timwylie

What's the best "getting started with IntyBASIC" guide? Side notes: I'm on linux, and I have the first book, which might be the answer.

I just saw this, and so I'll quickly add a response. I don't know anything about INTVFB to INTV2 adapters, so I can't help you there. It would be fairly easy to take a PC15 input to arduino and divide the stick, swap axis however you want, etc. I don't know the pinouts or if there are any libraries available, but directly going from a PC15 input to an arduino has been done for many devices. If the input pins are giving x, y as an analog signal, the "swapping" circuit for one of the pins would just be a change in the range for that pin, e.g., if the analog values are interpreted between 1-100, then you need to flip those values from 100-1. This would actually be in voltage (probably 0-3v or 0-5v) using an inverter of some sort. I'm sure this is a common circuit. Here's a lab I found implementing it with op-amps. https://cmosedu.com/jbaker/courses/ee420L/s15/students/solanos3/lab3/lab3.htm I'm know other people here are more knowledgeable about this, but hopefully this helps some.

I haven't really designed the case yet since I wasn't sure how much space I'd need. I've gone back and forth on using a nano or just using the Atmega chip. There are now compatible boards that are almost the same price as just the chip (https://www.electrodragon.com/product/edmini-dev-board-arduino-compatible/ ). I'm thinking of just using that $1.80 nano compatible board.

I'm currently using 74xx595, but I'll look into the ones you mentioned. Thanks for the information- I was unaware of open-collector output chips.

At $9 a chip, the Maxim IC is expensive, which is why I was going to go with the SIPO+optocouplers, which gives the same basic functions for around $2-3. The SIPO chip only needs to use 3 of the digital pins from the arduino, so I'm using 6 pins to go to both controllers. As to how I plan on connecting- I don't know. I figured I'd have a separate pcb for each controller, so you could just install one if you wanted. Maybe each pcb has a DB9 port- then you'd have to connect two cables to use that features. I don't want to make a custom cable, but I haven't put much thought into it.

As mentioned, I can't do this due to the limited number of I/O pins. However, it might be worth making an alternate version using an Arduino mega, which wouldn't need the SIPO chips.

I didn't realize that optocouplers are essentially just SSRs. The only annoying bit is that I can only find 4 channel ones. This means I need 4 per controller to handle both controller ports.

I haven't had time to test anything. My current thought is to either 1. Use transistors (or a transistor array chip) that takes a voltage to the base and allows a pin to flow to the ground pin. If I keep the voltage on the base low, then the only voltage flowing to the ground pin (when triggered) should be the pin voltage. 2. A better version using relays. This would ensure (I believe) isolation of the console power. I could use physical relays, but that's loud. There are CMOS sipo chips that implement analog switches by serial control. So I could just replace the current 74XX565s with something like this https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Analog-Devices-Maxim-Integrated/MAX395CNG%2b?qs=LHmEVA8xxfY2%2FNLn9d%2F0zg%3D%3D , which should also give power isolation. If not, I would appreciate knowing why this won't work before I waste time.

Interesting. I've never used optoisolators before. I guess I had just assumed I could always voltage regulate down, but when I was originally setting everything up, I was assuming a power pin that turned the other pins high, which is backwards. I set up the arduino code to make this easy to flip, but hadn't considered the circuit. I really don't want to have to add other logic chips. I'll think about it some more. For the batteries, I was just going to use 2-4 AA/AAA rechargeable batteries (depending on 3 or 5v). If the power/charging is separate though, I suppose it would be simple to add the embedded changer and battery.

Thanks. A lot of previous designs don't treat the keypad as essential for both hands, which I think it is. This design is really squarish for 3d model ease, so it'll need some ergonomic adjustments once the components fit correctly. It's also supposed to be modular, so the buttons/control stick can be put on either (or both) sides of the center.

Thanks for pointing this out. I was worried about this- it's what prompted me to ask about the pins because I didn't want to damage the console. I have been limiting the Arduino to a 5v source. I considered trying to run it from the controller power source, but assumed it wouldn't be strong enough. I suppose I could try to power it as 3v and then just turn on a transistor for each pin to pass the controller voltage back to that pin. I wouldn't even need to change the setup- just add the transistors/logic for multiple pins at once. Is this circuit already floating around somewhere?

They are used to reduce the number of digital output pins needed. I'm just determining the output byte and shifting it to the chip. The SIPO chip turns that byte into 8 different signals.

Thanks for the link!

I know this is a recurring topic, but I've been working on my own controller for the last few weeks. I was hoping to get some help with the controller pins. The project is on hackaday if you want to see the progress (https://hackaday.io/project/192851-custom-intellivision-controller). Although it could be done with basic circuitry, I'm using an Arduino with a couple of SIPO chips so that a single controller can output to both controller inputs at the same time. I currently have the joystick mapped with all 16 directions, the keypad and side buttons. I also have a pot to adjust the deadzone on the joystick, and three switches to specify which controller to output the keypad, side buttons, or joystick to. Anyway, the questions I have are. 1. Are the pinouts identical between the INTV 1, 2 and Sears model? I have all of them, but for convenience I'm testing with the Sears model. 2. Are the pin numberings the same as the standard DB9 VGA numbers? 3. I'm assuming I can ignore the power pin, and by default there is no voltage to any of the other pins. Is this okay? I plugged it up tonight to Astrosmash and the control pad worked, but other inputs were also registering. So, any thoughts or help would be appreciated. Quick update: I just realized I didn't update the arduino from testing and all the bits are currently inverted. I'll check it again tomorrow.

Okay. I didn't realize the parser was per-line and not a general token-based CFG. Thanks for the clarification!