One-chip Colecovision-to-Intellivision2 controller adaptor

[wileyc]

Hi there,

 

Having become very frustrated with the awful stock Intellivision 2 controllers, having concluded that the Jaguar controller was overkill, and having a few spare Colecovision controllers ...

 

... I built a single-chip adaptor out of an ATMega328P. This was mostly inspired by Uzumaki's Jaguar adaptor, but uses straight AVR C instead of the Arduino dev kit.

 

I haven't put together a schematic, let alone etched PCB, but if anyone is interested in building one here's the wiring:

 

* standard AVR ISP six-pin header connected to pins 1, 17, 18, and 19 (for programming),

* male DB9 pins 1-6 and 8 connected sequentially to PORTD pins 0-6 (Colecovision controller interface),

* female DB9 pins 1-4 and 6-9 connected sequentially to PORTB pins 0-3 and 4-7 respectively (Intellivision controller interface),

* female DB9 pin 5 grounded,

* +5V on 328P pins 7 and 20,

* ground on 328P pins 8 and 22.

 

One of these days I'll see how small of a board I can make in Eagle, with an eye towards fitting two adaptors in the Intellivision 2 case.

 

Attached is the source code and Intel hex file used to burn the chip.

 

Hope this helps someone trying to solve a similar problem.

 

coleco-adaptor.tar.gz

[GroovyBee]

You might want to add a 100nF ceramic disc capacitor to your bill of materials for decoupling purposes. Although the ATMega does have its own brown out detect and an internal pull-up on its RESET line I always like to add external circuitry (a power on reset device and not a simple RC circuit) to make sure that I don't get any problems during development.

[wileyc]

Ah, right, I forgot to mention the decoupling cap between Vcc and ground, thanks for reminding me. There's also a Vcc and ground connection on the ISP header.

 

Beyond that ... well, I ultimately want two of these inside the Intellivision 2 case, and if I stay with DIP packaging, forgo sockets, remove the on-board DB9 sockets and solder directly to their pads, I just might be able to fit it into the void in the upper right. Therefore, the fewer external components, the better ...

Edited November 6, 2013 by wileyc

[GroovyBee]

Beyond that ... well, I ultimately want two of these inside the Intellivision 2 case

How about using an AVR device with more I/O so you can handle both controllers with one microcontroller instead?

[wileyc]

You're absolutely right: the ATMega164 would be able to handle both controllers and looks like it would fit inside the case.

 

Thanks for that. I'll grab a couple in Akihabara over the next couple of days, prototype it, and post revised code.

[GroovyBee]

Maybe an Atmega8515 would be a better device fit because its available in a PLCC package. If you are going to the trouble of having a PCB made then it would make more sense (to me at least). For perf/vero board projects DIL is much easier. If you can't solder PLCC devices you could use a socket on your PCB but that increases the height of the design.

[wileyc]

I honestly haven't decided if I'm going to have PCBs made for this -- I have just the one Intellivision, and I'm not terribly interested in selling these due to the low demand and the high shipping cost from Japan.

 

One the one hand, it'd be nice to use a pre-made PCB because there's a fair amount of wires to solder and my hands shake a bit. On the other hand, since my hands shake a bit, PLCC doesn't give me any tangible benefit over DIL/DIP ...

[GroovyBee]

I honestly haven't decided if I'm going to have PCBs made for this -- I have just the one Intellivision, and I'm not terribly interested in selling these due to the low demand and the high shipping cost from Japan.

Its very rare these days that I'll wire wrap or perf/vero board anything for hobby use but for a one off thing its probably not worth the hassle.

 

One the one hand, it'd be nice to use a pre-made PCB because there's a fair amount of wires to solder and my hands shake a bit. On the other hand, since my hands shake a bit, PLCC doesn't give me any tangible benefit over DIL/DIP ...

The big benefit would be PCB area but it all depends on the space you have available in the Inty case.

[wileyc]

Right, this is (as far as I am personally concerned) a one-off for me. No point in spending a couple thousand yen for a custom PCB when I can hand-solder a single unit for a less than a hundred yen.

 

I'm pretty sure, after measuring things, that I can fit a DIP-40 into the empty space in the upper right corner provided that I a) relocate the composite video/audio ports over to where the RF modulator used to be, b) proceed with the plan to remove the on-board DB9 ports and solder directly onto their pads, and c) emplace the Coleco DB9 ports into the top shell (connected to the adaptor board via headers).

 

Once I get the design nailed down I'll post a schematic along with the code so that others can use it as a template to build upon to meet their specific needs, same as I did with Uzumaki's project.

 

Thanks a lot for the input; much appreciated.

Edited November 6, 2013 by wileyc

[GroovyBee]

Thanks a lot for the input; much appreciated.

No worries. You'll have to take some photos of how it all looks when you are done.

