Request for beta testers for the rev2 dongles.

[daverob]

I'm about a third of the way through the formal testing of the Alpha version of the new dongle software, so it's probably about time I did something about rounding up a few volunteers to get some beta testing done. I expect (hope!) that I'll get some time over the weekend to assemble a few more units (still only got 4 working ones right now!), and that the software will get past alpha early next week.

When I was designing the first dongles, there were just 8 beta testers and all I asked was for a simple check of functionality and signal timing on as many machines as possible. The beta test dongles were prototypes and had unfinished software, and all I really wanted was to find out if the dongles would actually work with any of the other pachinko machines that I didn't have in my own collection.

This time the beta test dongles will be production quality, and the software/hardware will be essentially identical to the final release version, which will be on sale once the testing is complete. For this reason I'm expecting a bit more from the beta testers.


Compatibility testing will be similar to the first dongles, and will just make sure that the signal levels and timing will work correctly on all machines. This will comprise a short sequence of checks that will take about 10 minutes per machine, and needs to be run on as many machines as possible.

Software testing can be done on any machine (but I might request these test to be run on a particular machine if there's something unusual/uncommon about it) and can take as much time as the tester can dedicate to it. It's really just checking operation in as many modes and with different combinations of settings and options as possible. I'll provide the list of alpha tests as a guideline, but it's up to the tester to think up things to try that are not on the list, in an effort to 'break' the software and find any bugs that may still be in the code.

'Use testing' is pretty much as it's title suggests, just use the dongle as you normally would, and report back if something doesn't appear to work correctly.


My ideal tester will have the following attributes (in order of preference)...

1 - Access to a large number of different machines to test the dongle on.
2 - Plenty of spare time to put the dongle through as many tests as possible.
3 - Previous experience of using the original dongles. Already having the smartcard reader, cards and the short extension lead (for the machines that need it) would be a big help as well.
4 - Access to 'Microchip PIC' programming equipment for any code updates during the beta testing.
5 - A tester that is located closer to me (ie UK and Europe) to reduce wasted time in the postal system if the dongles need to be returned for updates.
6 - Access to a digital camera, and willing to take a few photos of the machine with the dongle installed, so I can update the 'Installation' page on my website with as many machines as possible.
7 - A strong desire to play pachinko, and to be able to tell the family that they're 'working' on testing the dongle.

Now I know that not everyone is going to fit this description perfectly (except maybe point 7 ), but testers will be selected according to these priorities. However exceptions will be made, for example even if you only have a small collection of pachinkos, you may have a machine that no-one else has and get selected because of that, whereas someone who has a large collection of very common machines may not get selected at all.

As the new dongles contain quite a few changes that involve the smartcard reader, I'd really like to get as many beta testers as possible testing with them. The problem is that I can't afford to send out a free reader and cards to every tester, so I will have to give priority to testers that already have one. If any testers would like to buy the Smartcard option pack to go along with their beta test dongle (which all testers can keep at the end of the testing), then I would be very grateful for this. It'll be at the normal price of £10 (approx $15), but there will be no shipping to pay and I'll throw in an extra smartcard.



So if you think you're up to it, and you'd like to take part in the beta testing of the new card reader emulator dongles please send the following information to me either by private message or by email to pinballdave@gmail.com , I probably won't be able to confirm who will be selected until mid next week, so don't panic if you don't hear back from me straight away.

Name/Pachitalk username :
Email Address :
Location :
List of CR ready Machines you can test with. Please include manufacturer, year and frame style (if known) for each machine :

Digital Camera (Yes/No, resolution) :
Smartcard option owned (Yes/No/willing to buy) :
Short Extension Cable owned (Yes/No) :
Additional Info (ie access to PIC programming kit, or anything else you think might make you a better tester) :

[rubberratt]

Good Luck with the recruiting !!

