Unofficial Pi Position Q&A & Support Thread

If anyone has an SD image with ROMs already and the free play hack, or a zip file of ROMs with the free play hack that they want to share, my DMs are open please...

--Donnie
 
Hello,
Hoping someone on the forum may be able to assist. I tried reaching out to Jason and have not heard back, and I know he's a busy guy. Here's the bugs I've got:

1.)The gas pedal setting to reverse direction does not save, so every time we switch between I and II, or power cycle, we have to go back in to change it. Also, the setting is not synced between I and II either, which is part of the issue I believe. Upon powering it up, I is wrong, II is correct. Yesterday when I powered it up, I was correct and II was backwards. Changes to the DIP settings do seem to save so far.

2.)It does not save high scores. Is this what everyone else's does?

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Do we need different ROMs perhaps?

Thanks!
Mine has a similar problem. I can't remember where I read it, maybe this thread, but Jason said that due to the way the gas pedal works, a dirty pot will cause issues like this (even if the issue doesn't manifest on an original board, which is the case for me). The suggestion was to replace the pot. I ordered and received a new pot, I'll install it this weekend and update. He also said reversing the wires may fix it, but the root cause is a dirty pot.

As far as the high scores, I also noticed this on mine. Once again, I can't remember where I read it, but I think (and I apologize if this isn't fully accurate) the memory is not written in real-time, there is some delay. I tested this by leaving the game on for 30 mins after playing it, and the scores DID save. If I power it on, play one game and power-off or swap games (from PP1 to PP2 for example), it generally does not save. Sorry for not being able to cite this info, hopefully it helps. I'll update on how replacing my pot affects my inconsistent pedal-reverse issue.
 
Mine has a similar problem. I can't remember where I read it, maybe this thread, but Jason said that due to the way the gas pedal works, a dirty pot will cause issues like this (even if the issue doesn't manifest on an original board, which is the case for me). The suggestion was to replace the pot. I ordered and received a new pot, I'll install it this weekend and update. He also said reversing the wires may fix it, but the root cause is a dirty pot.

As far as the high scores, I also noticed this on mine. Once again, I can't remember where I read it, but I think (and I apologize if this isn't fully accurate) the memory is not written in real-time, there is some delay. I tested this by leaving the game on for 30 mins after playing it, and the scores DID save. If I power it on, play one game and power-off or swap games (from PP1 to PP2 for example), it generally does not save. Sorry for not being able to cite this info, hopefully it helps. I'll update on how replacing my pot affects my inconsistent pedal-reverse issue.
Update: I installed the pot (which I got from arcadefixit.com) and the issue with the reversing pedal disappeared immediately. The power band is very smooth.

I do have a new issue though, I can't seem to get full-throttle anymore. I think I can adjust how pulley/cable to hopefully align the pedal-throw with the power-band of the pot. It's a fairly complex assembly and I paid no attention taking the old pot out. It seems to be adjustable by how the cable is wound around the pulley relative to the spring tension on the pedal. I've double and triple checked my dip settings, they are definitely correct, so I'm pretty sure it's an adjustment issue. I'm going to rig up an extender so I can mess with it outside the game with the game turned on. I'll update here with results.

Edit/Update: There is a very specific process in the PP owners manual for winding the cable. I did that and it seemed to work. I will say that it took a while for the game to sort of "learn" the new pot range. I had to play numerous games and reboot the thing a few times before it sort of said "oh, you've changed the pedal" and then it worked perfectly. I am leaving the game on all day and my hope is when I turn it off later, and bring it back up, the pedal still works great.
 
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Update: I installed the pot (which I got from arcadefixit.com) and the issue with the reversing pedal disappeared immediately. The power band is very smooth.

I do have a new issue though, I can't seem to get full-throttle anymore. I think I can adjust how pulley/cable to hopefully align the pedal-throw with the power-band of the pot. It's a fairly complex assembly and I paid no attention taking the old pot out. It seems to be adjustable by how the cable is wound around the pulley relative to the spring tension on the pedal. I've double and triple checked my dip settings, they are definitely correct, so I'm pretty sure it's an adjustment issue. I'm going to rig up an extender so I can mess with it outside the game with the game turned on. I'll update here with results.

Edit/Update: There is a very specific process in the PP owners manual for winding the cable. I did that and it seemed to work. I will say that it took a while for the game to sort of "learn" the new pot range. I had to play numerous games and reboot the thing a few times before it sort of said "oh, you've changed the pedal" and then it worked perfectly. I am leaving the game on all day and my hope is when I turn it off later, and bring it back up, the pedal still works great.
I've been messing around with it a little more, and it looks like I have 2 separate issues, one with PP and the other with PP2.

With PP, if I power it up and start playing it I max out at 225mph. If I go into the analog settings and reverse it and play a game or two (no need to use the pedal, it gives full throttle without pressing it), and then reverse it back, it seems to play fine, at full speed. I have not been able to find a way to not have to do this every time I switch into PP, or turn the game on.

With PP2, I am able to attain full speed, but to do it I have to press the pedal about 80% of the way down. If I press it all the way down, the speed drops off significantly. I have not been able to correct this, I've tried re-winding the throttle cable to have to put in various different positions etc, but nothing works. I am tempted to hot-glue a little piece of wood down so that the pedal isn't allowed to go all the way down (though this would impact PP). I can't see myself wanting to leave a dedicated keyboard on the board to make PP work, I'll probably stick with PP2 for now unless a fix presents itself otherwise.

I also have the screen-too-low issue that others have mentioned, about 2 inches of blank space at the top of the screen. It hasn't annoyed me enough yet to try any of the suggestions that have been made.

Another update 1/12/21 (I don't want to keep adding replies, so am updating my existing ones).

After messing around with it a bunch more, reversing the pot wires, doing everything I can think of to do, I seem to have both games able to run at full speed, though both games have the same issue of full-speed being about 80% of the pedal being depressed. If I press all the way down, it slows back down quite a bit (225mph in PP). I have physically moved the pot to try and compensate for this, but it is consistent no matter how I wind the throttle cable etc. I think it is logic versus hardware, I don't think a bad pot would act this way. I can live with it like this, but if this turns out to be a "thing" and a fix comes out later, that will be even better.
 
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He's been a little swamped with this so I think he paused taking orders for now.

I'm sure he will get back to you asap.

:cool:
 
Hello. After receiving the Pi Position board, I wrote to Jason about some question I had based on my installation experience. I emailed him a few weeks ago but it doesn't surprise me that he is in high demand based on his skills and popularity and never received a response. :)

I'm hoping to share the email I originally sent to Jason in the hopes that others with more experience than me might be able to offer suggestions/guidance? None of my questions are intended to be critical. On the contrary, I'm super excited about such a genius idea that Jason had and I'm hoping someone can help me get a better experience. Here's the email I sent to Jason. Does anyone have input to share?

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I received and installed the Pi Position board last week. It worked flawlessly on my first attempt to install. I really admire the simplicity and genius behind this design. You are my hero! I do have some questions that don't seem to make sense to me and I was hoping you could provide guidance? The audio seems very "raspy" or "tinny". The Pole Position cabinet that I own has a working Atari board set and the audio by comparison is much more rich in tone. I know this observation sounds odd or picky, but even the 3-tone start sound that you hear in attract mode is "scratchy". I'd think it was my speakers or possibly the AR board, but when I put the original board back in the sound is once again perfect. I had this issue with my original Atari board set years ago and it turned out to be a bad LM324 op amp that was causing the poor sound. Do I have a bad sound amp on the Pi Position, or is the amplifier in this Pi Position just not the same as the original board? Also, I considered that MAME could be the culprit for the sound I was hearing, however I have a MAME cabinet and both Pole Position I and II sound just like the arcade on that cabinet so I'm thinking that MAME is not the culprit. Is is possible to try a different version of MAME on the Pi Position to rule this out? I believe I'm using the official MAME version 0.227 in my MAME cabinet.

My second question is around the video quality. The K7000 monitor I have in the Pole Position is very crisp and clear when using the original Atari PCB. When I install the Pi Position, it has a fuzzy quality to it that detracts from the game experience as I know and remember it. I suspect this is possibly a result of converting the VGA signal from the Raspberry Pi down to CGA graphics? If that's the case I guess there is no getting around that. Also there appears to be some ground loop noise interference in the monitor with dancing diagonal lines using the Pi Position that I do not get using the original Atari PCB. Is there anything that can be done about this? I also wanted to point out that the graphics on my MAME cabinet are quite clear and identical to the arcade PCB graphics without any ground loop noise, but then again I'm running the monitor at 640x480 which is a supported resolution for the PC and monitor. There may be nothing that can be done about this.

I hope you don't receive any of these questions as me being critical. On the contrary I'm so excited about your product that I want to have the best experience possible. I would love to have Pole Position I and II selectable in the same cabinet running your Pi Position board, however with the quality issues I reported above, I have reverted back to the original arcade PCB for now.

Do you have any guidance or input to share that might help improve my experience with the Pi Position? I truly am in awe of your intelligence and expertise and would appreciate any guidance you might be able to provide. Maybe with your input I could test further and improve the experience for me and your other customers and and make this a win for everyone? :)
 
Hello. After receiving the Pi Position board, I wrote to Jason about some question I had based on my installation experience. I emailed him a few weeks ago but it doesn't surprise me that he is in high demand based on his skills and popularity and never received a response. :)

I'm hoping to share the email I originally sent to Jason in the hopes that others with more experience than me might be able to offer suggestions/guidance? None of my questions are intended to be critical. On the contrary, I'm super excited about such a genius idea that Jason had and I'm hoping someone can help me get a better experience. Here's the email I sent to Jason. Does anyone have input to share?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received and installed the Pi Position board last week. It worked flawlessly on my first attempt to install. I really admire the simplicity and genius behind this design. You are my hero! I do have some questions that don't seem to make sense to me and I was hoping you could provide guidance? The audio seems very "raspy" or "tinny". The Pole Position cabinet that I own has a working Atari board set and the audio by comparison is much more rich in tone. I know this observation sounds odd or picky, but even the 3-tone start sound that you hear in attract mode is "scratchy". I'd think it was my speakers or possibly the AR board, but when I put the original board back in the sound is once again perfect. I had this issue with my original Atari board set years ago and it turned out to be a bad LM324 op amp that was causing the poor sound. Do I have a bad sound amp on the Pi Position, or is the amplifier in this Pi Position just not the same as the original board? Also, I considered that MAME could be the culprit for the sound I was hearing, however I have a MAME cabinet and both Pole Position I and II sound just like the arcade on that cabinet so I'm thinking that MAME is not the culprit. Is is possible to try a different version of MAME on the Pi Position to rule this out? I believe I'm using the official MAME version 0.227 in my MAME cabinet.

My second question is around the video quality. The K7000 monitor I have in the Pole Position is very crisp and clear when using the original Atari PCB. When I install the Pi Position, it has a fuzzy quality to it that detracts from the game experience as I know and remember it. I suspect this is possibly a result of converting the VGA signal from the Raspberry Pi down to CGA graphics? If that's the case I guess there is no getting around that. Also there appears to be some ground loop noise interference in the monitor with dancing diagonal lines using the Pi Position that I do not get using the original Atari PCB. Is there anything that can be done about this? I also wanted to point out that the graphics on my MAME cabinet are quite clear and identical to the arcade PCB graphics without any ground loop noise, but then again I'm running the monitor at 640x480 which is a supported resolution for the PC and monitor. There may be nothing that can be done about this.

I hope you don't receive any of these questions as me being critical. On the contrary I'm so excited about your product that I want to have the best experience possible. I would love to have Pole Position I and II selectable in the same cabinet running your Pi Position board, however with the quality issues I reported above, I have reverted back to the original arcade PCB for now.

Do you have any guidance or input to share that might help improve my experience with the Pi Position? I truly am in awe of your intelligence and expertise and would appreciate any guidance you might be able to provide. Maybe with your input I could test further and improve the experience for me and your other customers and and make this a win for everyone? :)
the audio should be perfect that is a bit odd. i do know recently someone had no audio at all and it was due to them rebuilding both of the ar2s with slightly off part values. some have reported the same video issue. i believe it must exist but for some reason i cannot replicate it. i have tested on 20+ cabinets and several monitors and have not been able to get this video noise. you are not alone but its hard for me to fix this issue if i cannot replicate it. as a second thought if you turn the volume up too high in the menu it can cause a scratchy sound.
 
I tried my Pi Position today and the G07 monitor won't sync no matter what I do with the controls. I get rolling or unsync'd picture. I'm pretty sure I tried every combination of all 4 knobs at the back of the G07. I do see Pole Position running and hear the audio... except that the picture is all skewed. If I plug my original pole position board in, video looks perfect. Any ideas on this one?
 
is he giving refunds? I'm done waiting on my project. I understand he is busy. Totally get it. Im fine if he doesnt. can keep it around and use it at some point.
 
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ive installed 2 today in our cab.... for testing purposes

both have a fuzzy screen and enormous borders that cannot be adjusted out
i have no sound on both pi positions
i can only boot up to a jap pole position 2 !
credit button does not work
test/service button does not work
steering and pedals do not work

also a connection pic would be nice as the original board has one plug one way and one the other (parts/solder)
so a simple pic somewhere would of been nice here as there may be people who plug them in the wrong way
but for anyone wondering its both parts side to the pi poition logo.

i think were going to have to put our ever so slightly faulty original board back in till these issiues are fixed, if not then they are off in the bin !

dave
 
ive installed 2 today in our cab.... for testing purposes

both have a fuzzy screen and enormous borders that cannot be adjusted out
i have no sound on both pi positions
i can only boot up to a jap pole position 2 !
credit button does not work
test/service button does not work
steering and pedals do not work

also a connection pic would be nice as the original board has one plug one way and one the other (parts/solder)
so a simple pic somewhere would of been nice here as there may be people who plug them in the wrong way
but for anyone wondering its both parts side to the pi poition logo.

i think were going to have to put our ever so slightly faulty original board back in till these issiues are fixed, if not then they are off in the bin !

dave
Yikes, that sucks.

Hopefully arcadejason get these issues resolved.
 
i have no sound on both pi positions

ive installed 2 today in our cab.... for testing purposes

both have a fuzzy screen and enormous borders that cannot be adjusted out
i have no sound on both pi positions
i can only boot up to a jap pole position 2 !
credit button does not work
test/service button does not work
steering and pedals do not work

also a connection pic would be nice as the original board has one plug one way and one the other (parts/solder)
so a simple pic somewhere would of been nice here as there may be people who plug them in the wrong way
but for anyone wondering its both parts side to the pi poition logo.

i think were going to have to put our ever so slightly faulty original board back in till these issiues are fixed, if not then they are off in the bin !

dave


Are you sure you didn't load the wrong rom set on it? Ex the config files for mame can be specific to a certain rom because of the naming conventions. Ex if you loaded the Namco version of PP onto it when it requires the Atari released version it may not be loading the correct config file with the settings to use the video out put, throttle, and steering configurations.
 
Are you sure you didn't load the wrong rom set on it? Ex the config files for mame can be specific to a certain rom because of the naming conventions. Ex if you loaded the Namco version of PP onto it when it requires the Atari released version it may not be loading the correct config file with the settings to use the video out put, throttle, and steering configurations.
I had the config set to polepos2
They are both back in the box now
I was sent a zip with the pi position tom set so i believe it to be correct
Tho the polepos2 seemed merged to me
 
Hello,

I am having some issues with a Pi Pos board. The game is running and I get the attract mode screens and sounds but the inputs (coin, gear, steering gas) are not being recognised. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong?

I can run the game with the USB keyboard controls, but none of the cabinet controls are being detected.

Cheers,

Gav
 
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