I-Pac vs. Xin-Mo

GreenHawk84

Hello,

Before I start to assemble my control panel I would like to know your feedback regarding which interface is preferred. I have a Xin-Mo right now but I am also seeing a lot of I-Pac users. Do you know of any pros/cons of each? Any lag with either (most important)?

rbaker

@GreenHawk84 this is a good article to read. But....I have a "new 2015" ipac and it also registers as a joystick in retropie which initially caused me some headaches.

GreenHawk84

@rbaker thanks, seems like consensus is a little split. As long as there isn't noticeable game-altering lag.

caver01

I like my IPAC-4, but it almost feels ancient by today's standards. It's barely USB capable (PS2 converter cable) but I don't notice any lag. It has been reliable, that's for sure, and it has been widely used on a variety of systems with a long history of support. No complaints.

I considered writing up a how-to for the wiki here to cover this controller. Keyboard controllers in general are somewhat absent from the documentation here and that might be something I can work on.

rbaker

@caver01 I'm trying to put together a proper order of config for the ipac2 which is awkward with this new "joystick" instance. Still waiting on a few sources of help before I can get rid of ipac2 not configured even though it's working...the hunt goes on.

rbaker

@caver01 @GreenHawk84 So I have had an email back from Ultimarc that says the new Ipac2 does not detect itself properly with the current build of Retropie. If the device detects as a joypad like mine does, expect issues. It does not appear to Retropie as a keyboard. They attached a firmware upgrade though which has the joypad driver removed! Great! - I now have an Ipac that behaves in the way that I purchased it for and thumbs up for the fast turnaround from Andy at Ultimarc. Thanks to @caver01 for hinting at this possibility.

TheGooch

I run a Xin-Mo 2-player. No problems at all. No lag.

alexis-puska

I have two xin mo controller. No lag no soucis with retropie.

lostmuppet

Has anyone tried a zero delay USB encoder, so very cheap and Sanwa joysticks can plug straight into them.
https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server500/d90a4/products/1271/images/7954/ZERO-DELAY-PCBA-JAPAN__83455.1463848393.1280.1280.jpg?c=2

Windellao3

@TheGooch I'm running a pi3 and it will nor econize the Xin-mo controller for either player 1 or parer 2 have you heard about it before?

cowboyscott

A little late on this, but I am running the I-PAC Ultimate IO for 2 players + spinner + track ball + LED drivers with a RPI2 and it works well. Mine is set up as keyboard + mouser and had to do some key mapping configuration in the Windows I-Pac programming tool and edit the retroarch.cfg file to eliminate some of RetroPie's default key bindings.

No noticeable lag, everything works well, and gives me lot of options and flexibility. Also Andy at Ultimarc is fantastic with his support.

CamDogg00

@cowboyscott So you actually have the Ultimate controlling the LEDs successfully?? I have been trying to find someone that has because it is a rather expensive gamble if it turned out not to work. I was even planning on building an I2C setup off of the pie GPIO pins. What library are you using for it? Katie-Snow's GitHub/ RGB Commander?

Capeman

I use an iPac 2 in my bartop cab, no issues to report.

cowboyscott

@CamDogg00 I have not yet gotten to programming the LEDs to turn on/off based on my inputs; I just hooked them up and leave them on for now. The programming is on my todo list but don't know when I'll get to it. When I do, I'll share what I learn.