Unofficial Pi Position Q&A & Support Thread

Glitch said:
Now that the first run of Pi Position boards are arriving, this thread can be used for support. Refer to video below for introduction and features. Suggestions are welcome for opening post (note that current forum software limits post editing to only 90 days).


FAQ

Is Pi Position FPGA or MAME?
Pi Position is not FPGA. Pi Position is powered by a Raspberry Pi 3 and MAME. Any inaccuracies in MAME will be carried over.

Do I need a separate power supply?
Pi Position is completely PnP and utilizes the stock AR-IIs. A separate power supply is not required.

How can I place an order for Pi Position?
See following thread: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/new-pole-position-pcb-replacement.468682

Can I switch between my original Pole Position 1/2 PCB and Pi Position?
Forum member @VectorCollector offers a Pole Position 2:1 Switcher/Remote for this purpose: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/new-design-atari-pole-position-2-1-switcher-remote.470261.

What's received in the Pi Position Kit?
(1) Pi Position PCB, (1) Steering Wheel Encoder PCB, (1) Pole Position keychain.

What games can be played on Pi Position?
Pi Position is intended for Pole Position and Pole Position 2. Other games can be added, depending on controls.

What games other than Pole Position 1/2 can be added?
A list will be compiled as games are verified.

Can I play other driving games in Pi Position?
Possibly, verified list coming soon. Games require a 360-degree wheel and foot pedal should work, unofficial list is here: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/th...on-pcb-replacement.468682/page-9#post-4221102.

Is Pi Position Plug and Play?
Pi Position is PnP for Atari cabinets only. Namco versions have a different pinout.

What MAME version is used for Pi Position?
AdvanceMAME (based on MAME 0.106, unverified)

Can High Scores be posted online?
Pole Position games featured hiscore saving via nvram which in mame is implemented as a file that it saves the memory contents to every now and then (not real time unfortunately). Pi Position has a small script that can parse that file and display the scores in a webbrowser if networking is enabled. It doesn't send the scores anywhere and is only accessible on your home network. It does serve the scores in json format though so everyone's free to pull the scores to their PCs and make excel spreadsheet diagrams or something if so inclined.

If scores from both games are found on SD card by default browser switches between the two every 5sec or so but it can be locked to a game. By default the system doesn't have networking enabled. Reasoning was that not everyone wants it, it takes couple seconds extra time during boot, and original cab didn't have networking either. Networking is enabled by uncommenting "ENABLE_NET" flag in sdcard's arcpi-config.txt (by removing #-character on that line), for wired ethernet connection nothing else is needed. For WiFi there's additional config file to fill your access point info. It should then be reachable as http://arcpi/ on any web browser that's connected to the same network (or by IP address it's more limited router setup).

View attachment 469708

Who's involved with the Pi Position project?
Jason Kopp (hardware)
David Galloway (wrote the first iteration of code for the micro controller)
Thomas Christy (wrote the code that allows the gpio to talk to the video dacs)
Samuli Toumola (wrote custom mame code to fix the shifter and completely changed the way mame saves high scores and much more)



Troubleshooting

A replacement steering wheel encoder was shipped with my Pi Position. Do I need it?
Some Pole Position cabinets have a different encoder PCB, which may or may not work with Pi Position. This is a 50/50 chance it will need to be replaced, more info on video @ 15:46

My accelerator pedal is working backwards
Accelerator post is wired backwards from factory or cable is backwards. See video at 22:38. Alternatively, you can swap the red and black wires on the accelerator potentiometer .

My steering wheel moves in opposite directions (right is left, left is right)
See video at 23.53

Car screeching/skidding sound is off in PP1.
Known issue. The sample used in MAME is of poor quality, this may be fixed later.

My top speed doesn't reach 244mph.
Verify your DIP switch settings in MAME.

No ROMs came with the Pi Position? Where can I find them?
MAME romset 0.185 merged is recommended. For legal reasons, ROMs are not included with the Pi Position nor links/discussions to ROMsets will be provided.

