Hi Everyone! I joined FAST Pinball in February, and one of the things I've been working on has been getting our technical documentation collected, written, and published. If you haven't seen it yet, I'm happy to announce that docs.fastpinball.com went live last month!

Some highlights:

* Product manuals (with hook up instructions, specs, diagrams, etc.)
* A complete 13-part guide to wiring your pinball machine
* Getting started tutorials
* FAST Serial Protocol Reference
* Platform details (for the FAST Modern, FAST Retro, and FAST Mod platforms)

I'm one of those weird geeks who really likes writing documentation. (Like, I really REALLY like it. I wrote books and tech manuals in my previous career before joining FAST!) Reach out (either via email [email protected]) or send me a PM if you have specific doc requests.

Here are a few random screenshots to show you the type of stuff on the docs site. Dig in, have fun, and make pinball!

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Since this was posted, we’ve consolidated our URLs. All these links are now https://fastpinball.com/docs

awesome work and so glad it happened as the lack of this info stopped me in moving forward with fast - will be checking out

Just had a quick browse and this looks like a really, really great resource that has been a long time coming, and in the making I'm sure.

Looking forward to a deep dive.

I'm very excited to hear the wiring documentation has been updated. One of the main reasons I've been slow to start my project is the electrical piece, which is definitely a weekness on my front.

Thanks for the work you've done!

Looking good Aaron fastpinball

Super excited for this retro board set!

So, is there any way to use the DMD as a multi-color, color DMD on a regular game?

We have an RGB LED DMD (wow that's a lot of letters) which can be a drop-in replacement for original DMDs. (Product page is here, I assume this is the one you're talking about?) It should work in any machine that has the 14-pin DMD connector as a drop in replacement (and like any LED DMD, it only needs 12V and not the original high voltage). My "to do" list includes testing this on all the various machine types. We have this on several of our WPC machines, but it should work on SAM, White Star, SPIKE 1, etc. (Worst case we would have to adjust some timing and add a menu option. And when I say "we", I mean ecurtz as he's the one who wrote all the code for this.)

Since those original machines just did four brightness levels of orange/red (well, some were 16, but let's just call it four for now), there's a menu where you can set what four RGB colors you want for each of the four shades. This means that it essentially can become any "color" replacement DMD you want.. set it to four shades of green or pink or orange or whatever you want. The menu interface lets you map any hex color to the original shades, so you can get really trippy and mix colors which doesn't look as crazy as you'd think in some machines. (I mean like use black, red, purple, white, for example, for the original 0,1,2,3 brightness levels.)

This DMD product also has a USB port on it where you can attach to it via any host computer and send DMD frames via the FAST Serial Protocol. In that case you get the full RGB 16.7M color options for full color DMD at up to about 20fps. That is how people use it in the homebrew community for a full color DMD.

If you are working on a 2.0 game and you want to keep the DMD look, then you could also use this DMD. It would be 4 shades (though set to any color you want) for the 1.0 / original game running via our FAST emulation (also thanks to @ecurtz), and then full color for the 2.0 game.

Getting back to your actual question, at this time if you buy this RGB LED DMD and drop it into an original machine with no other FAST hardware, you will just get the ability to recolor the four original shades. It won't let you fully colorize every original frame or replace original frames.

Also quick note that the version of this DMD listed on our docs site has a lot of other components on it to allow plugging in additional expansion modules. We've since evolved our approach to this (culminating with the FAST Retro Platform we announced at TPF last month) which moves those components from the DMD to the FAST Retro Controller, so future LED DMDs from FAST will look different on the back but will essentially be functionally identical.

All that said, this space is changing and evolving quickly, and we have lots of plans and partnerships in the works. We'll keep you posted!

Thank You for the indepth response! I have one collecting dust. I was going to try it in my Sopranos, just never got around to it. I figured I'd ask about "full color" as I've been procrastinating for years to add a ColorDMD to it, and of course now prices have jumped and stock is unavailable.

Hi Everyone!

You probably saw that Aaron and I gave a talk at TPF 2022 this past March. It was streamed via Twitch during the show, and Ed & the team at Texas Pinball just reposted all the streams to YouTube. I wanted to link our talk here in case you haven't seen it:

In this talk (about 50 minutes), Aaron and I walked through:

* Who is FAST Pinball
* A quick look at a bunch of the homebrew games built on the FAST Modern Platform
* Our new Neuron Controller
* Our new Audio Interface Board (AMP, computer safe shutdown, LCD panel controls, ...)
* The FAST Retro Platform (System 11, WPC-89, WPC-95)
* The new FAST Mod Platform (intelligent mods & integrations for modern and retro machines)
* The upcoming FAST Developer Program
* Plus lots of little things about why pinball is awesome.

