Hi all,
Does anyone know of a "coin selector" or "coin acceptor" with a USB interface which is supported by free Linux drivers? I'm talking about the mechanisms on coin slot machines which send signals to an embedded computer when coins are inserted.
I've had a quote for a product which includes an EMP 800 coin selector (http://www.custom.it/ing/money/03-01.htm) and I've managed to get hold of a data sheet for it so I can write my own driver, but I'm wondering if there is a similar product which already has support under Linux.
Apologies for cross posting, but I feel I may need to cast the net quite wide for this unusual question :P
Many Thanks
Ben
I don't know the answer but I suspect the best place to start looking is the Mame Cabinet building scene. Although last time I poked around there there was a heavy bias to installing Windows on those machines.
Does it have to be USB ? I am assuming that some coin selectors have simple switch or digital outputs that it would be trivial to interface to a parallel port ? or you could shove a PIC in the way and do it in serial (in fact you wouldn't even need to code the PIC much if you didn't feel like it as there are probably example projects that do high/low input to serial output) USB adds a bit of complication.
Wayne Stallwood wrote:
I don't know the answer but I suspect the best place to start looking is the Mame Cabinet building scene.
OK, thanks. I have no idea what that means but I'm sure Google will inform me!
Does it have to be USB ? I am assuming that some coin selectors have simple switch or digital outputs that it would be trivial to interface to a parallel port ? or you could shove a PIC in the way and do it in serial
A lot of them seem to be a serial or USB, but the main reason it needs to be USB is that I'm thinking of interfacing it to a Linutop (http://linutop.com) which only has USB ports. Serial via a PIC would probably be easier for me because I've already written an RS232 interface to a PIC at university for a light sensor, so detecting a few on and offs should be easy.
I could use a different thin client computer I suppose...
Thanks for the advice
Ben Francis wrote:
Wayne Stallwood wrote: A lot of them seem to be a serial or USB, but the main reason it needs to be USB is that I'm thinking of interfacing it to a Linutop (http://linutop.com) which only has USB ports. Serial via a PIC would probably be easier for me because I've already written an RS232 interface to a PIC at university for a light sensor, so detecting a few on and offs should be easy.
If you wanted to go to the trouble of programming a PIC and sticking it on a board you can probably just stick a USB to serial chip next to it and then you have a USB interface from the PC.
e.g.
coin device <--> pic (IO to rs232) <--> usb chip (rs232 to serial usb) <--> PC
There are a few usb to serial chips around but I don't know about the cost.
Or, I suppose just buy a serial coin sorter and a usb to serial chip.
JD
On Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 02:48:41PM +0100, Ben Francis wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a "coin selector" or "coin acceptor" with a USB interface which is supported by free Linux drivers? I'm talking about the mechanisms on coin slot machines which send signals to an embedded computer when coins are inserted.
I've had a quote for a product which includes an EMP 800 coin selector (http://www.custom.it/ing/money/03-01.htm) and I've managed to get hold of a data sheet for it so I can write my own driver, but I'm wondering if there is a similar product which already has support under Linux.
When I worked for JPM (the fruit machine company [1]) all the coin op mechanisms all worked on Unix. Not sure if they use Linux now, but certainly up until 2000 they were using drivers based on the Unix kernel.
Unfortunately I can't remember what mechs they were using, but they're likely to have changed since 2000 anyway. If you're in a pub, have a look for the company logo on the mech and give them a call. Barcrest, Bell and Ace will all be using pretty much the same as JPM, so you've a fair chance of hitting the jackpot [2].
[1] http://www.jpm.co.uk/ [2] Sorry that was really lame, but I couldn't resist .. it is Friday!
Cheers, Barbie.
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Barbie -
Ben Francis -
Jon Dye -
Wayne Stallwood