975 replies to this topic

[cenutrio]

excuse for my bad english.i install pinscape in a kl25z(thanks mjr for make this tool and the guide) with the last version,i think havent problemin a instalation

i have a noob dude:

in the calibration for nudge:in the jostick viewer the axis work like a photo?or have to move in the same plane horizontal x and y axis? thanks

[mjr]

in the calibration for nudge:in the jostick viewer the axis work like a photo?or have to move in the same plane horizontal x and y axis? thanks

 

In the same plane.  The KL25Z's accelerometer is a 3-axis type that reads linear accelerations up/down, left/right, and front/back.

 

So what you want to do is mount the KL25Z flat on the floor of your cab.  That will let it read the accelerations when you nudge the cab forward/back or side-to-side. 

 

Gravity makes this a little confusing, though.  If you rotate the KL25Z the way you're showing in your picture, you will see movement on the joystick reading.  But that's not coming from the twisting motion - it's coming from the Earth's gravity.  You'll see an acceleration in whichever direction is up relative to the Earth.  That's why you want to mount the KL25Z flat.  The software will normalize out the constant 1g acceleration from Earth's gravity so that you just get the nudge accelerations in the horizontal plane.

[cenutrio]

thanks for all. i make a bad instalation.i try again.

great work the guide and the software its very usiful

[Petar2]

Hello, I will implement in my vpin the klz25 pinscape. Apart from the plunger sensor and the motion sensor, I would like to connect 10 contactors of 24vdc. I know pinscape expansion boars, but I do not need so many outputs. Would you be good?

4 Canal FET Aislamiento Optoacoplador Módulo De Interruptor Electrónico Interruptor de Pulso DC 4Bit Control PLC Transistor Tarjeta de Expansión FR1205
http://s.aliexpress....jM?fromSns=Copy to Clipboard
(from AliExpress Android)

[mjr]

Hello, I will implement in my vpin the klz25 pinscape. Apart from the plunger sensor and the motion sensor, I would like to connect 10 contactors of 24vdc. I know pinscape expansion boars, but I do not need so many outputs. Would you be good?

4 Canal FET Aislamiento Optoacoplador Módulo De Interruptor Electrónico Interruptor de Pulso DC 4Bit Control PLC Transistor Tarjeta de Expansión FR1205
http://s.aliexpress....jM?fromSns=Copy to Clipboard
(from AliExpress Android)

 

It looks like those will work.  You should use 3.3V as the Vcc input instead of 5V.  It looks like they're using 2.2K resistors with the optos, which will make the GPIO pin current about 1mA, which is safe for the KL25Z.  The only question is whether that will be enough to optos.  I think it'll work, but they've probably only tested these with 5V Arduinos, so you'll have to give it a try to be sure.

And those will be "active low" inputs, so you'll want to configure the GPIO pin output ports as Active Low in the config tool when you set it up.

[Petar2]

Thank you for your response and especially for this great work that you have developed, the truth is that it is incredible.
I'm going to order a couple of plates to try, for that price it's worth trying. When I have it in me, I'll comment on how the test went.

a greeting

[pinballcreator]

I've bought this optical sensor:

 

 

https://www.pololu.com/product/2450

 

Because I saw Tested was using this on their build:

 

http://www.tested.co...inball-machine/

 

They are using this with a Teensy board. Will i be able to use this sensor on the Pinscape Controller?

 

It looks like the board supports this type of board:

 

https://www.pololu.com/product/2489

 

I guess I'm just wanting to know if i can use the one i have, or should i go ahead and buy the one that i know will work?

[mjr]

I've bought this optical sensor:

 

https://www.pololu.com/product/2450

 

(Sharp GP2Y0A51SK0F)

 

Because I saw Tested was using this on their build:

 

http://www.tested.co...inball-machine/

 

They are using this with a Teensy board. Will i be able to use this sensor on the Pinscape Controller?

