Bill Lange Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Any one creating any interesting but completely useless electronic projects with their Ataris? I've been thinking about using my Atari to control a Big Trak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak) using a couple of XBees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBee). There was a good article on controlling a Big Trak with a Radio Shack walkie-talkie in Byte magazine back in 1981: “A Computer-Controlled Tank” http://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-02/1981_02_BYTE_06-02_The_Computer_and_Voice_Synthesis#page/n45/mode/2up I think it would be fun to control the Big Trak via the joystick port using some XBee radios. Here are some other links with some electronic projects which include the joystick and SIO port pin outs. Atari Electronic Projects Electronic Computer Projects for Commodore and Atari Personal Computers http://www.atariarchives.org/ecp/ or https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Computer_Projects_for_Commodore_and_Atari_Personnal_Computers Electronic Projects For Your Commodore 64 and 128 https://archive.org/stream/Electronic_Projects_for_your_Commodore_64_and_128#page/n0/mode/2up “Audio While You CLOAD” http://www.atarimagazines.com/vbook/audiowhileyoucload.html “Morse Code Receiver” http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n7/morsecode.html 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I just posted today The Computer Controller Cookbook on Atarimania.com plus there is Your Atari 8-bit comes alive and Your Atari Comes alive. One of the latter two books have a article on how to run your Christmas lights with your Atari. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thanks Allan. I'll have to check those books out. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Any one creating any interesting electronic projects with their Ataris? “Morse Code Receiver” http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n7/morsecode.html To expand on this article, I have been in contact with ARRL regarding STEVE STUNTZ's other Ham Radio programs for the Atari. I recently bought some QST magazines that feature these projects (3 programs I have already that I typed in back in 83-85). After I get these completed, I'll post all of the articles along with the programs ARRL QST 1985 Feb: A CW Keyboard Program for Atari Computers 32 ARRL QST 1985 August: Color SSTV and the Atari Computer 13 ARRL QST 1985 November: A CW Receive Program for Atari Computers 51 ARRL QST 1986 August: A CW Program Cartridge for the Atari Computer 34 ARRL QST 1987 May Split Screen RTTY for Atari Computers 16 ARRL QST 1987 November: A Packet Terminal for Atari Computers 15 ARRL QST 1988 September: Baudot and ASCII RTTY Programs for Atari Computers 20 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k-Pack Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) I can't say I'm actively creating any circuits for the Atari but it seems that any time I build something for the Arduino Uno I think about how to implement it on the Atari. The last project was to get a couple of cheep 5 volt stepper motors to work. For a few $ you can get the 28BYJ-48 motor with a ULN2003 chip on the driver board. You could directly output to the ULN2003 driver with 4 pins of the Joystick port or feed a sn74hc595 - shift register with latch with three pins. I'm not sure if you would need to use an external power supply for the motor, I'd want to know this before I start. Edited December 18, 2013 by Pack007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Payne Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Big Trak. When I was a kid I had to choose between the Big Trak and a AFX slot car track. I chose the slot car but always wondered if U made the wrong choice. Very cool project getting it to be computer controllered. Of course, evwn better would be to put in some sensors and AI...but then you know how that turns out. It becomes self aware and starts WW3. Let's just have you stick with contolling it from the Atari...just to be safe. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sup8pdct Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Back in the early 90's, i had one of those parallel bus expermenter boards that had a 6520 on it, a select chip and dip switchs to select address. Got it from best. Rear of board had an area to mount chips etc. Also a place to put a DB 25 socket. I added bits to interface a early 70'S Made judging box that 3 hand controlers with buttons 1 to 5, box in middle to do the adding up that required a person to operate and a display to show summed score. My bit replaced middle box and made whole thing automatic with stats that olny required a person to start, stop and clear old scores. I also made a second interface for a pc keyboard to enter the scores into a data base and press down arrow. This 2nd interface was on another 800xl on a long lead using the sio port and a couple of rs232 buffer chips to get the length required. The 2nd part i dont use any more since the advent of affordable laptops and wifi James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 Very cool project getting it to be computer controllered. Of course, evwn better would be to put in some sensors and AI The Soviet version of the Big Trak, called the "Elektronica IM-11" had an obstruction sensor ... In the Soviet Union, a clone was made under "Elektronika IM-11" designation. The early production version was named Lunokhod after the Lunokhod programme. It featured an obstruction sensor disguised as a plastic front bumper, which would stop the program when the toy got stuck. The Big Trak is a great platform for experimenting. Adding a few sensors and some circuitry, you can have it back up when it hits a wall, detect light/darkness, fire the cannon when it detects something in front of it. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 I have been in contact with ARRL regarding STEVE STUNTZ's other Ham Radio programs for the Atari. My dad and oldest brother were/are hams. We always had 73, QST, Popular Mech, Popular Science around the house. There was also a short-lived Atari/Ham newsletter called "Ad Astra" that my brother got. I think there may only have been have a dozen issues or so around '82, but they had some good stuff in them too. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 The last project was to get a couple of cheep 5 volt stepper motors to work. For a few $ you can get the 28BYJ-48 motor with a ULN2003 chip on the driver board. You could directly output to the ULN2003 driver with 4 pins of the Joystick port or feed a sn74hc595 - shift register with latch with three pins. I'm not sure if you would need to use an external power supply for the motor, I'd want to know this before I start. Pin 7 of the joystick port is a 5 volt power source. You can use it as a power source for your projects as long as you don't draw more than 300 milliamps of current. Try connecting an LED across joystick pins 7 and 8 in series with a 1500 ohm resister. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 (edited) My dad and oldest brother were/are hams. We always had 73, QST, Popular Mech, Popular Science around the house. There was also a short-lived Atari/Ham newsletter called "Ad Astra" that my brother got. I think there may only have been have a dozen issues or so around '82, but they had some good stuff in them too. Bill Cool, when I was stationed on Guam, I spent a lot of time at the base library reading 73, QST and Ham Radio mags making copies of the articles. I have an RTTY program from 73 that I'll add too... A few minutes ago I received an email from Steve Stuntz and he doesn't have the programs any longer, but hopefully the guys at ARRL: can dig them up Edited December 18, 2013 by AtariGeezer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I had a project where I hooked a servo directly to the joystick ports - no other power needed. Worked great. You drive them with a simple PWM signal that I could generate in BASIC. If you are really interested, I could look for it. Don't know that you need it, really. It was pretty simple. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 (edited) To expand on this article, I have been in contact with ARRL regarding STEVE STUNTZ's other Ham Radio programs for the Atari. I recently bought some QST magazines that feature these projects (3 programs I have already that I typed in back in 83-85). After I get these completed, I'll post all of the articles along with the programs ARRL QST 1985 Feb: A CW Keyboard Program for Atari Computers 32 ARRL QST 1985 August: Color SSTV and the Atari Computer 13 ARRL QST 1985 November: A CW Receive Program for Atari Computers 51 ARRL QST 1986 August: A CW Program Cartridge for the Atari Computer 34 ARRL QST 1987 May Split Screen RTTY for Atari Computers 16 ARRL QST 1987 November: A Packet Terminal for Atari Computers 15 ARRL QST 1988 September: Baudot and ASCII RTTY Programs for Atari Computers 20 one down a few to go? 1985 February QST p. 32 A CW Keyboard Program for Atari 2 pages Computers August QST p. 13 Color SSTV and the Atari Computer 4 pages November QST p. 51 A CW Receive Program for Atari Computer 3 pages 1986 August QST p. 34 A CW Program Cartridge for the Atari 5 pages Computer 1987 May QST p. 16 Split Screen RTTY for Atari Computers 5 pages November QST p. 15 A Packet Terminal for Atari Computers 3 pages 1988 September QST p. 20 Baudot and Ascii Programs for Atari Computers Edited November 24, 2017 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n7/morsecode.html by Steve as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Two left to type in, one is missing and the rest I have a binary or assembler code for the rest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n7/morsecode.html by Steve as well That is the same as : November QST p. 51 A CW Receive Program for Atari Computer 3 pages 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Mainly for the 2600 and 7800, but I am working on finding the best way to use a full size racing wheel peripheral (e.g., like a Logitech force GT or something) with pedals and possibly shifter on games like Enduro, Pole Position and Pole Position 2 that use joysticks for racing games...or