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HeadcolorsTV

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About HeadcolorsTV

  • Birthday 05/08/1982

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  • Custom Status
    Cannot be classified as a planet
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Buffalo, NY
  • Interests
    Retrogaming, video production & editing, console repair, website development, graphic design/art, cooking

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  1. I'm putting together a project for a customer that puts an original SNK Rotary Joystick (for reference) into a custom USB/MAME stick, using an Ultimarc I-PAC 2. For the rotary, I have one of these--an old Ultimarc USB Rotary Interface. Doing the research, I learned that an OPTICAL rotary can be connected to a different rotary interface, which in turn connects to the SPINNER/EXP pins on the I-PAC 2. But this is a MECHANICAL rotary. I'd rather not make my customer plug in two separate USB cables in order to use one stick, so I'm trying to get the input commands from the rotary interface to the I-PAC, with no success so far. The rotary interface connects directly to PC via USB-Mini B. GND, 5V, Data+, Data-, ID. That sends keyboard press inputs of... [ and ], I believe? Or maybe it's / and \ ? Can't remember off the top of my head. There are two input terminals for GND on the I-PAC 2, and I can choose whichever two terminals I want for button inputs (except GND of course), but... Where to make the 5V handshake happen between the two interfaces? And... How to differentiate the two rotary keypresses and get them to the I-PAC? Obviously, connecting GND, 5V, Data+ and Data- to the four optical SPINNER pins on the IPAC doesn't work. ...Right?
  2. Lemme check that out later today. Gotta hook everything back up (got 2 projects going on at once).
  3. Okay everyone, this one I'm certain is something I'm doing wrong because the circuit is so simple. It's the GamesX Saturn controller schematic, and I'm having a difficult time getting the console to recognize it. Key things to point out: 1. I'm using an OEM controller cable from a working gamepad. 2. The schematic names the ICs as TC74HC153A (Toshiba); I am using 74HC153E (Texas Instruments, PDIP). 3. The console behaves the same with the project controller plugged in as when there are no controllers plugged in. When an Action Replay cart is in, the menu instantly goes to Select Game > Search > cursor goes down repeatedly to the "." character on the search input interface and keeps trying to go down (so it rapidly stays on "." and blinks infinitely). Again, this behavior is the same as when no controllers are plugged in. 4. Using a breadboard--the same one I got the PS1 controller schematic to work on. All rails are properly connected and "jumped" in the middle of each rail. 5. I have double- and triple-checked each connection. ICs are getting correct voltage and grounding. 6. I have tried 47K and 10k arrays, same result. 7. Pin 3 and 13 of U1 are kept low. Pin 3 of U2 is kept high in the array. 8. I have several 153s, so I've tried swapping both chips. No success. 9. Yes, I've made sure other gamepads work in port 1. They do. Has anyone else attempted this schematic and encountered the same issue? Any help is appreciated, thanks!
  4. Resurrecting this because I'm having an issue that I completely brain-farted on until now. I've had this circuit fabbed at Osh Park some time ago, assembled everything. Works! ...Yay. Can't read memory cards from the same slot. ...Booo. I read up a little bit so far on this issue with 3rd-party controllers; something about sending an 0x81 signal to ATT. Anyone know anything about this, and how I'd go about working through/around this?
  5. THAT WAS IT. ??? Thank you so much for that tip. I just ran through an entire game of TM2 with 0 problems. (BTW: a Happ bat top stick feels really good with that game.) OshPark, here I come. ~ Fin. ~
  6. Lo and behold: I was actually onto something here. Connecting the main rails to both the outer and other center rails, then connecting the 5V rails to each other at both ends worked, BUT ONLY if I only connect voltage at the main and outer rails at both ends, while leaving the two center voltage rails connected only at the far end (see updated breadboard diagram). Again, the controller went from a very bad/flickering ATT to a perfectly working controller; was able to play TM2 for about 20 minutes straight without a problem. I'm not quite able to put my finger on it, but might it be something involving the relationship between the 5V going to U6/pin20 and the 5V going to C1?