 

No, that's not one of the sensors the software currently supports.  It's open-source, and the plunger sensor framework has a nice modular design that lets you plug in new sensors, so you could add it if you're up for the project.  But I don't think it would be worth the trouble - those sensors are really pretty terrible.

 

You might also be able to make it work, kind of, by telling the software that it's a potentionmeter.  Those Sharp sensors produce analog voltages that can be read by an ADC, which is the same way the pot sensor works.  But there are two big problems.  The first is that the distance/voltage curve of the Sharp sensors is non-linear, so the motion won't look very natural without a compensating adjustment in the software.  The second, bigger obstacle is that the Sharp sensors are 5V devices, whereas the KL25Z is a 3.3V device, and it's not at all tolerant of 5V inputs.  To safely use it with the KL25Z, you'd have to set up something to shift the voltage to the safe 3.3V range.  A voltage divider might work, but I'm not sure how well - putting any kind of resistive load on the Sharp sensor might interact poorly with its electronics and make its response curve even stranger.

 

The really big problem with the Sharp sensors is that they have terrible precision and terrible hysteresis.  That's why I haven't bothered trying to address the problems above.

 

 

It looks like the board supports this type of board:

 

https://www.pololu.com/product/2489

 

(VL6180X time-of-flight sensor)

 

Right.  I assume you've read through this:

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...php?sid=vl6180x

 

I don't think personally think these sensors are very good at plunger sensing either, frankly, but they're way better than the Sharp analog sensors, they're 3.3V compatible when you get one of those Pololu breakout boards, and the Pinscape software does have support specifically for them.

 

My recommendation if you want something cheap and simple is a pot sensor.  Those actually have considerably better precision than the VL6180X and they're probably even easier to set up physically.

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...ide.php?sid=pot

[Mandolin]

EDIT: I FIXED IT. RUN AWAY OF WINDOWS CALIBRATION SOFTWARE. Just reset your Windows calibration to default and use MJR Pinscape Software. I had the problem to find his pdf before the software itself so it was not working, but with his software and calibration of the nudge and plunger everything is perfect now. Y gain at 200 and X gain at 150 and 0 deadzone for nudge.

 

 

ORIGINAL POST: Thanks for your work MJR, with your how-to-guide I was able to make my own nudge sensor with 0 knowledge of electronics and after some tweaking in VPX I am pretty happy with it. I am giving you some feedback about my experience so far. I am having some trouble with some VPX tables, in some tables like Funhouse or AC DC the plunger releases the ball automatically the moment I press enter. In all tables, the plunger has some kind of "deadzone" and only starts moving when I have pulled like one inch or so, even though it appears perfectly calibrated in WIndows.

 

In some other tables like the last Tom Tower's Medieval Madness the plunger works flawlessly even without being an analog plunger table, but deadzone is still. I followed the guide and calibrated the plunger, and in windows game device properties it shows it is perfectly calibrated, 0 when resting and maximum when maximum pulling.

 

Anyway I can't say thank you enough. For me this is like magic. Of all the things in my virtual pinball cab, it is without any doubt the coolest feature for me and my friends and for less than 30 euro it is unbelievable cool 

Edited by Mandolin, 25 February 2018 - 12:40 PM.

[alandee]

Hi I've just upgraded to a pinscape, ( last night ) and the plunger and nudge are great. I'm still to wire up my tiltbob, and then all will be good with the world ...

 

One thing I noticed is that the lights stay on when my cab is powered off though on win 7 .. is there a trick other than advanced usb power settings to turn off usb ports on shutdown ?

It's not the end of the world, but it is as annoying as heck to have a red flashing light coming from under the playfield at night !! and the above power settings to usb aren't turning it off.

 

Cheers,

al.

Edited by alandee, 07 March 2018 - 01:21 AM.

[mjr]

Hi I've just upgraded to a pinscape, ( last night ) and the plunger and nudge are great. I'm still to wire up my tiltbob, and then all will be good with the world ...