[wileyc]

I finally got a few spare cycles to finish the one-chip-dual-controller version, using an ATMega324P. Lessons learned:

 

* the 324P, out of the box, uses PORTC for JTAG. The high fuse must be set to 0xD9 before the second controller will work properly -- the software magic-JTAG-disable sequence did not work for me.

 

* the 324P is a bit too long to fit in the upper-right hand space in the case. I ended up putting insulating tape on the back side of the PCB and carefully fitting it on top of the main board in the space between the controller recesses. 20/20 hindsight, I should have used a PLCC

 

* to accomodate bullet point two, the joyport cables should be long enough to fit between the bottom of the controller recesses and the main PCB. Running them over the 324P will not work.

 

* The on-board joyports must be desoldered. The upper case should have the joyport molding removed, so that the recesses are flat. Male DB9 connectors can then be pushed through the holes and tacked down from the top with a bit of superglue.

 

The final assembly looks like this:

 

The AVR-gcc source code is attached.

(edit: the forum software eats .c files, so I'm attaching it and the resultant avrdude-compatible Intel .hex as a zipfile)

 

coleco-intv-324P.zip

Edited December 28, 2013 by wileyc

[bennybingo]

This looks like one giant PM...it's between two people and it appears to be in some foreign language I can't understand!!!

 

Seriously though, it sounds like a cool project...I wish I had the skill set to attempt something like this, but I am all thumbs with a soldering iron...

 

...but if you need William Shatner or Bea Arthur's head photoshopped onto anyone's body, give me a call!

 

[wileyc]

This looks like one giant PM...it's between two people and it appears to be in some foreign language I can't understand!!!

 

Seriously though, it sounds like a cool project...I wish I had the skill set to attempt something like this, but I am all thumbs with a soldering iron...

 

...but if you need William Shatner or Bea Arthur's head photoshopped onto anyone's body, give me a call!

 

Apple_Shatfle.gif

 

It's in engineer-ese

 

Do you reckon there would be others that would want this sort of interface? I designed this because I had spare Colecovision controllers, no working Intellivision2 controllers, and no easy way to get refurb parts for the latter ...

 

... and I posted this because someone somewhere might want to do something similar. If there's sufficient interest in a prebuilt kit, I could look into putting something together that fits into that upper-left-case space (i.e., uses a DRQFN package).

 

Users would have to remove the on-board joystick ports, and solder 18 wires onto the board (eight per port, plus power and ground); I can't offer installation services because shipping to/from Tokyo is prohibitively expensive.

 

(actually, I probably wouldn't have to do anything. The circuit is adequately documented in the code, so I half-expect these to start showing up on eBay sooner or later ... with no credit or percentage to me )

[bennybingo]

 

It's in engineer-ese

 

Do you reckon there would be others that would want this sort of interface? I designed this because I had spare Colecovision controllers, no working Intellivision2 controllers, and no easy way to get refurb parts for the latter ...

Yes, I would believe there are others out there who would be interested.

 

 

 

 

(actually, I probably wouldn't have to do anything. The circuit is adequately documented in the code, so I half-expect these to start showing up on eBay sooner or later ... with no credit or percentage to me )

I doubt it will show up on eBay...this type of modification is aimed at a niche market within a niche community of enthusiasts. IMHO, I doubt it would be all that marketable on eBay, but you never know.

[wileyc]

Yes, I would believe there are others out there who would be interested.

 

 

 

I doubt it will show up on eBay...this type of modification is aimed at a niche market within a niche community of enthusiasts. IMHO, I doubt it would be all that marketable on eBay, but you never know.

 

Hmmm, okay. If we could get, let's see ... ten people here saying they'd buy one if I made them, I'll go ahead with a slightly more consumer-friendly version.

 

Cost would be parts, actual shipping charges (no hidden markup here!), and say around 1000 yen for labor/beer. Ballpark figure would be around USD$50.00 per unit.

[GroovyBee]

You might want to look into making something that plugs into the sound chip's socket to pick up controller port inputs, VCC and GND. The original sound chip would then be plugged into your PCB. I'm not sure if that is possible given the height restriction in an Inty II case. Hmmmm... Is the sound chip even socketed on an Inty II?

[wileyc]

Hmmmm... Is the sound chip even socketed on an Inty II?

 

Unfortunately not on my unit. Only STIC, CPU, and RAM are socketed

 

(if it's socketed on the 2609, then maybe I should pick one up. Anyone have one available for a nominal fee plus shipping for R&D purposes? I'd also use it to prototype a power board replacement that takes +12VDC and turns it into +5VDC, +5.5VDC, and -2.3VDC ... )

Edited December 28, 2013 by wileyc

[1980gamer]

This looks pretty cool.

Does it also use super action controllers? That is... The super action controllers have 4 fire buttons VS 2 fire buttons on the regular coleco controller.

