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How accurate are spinner controls in Arkanoid/Pong, etc? (ie. sensitivity, velocity, speed, etc)

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:25 am
by sofakng
I have a custom arcade cabinet that uses both a spinner and trackball with MAME (and an Ultimarc "Opti-PAC" to connect it to the PC). However, MAME has lots of different settings to control the spinner so there is really no idea how accurate your settings are compared to the real arcade.

How do spinners work with MiSTer in Arkanoid, Pong, etc?

I don't know much about rotary encoders but aside from resolution (300 - 600 PR, etc?) that makes movement smoother, are there any other differences?

Would a 600PR spinner move at the same speed/velocity in Arkanoid as the real arcade machine? Would it have the same sensitivity?

Re: How accurate are spinner controls in Arkanoid/Pong, etc? (ie. sensitivity, velocity, speed, etc)

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 11:37 am
by OriginalXOR
Admittedly I have not tried this as yet, but here is a youtube video of amoore2600 doing this.
https://youtu.be/AYzcv_SsluY

In the video he seems to be running things well, and has a diagram of the wire connections you need. (Also linked to said video)
- he runs the spinner via User Port [Serial I/O]

Hope this helps.

Re: How accurate are spinner controls in Arkanoid/Pong, etc? (ie. sensitivity, velocity, speed, etc)

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:24 pm
by sofakng
Thanks! That's the video that got me interested in connecting the spinner.

There doesn't seem to be a lot (or any?) information that I can find on the Arkanoid core github page or anywhere else ... :(

I'm also aware of the mr.Spinner project by sorgelig. However, unless I'm mistaken it looks to be used for converting a spinner to a USB device (mouse?) and not using the user i/o for direct input.

Re: How accurate are spinner controls in Arkanoid/Pong, etc? (ie. sensitivity, velocity, speed, etc)

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2020 4:22 am
by rsn8887
I use a Turbotwist 2 spinner with the Arkanoid core and it works and plays great. It is seen as a mouse.

Re: How accurate are spinner controls in Arkanoid/Pong, etc? (ie. sensitivity, velocity, speed, etc)

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 11:42 pm
by djsquare
Does anyone know if it's even possible to use usb spinners on the Pong arcade core? I have a USB spinner and it's basically a 2 button mouse with one axis. I can use the it perfectly on Arkanoid and the Atari 2600 core but it seems that Pong only uses analogue joysticks for its paddles.