 

One thing I noticed is that the lights stay on when my cab is powered off though on win 7 .. is there a trick other than advanced usb power settings to turn off usb ports on shutdown ?

It's not the end of the world, but it is as annoying as heck to have a red flashing light coming from under the playfield at night !! and the above power settings to usb aren't turning it off.

 

I would have thought the advanced power settings would do it.  Did you look at the "Power Management" tab on the device's property page in Device Manager?  There's usually a box to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".  If you check that and un-check "Allow this device to wake up the computer", I'd think it should cut power to the port when the machine is off. 

 

If that doesn't work, I could just add an option to stop the diagnostic flashes when there's no connection.

[alandee]

 

Hi I've just upgraded to a pinscape, ( last night ) and the plunger and nudge are great. I'm still to wire up my tiltbob, and then all will be good with the world ...

 

One thing I noticed is that the lights stay on when my cab is powered off though on win 7 .. is there a trick other than advanced usb power settings to turn off usb ports on shutdown ?

It's not the end of the world, but it is as annoying as heck to have a red flashing light coming from under the playfield at night !! and the above power settings to usb aren't turning it off.

 

I would have thought the advanced power settings would do it.  Did you look at the "Power Management" tab on the device's property page in Device Manager?  There's usually a box to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".  If you check that and un-check "Allow this device to wake up the computer", I'd think it should cut power to the port when the machine is off. 

 

If that doesn't work, I could just add an option to stop the diagnostic flashes when there's no connection.

 

Thanks, Yeah I've changed the obvious settings .. I'll make sure they have stuck.

 I'll keep playing with it, it's only been a couple of days, and it's not the end of the world to be honest .. besides, I should be able to cut power to a USB with some setting changes ... The only other issues I need to resolve is really slow as in almost time to reboot boot times with the pinscape plugged in. It boots fine without, and I suspect something to do with the USB settings, so I'll update USB drivers, and make sure I've got nothing amiss in the bios. And the plunger is jittery and not at all smooth, so I think I've got something messed up somewhere. I've run pinscape calibration, but again, haven't really played with the rest of it much.

Should the dejitter figure be up over 1k ? ( i think mine is 1k at the moment ) or just keep adjusting till it looks right in the calibration screen ?

 

That's all my issues, all my settings I suspect .. what a brilliant piece of kit, and your website is insanely useful ! Thanks for all your efforts and for giving so much of your time.

 

Cheers,

al.

[mjr]

The only other issues I need to resolve is really slow as in almost time to reboot boot times with the pinscape plugged in. It boots fine without, and I suspect something to do with the USB settings, so I'll update USB drivers, and make sure I've got nothing amiss in the bios.

 

Those sound like the things to try.  I vaguely recall someone else having a similar boot-time issue, but I don't recall the details, or even if they were able to solve it.  I hate "superstitious debugging" where I propose a bunch of random things to try without understanding the true nature of the problem, but the most reliable workarounds for mystery USB issues have always been (1) try moving it to a different port, and (2) try using an external hub if you have one handy.  Moving to a different port sounds like pure superstition, I know, but it actually does make a difference sometimes because some motherboards have multiple on-board USB hubs with different chips sets, usually to implement USB 2 on some ports and USB 3 on other ports.  So sometimes changing the port solves it by taking the problematic chip set out of the path.  External hubs likewise can solve problems because they have their own chip sets.  Windows problems of this type are caused by protocol errors in the USB connection setup, and those are next to impossible for me to diagnose properly without you shipping your PC to me to analyze, which probably isn't high on your list.

 

 

And the plunger is jittery and not at all smooth, so I think I've got something messed up somewhere. I've run pinscape calibration, but again, haven't really played with the rest of it much.

Should the dejitter figure be up over 1k ? ( i think mine is 1k at the moment ) or just keep adjusting till it looks right in the calibration screen ?