 

I am guessing you press both fire button to get the 3rd on the intellivision?

 

WC baseball uses 3 distinct fire buttons... Does any other game? Hmmm

 

If this was an easy install, I'd be all over it! Or perhaps an external ( plugs into current controller port ) Ah, no power on the intellivision ports...

 

Maybe, you can build them and we can have pimpmaul69 install them... Maybe with fast power down mod and AV out mod in a package deal.

Now I really want this! Oh, do the original Intellivision controllers still work?

 

The ADAM white controller would go nicely with this!

[GroovyBee]

Unfortunately not on my unit. Only STIC, CPU, and RAM are socketed

Shame! I have an Inty II here (for AV mod investigation purposes) and I haven't yet gotten around to looking at what is under the hood.

 

(if it's socketed on the 2609, then maybe I should pick one up. Anyone have one available for a nominal fee plus shipping for R&D purposes? I'd also use it to prototype a power board replacement that takes +12VDC and turns it into +5VDC, +5.5VDC, and -2.3VDC ... )

For Inty I you'll also need unregulated 16v too.

[wileyc]

This looks pretty cool.

Does it also use super action controllers? That is... The super action controllers have 4 fire buttons VS 2 fire buttons on the regular coleco controller.

 

I am guessing you press both fire button to get the 3rd on the intellivision?

 

WC baseball uses 3 distinct fire buttons... Does any other game? Hmmm

 

If this was an easy install, I'd be all over it! Or perhaps an external ( plugs into current controller port ) Ah, no power on the intellivision ports...

 

Maybe, you can build them and we can have pimpmaul69 install them... Maybe with fast power down mod and AV out mod in a package deal.

Now I really want this! Oh, do the original Intellivision controllers still work?

 

The ADAM white controller would go nicely with this!

 

It wouldn't take too much reprogramming to make this work with SAC. The third and fourth fire button would need to be handled (you're right; fire one plus fire two equals fire three right now), and the analog quadrature would need to be decoded. The software for the fire button logic is easy, but the analog bits would require a bit of redesign.

 

My original prototype was external -- if you look at the latest photo, you'll see a hole drilled in the upper case where I was passing +5VDC out.

 

As currently implemented, original Intellivision2 controllers can't be used with this modification. There's so little space in the case ...

 

I'd be very much okay with licensing this modification out to pimpmaul69

[wileyc]

Shame! I have an Inty II here (for AV mod investigation purposes) and I haven't yet gotten around to looking at what is under the hood.

 

 

For Inty I you'll also need unregulated 16v too.

 

Well, they're not readily available here. I'm hoping to pick up a console or two at a Goodwill when I visit Cupertino next month, but I'm not hopeful.

 

What's under the hood in the INTV2 is pretty ugly. Modifying this beast is roughly akin to trying to put dual Weber IDFs into a VW Type-III -- there just isn't enough room unless you start removing bits that probably shouldn't be removed.

 

That +16VDC is just feeding the oscillators (phi 1 and 2), right?

 

(edit: theta, phi, sue me)

Edited December 28, 2013 by wileyc

[GroovyBee]

That +16VDC is just feeding the oscillators (phi 1 and 2), right?

I know its a connection on the PSU but I'd have to take a closer look at the motherboard's schematic to confirm.

[wileyc]

I know its a connection on the PSU but I'd have to take a closer look at the motherboard's schematic to confirm.

 

 

I cheated: I took a look at the schematic before I responded, and as near as I can tell the +16VDC rail is feeding only a somewhat evil clock circuit. Based on the other voltages going into the chips, I think it'd be okay with twelve volts -- but I need a sacrificial console to test on

[wileyc]

Attached revised source file should map the purple and blue SAC buttons to button 3 (and should work with both 324P and 328P -- forgot to implement the ifdefs).

 

I personally don't think this functionality is useful for Intellivision games, as the SAC needs a hand on the grip and a hand on the stick, whereas the Intellivision needs a hand on the keypad and a hand on the stick, but it doesn't hurt anything to have it present.

 

It would be quasi-trivial to implement a keypad sequence to switch from a straight two-controller interface to a composite mode -- stick input going into controller one, and keypad input going into controller two. The next code revision will do that (for 324P only), because it's fantastically useful for AD&D

coleco2.c.gz

Edited December 29, 2013 by wileyc

[+BBWW]

I for one would love to have two Coleco controllers in an Intellivision or Sear Super Arcade. I do sometimes struggle with the discs. But I've only gotten back to playing in the last months. I have a GemStick for Colecovision (it was designed by Amiga, then sold to GEM) and a pair of Wico Command Controllers .

 

I'm up for shipping anything someone would need for something like this…there is no chance in the world I could do the work myself. I'd toss stuff through my window in about 20 minutes. This is cool. You need any games for Intellivision that I can bribe you with to get a mod?