Roms have been loadded into the SD folder, but I still get the "Sad Jason" missing ROMs screen. What's wrong?
AdvanceMAME seems to be picky about filenames, looking for polepos.zip and polepos2.zip. Renaming the files seemed to get things going. Maybe the MAME experts can chime in and explain in detail.





More to come.
Click to expand...
Is there a way to get the same screeching samples used on this version in later mame builds?
 
I've been looking for a micro SD card to go with the raspberry pi and have seen a 16GB with raspberry pi operating system pre- installed on it. Will this be ok or should I get an SD card that's blank with nothing on it?
 
PolePosition 2 said:
I've been looking for a micro SD card to go with the raspberry pi and have seen a 16GB with raspberry pi operating system pre- installed on it. Will this be ok or should I get an SD card that's blank with nothing on it?
Click to expand...
Any microSD should do. You will end up wiring the PiPosition image overtop of whatever was on there so as long as you don't care about the current contents of the card it doesn't matter was was installed.
 
Piposition board cones with a promicro mini PCB which I'm sure Jason mentioned has raspberry pi installed on it so if that's the case then having as n SD card with the operating system on it as well I thought might conflict.
 
Looks to be much improved, fixing all the bugs. Possibly more games to be added.
 
I agree. Heard it immediately.
 
The New P4 just arrived today and it is REAL!!! Can't wait to to check it out. I expect it to be a HUGE improvement over the original Pi Position and appreciate the fact that it does not need a Raspberry Pi.
 

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The USB connector broke off the Pro Micro on the Pi Position. Can I get any pro micro and upload the sketch to it?
 
johnczerwinski said:
The USB connector broke off the Pro Micro on the Pi Position. Can I get any pro micro and upload the sketch to it?
Click to expand...
Same happened to mine and thought by desoldering and removing the pro micro and replacing with a new one it would work but for whatever reason it didn't.

There is a microprocessor on the original pro micro which I wasn't sure had the sketch on it. Maybe it does and so the new pro micro I bought and resoldered onto the pi-position didn't work as there microprocessor on the pro micro was blank.

I private messaged Jason several times and have had no response from him which is not really good after service.

Quite disappointed with the lack of response from him really.

So I'm left with a non working pi position which was a waste of time and money.
 
johnczerwinski said:
The USB connector broke off the Pro Micro on the Pi Position. Can I get any pro micro and upload the sketch to it?
Click to expand...
Yes, you can use any pro micro, but have to program it not as "Micro" but as "Leonardo"! ;)

Sketch attached...

My Pro Micro was - for any reason - blank. So I reprogrammed it, but that doesn't change much. Only the blinking of the LEDs changed.
I replaced the Pro Micro and programmed it. Same behavior.
Then I read somewhere on the net, it has to be programmed as "Leonardo". That helped. Now it's working as hell. :D

Found it:

ArcadeJason said:
the new file is called pp_joy4r2.ino install arduino select leonardo as the device

piposition update - Google Drive

drive.google.com drive.google.com

^^^firmware update^^^
Click to expand...
 

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SamWhiskey said:
Yes, you can use any pro micro, but have to program it not as "Micro" but as "Leonardo"! ;)

Sketch attached...

My Pro Micro was - for any reason - blank. So I reprogrammed it, but that doesn't change much. Only the blinking of the LEDs changed.
I replaced the Pro Micro and programmed it. Same behavior.
Then I read somewhere on the net, it has to be programmed as "Leonardo". That helped. Now it's working as hell. :D

Found it:
Click to expand...

Perfect! Thank you very much!
 
PolePosition 2 said:
Same happened to mine and thought by desoldering and removing the pro micro and replacing with a new one it would work but for whatever reason it didn't.

There is a microprocessor on the original pro micro which I wasn't sure had the sketch on it. Maybe it does and so the new pro micro I bought and resoldered onto the pi-position didn't work as there microprocessor on the pro micro was blank.