 

What sort of sensor are you using?  The "normal" amount of noise is a function of the sensor type, so it really depends on what you're using.  I'd expect maybe 1-2% noise level in the potentiometer, for example, so a filter window around 1000 wouldn't be entirely unreasonable.  But it sounds like you might have something else going on that's contributing to the analog noise, like loose wires or overly long wire runs.

[alandee]

 

The only other issues I need to resolve is really slow as in almost time to reboot boot times with the pinscape plugged in. It boots fine without, and I suspect something to do with the USB settings, so I'll update USB drivers, and make sure I've got nothing amiss in the bios.

 

Those sound like the things to try.  I vaguely recall someone else having a similar boot-time issue, but I don't recall the details, or even if they were able to solve it.  I hate "superstitious debugging" where I propose a bunch of random things to try without understanding the true nature of the problem, but the most reliable workarounds for mystery USB issues have always been (1) try moving it to a different port, and (2) try using an external hub if you have one handy.  Moving to a different port sounds like pure superstition, I know, but it actually does make a difference sometimes because some motherboards have multiple on-board USB hubs with different chips sets, usually to implement USB 2 on some ports and USB 3 on other ports.  So sometimes changing the port solves it by taking the problematic chip set out of the path.  External hubs likewise can solve problems because they have their own chip sets.  Windows problems of this type are caused by protocol errors in the USB connection setup, and those are next to impossible for me to diagnose properly without you shipping your PC to me to analyze, which probably isn't high on your list.

 

 

And the plunger is jittery and not at all smooth, so I think I've got something messed up somewhere. I've run pinscape calibration, but again, haven't really played with the rest of it much.

Should the dejitter figure be up over 1k ? ( i think mine is 1k at the moment ) or just keep adjusting till it looks right in the calibration screen ?

 

What sort of sensor are you using?  The "normal" amount of noise is a function of the sensor type, so it really depends on what you're using.  I'd expect maybe 1-2% noise level in the potentiometer, for example, so a filter window around 1000 wouldn't be entirely unreasonable.  But it sounds like you might have something else going on that's contributing to the analog noise, like loose wires or overly long wire runs.

 

Will do some playing tonight with swapping the ports and see if i can figure it out, I've got a couple of hubs kicking around so I 'll try that too, good idea. no stress.

Indeed as I'm sitting at my desk at work, I wonder if I haven't plugged it into a USB3 ...

 

The jitter may be a loose connection .. I did wire it up in a rush, but the wiring runs are only short, and the sensor was tested before it came to me so I assume it is ok, but I'll investigate further if everything else is tickety boo.

I think mine drawn all the way back reads something like 65000 .. so I may just be able to tweak that figure a bit as well.

 

Thanks again,

al.

[Brer Frog]

The Pinscape Controller Guide lists which Jumper/Pin Number is assigned to which Button Number.

And in Visual Pinball, under Keys, Nudge & DOF they list Button Assignments. It appears I can assign, for example, the Left Flipper to any of 24 buttons.

Is there any reason to choose certain KL25Z ports to be assigned to certain physical buttons? IOW maybe the Ports on Jumper 2 are faster (have less lag) than the Ports on Jumper 10, therefore Jumper 2 should be used for the flippers?

I’m presuming it makes no difference but thought better ask before soldering wires.

[mjr]

The Pinscape Controller Guide lists which Jumper/Pin Number is assigned to which Button Number.

And in Visual Pinball, under Keys, Nudge & DOF they list Button Assignments. It appears I can assign, for example, the Left Flipper to any of 24 buttons.

Is there any reason to choose certain KL25Z ports to be assigned to certain physical buttons? IOW maybe the Ports on Jumper 2 are faster (have less lag) than the Ports on Jumper 10, therefore Jumper 2 should be used for the flippers?

I’m presuming it makes no difference but thought better ask before soldering wires.