  7. I only have the pull-ups and the "missing pulse detector" on the second half, so I thought it was ok to get the 5v from the originating bus; I think I connected the center ground rails because I was ruling out a fairy rail at some point. Gotta love these breadboards.... Would this be the cause? Am I overloading the two voltage rails? That R1 was a weird part of the issue I was having. Before discovering my odd "solution" (and therefore with the two voltage rails still connected), I noticed while fiddling with R1, the purple cursor returned in a weak, flickering way when my fingers were touching both leads. I'm gonna try connecting the center rails, as well as the "bad" rail, and form a closed loop on the other sides of each. I get the feeling that I'm not getting enough juice to every component and the circuit is prioritizing.
  8. Okay, so I got it working! ...and I'm still not 100% sure why, exactly. I just gave myself a crash-course in Fritzing so that I can post a breadboard illustration of how I have it set up. Three things: I was a dummy and swapped R1 (22K) with a 1K, just to see if it made a difference, but forgot to swap it back to the 22K. Once I did that, I saw the thing I'd been looking for: that beautiful purple arrow cursor in the PS1 console menu. It turns out that NFG's method of starting at U1/G and ending with the Square button at U5/SER was CORRECT. Go figure. The problem was, the purple cursor would often flicker away or disappear completely. I spent a good two hours trying to find where the weak connection was, nearly at the pulling-my-hair-out point. I tried about three different diodes and five different 22k resistors. I touched and lightly wiggled nearly every wire. It got to the point where I was pretty sure it was one of the buses. And then it happened: I pulled the bus-to-bus 5V wire out to disconnect the 5V bus on the ABCD side (see illustration), happened to look up to see a solid purple cursor. Confused, I started testing the buttons. Flawless. Started a game of Twisted Metal 2. Everything worked perfectly. So I'm sure this makes sense, I just don't know exactly how (maybe someone can enlighten me?). In any event, assuming this isn't a case of me lucking into a working circuit by getting something very wrong, I have a working controller. If it's good, then great. I can throw the schematic into KiCAD, get this fabbed, and give 'er a whirl. THANK YOU, everyone who helped out. I feel like I had a tidal wave of knowledge crash into my brain these past two weeks, and I somehow retained all of it.
  9. Welp, I'm stumped. Testing the logic on U1-U3, everything's fine. This is with A1 starting at U1/H or U1/G. I get: 1111 1111 HGFE DCBA 1000 0010 HGFE DCBA 0101 1010 HGFE DCBA (1 = LED goes from ON to OFF) (0 = LED stays ON) And still, the controller isn't recognized. I swapped U6 with a new one, same result. I tried new breadboards, same result. The problem must be somewhere in my understanding of the U6 schematic. Can anyone point out where I'm going wrong? One of the gates (pin 1 (GND) or 19 (ATT))? Is my data-out on U1 pin 9 connected to the correct pin on U6 (pin 6)? After that, I feel like I've run out of questions to ask.
  10. Trying this method, let me make sure I got this right: When it's hooked up as described, the LED lights up. LED STAYS lit = 0 ? LED turns OFF = 1 ? In any event, I'm trying different breadboards. Not really expecting much from these, as they're also Elegoo, just unopened. I'll probably order better quality ones this coming weekend. The ones I was using were so touchy that even getting my fingertip near parts of the circuit caused the LED to go out, and all the wires I'm using are insulated. ?
  11. So A1-A8, B1-B8, etc. should each go from A to H, as opposed to H-to-A as NFG put in his schematic? If so...yes I've tried that too. ? I'll have to pull an LED out of my scrap collection and give your logic test a go. Otherwise I'll have to wait for a NOR gate chip to come in from Mouser, and I really don't feel like spending $7.99 for shipping on just one chip. Thanks very much for the tips! I'll let you know of my results in a little while.
  12. Ah yes, R1 is 22K. I overlooked that one in the schematic and forgot to label it properly. I also noticed in NFG's schematic that his R2 is labeled "1K0". Not sure if that was a typo, I tried a 10K resistor. As expected, this didn't fix the problem. My breadboards are fairly new, but I'm never buying Elegoo brand again. "Amazon's Choice"...my ****. On a previous controller circuit I was testing, one of the voltage/ground rail pairs was shorting into itself right out of the box. Turned on my console and heard such a pleasant feedback hum as a result. ? Do you (or does anyone here) have a recommendation for an "old reliable" breadboard they'd swear by?
  13. Yes, I did notice my schematic has the binary for U2 & U3 incorrect. I have corrected it to be: [U2] 0100 0001 (LHLLLLLH) [U3] 0101 1010 (LHLHHLHL) Still the same result, using both Stephen's and NFG's starting points (U1/G vs U1/H). Not even a remote sign of it working. I've tested all my breadboard rails and other important points, and everything tests fine. I even tried swapping in a fresh HC240. I really want to get this to work, and I know it must have, because it did in 1998.
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