any other joystick game the would be fun with a racing wheel on 2600, 7800 and 8-bit computers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 May 12, 1999 KD Hamsoft Box 1646 Orange Park, FL 32067-1646 "Amiga, MacIntosh, Atari XL/XE/ST" May 12, 1999 Atari Microcomputer Network John Adams KC5FW 17106 Happy Hollow San Antonio, TX 78232 "Atari" May 12, 1999 Kinetic Designs Box 1646 Orange Park, FL 32067-1646 "COMPUTER>SOFTWARE; COMPUTER>SSTV SOFTWARE; COMPUTER>LOGGING SOFTWARE; COMPUTER>WEATHER SOFTWARE; COMPUTER>CONTEST SOFTWARE; AMIGA: 12 disk collection of Amateur Radio PD/Shareware software. Morse, WEFAX, Packet, loggers, SSTV, more. MacIntosh Ham 12 disk collection. Atari XL/XE/ST" March 27, 1996 ElectroSoft PO Box 1462 Loveland, CO 80539 907-663-4777 stuntz@wapa.com ElectroMorse software - Morse code tutor and CW keyboard software (separate interface kit included). A Field Day logging program is also available. Atari CW, RTTY, ASCII Packet. Yaesu FT-990 computer control software." Atari Packet a more fully featured... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 (edited) Swami: The problem with that is that if you translate the signal from the wheel (being it a pot or opto couplers) into mere left/right digital signals the program wont respond proportionally to the driving wheel, which is what makes a driving wheel fun. Unless some clever guy here hacks the games...... The best starting point for a driving wheel would be the driving controller that Atari made. You could use the unit itself or make something similar based on the same principe. Theres lots of arcade hardware that do exactly the same thing. I d love to play Great American with a steering wheel and proportional control hack Edited November 24, 2017 by Level42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 (edited) Mainly for the 2600 and 7800, but I am working on finding the best way to use a full size racing wheel peripheral (e.g., like a Logitech force GT or something) with pedals and possibly shifter on games like Enduro, Pole Position and Pole Position 2 that use joysticks for racing games...or any other joystick game the would be fun with a racing wheel on 2600, 7800 and 8-bit computers. For the A8 there is the USB-cart, originally made by Abbuc and still available from atarimax. Afaik, the creators also patched some A8 games to work with USB devices, like e.g. Pole Position patched for a (Logitech?) driving wheel... Attached you can find a little software I have collected for the USB cartridge. CAS and Guus Assmann should have more information about the USB cart (but I am not sure if they still reply here)... Link to USB-cart from atarimax: http://www.atarimax.com/usbcart/documentation/ (Alas, surely another reason for yet another Steve/atarimax topic here at AA, since people never stop complaining...) Edit: And if you want something for your feet, there is the foot/feet pedal available (which afaik works like a joystick, but foot/feet controlled): https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_odkw=driving+controller+Atari&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XFu%C3%9Fpedal++Atari.TRS0&_nkw=Fu%C3%9Fpedal++Atari&_sacat=0 USBcart.zip Edited November 24, 2017 by CharlieChaplin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Big Trak. When I was a kid I had to choose between the Big Trak and a AFX slot car track. I chose the slot car but always wondered if U made the wrong choice. Very cool project getting it to be computer controllered. Of course, evwn better would be to put in some sensors and AI...but then you know how that turns out. It becomes self aware and starts WW3. Let's just have you stick with contolling it from the Atari...just to be safe. . This project to run a Big Trak with an Atari is damn cool, and I may look for one now and try to do it too. I still plan on doing the Armitron (robot arm from Radio Shack), project that was published in Analog magazine too. Maybe even combine the two. But, I had a similar decision back in the day too, and I also chose the slot racing set, and I think you and I did make the right decision at the time, slot racing is better. I plan on getting back into slot-racers again from both AFX and Tyco, and also I once had a TCR (Total Control Racing) slot-less track I want to re-acquire too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Swami: The problem with that is that if you translate the signal from the wheel (being it a pot or opto couplers) into mere left/right digital signals the program wont respond proportionally to the driving wheel, which is what makes a driving wheel fun. Unless some clever guy here hacks the games...... The best starting point for a driving wheel would be the driving controller that Atari made. You could use the unit itself or make something similar based on the same principe. Theres lots of arcade hardware that do exactly the same thing. I d love to play Great American with a steering wheel and proportional control hack For the A8 there is the USB-cart, originally made by Abbuc and still available from atarimax. Afaik, the creators also patched some A8 games to work with USB devices, like