Controlling EM Pinball with an Atari 800XL

[+Stephen]

That is really great work, especially considering how quickly you got it done.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Is there a TILT function?

Yes, but I don't have the mechanism yet (pendulum and associated parts).

[devwebcl]

Congrats, nice job.

 

For the TBXL question, maybe you can use cc65 as an option.

The code would be almost the same and the compiler will create an executable ready to bundle into a cartridge.

 

--Devwebcl

[Joey Z]

oh boy, oh boy, what a nice thing. At last I can play with all working by itself. The software is running on Turbo Basic and work perfectly, better than I expected. Some friend says me that can be compiled using Turbo Compiler, and using Runtime.com the file could be ready (executable) to fit onto a cartridge. Somebody know if this is true? or say me how to do it please. (I only need the .exe file, because I already have the loader for the cartridge.)

 

And also I need the addr. of the console keys, because when the ball is on the out hole, they stuck all the other keys, so cant start the game or insert coins, so Im goin to use START and SELECT instead START & COIN buttons , so that way the keyboard remains free. I only remember 53XXX or so.

 

http://youtu.be/5diEbqHcmZo

first, let me start by saying that you have done something awesome here, and in such a short period of time.

 

second, if the executable turns out to be less than 8K, you may be able to replace BASIC with it in the atari. then it would be self contained except for the interface to the pinball table of course.

 

third, I think this is hackaday material, but that is up to ZZTOP SOFT

 

lastly, you should add some kind of clear window showing off the fact that there is an atari powering your pinball machine

Edited December 21, 2012 by Joey Z

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Joey Z When I finish all, take for sure I'm gonna film a more complete video. My problem lies on my internet connection or Youtube, I really don't know. I mean, for the next video, about 1min. of shooting, takes 10 min. or more to upload!

Well, now I have to say I do this proyect only for my joy, not to be famous. XD

Yeap, I heard about hackaday, and well, maybe I post this there. But is not my principal idea. By now I just want to finish the pinball, who really start on July, but for my job and other concerns I'm just now moving forward as it should have been.

 

Well here is the f... thermometer!

http://youtu.be/rONJYUmJBpg

 

For those don't know the 37 centigrade pinball, this has a red tape electromech. thermometer on the backglass, which goes step by step until reach 25. When this happens the light Special is on.

To imitate that, I build a small PCB with three serial to parallel chips, which allow me to handle 24 leds with only three bits, one for clock, one for data and one for clear.

 

Here is a picture behind the glass.

Edited December 22, 2012 by ZZTOP SOFT

[+SoulBuster]

Dude, incredibly awesome. If you are planning on making your finding public, please do. I think I know of a place where pinball machines are mothballed and can use restoration.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Dude, incredibly awesome. If you are planning on making your finding public, please do. I think I know of a place where pinball machines are mothballed and can use restoration.

I have some doubts about make public all the details, because I know who some guys would love to make money copying my idea (with all the details and problems already solved). Over all if there's no patent pending or copyright issues.

 

I want to say, everything I do, now or in the past, is for the hobby, not to make money for me, or others make money thanks to me. This issue really piss me off. So, I'm still thinking about it.

[candle]

just cover your work with apriopriate license, saying that it is for - say - educational use only, and noone can commercialise any part of your work or copy for commercial use without prior written premission from you

won't exclude 100% of the cases, because the world isn't pretty as we would like it to be, but will intemidate most of it, and rest of the cases can be dealt with through apriopriate legal instruments

[ZZTOP SOFT]

And I've been working on the backbox. 80's pinball machines, as the cabinet I got, had the backbox almost square, as is the norm. But, on the Centigrade 37 era they have a trapezoidal backbox. So I had to rebuild it, to make a perfect replica.

 

I have to say thanks to my friend Luis Zuñiga, for let me take the measures of his machine.

 

 

I'm thinking in the Atari and the IO board. ¿what's up if I left them in the back of that table?. Better, if it works as a door to easy repairs.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

What a bad luck! My atari pokey chip is dead!!

Just yesterday I could get a replacement. I badly needed it, because I want to check some programming details. By the way, here someone wrote 'if the software is less than 8KB it is possible replace it by the BASIC ROM'. Unfortunately, by now the length of my software it's around 11KB and growing, although is just the original pinball version (without any add). But, I'm going to do a modern version, with attract mode, new sounds, and a more exciting gameplay. So, the software will be at least 30KB, maybe 40KB. So, you can choose 'original' or 'modern' holding the start button when turn on the pinball.

 

By the way, due the speed issue, I have a question about. I know I could save KB's using GOSUB's, but I don't know if that is more slow than have the same routine repeated, but more close, in the program. Someone can answer me please.

[invisible kid]

By the way, due the speed issue, I have a question about. I know I could save KB's using GOSUB's, but I don't know if that is more slow than have the same routine repeated, but more close, in the program. Someone can answer me please.

 

In assembly you would only save about 12 machine cycles per call using inline subroutines which is relativey a small difference. I am not sure about BASIC though.