[new in town]

Name/Pachitalk username : New In Town
Email Address : Will PM you
Location : Florida USA
List of CR ready Machines you can test with. Please include manufacturer, year and frame style (if known) for each machine :
18. Working on it. will PM you.
Digital Camera (Yes/No, resolution) : Yes. 6.1 mega pixels.
Smartcard option owned (Yes/No/willing to buy) : No. Willing to buy / Yes.
Short Extension Cable owned (Yes/No) : No / Willing to buy
Additional Info (ie access to PIC programming kit, or anything else you think might make you a better tester) :
micro Engineering Labs EPIC Plus using CDLite programming software. Serial input/output. Not setup for USB. Currently being used in .pbp files format. Do you use .pbp or .hex files?

[Ikaria]

Before you get completely swamped by PM's, it might be a good idea to scan through the pachinko owners database and send out invites to people with machines you are looking to test on.

Just a thought.

http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/modern-pachinko/33836-pachinko-owners-database-thread.html

[daverob]

micro Engineering Labs EPIC Plus using CDLite programming software. Serial input/output. Not setup for USB. Currently being used in .pbp files format. Do you use .pbp or .hex files?

I don't use .pbp (is that PIC Basic?), any update files will be the .hex files produced from the Microchip MPLAB/MPASM development system.

I've just looked up the details for that programmer and it looks like it does support the PIC chip used in the dongles with the right version of the programming software. But it will need a custom 'In Circuit Programming' cable to be made up to connect it to the dongle. If you can check if your programming software will support a PIC16F886, then I should be able to put a cable together from the pinout on the Melabs site.

Before you get completely swamped by PM's, it might be a good idea to scan through the pachinko owners database and send out invites to people with machines you are looking to test on.

I had thought about that, but would prefer to see what I get from volunteers first. I'm just worried that if I start sending out invites to random collectors, then I'm going to get a larger proportion of people who will read it as 'Want a free dongle?', rather than 'Would you be able to help testing the new dongles?'

I might consider it again, if I find that I have more dongles than volunteers, or if I can't get sufficient coverage of enough different machines.

[Moparformances]

FREE DONGLE??? Did some one say FREE DONGLE??

[portercbl]

Daverob, I will be happy to test your new dongle for you!

Jerry

[daverob]

Daverob, I will be happy to test your new dongle for you!

Then send me an email or private message with a list of the games that you will be able to test with. Without knowing which games you have, then I can't tell if you will just be wasting your time repeating tests on machines that other people will be testing on, or if you have any machines that I would really like test results from.

Also to anyone else who might be interested in testing but hasn't contacted me yet, don't take the list of 'ideal tester' attributes as absolute requirements, it is only really my wishlist for testers, so don't think you haven't got a chance just because you haven't already got a dongle, or access to a PIC programmer, or don't happen to live in the same street/city/country as me...

I honestly won't be expecting all of the testers to be able to do everything, and there might well be beta test dongles available for testers who are only able to a small amount of testing, but have an unusual machine or one that is under-represented amongst the other testers.

Also when I wrote 'Please include manufacturer, year and frame style (if known)' for the list of machines that you can test with, the 'if known' applies to everything, If you only know the game name (and even if you're not sure if it's the correct name) then that'll be enough for now. I'm usually quite good at working out which machine is which, and I can always ask you the relevant questions later on. The reason for asking is just that if you already know the name of the frame, then it's going to save me the effort of looking it up myself.


BTW if you think that all this reads as sounding like I haven't already had an overwhelming response, then I congratulate you on your skills of deduction. At the moment I'll have enough beta test dongles to send 3 or 4 dongles to everyone who has sent me all the information asked for, and as I'm only going to send out one to each tester, I think a few more testers will be needed.

[daverob]

Final call for Beta Testing.

If you've said that you'd like to volunteer, but haven't sent me a list of games yet, then you're not on the list of beta testers, so you'll need to contact me as soon as possible.

I've run through the acceptance tests once, and unfortunately there was one bug that needed a whole load of changes to the code. I'm going to have to run the acceptance tests again on the bug fixed code, so the new target is to send the beta dongles out early next week.