e.g. Pole Position patched for a (Logitech?) driving wheel... Attached you can find a little software I have collected for the USB cartridge. CAS and Guus Assmann should have more information about the USB cart (but I am not sure if they still reply here)... Link to USB-cart from atarimax: http://www.atarimax.com/usbcart/documentation/ (Alas, surely another reason for yet another Steve/atarimax topic here at AA, since people never stop complaining...) Edit: And if you want something for your feet, there is the foot/feet pedal available (which afaik works like a joystick, but foot/feet controlled): https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_odkw=driving+controller+Atari&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XFu%C3%9Fpedal++Atari.TRS0&_nkw=Fu%C3%9Fpedal++Atari&_sacat=0 I've used the Sega Per4mer Turbo wheel, which works directly (with a Seagull 78 adapter), and a Logic3 TopDrive Wireless, which works with a TOM rev2 USB to Atari adapter paired with a PSX to USB adapter. It works okay. I'm not sure how well the analog to digital is translated, since Atari games are pretty basic as it is. It does seem I have to turn the wheel more in lower sensitivity, but this may just be needing to turn it more to reach the gate voltage for the joystick action. The Atari driving controller only has four states per revolution and the Atari paddles use about 50 degrees of a revolution total, so this limits their applicability to a realistic racing wheel experience as well. A racing wheel to the two analog input pins of the controller ports used for the paddles would likely be a better fit, since the racing wheels have around 270 degree turn, lock-to-lock, and many, like my logic 3 TopDrive, have variable sensitivity. One problem is that most of them, if not all, don't have console based reprogramming of the directions, like up and down (which are often used for braking and shifting) to the R2/L2 of the shifter knob or to the brake pedal. I have found a couple PSX to Amiga converters that may do this, so I am going to try them out with the TopDrive and ACD Labs RS when they arrive. However, the reprogramming does not appear to be a simple thing to remember. I think the PSX wheels are good because they usually have on-console programming, while the PC racing wheels seem to depend on drivers you can't use on an Atari and often software based reprogramming. If I can get the analog-to-joystick working with shifter and pedals, I'll try to find some paddle hacks for driving games and look into re-wiring the left-right output to match the paddle output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Swami: The best starting point for a driving wheel would be the driving controller that Atari made. You could use the unit itself or make something similar based on the same principe. Theres lots of arcade hardware that do exactly the same thing. Someone in the ColecoVision section re-made the ColecoVision driving controller electronics with modern parts and CollectorVision is using it to make a new ColecoVision Driving controller, although the ColecoVision driving controller has 48 states per revolution, I believe, so much higher resolution than the Atari driving controller. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari8bitCarts Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Any one creating any interesting but completely useless electronic projects with their Ataris? I've been thinking about using my Atari to control a Big Trak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak) using a couple of XBees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBee). There was a good article on controlling a Big Trak with a Radio Shack walkie-talkie in Byte magazine back in 1981: “A Computer-Controlled Tank” http://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-02/1981_02_BYTE_06-02_The_Computer_and_Voice_Synthesis#page/n45/mode/2up I think it would be fun to control the Big Trak via the joystick port using some XBee radios. I was fortunate enough to have one of those as a kid. It was awesome. I really wanted the add-on trailer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted December 3, 2017 Share Posted December 3, 2017 With my Logic3 TopDrive racing wheel for PS2 and Paul Willingham's PS2 to Atari/amiga/c64 programmable adapter, I was able to play pole position 2 on my 7800 using the gear shifter, gas, break and steering wheel and Enduro on the 2600 using the gas and brake. I could actually feel a bit of analog control on the gas pedal, which apparently fires intermittently at medium pot voltage. The steering was a little "sudden" on the 2600, as you might expect, but it's not any worse than the joystick. I will need to try it with my PS2 Mad Catz MC2 wheel, also. I'm sure it will work with my 800XL, as well, but I just need to decide on a game to load on the Ultimate Cart. In addition, it should also work with the Sega Master System and possibly the Genesis, although the adapter only has two fire button support except with the Amiga CD32 mode. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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