Thanks everyone. Happy pinballing!
Brian

Great talk. Makes me excited for the Retro platform. Any ETA on when these boards will be available?

Hi Everyone!

I just sent out the June edition of our "FAST Friends" newsletter. You can read the web version at https://www.fastpinball.com/s/stories/fast-friends-newsletter-june-2022. You can subscribe to the newsletter from the bottom of any page at fastpinball.com, or just PM me.

This month we focused completely on the FAST Pinball community presence at NWPAS (Northwest Pinball & Arcade Show) June 3-5. We had a 70-foot long booth with 16 pinball machines running various types of FAST hardware:

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FunHouse, Medieval Madness, and Cyclone all running the FAST Retro Platform running our emulation for original classic gameplay

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FunHouse Rudy's Nightmare (Pedretti), TOTAN The Forgotten Tales (Mirco), NGG: Battle for the Green (Cardona), and SOF: Swords of Vengeance (Anthony van Winkle) conversion kits powered by the FAST Retro Platform

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Fathom Revisited (Haggis), a new machine powered by the FAST Modern Platform

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Lots of homebrews, including Fight Club (Mike Becker)

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Led Zeppelin (Steve Kondris)

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Baby Pac-Man Space retheme (Brendan)

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Mass Effect 2 (Anthony van Winkle)

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Harley Quinn (Anthony van Winkle)

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and Brian Cox's "Any Machine", a custom-cabinet with interchangeable physical playfields focusing on the early Bally SS era. Brian brought Kiss, Flash Gordon, and Star Trek to the show and swapped them out every hour. (And he has like 10 more different games at home, all with new code!)

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DR Game Systems: Steve, Rick, and Dan were there, showing off the CNC, routing, printing, art, graphics, etc. capabilities they have for the custom and homebrew pinball and arcade scene.

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And we had a little demo area showing our various boards and how they work.

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It was such an awesome show, check out the newsletter link for details on everything!

Oh, also, unrelated, we have Nano Controllers back in stock now, so if you've been waiting to buy a starter bundle for the past few months, they are now available again.

Happy Pinballing!
Brian (and Aaron, Dave, and Eli)

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This is just amazing work from everyone involved, and so so SO exciting. Pinball is heading in the right direction!

Hi Everyone!

We just sent out the July edition of our FAST Friends newsletter. You can read it online here: https://www.fastpinball.com/s/stories/fast-friends-newsletter-july-2022

This month we focused on videos. Most of them were demos and interviews from us and our community members at the Northwest Pinball & Arcade show last month. We also highlighted recent tutorial videos as well as reminding everyone how awesome Steve's (The Pinball Room) "How to Build a Pinball Machine" YouTube series is!

In general our YouTube channel is starting to pick up. Check out the latest / follow us there: https://youtube.com/fastpinball

FAST Pinball YouTube channel

Hi Everyone!

We're just recovering from a super fun and amazing Chicago Pinball Expo 2022! If you weren't able to attend the show, I just wrote a blog post detailing and recapping everything we showed off and talked about. That blog post is here:

https://fastpinball.com/blog/2022/10/24/fast-pinball-booth-tour-and-show-recap-of-the-chicago-pinball-expo-2022/

Here's some eye candy from the post. Happy pinballing!

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Nice!! Are you able to estimate when the retro hardware will be available to purchase for hobbyists?

I would expect that the Retro hardware will start becoming available to hobbyists next year. You'll see a phased rollout as we certify each game. So it won't be like "The System 11 controller is released now", rather, it will be like, "Today we are releasing the System 11 board for SOF and WW, next month is Fire, next month is HS," etc.

The retro boards will immediately allow you to play the classic game ROMs directly from the boards (and get the ability to use mods based on the expansion bus), and then you'll also be able to connect to them via USB to take control of the machine for writing new game code. It's our intention that we'll also release MPF templates which map out the hardware and devices and stuff for each machine as we release them, giving you a head start on any new game code you write.