Edited December 31, 2012 by invisible kid

[+Stephen]

By the way, due the speed issue, I have a question about. I know I could save KB's using GOSUB's, but I don't know if that is more slow than have the same routine repeated, but more close, in the program. Someone can answer me please.

I believe you said you were using Turbo BASIC XL. In place of GOSUB, there are named "procedures" which are called via "EXEC". I have not done ant timing tests but I would recommend using this approach. I will paste a small code snippet below to illustrate the syntax.

570 POKE 106,PEEK(106)-32:GRAPHICS 0
580 EXEC LOADMEMCLR:REM Loads memory clear routine at $0600
590 EXEC MEMINIT:REM Clear some memory
3080 PROC LOADMEMCLR
3090   FNAME$="MEMCLEAR.OBJ"
3100   STARTADR=$0600
3110   SIZE=$19
3120   EXEC LOADMODULE
3130 ENDPROC

 

You will note that a procedure can call another procedure. They start with PROC and then the name, and they end with ENDPROC.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Thanks for all the advices. Well, I'm using Turbo Basic only to win speed. And I didn't using any of his instructions because the compiler does not recognise them (NMG Compiler). I haven't any other option because the program should be loaded from cartridge. I don't wanna fit a 1050 disk drive inside the pinball.

Stephen, I've been testing the basic turbo structured programming, and is amazing the difference with normal Basic. Also the instructions.

By now the compiled basic runs very accurate, and the processing speed is at the edge, but works perfectly.

I already finish the program, mixing gosub´s with goto's, and I have to say that works fine.

Now, I change the IO board connector. When start the proyect I did not realize that using the cartridge connector to take the adress and data... ¿where I'm going to plug the cartridge?

Now the IO board is plugged to the parallel port, and I made some changes there, cutting some GND pins, and from them's I soldered some wires to CCTL and Vcc. Now I have two 800XL boards ready to drive the pinball.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Now, as I said, I need to change the IO board connector. When start the proyect I did not realize that using the cartridge connector to get the adress and data bus... ¿where I'm going to plug in the cartridge?

 

Now the IO board is plugged in to the parallel port, and I made some changes there, cutting some GND pins, and solder some wires to CCTL, 02 (phi 2) and Vcc.

 

 

 

02 (clock)

 

 

CCTL

 

 

And I solder some cables and a new keyboard connector to the playfield switches.

 

As I said before, the table is not longer just a support, now is a door! In the front side you can see, the score display, led bar, ball in play, credits indicator.

 

And in the back side, the Atari board and the O/I board (not shown on the pìcture).

 

Every day more close to finish.

Edited January 5, 2013 by ZZTOP SOFT

[ZZTOP SOFT]

backbox almost ready.

 

I print a backglass copy to ensure the correct position of the score display, ball in play, thermo, credit and Game Over light.

In the back door all the PCB's are in a perfect position. By now, all is working properly, just a few details left.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

Now, I will do a few improvements.

 

Finally I found a new led's for the thermometer, more close to the look of the original pinball.

 

Some friend give me a lot of these boards. In our country we can found some Chinese slot machines (a real plague). They are completely electronic, and in the main board we'll see several square leds, exactly one centimeter per side.

 

So, with 21 leds I build this new led bar.

 

Really more nice that the old white leds.

 

They could be a easy task, but every square led really have four leds inside, and for that reason the board are not able to drive them. To solve that I fit one ULN2003 driver between the serial decoder chips and the leds. Pretty cool.

[ZZTOP SOFT]

And, I was using a Williams pinball driver board to drive coils, but this one has 27 darlington transistors, and my pinball just need 6. I cant allow to my self that kind of waste, even if the board has 3 PIA and a lot of other parts which I dont use on my pinball.

At the left side you can see several darlington transistors. Williams pinball use 22 to drive coils, and 5 to drive the sound board. I just need 6 of them, and noting more. Now, this board goes to another pinball.:-)

 

To replace this board, I build two PCB of my own design:

Every of this boards can drive up to 4 coils, enough for the requirements of my pinball.

At the left side you can see the logic, and at rigth side the power: four darlington transistors, every one with its own pre-driver transistor. Every chip are TTL-LS, and mounted on socket for easy repairs.

.

Edited June 8, 2013 by ZZTOP SOFT

[ZZTOP SOFT]

After a long time,I've been working on the cabinet artwork, to restore its original look.

 

 

This is the result.

 

Remember, I started from here:

 

[+Stephen]

Looks great! Talk about bringing a project back from the dead.

[FireTiger]

Wow- I'd s love to have the knowledge for that, just started into pinball about 6 months ago...

[+Ripdubski]

Wow! Very nice project. The last thing I wanted to build was a control interface for one of Radio Shacks robotic arms back in the 80's. The other thing I never completed but almost did was a speech synthesizer, again parts from Radio Shack. Just needed to wrte some software to drive it. But this blows those away. Well done!

[ZZTOP SOFT]

The other thing I never completed but almost did was a speech synthesizer, again parts from Radio Shack. Just needed to wrte some software to drive it. But this blows those away. Well done!

Oh dear... how I want a speech synthesizer for another pinball. For the moment I have to be happy with a Roland sampler.