Gaming box lets Linux play the slots

By Jonathan Angel
2010-06-17

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Acrosser announced a PC that can run Linux inside arcade gaming consoles or slot machines. The ACE-S8700 includes golden finger and ccTalk interfaces, a VGA output, four serial ports, plus an intrusion logger and up to 512KB of battery-backed static RAM, the company says.

According to Acrosser, its ACE-S8700 has been designed for gaming and amusement applications. To that end, the device's motherboard (right) incorporates the 20- and 72-pin "golden finger" interfaces that are a gaming industry standard, plus a ccTalk interfaces used to connect coin and note acceptors, the company says.

The ACE-S8700 also includes 256KB or 512KB of battery-backed static ram, plus an intrusion logger (also battery-powered). This hardware allows the device to record events such as doors being opened (up to five may be monitored) or the system being reset, Acrosser says.

Golden finger interfaces reside on the ACE-S8700's front panel

Acrosser says the golden finger interfaces provide 30-bit interruptible digital input, plus 27-bit high-current output, and also provide 5 and 12 Volt power to the ACE-S8700. The device also has four 16-bit interruptible timers, an 8-bit readable DIP switch, and a six-Watt stereo amplifier, the company adds.

The ACE-S8700 uses a 1.5GHz Via C7 processor, with VX800 northbridge/southbridge, and accepts up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM via a single SODIMM slot. Acrosser says the device delivers DirectX 9-compatible graphics with up to 256MB of shared video memory, and is available with an optional second VGA output.

The ACE-S8700's rear panel

Standard ports in addition to the golden finger interfaces are said to include four USB 2.0 ports (two external, two internal via headers), two RS232 ports, one RS232/485 port, one RS232/ccTalk port, and one dedicated ccTalk port with JST connector. The ACE-S8700 also has a 10/100 Ethernet port, according to Acrosser.

The ACE-S8700 is said to have a CompactFlash Type I/II socket, apparently internal. Acrosser cites two SATA II ports, and the PC would appear to have room for two internal hard disk drives to go with them, although this fact was left unstated.

According to Acrosser, the ACE-S8700 supports Linux, Windows XP, and Windows XP Embedded. The device is said to ship with an SDK (software development kit) that includes drivers, an API, and demo software.

Features and specifications listed by Acrosser for the ACE-S8700 include:

Processor -- Via C7 clocked at 1.5GHz
Chipset -- VX800
Memory -- up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM via single SODIMM slot; 256KB or 512KB of battery-backed SRAM for intrusion logger
Expansion -- Type I/II CompactFlash slot
Networking -- 1 x 10/100 Ethernet
Other I/O:
- 20- and 72-pin golden finger interfaces
- 4 x USB 2.0 (2 internal, 2 external)
- 2 x RS232
- 1 x RS232/485
- 1 x RS232/ccTalk
- 1 x ccTalk (JST connector)
- 2 x SATA II
- 1 x VGA (second VGA port optional)
Power -- 5V and 12VDC via golden finger connectors; requires 16 Watts without external devices
Operating temperature -- 32 to 122 deg. F (0 to 50 deg. C)
Dimensions -- 9.84 x 7.8 x 2.36 inches (250 x 198 x 60mm)
Weight -- n/s

Availability

Acrosser did not specify pricing or availability for the ACE-S8700, but the device appears to be on sale now. More information may be found on the company's product page, here.

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