FAST Friends October newsletter just went out. You can also see it online via: https://fastpinball.com/blog/2022/10/25/fast-friends-newsletter-october-2022/

This month, it's a recap of Expo, a bit about our blog, and an answer to the question "When will your starter bundles be back in stock?" (Preview: by the end of the year, except they will be based on the next-gen FAST Neuron platform and not the existing FAST Nano platform.) Details in the link.

Happy Pinballing!

Just finding out about the retro boards. This is amazing! Exactly what I have always hoped for. Open source is key and the community will explode! Congratulations!

This really sounds incredible! Looking forward to this being available to the public.

Hi Everyone,

The November edition of our FAST Friends newsletter just came out. You can read the web version here:

https://fastpinball.com/blog/2022/11/22/fast-friends-newsletter-november-2022

Topics this month include:

* Neuron Controllers should ship in December
* (This also means starter bundles will be back in stock)
* Lots of links to new documentation we've started writing for the Neuron-based systems
* Plus links to other fun docs like "How to pick a power supply for your homebrew pinball machine"
* The latest on the various FAST platform additions to MPF

Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Pinballing!

I was browsing some FAST technical docs last night and saw some Brian guy was writing them, was trying to think if I knew who that was.

I know exactly who that is!

Congrats man, that's great. At least a whole year didn't go by before I noticed and said something.

Hah, right on man! Thanks!

Wow we've come so far in the past 8-9 years! I still can't believe how fun this all is!

Yeah man! It's been a while! Uh ... maybe the last time I saw you was the talk at Banning? Like, 3 decades ago?

Alien really derailed my homebrew plans (and my connection to pinball in general tbh), and I really don't know what they are now. I'm getting my creative mojo back, which is why you're seeing me releasing some limited (and expensive) mods again, and I have a lot more toys now. 3D printer, laser cutter, CNC ... some pretty handy prototyping stuff sharing space in my garage with my arcade.

Not saying I really have anything concrete planned, but I was nosing around the FAST site last night while pondering things ...

Yeah it's looking great, I see Neuron is about to drop.

For sure!

Big news! FAST Neuron Controllers, and starter bundles based on them, are now available in the FAST Pinball online shop!

In fact today we're launching the Neuron Controller and our entire "next gen" modern platform. Full details are here:

https://fastpinball.com/blog/2022/12/14/fast-neuron-starter-bundles-are-in-stock/

Some highlights of what's new:

• The Neuron builds upon and refines the performance and reliability we've had with our Nano and Core Controllers over the past 8 years.
• All of the boards in the Neuron system have been designed to work together in the prescriptive and integrated way. We've thought about every connector, every wire, and every pin, to ensure everything is as convenient, performant, and safe as possible.
• The Neuron platform introduces true "machine control", with integrated power system voltage and current monitoring, bad fuse detection, fault detection, as well as coordinated smart power management between the host PC, LCD, audio system, and even the main pinball machine itself.
• We have completely removed the 5V power supply from the pinball machine, simplifying wiring and allow for longer wiring runs with more connectors to be used. Boards that need other voltages (e.g. 5V for LEDs) generate it locally from the 12V supply.
• Power distribution is built into the system, including dedicated main/trunk/branch circuits for the backbox, topper, cabinet, and playfield.
• "Autofire" switch + driver pairs no longer need to be connected to the same I/O board. (e.g. now you can plug your flipper buttons into the cabinet I/O board and your flipper coils and EOS switches into a playfield I/O board, or plug a pop bumper coil into one I/O board while its switch is connected to another.)
• The new FAST Expansion Bus with Expansion Boards allow massive amounts of distributed "lights and motion" in your machine (RGB LEDs, servos, etc.), future proofed for more types of LEDs. (WS2812, APA-102, RGBW in addition to RGB)

We also have lots of new wiring guides, unboxing tutorials, and documentation for the new stuff. There are lots of links in the blog post I posted above. But I've attached some fun photos from the docs to see what you're in for.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg. We have many more exciting products in the pipeline which will be released in 2023, including a dedicated audio platform (built around the FAST Audio Interface), a purpose-built Cabinet I/O Board, and several other things we haven't announced yet!

Happy pinballing everyone!
Brian

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congrats on the release!

Nice!

Excited to have the new hardware!

I made a 3d printed mount for the Neuron and put it up on thingiverse for anyone interested:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5778902

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Nice. So I have to ask the obvious question, is there an upside to doing that way vs just mounting the PCB directly with standoffs?

