found me a lot of great leads to follow up on! As for the reader I have, it is a SEMTEK 9172 and the spec file is at http://www.semtek.com/products/mini_swipe.pdf according to what I read the reader can output usb and rs232 so I believe the arduino would work nicely as I also want to hack around with it as well. From what I have heard from the arcade community at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com mame is a little difficult to work with on the software side so my best and "easiest" solution might be hardware anyways. Otherwise I may be able to implement a unlocking mechanism in the frontend loader via a plugin before mame starts that would unlock a free credit button located on the control panel that I could light up and activate when a valid card is swiped. I would just add an additional key value to the key map that way the coin mechs will work off of the original 5 key no matter what. I will most likely go a head and purchase a arduino and maybe the teensy as I want to have them around anyways.

It is not about making money I just want to give someone a card and add it to the accepted list so they can play without having to insert a token into the coin slot. And maybe add in the option to log when a player swipes the card to play to keep track of how much they have played. It is more about getting the experience of doing it than a real need. I understand how arcade machines work. I already have the machine setup and working, I just wanted to add the swipe card reader to the system. I haven't came across information of anyone else doing this other than at some entertainment places (Dave & Busters, etc.). They purchase there solutions pre-made from a third party and I just want to hack something together. The hardest part is grabbing the key presses before the emulator sees them and then passing the appropriate key press through. I was thinking about using some type of hardware solution like the arduino and have the swipe reader send the text to that for processing, but I am not sure of its limits.

Ok, here's my issue, I am building my own arcade system from an old cabinet, pc (running windows xp and mame) and controls that I purchased online. I have my coin doors setup to credit the game when a coin is inserted but I was wanting to do something a little different. The way that the emulator (mame) receives a credit is by receiving the "5" key. I wanted to have a mag swipe card reader on the machine (like some of the newer arcade style places) that would allow someone to swipe a card and have the emulator (mame) receive the "5" as a key press. I found some usb swipe card readers on feebay for a good price and they work perfectly as they where made, however the issue is they act as a human interface device and send the information that is on the magnetic strip to the computer as a unique string of text, so the emulator just freaks out thinking a bunch of different keys where pressed. I either need a hardware device that can capture the data that the reader sends out as key presses and parse that data then determine if it is on a previously entered list of cards and then pass the "5" key on to the system to credit the game otherwise just halt. Or something on the software level that will capture the data before it reaches the emulator and parse it, etc. then act accordingly. Is there a way to force a human interface device to use a custom driver that would allow me to capture what was entered by just that device? I would prefer not to capture all keys that are pressed and just focus on ones from that exact device, that way I can avoid any slow down in game play. I hope this makes sense (a little tired) and hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks