New Life Games LLC
Homebrew Player Tracking and EFT Systems => NLG Homebrew Player Tracking and EFT Systems => Topic started by: Eddiie on November 21, 2017, 02:28:41 PM
-
Can someone tell me what a slot line is? As an example, the Bally Mastercom 250 has an RJ45 jack labeled slotline. On the PCB is says Network.
The mastercom manual show this jack as having 4 pins, transmit +, transmit -, receive +, receive -.
The manual says connect this to the slotline.
What is a slot line and how does it work? How does it connect in? Is it point to point (machine to machine)? No, I think it must connect in to some network, where this network goes I don't know. How do multiple devices connect to this network? Is there some sort of hub or concentrator? If so, what is a make and model of one? This must be how data makes it to the SDS. Is there a master collector unit on the slot line too?
I've worked with Ethernet and TCP/IP for so long, forgot there are others.
Is there a spec out there or notes on the communication structure of the slot line network?
On the other side is the input, connecting the game to the device and configuring it so the mastercom is receiving data from the game. I already have a TITO system.
WMS BB
Mastercom is an acronym.. Maintenance, Accounting, Security Tracking Event Recorder COMmunicator
Anyone already have a homebrew SDS?
-
Wow no one knows what a slotline is?
lol
-
I think Slotline (and now Super SlotLine) is an update to the old serial comm bus that casinos have used for years to connect a slot machine to the casino network computer. Bally developed SlotLine as a very high-speed databus interface that is compatible with ethernet but it still uses the old existing legacy wiring inside casinos. This makes upgrading to SlotLine much easier for casinos. A group of machines is connected via the Mastercom units over the high-speed SlotLine databus to a databus converter that converts things over to real ethernet, then it is sent to the remote server. It is a patch, new casinos being built in the future will have ethernet wiring from end to end. But if this patch is fast enough it works well and is much easier that installing all new wiring in a huge casino. Standard ethernet is 100mbits/sec and SlotLine is 80mbits/sec. So it is pretty fast.
As slot machines evolve there is a need for greater speed of data transfer between the gaming device (slot machine) and the remote server. Some in the industry believe things are moving to having the slot machine be not much more than a display device with player controls, the gaming software will not be inside the slot machine but will be on a remote server. You won't even collect your cashout ticket at the slot machine, it will be deposited into your player account and you can withdraw it at a kiosk or the cage, or deposited by ACH into your bank account. All of this offers security advantages and lower cost per slot machine since it won't have to contain as much hardware. But to implement this on a large scale (like MGM casino floor) you have to have a very fast comm link between the slot machines (essentially terminals) and the remote server. SlotLine allows this with its high speed databus over the existing casino wiring formerly used for ordinary serial databus.
https://www.perle.com/news_events/pr-oct24-17.shtml (https://www.perle.com/news_events/pr-oct24-17.shtml)
-
Thank you for that information. I am seeing a lot now on Super SlotLine. It looks like Slotline is a term that Bally created, a protocol, a transport more like it?
I am still a bit confused it sounds like it is serial converting to ethernet, TCP/IP.
Let's say these Super SlotLine modules do not exist and we are back to the old way of connecting Mastercoms together.
Would we use something like a Equinox ESP 16 port serial hub to connect the Mastercoms together? These seem to have a RS-xxx input and link to a 10/100 network.
-
I don't have any more information on it. I believe that Bally brought in Perle to create this for them. Perle is a tech company that is the brains behind this, they make all the hardware needed. Perle is heavily into converting serial databus installations to ethernet. You can read more about it on the Perle website:
https://www.perle.com/products/serial-to-ethernet.shtml (https://www.perle.com/products/serial-to-ethernet.shtml)