Mine too. I really, really, really don't want to try soldering a header onto that $470 board. My soldering skills are not that good. I'm bummed out. I was really getting juiced up to code a new version of KISS. If anyone figures out how to do this using the on-board USB ports please post the solution here!

Thanks Jan for this cool work you're doing.

Working through the tutorial and I have to say, that as a coder who sees terrible documentation all the time, your documentation and tutorial is some of the best written I've ever seen.

What's a FTDI? I tried to look it up but I didn't find a clear answer.

I'm a coder and have some embedded programming experience but I have little knowledge of serial communication standards and workings.

I have some confusion. I believe I mistakenly thought that two FTDI interfaces might allow me to use the 2 USB ports on the SPIKE CPU board. This is NOT the case, correct?

It looks like my only option is a SINGLE FTDI board plugged into the header. And I will have to solder a header onto the SPIKE board if one doesn't exists (which it doesn't on my KISS). Am I understanding this correct?

Thanks again for doing this!

Tim

That is helpful Jan! Sorry to have so many questions...

Is there a FTDI chip in the black cable?
When you say 2 FTDIs you mean one in the cable and another on the little PCB adapter (HiLetgo FT232RL FTDI USB to TTL Serial Converter)?
Are you switching the RX and TX with the connecting wires in between?

Thanks

So what would be a good option to purchase for a DMD or an LCD that would fit a spike machine like KISS? What additional hardware is needed to control the display? Is there anyway to control the native DMD from the PC with an additional controller?

Thanks

Tim

Thanks for the kind words jabdoa but you did the heavy lifting! I hope I get a chance to buy you a beer sometime.

Yes, my KISS Pro is flipping from my laptop code and running on the Mission Pinball Framework. Boring as hell to play so far but all of the coils are working and I can play a 3 ball game with crude scoring.

I've already started designing new modes on paper and my brain is buzzing with lots of cool ideas. I'm many months away from anything remotely resembling a complete game.

Mission Pinball is freaking amazing!

I'm really excited but keep in mind that I'm not starting from the current KISS code. I'm starting from the ground up. Just getting KISS Pro to basic flip was quite a bit of work; although Jan has made great progress for future SPIKE owners.

There are no inserts on the playfield for cities so is it worth pursuing the cities? Not sure yet. I'm planning on going a different direction than the current modes. Right now, it's just a proof of concept. And as a proof of concept, we now know it can be done on KISS and other Stern SPIKE systems! We'll just have to see how far we can take it with MPF. Mission Pinball is a very important tool for the pinball community and I can't thank them enough.

Quick update. I've been working with MPF two months in my spare time. I'm still a long ways away from a complete game and solution (audio, LCD etc.) but what you can do with MPF is nothing short of amazing. Some days, it is very frustrating to solve problems with MPF but the guys that develop MPF (Jan, Brian, Gabe and Quinn) are super responsive and there is no doubt that anyone can built a commercial quality game using MPF.

Although I'm not ready to implement these things, my big concern for the future "complete solution" is what computer to place inside the cabinet (Raspberry Pi or PC) and what to use as a display. I think I'd like to put a color LCD in but if I could reuse the DMD, that would be the first option. And then what to do about audio. Again, I'd like to use the Stern hardware but so far that is not an option with MPF.

I'd eventually like to share this with other KISS owners but it has to be a complete solution that would work for everyone. Ultimately, if I could just plug in a Raspberry PI with the software loaded and it used the rest of the Stern hardware, that would be nirvana.

If you are a spike MFP user you probably had to assemble a FDTI to FTDI connection using duct tape and chicken wire. Well no more! I've found a company that makes and USB null modem cable. I took a chance and ordered one of these cables in hopes of having a clean, reliable cable.

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables/USBtoUSB.htm

Just got it in today. At first, no luck and I was worried that I had misspent $50. However, it was just selecting a different COM port than I had been using before. Changed the config setting to COM5 and it works! Looks like a standard USB cable but has an FDTI chip in both ends and the RX/TX connections are crossed in the middle.

Tim

That would be sweet to work with the DMD. How would sound work with the spike? Anyway to use the internal audio?

I'll add the FTDI cable to the documentation.

Pros and cons of course. I do want to use a LCD and have other HW options but I would also like to share the fruits of my labor with other spike owners. Therefore it would be nice to make it easy for an owner to who Is unlikely to buy and install all components required to use my code. I'm kind of torn between making a one-off for myself and doing something that is easy for other KISS owners to use.

Yes I agree. I'm already using ducking extensively. MPF has a solid set of tools for mixing channels and ducking. Essential for a rock pin.

Very cool. I'll give it a try this weekend.

Thanks Jan!