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arcadeWC

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So after much time in finding the Sega motherboards (Naomi2, Triforce, Chihiro, and Lindbergh) I am tasked with the concept of getting them to work in an arcade cabinet; and since I don't have room for "many" cabinets - I want to have them work on one main "Sega" Jamma cabinet. I was intrigued by the idea that I can net boot the Naomi2, Triforce, and Chihiro from one single Raspberry Pi and a basic internet switch. So from one LCD Pi screen - I can play almost any Naomi (and Atomiswave), Chihiro, and Triforce game. I have an S-JIHP and a Type 3 I/O as well. Since all four machine would use the same I/O and I only have one S-JIHP - I am trying to figure out how to "switch" between boards effectively and not have to manually switch JVS cables, etc. So the issue is having the ability to use the motherboards in a Jamma cabinet for the "regular" button games and to switch to a Type 3 (or Type 1) I/O for use of the S-JIHP for gun and driving games.
At this point; I power all the motherboards separately so power isn't a problem and I can switch them on/off as needed. I have a solution for the audio/video in a VGA switcher (with audio) that works great for the switching the audio/video between the boards and can essentially switch the boards between on Jamma I/O for the audio video function. So basically push a button and the audio/video between the four boards can switch to one Jamma I/O. The issue appears to be the controls - I am having difficulty finding a way to switch the boards using the one Type 3 I/O - I initially thought perhaps a USB switch but found out JVS and USB (while sharing the same cable) do not function the same and thus a JVS "switcher" isn't a possibility.
So in the end; I am looking to use a Jamma cabinet for the "regular" button games between my four main Sega boards and the ability to "switch" to the Type 3 and S-JIHP for the gun and driving games and to do all this without taking the cabinet out and manually changing the I/O cables, etc. It is great that Sega allowed its boards to use the same I/O boards and the ability to net boot the three boards is awesome; I just want to be able to integrate them into one cabinet and be able to easily switch games between all four boards and have access to all the great games these boards offer - both button and driving/gun games.
Sorry this is probably very confusing, but looking for any suggestions that perhaps I hadn't thought of to pull this off and have a Sega cabinet with these four great motherboards functional and usable from the front of the cabinet.
Thanks for any input.
 
Perhaps a USB KVM (a device used mostly in datacenters to use a single keyboard, mouse and display across servers) may help a little.

Powering the machines and switch the sound may take something else.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Do you think JVS will function (compatible) with the USB KVM? Perhaps worth a try.
 
Great. I noticed some nice 4 port USB KVM switches online and they include VGA and audio switch as well; could be an all-in-one solution. They usually have a "keyboard" and "mouse" USB in and it can be distributed to the four motherboards. So would the Type 3 I/O JVS and the JVS Jamma I/O in theory plug into these at the same time? My concern is the motherboard may find an error in having more than one I/O connected at a time - so would have to find a way to "switch" between the Type 3 and the Jamma I/O. It would be awesome if I didn't need to do that and just keep both plugged in, but not sure.
Great suggestion - so the KVM is different from a standard USB switch correct? As Twistedsymphony pointed out to me; JVS and USB are very different I can could have damaged the I/O by using a USB switch with them. If KVM just passes the signal - it should work correct?
Thanks again for the input - the 4 port USB KVM may be the solution I have been looking for with this. Anyone ever try anything like this and thoughts on the JVS working with it?
 
Ok. Here is the one I found - not sure if it is manual or automatic. https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-4-Port-Switch-Cable-TK-409K/dp/B000M5VXVS
The old style works fine also as I already have a VGA switch that seems to work for the video and audio.
The modern USB switch that I tried was powered by the 5v USB presence so it didn't work with the JVS unless I plugged in the Raspberry Pi via the USB and it would power on and switch; but it would not recognize the JVS signal and I would get a JVS I/O error (not found). I really need to simply be a "pass through" and if so; I can imagine why it wouldn't simply pass the JVS signal through and work, but JVS seems to be touchy as well, just like all things related to Naomi and the other Sega boards. The "old" style USB switchbox should work and simply pass the JVS signal? I thought perhaps "switching" the JVS signal wouldn't work at all. If the old style that you show works with JVS - I think I could get my setup to work.
 
The old style KVM switches generally just use a multi-pole rotatary selector switch like this: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...O64Q8Ug8bUJ4QuBDAMf87o2w48frh42gtxhoC7iTw_wcB

it's basically just a knob that changes over a whole bunch of wires all at once.

if you were to use an older KVM with a serial port or PS/2 switch you could remove the serial or PS/2 Ports and replace them with USB ports for JVS, that would do simple wire-to-wire switching without any special consideration for the power and ground wires that are present in USB but not in JVS.

here's a low-cost switch that might be modified for that purpose: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monoprice-K...060605?hash=item43efa02c7d:g:KdgAAOSwnFZXU2ru

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another thing to consider is that JVS I/O boards MUST be connected on boot or they will not be recognized, similarly if you disconnect them after the game has booted you will need to reboot the game in order to recognize them again. There are some tricks with this, for instance on NAOMI if you enter the system menu the hardware does a "soft reboot" that will re-initialize the JVS I/O but if you're going to run one JVS I/O for multiple boards and have more than one board powered on at a time, then that is something to consider.
 
Thanks.
Twistedsymphony, do you think the old style switch shown by defor would work? Or do you believe it needs to be a KVM PS/2 version?
dalco.com/p-2901-usb-4-way-man…NKTx7OwoM0CFdgQgQode3kOnw
I don't mind this design and simplicity of the one in the defor link- if not; I would look to do the mod on the PS/2 version shown in your link.
 
it all depends on how it's wired internally, assuming the one defor posted will switch all 4 wires then yes, it will work but it's difficult to say without buying it and cracking it open.
 
no one will be able to say for sure about ANY of these switches because you're going to be using them for something that they were not designed to be used for.

the PS/2 based switch I linked to could have the very same issues of semi-shared wires across ports... the only reason I suggested that is because there are 2 PS2 ports per port so between the two of them you could probably manage 4 wires for JVS.

If you want to buy a switch module then no matter what you're going to have to take a gamble and hope that it will work or can be modified to work.
 
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