Builiding a machine

[avcom]

Hi,friends!
I want to build a simple electronic machine:
1.The user inserts a coin.
2.He chooses from the screen menu some options.
3.After the user had chosen,he gets a ticket from the machine.
That's all!
The machine inclides PC,coin acceptor,printer.
So my question is:
How to connect the coin acceptor with the PC and the software of the machine,so the machine starts only afte the user inserts a coin?May be I need a PCB/controller/?
Thank you,Stan,Bulgaria.

 

[borstarhymes]

try talking to pp maguire he mmight be able to help you

 

[carnageX]

Moved to hardware board.

Look into Arduino and/or FPGA's. You're going to need to know some coding (depending on which platform you pick, depends on the language), as well as some basic electrical engineering knowledge.

You'll need coin slot hardware, sensors to make sure a coin was inserted, logic to make sure the correct amount (if this matters) was inserted, and a ticket printer that can interface with an arduino/FPGA on a low level.

The closest I've personally come to something like this, was a simulated pop machine using an FPGAwith Verilog code to program the FPGA. It simulated various amount of coin inserts with simple button presses and "returned" change based on a binary light pattern, and "dispensed" a pop with another light notification if the proper coin amount was inserted.