I think part of it depends on how you mount your standoffs? Are you doing PEM inserts or something in sheet metal? I find if my standoffs aren't fixed in place, I end up doing the dance of trying to hold 4 standoffs on 4 screws while you get the board aligned, etc...

It also gives some physical support behind the connectors so when you push on them it doesn't flex the board/joints.

Since I carry the board around the house/shop to my different workstations the mount helps protect the board and keeps me from shorting it out by setting it on something, etc.. For example i'll have it up here on my office desk with a 12V wall wart while im working on updating the playground code to support any changes in this firmware.

I think it looks cooler too if you have a color scheme to all your mounts, etc..

So basically a bunch of half reasons because I think it looks good, lol.

love the new diagrams, very very helpful for the nervous

Thanks, was looking for this yesterday! Any coming for the other boards?

There’s ones done for the 3208, 0804, and 1616 that I think a couple people have done (myself included) - can’t remember which ones John had previously done.. possibly all of those as well. Happy to share one’s I’ve done as well

There's ones in my thingiverse for the 0804 that mounts flat against the wall of the cabinet and the smart fuse block. Also some for older boards that aren't used anymore (Nano).

I'm doing the CAD for the expansion boards and the opto boards over the next couple days.

I don't have a Smart Power Filter board to design a mount off of yet, nor the playfield interchange board. I'll probably order those soon though.

For any other driver boards like a 3208 or 1616, I'd recommend just mounting those "vertically" with the metal L brackets FAST sells, since those mount under the playfield usually.

Here's the power filter, 3208, and 1616 boards. The power filter is designed to mount to the backbox via the same holes that go thru the board. I have a simple one for the opto board I will post up to thingiverse as well, in addition to a design for the fuse block.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4975273

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4975271

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4916776

edit: added fuse block & opto board vert & horz. mount options:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5781333

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5781344

For the actual mounts for this game I'm printing them in purple, just like our custom RGBW light boards.

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Deleted. Useless question due to a bad test

Hello FAST Pinball makers!

I posted this to the homebrew thread, but I wanted to share here too. At the Northwest Pinball & Arcade show last weekend, we ran a little sub-event called PinDevCon, a devcon / meetup / gathering for pinball makers. We had a little theater in the expo hall with 14 talks over the three days, and they were all video recorded and are available now here:

https://fastpinball.com/pindevcon/

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Talks (with videos):

• Hardware hacking your pinball machine with FAST Pinball
• Swords of Vengeance: Music and Audio (with the composer)
• Modern Pinball Machine Wiring
• The business of "2.0" pinball conversion projects
• Mission Pinball Framework (MPF) - How it works under the hood
• The making of "The Haunted Cruise" AR pinball machine
• Homebrew maker chat - Sean Irby STIrby (Eight Ball Beyond)
• Homebrew maker chat - Mike Becker Mbecker (Fight Club)
• Homebrew maker chat - Spencer Holmes (Futurama)
• Homebrew maker chat - Joel Kaiser (Boys Night Out)
• Homebrew maker chat - Anthony van Winkle avanwinkle (Swords of Vengeance)
• Homebrew maker chat - Lin Linolium (Frozen, Haunted Cruise)
• Homebrew maker chat - Brian Cox (about 20 machines, including Tattoo Mystique and several 1980s Bally conversions)
• Homebrew maker chat - Jack Bridges (The Muppet Show)

I couldn't find Pinside links for all the makers & their games, let me know if I missed any! This event was a lot of fun and we'll definitely do it again next year and/or maybe at other shows? There's a survey link on the site for people who want to volunteer to help, or who want to speak at future events.

Happy pinball making!
Brian

New FAST Pinball product announcement: Cabinet I/O board

We just released our cabinet I/O board, a special purpose I/O board designed for placement in the pinball cabinet itself (typically mounted on the left side near the front of the machine). This board handles I/O for all cabinet switches (flipper buttons, start button, tilt, etc.), as well as the coin door interface, a bill validator or ticket reader, low current drivers for LEDs (for the coin door and lighted buttons), a single high-current driver (typically for a knocker). It receives power via a dedicated header on the Playfield Interchange Board and also features a dedicated high-current 12V power output header for powering a shaker motor or other 12V devices in the cabinet.

* Announcement blog post
* Product Page
* Wiring Guide

And some random photos from the various docs:

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