smbaker

Just wanted to let folks know that I do currently have plenty of bare pcboards on hand. You can find them from me on eBay, or you can order directly from here on the forum ($10 per bare pcboard plus shipping here on the forum). Yes I am talking to DrBenkman about supplying him with a quantity of boards that he could use to fabricate completed controllers for people. This would be a great service to the community as I know there is a demand. Scott

I have plenty of blank pcboards on hand now, so anyone needing a blank pcboard, just send me a PM and we can make arrangements. My usual price is $10/board plus shipping. As a reminder, these are blank boards only, you still need to source all the components yourself. Scott

Yeah, it came highly recommended to me by several people. So far I'm pretty happy. Posted a new video today, showing off the 3D case! Scott

One thing to note is that the fire buttons and the keypad are connected directly to the 5200. The only thing that uses the microcontroller is the analog stick portion of the controller. So anything in the thumbstick, microcontroller, or digital pot could be causing the issue. One other thing to check is that you programmed the fuses into the microcontroller. One of the fuses sets the clock speed multiplier and perhaps too slow a clock (I have not tried it) could cause an issue. I ended up getting a Prusa I3 MK3. So far it's been a pretty good experience, I've printed several things. I might try the case in PLA without supports. In PETG there was quite a bit of stringing, and some deformed layers when I tried it without support material.

@chicgamer: Also, check and make sure that you have installed the jumper at JP2, as this is the chip select for the digital pot. Somewhere around here I did make a test firmware that cycles the pots back and forth, ignoring the thumbsticks entirely, and that could be one way to diagnose whether your issue resides with the digital pots, or with the thumbstick. If you're interested, I can dig that up. @animan99: I just got a 3D printer and printed your case design yesterday, in PETG. A little bit of an issue with nastiness around the supports on the beveled edge (I'm trying a PLA print to see if it looks nicer), but nothing some sanding couldn't clear up. Great design, and thanks for sharing it! Scott

I don't have any good suggestions left at this point. I did just try my prototype and verified that removing the IC gives me an open circuit indication on the 5200. I tried putting a 10K resistor in parallel with the 10M, and was able to bring it down to a 5 reading, which is consistent with what you're seeing. Looking at the schematic, I don't see an obvious place where a bridged solder joint would be responsible (and it would be surprising for the same problem to occur on both axis). Can you post a picture of the board? Maybe another set of eyes will help and I can spot something. Scott

Rayik, I'm still concerned that you're getting a low value when the IC is not installed. Can you triple-check that the 10M resistor is 10M (and not, for example, 10K which is a similar color code) and that the diode polarity is correct? Scott

That is interesting. Without the IC installed, the only thing in circuit on each axis should be the 10M resistor and the diode. It should read full right (I think that's what DrVenkman's did when he tried it with the IC removed), not full left. Scott

From my notes earlier, with the power off and the IC removed, using the two-pin pads adjacent to each pot, I measured 265K on the top one and 263K on the bottom one (the difference between 265K and 263K is probably not significant). So I would start by verifying your pots are in the ballpark of those values. If that still doesn't get performance within reasonable limits, can you use a traditional controller on port 1 of the 5200, and the masterplay clone on port 2, to navigate into Pete's test cartridge? I don't have an atarimax, so I'm not entirely sure how the menu system works. Scott

One of the things I was thinking about doing was to define a dead zone around the center of the stick, so that if the stick is moved around inside that dead zone, it doesn't change the pot value sent to the 5200. As soon as you start to move out of the dead zone, then it would start changing the pot value like normal. I think this can entirely be done in software. My concern is that the dead zone might not be alike for all PS2 controllers, or even alike for the two thumbsticks on a single controller. Scott

Great to hear you have it working, Rayik. It should be possible to adjust the code to tune the joysticks. Right now they're tuned to my 5200 and my PS2 sticks. There are some variances with the PS2 thumbsticks. I've noticed in one of my controllers, the right and left tumbsticks don't center up to the same value. Not as bad as what you're experiencing, and not leading to playability issues as far as I'm aware, but far less than perfect. I will try berzerk when I get a chance. Scott

Grr.... This thing seems to be causing more problems for folks than one would expect. Can you use Pete's Test Cartridge to verify the values when the joystick isn't pressed? Also, to verify, you have adjusted the two pots for centering?

Yeah, I have plenty on hand now, $10 each plus shipping. Scott

If you solder the connector on the wrong side of the board, you'll actually reverse the numbering of pins in each row of the connector. For example the rightmost pin on the 9-pin connector if flipped over becomes the leftmost pin. This almost certainly won't work right, and in the worst case could damage something. Scott