I've also found that I managed to order the wrong value resistor when I was buying the parts for the beta test dongles (and I ordered a reel of 5000 of them), I've got enough of the right value in my box of prototyping parts for 10 beta test dongles, but the rest will have to wait until I've found enough other parts to make the minimum order quantity before I order another reel (hopefully the correct value this time).

Despite this minor setback, there will still be a couple of spaces available on the beta testers list, and I really could do with a bit more coverage of the following manufacturers/frames...

Daiichi - all frames
Fuji - Pallet Cube, OvalOne
Heiwa - SS frame (the one with the big screen)
Monako - Majorca frame
Newjin - all frames
Sanyo - all frames*
Takeya - all frames
Toyotec - pre 2006

... So if you've got any of these, and would be willing to test, then get in contact with me ASAP.

(* I've already got some Sanyo games on the testing list, but want as many as I can get, as the whole point of this redesign was to make a dongle that didn't need to be modified to work with Sanyo machines).

[daverob]

I'll be finalizing the list of beta testers in the next couple of days, so this is the last chance to volunteer.

I'm still trying to sort out a proper solution for the bug mentioned in my last post. It is proving to be harder to fix than I originally thought, and each time I think I've got it figured out, it causes a different problem to turn up.

I stems from the fact that when you're not using a smartcard, the credit display will count down once the balls have been paid out. When the credit balance is on the smartcard, you want the credit balance to be deducted from the smartcard before the balls are paid out, as otherwise the player could press the button for a payout and then remove the smartcard before the credit is deducted.

This needs a bit of code to remove the credit from the card (but not the display) and then update the display after a successful payout, or replace the credit on the card if the payout fails. All of this gets a whole lot more complicated when I now have to support this in all of the different operation modes that now support the smartcard, and also with the new options of multiple payouts, along with the possibility of the player adding more credit to the card in the middle of a payout.

I'm going to try and have this fixed and tested today, but may need to step back and fully document the changes I have made, so I can get a clearer picture of what's going on and where the problem might be. So this could mean another delay before the software is ready for beta testing.

[daverob]

OK fixed all the problem bugs, and finished a full run of the alpha tests.

Only remaining problem is a small issue writing to a couple of my 'sample' smartcards that I got when I was choosing between all of the different smartcard suppliers.

This isn't a big enough problem to affect the beta testing testing programme as it only happens on smartcards that have more than 16,000 times the amount of memory the dongle needs to have on the card. The cards I currently supply are only 16 times larger than necessary, but are the ones with the smallest memory size that is readily available. I'll want to investigate and fix this problem with the larger cards before any production units are shipped, as it will save worrying about what will happen in the distant future when they might be the smallest cards available to buy.


I've compiled my list of machines available amongst the beta test volunteers, and I'm just trying to work out the most fair selection of testers. I'd like to make everyone have a similar number of machines to test, so that those with large collections only need to test the machines they have that are unique amongst the ones on the list, and the frames that are more common will be covered by those testers who have fewer unique machines.

I think I've got most of the frames I'd like to be tested covered, so the request for beta testers is now officially closed, and I'll be emailing out the formal invitations in the next 24 hours. Though I might still accept a volunteer if they have a machine/frame that is not already covered (still got nothing from Newjin or Takeya).

[daverob]

Got about half of the invitations sent out, but it's getting very late over here (after 1am) and I'm getting tired. So don't panic if you haven't had a reply yet, the rest of the invitations will be sent out tomorrow.

[daverob]

OK, I think I've replied to everyone who volunteered to be a beta tester, and sent formal invites out to all of those who have been successful.

If you sent me an email/PM and haven't heard anything back from me yet, then please let me know.

Just need to put the finishing touches to the beta test dongles, and get them mailed out, and then I can finally relax for a week or two. I don't remember it being quite this much work when I did this for the original dongle design, but then I was out of work back then so had a lot more spare time.