I private messaged Jason several times and have had no response from him which is not really good after service.

Quite disappointed with the lack of response from him really.

So I'm left with a non working pi position which was a waste of time and money.
Click to expand...
I have no messages from you. I offer repair for all of my boards.
 
Finally got the Pi Position working! I think I ran into almost every obstacle that's been documented on this thread!

After several hours, got everything work with Pole Position 1 !!! The only problem I have is the Low/High Shifter in Pole position II is reversed (it works fine in Pole Position I). If anyone has the fix for it, please let me know.

Here's how the swiss cheese holes had to line-up to get it working:
  1. Original cabinet repairs/prep
    1. Rebuild AR power supplies - burned out resistor...typical
    2. Fix the power wires in the harness - the GND/+5VDC connector bypass was done on this harness. Had to recrimp connector pins...broke the 15/30 connector because it was heat damaged.
  2. PI image and configuration
    1. I had to use the updated PI because I have the PI 3B+ (newer)
      1. Updated start*.elf, and their associated support files are fixup*.dat. And Bootimage
  3. No steering, no shifting, no accelerator
    1. "Bad" USB Cable - meaning the 6" cable I had was probably charging only...not data transfer. Bought another cable and tested by programming the new pro micro (see below)
    2. Arduino Pro Micro USB connector broke - Thanks to @SamWhiskey for pointing me to the right place!
    3. Bought new Pro Micro and uploaded sketch
      1. Joystick.h library error. Had to add that library.
      2. Only version pp_joy4r2_jv would get the inputs to work
    4. Steering needed the new encoder
    5. Accelerator worked backwards.
      1. Using a USB keyboard, went into MAME to change pedal reverse setting. Reverse setting wouldn't save permanently (after power-offs, etc).
      2. Swap red/black wires for the pedal POT (I swapped it out at the connector...easer to change it back if necessary)
  4. Monitor - No issues with the monitor (Wells Gardner k7300). Picture looks great
 
Got my Pi Position earlier this month and thought it would be useful to post the stuff I have come across and solved with y'all help (or haven't yet and will post updates when I know), in FAQ format.
Found it frustrating to wade through this thread and not always find the answer. Fantastic product really.

I get black borders around the screen and I can't adjust the monitor enough it to fit. What do I do?
Put the SD card into a PC, open the /config.txt file, and edit the "overscan" settings (as described in the inline comments in the file).

The image isn't as sharp as I expected, kinda blurry, what's going on?
The games run on mame, which is stretching the screen and interpolating some of the lines. Try to configure the overscan settings in config.txt so the total height is [some multiple of 224?]

The pedal doesn't work
Yeah the decades-old potentiometers in these start to fail and glitch after a while. The pedal mechanisms also fail. Some of them were replaced with a microswitch and resistors from some tech journal.
[will add more here]

I can't get it into service mode because the service switch/test button changes the game. How do I get into service mode?
You need to plug a USB keyboard into the Raspberry Pi and hit TAB key to get into Dip switch settings.

I can plug in keyboard?!
Yes

Can I add games?
Yes. Copy roms compatible with Mame 0.106 that you are licensed to use into the /roms folder and then add them to the GAMESLIST in the arpi-config.txt file (as described in the inline comments)

The controls are all screwy in the games I added, what do I do?
You need to configure the controls in mame. While the game is open, hit TAB on your keyboard and edit them

Games that seem to run (but need configuration) are:
  • WEC Lemans
  • Konami GT
  • Super Sprint
  • Badlands
  • Final Lap
  • Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off-road
Games that seem to not work or require heavy config I haven't figured out yet are
  • Race Driving (too many controls?)
  • Outrun (don't run for me...)
  • Turbo

Can I copy the controls config between games in the advancemame input_settings file?
Maybe, but you have to log into the Pi command line / terminal by typing ctrl-F4. You will be prompted for the raspbian console login / password, which people say is pi / raspberry, but it is not.
You could SSH in there, but [haven't got there yet]


[will add more as I learn more!]
 
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