Coin operated relay for mame

[russell]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Hello,

Is it possible to use a coin mech to turn on a relay to turn on a monitor?
So 20c = 15minutes or something like that.

Has anyone done something similar?? I suppose it could be controlled through
the serial port too.

My 3 year old daughter needs to be put on some sort of rewards program with
her mame machine : ).

Thanks in advance,

Russell.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Russell wrote:

> Is it possible to use a coin mech to turn on a relay to turn on a monitor?
> So 20c = 15minutes or something like that.
>
> Has anyone done something similar??

Yes - about a thousand years ago. <grin> Seriously, I built a
coin-operated timer mechanism back in 1982 for my TRS-80 Model I, which
had become a very popular game machine among my friends.

IIRC, it was 25 cents for 15 minutes. The proceeds eventually paid 100%
of the cost of the first disk drive I bought for the machine. -JW

 

[Cordata]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

>Russell wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Is it possible to use a coin mech to turn on a relay to turn on a
> monitor? So 20c = 15minutes or something like that.
>
> Has anyone done something similar?? I suppose it could be controlled
> through the serial port too.
>
> My 3 year old daughter needs to be put on some sort of rewards
> program with her mame machine : ).


I'd like to offer a better suggestion... (a lot easier and cheaper
too)

If you're running Win98, 2K, or XP, why not use two simple Microsoft
Res. Kit tools to simplify yor life. Assuming of course that you're
watching her when she's going to start, create a simple batch file
that has:

sleep 900
kill -f mame.exe

From there, all you'd need to do is create a shortcut somewhere on
your desktop or start menu, assign a launch keystroke
(control-alt-shift-s) to that shortcut, and before the kid starts to
play the game, hit that keystroke for her. After 900 seconds (15
minutes) goes by, the MAME task gets terminated and she's done. You
could even go further and force an automated shutdown of the machine
after MAME exits or force a password protected screen saver to run.

Let me know what OS you're running and I'll email you the files you'd
need to do this. Also let me know what all you'd like it to do.
(Timer, kill mame, shutdown, etc.)

--
Cordata
http://abem.mametitles.com - alt.binaries.emulators.mame FAQ

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Cordata wrote:
>>Russell wrote:
>>Hello,
>>
>>Is it possible to use a coin mech to turn on a relay to turn on a
>>monitor? So 20c = 15minutes or something like that.
>>
>>Has anyone done something similar?? I suppose it could be controlled
>>through the serial port too.
>>
>>My 3 year old daughter needs to be put on some sort of rewards
>>program with her mame machine : ).
>
>
>
> I'd like to offer a better suggestion... (a lot easier and cheaper
> too)
>
> If you're running Win98, 2K, or XP, why not use two simple Microsoft
> Res. Kit tools to simplify yor life. Assuming of course that you're
> watching her when she's going to start, create a simple batch file
> that has:
>
> sleep 900
> kill -f mame.exe
>
> From there, all you'd need to do is create a shortcut somewhere on
> your desktop or start menu, assign a launch keystroke
> (control-alt-shift-s) to that shortcut, and before the kid starts to
> play the game, hit that keystroke for her. After 900 seconds (15
> minutes) goes by, the MAME task gets terminated and she's done. You
> could even go further and force an automated shutdown of the machine
> after MAME exits or force a password protected screen saver to run.
>
> Let me know what OS you're running and I'll email you the files you'd
> need to do this. Also let me know what all you'd like it to do.
> (Timer, kill mame, shutdown, etc.)
>

*Damn*, but that is a cool idea. <SIGH> Yet another little cranny I
haven't had time to investigate. Do you have a URL for a FAQ or a How-To?

--
Thnik about it!
Dead_Dad

 

[Cordata]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 09:35:26 GMT, Dead_Dad
<XXXspamtrap007@yahoo.comXXX> wrote:

>> I'd like to offer a better suggestion... (a lot easier and cheaper
>> too)
>>
>> If you're running Win98, 2K, or XP, why not use two simple Microsoft
>> Res. Kit tools to simplify yor life. Assuming of course that you're
>> watching her when she's going to start, create a simple batch file
>> that has:
>>
>> sleep 900
>> kill -f mame.exe
>>
>> From there, all you'd need to do is create a shortcut somewhere on
>> your desktop or start menu, assign a launch keystroke
>> (control-alt-shift-s) to that shortcut, and before the kid starts to
>> play the game, hit that keystroke for her. After 900 seconds (15
>> minutes) goes by, the MAME task gets terminated and she's done. You
>> could even go further and force an automated shutdown of the machine
>> after MAME exits or force a password protected screen saver to run.
>>
>> Let me know what OS you're running and I'll email you the files you'd
>> need to do this. Also let me know what all you'd like it to do.
>> (Timer, kill mame, shutdown, etc.)
>>
>
>*Damn*, but that is a cool idea. <SIGH> Yet another little cranny I
>haven't had time to investigate. Do you have a URL for a FAQ or a How-To?


I'm sure there are some FAQ's out there for software solutions to the
timed usage idea, but I don't know of any offhand. I've been doing
scripting / coding / batch solutions for more years than I care to
admit to, so it's just something I know how to do...

--
Cordata
http://abem.mametitles.com - alt.binaries.emulators.mame FAQ