 

Right, it makes no difference in terms of speed or anything else on the input side.

 

It can make a difference in terms of "opportunity cost", though, meaning that a port you use as a button input can't be used for some other purpose.  Some of the KL25Z pins are hard-wired to allow special functions, such as PWM, SPI, I2C, and ADC, and some of the software features can only be used with pins that support certain of those special functions.  For example, if you're going to use a potentiometer plunger, it can only be attached to input pins that support the ADC function.  So if you've used all of the ADC-capable pins as button inputs, there'd be nowhere to attach a pot plunger.  The default pin assignments in the firmware take all of this into account - the default button input pins are all chosen because any special functions on those pins are available redundantly on other pins, so you can't lock yourself out of any of the available software features by using all of the default button inputs as button inputs.

 

I'd really recommend using pluggable connectors for your button connections rather than soldering wires directly to the board, though.  It makes it so much easier to move things around later if you ever want to reconfigure anything.

[bigfoot53]

Hello Everyone,

I'm just getting my pinscape project setup and wanted to get the IR feature working so I can turn on my playfield tv . But I cant seem to find any info on where and how to connect the ir unit and the receiver to the freedom kl25z  and then how to teach/ learn  the code for my tv .

Can anyone point me in the right direction ?

 

Thanks

Bruce

[mjr]

Hello Everyone,

I'm just getting my pinscape project setup and wanted to get the IR feature working so I can turn on my playfield tv . But I cant seem to find any info on where and how to connect the ir unit and the receiver to the freedom kl25z  and then how to teach/ learn  the code for my tv .

Can anyone point me in the right direction ?

 

Sorry about this being still undocumented.  If you're using the expansion boards, it's just a matter of plugging the IR LED and IR sensor into the corresponding slots, but if you're using the KL25Z directly, it's a little more difficult since there are a few external components you have to include.  If you know how to read a schematic, you can find the necessary circuits on the expansion board schematics, which you can find here:

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...rd/download.php

 

Here's the IR section excerpted so you don't have to go looking for it:

 

The connections labeled IR_OUT and IR_IN are KL25Z GPIO pins of your choosing - you configure the pin selections in the Config Tool.  The defaults are PTC9 for IR_OUT and PTA13 for IR_IN.  The IR_OUT pin has to be PWM-capable, which limits the choice of pins; the Config Tool shows you the valid options.

 

The schematic above is for the IR transmitter and IR sensor.  You also need a separate circuit block for "power sensing", which the firmware uses to detect when the TV ON command is needed.  That's also on the expansion board schematics; here's the excerpted section for that one:

 

 

This one needs two additional GPIO pin inputs, also configurable via the Config Tool.  These pins don't have any special requirements, so you can assign them to any free GPIO pins.  The defaults are PSU2_STATUS_SENSE = PTD2 and PSU2_STATUS_SET = PTE0.

 

The power sensor circuit makes it all completely automatic - the firmware monitors the power status via the sensor circuit, and automatically sends the commands when it detects a power-on event.  But if you wanted to simplify the hardware build part, you could potentially skip the sensor circuit, and instead use a Windows CMD script at system startup to send the IR commands.  There's a command-line program, "PinscapeCmd", included with the Config Tool download that (among other things) can send IR commands from the Windows command line.

 

You can program the IR codes via the Config Tool.  Once you've set up the hardware and configured the right pin connections in the firmware, you go to the IR Remote section in the Config Tool for programming.  That lets you teach it IR codes pretty much like a typical learning remote - you press the "learn" button in the Config Tool UI and then point your remote at the IR sensor and press the button you want it to learn.

[bigfoot53]

Awesome,

Thanks for the information.... Do you still have any of the board sets ?

 

Thanks

Bruce

[mjr]

Awesome,

Thanks for the information.... Do you still have any of the board sets ?

 

I do - I've been keeping a supply on hand.  PM me and we can work out the details.