grips03

I built two stock Jag black controllers today. It takes around an hour to install the mod from start to finish. This is the easiest to mod as the black controllers pcb and ribbon wire are very strong and there is a ton of room. The Starwander Pro Controllers take me twice as long (or more). Hopefully I can get faster installing the mod in that one. Production pcb ordered. Production parts ordered. Best guess is ~ 3 weeks away.

If you damage the Starwander Pro Controller ribbon cable order: Qty 2 1832785-1 from Digikey or Mouser. Cut to the correct number of contacts and solder in. This cable has the correct pitch, wire size and length. It is much stronger than what its replacing.

Thought this picture would help those who use the DIN-8 connector on the O2. I now make sure the ribbon cable colors match the colors below. SD-80LS (DIN-8 connector) needs 18mm hole. I use step drill bit that has 18mm as one of the steps. 45/64 would work as well, but 18mm seems easier to find. Its best to mount SD-80LS with notch facing up. This is how the stock Videopac+ is. OSSC, XRGB, PVM/BVM don't need Status RGB, but some devices might. If you do need it simply wire the signal to the DIN-8 as the signal is present on the RGB mod board.

Would like to order one when ready.

Exactly uses anything you like on the console side. I just use the DIN 8 as that is what the Videopac uses. On the upscaler side I just use Euro SCART as that is what many upscalers have.

Its a great game for kids when using the voice.

The following should be in stock and ready to ship next week: Odyssey 2/G7000 RGB mod board without DIN-8 connector DIN 8 connector, panel mount for O2 RGB O2 RGB SCART cable - DIN-8 male on one side, Euro SCART RGB male on the other See sales thread here:

Looks like I'll be able to ship everything out next week.

Rapid fire helps.

I won't be making 6 button twin stick. I'm making 3 button twin stick with "B" button rapid fire. This is due to space in the selected donor controller.

Would be great to get a second one, just in case.

rgb pcbs, din 8 connectors and rgb cables ordered. din8 and rgb should be ready to ship in 2 weeks. RGB mod board in around 30 days.

delete

Ballast where I solder / mod stuff went bad, waiting for new ballast to arrive. I might have found a replacement ribbon cable for Starwander Pro Controller (SPC). Will be able to confirm next week when Digikey order arrives. I should mention even using a desoldering gun to remove a damaged ribbon cable on the Starwander PCBs can cause pcb pad damage. The SPC's PCBs are very fragile. Sort of along the lines of doing Colecovision memory replacement.

Once rapid fire starts shipping I'm going to make these. Best guess is Sept/Oct.

Here is the alternate location for the rapid fire button. See the small black button near the top. This is a very easy spot to press during game play to change the rapid fire speed. Not related to this, but a couple of times I've noticed the Jag not really firing when rapid fire is on and the rapid fire rate is changed. Easy fix is to release B and then press again. Happens very rarely, but thought I should mention it. It sort of does not make sense in that the atmega just runs code that says do X CPS when RF button is pressed Y times and the integration point between the microcontroller and the Jag is sort of simple too. Might be game related as all I'm playing is Raiden lately. I wish I had the Jag GD so I could switch to games I do not own. I sold and shipped two Pro controllers and if the people who bought them want the alternate rapid fire button added let me know, no cost to add it and I'll cover return shipping. I think the next controller I'll build will be alternate RF location only and see how I like that. Its the same PCB, so its more of an install time question. If I want to make it sort of stealthy I might hot glue the RF 2.0 pcb vs. using the fasteners. Then only the led and small black button would be externally visible as compared to stock controller.

I've modded 3 Pro Controllers so far. Two of them have required a new ribbon cable between top and bottom pcb. I hope to get better at modding them. Difficultly on Pro Controller is very high. Meaning controller ribbon cable is likely to break due to bending when moving the controllers pcb around. I'm going to try to see if it can be modded with no bending by taking both the top and bottom out at the same time.

http://www.mdgames.de/jag_eng.htm

I'm using a joystick test rom and noticed ZYX buttons on a non-modded Starwander Pro Controller need to be pressed hard to register button press. Anyone else notice this? Does the Atari brand Pro Controller have the same issue?

Any issue with using red for rapid fire button?

I've built a couple of first run controllers and yes Raiden is much more fun to play than ever before. However I did notice something with Raiden. The ideal rapid fire rate changes depending on how many red pickups your ship has. Usually 6 CPS is perfect when starting out the game, but I've wanted to switch to other CPS speeds at certain points in time. Due to this I've been playing with an alternate location of the rapid fire button. Problem with the alternate areas is how the button would need to be secured in the alternate location. It might have to be hot glue on the inside of the controller. I think most people will be happy with default rapid fire button location in the back of the controller and its certainly the most secure as it held in place with two fasteners, two nylon spacers, and two nyloc nuts. In order to test the alternate locations I've ordered some different tactile switches from Digikey. No changes are needed to the PCB, so if people want to place the led or push button in other places that is certainly possible, with the led being the easiest location to change as its a panel mount led and just the littlest amount of hot glue holds it in place. More photos to follow later this week.

sold out.

Ok here is what a finished Starwander Pro Controller looks like with Rapid Fire 2.0 kit installed. Please ignore the extra hole in the back as this is my beta testing controller. Everything with rev3 worked great. Install is much nicer now.

sold out. I'll re-order soon.

Here is the photo showing the new screw spacing. Button is a little off center, but not horrible. I'll have to see how consistent I am building them. The template is built into the PCB, so hopefully this is the worse they would look And this might be from using various revision pcbs in this same controller. I seem to remember this being the case anyway. Ignore the top screw hole as that was from previous version of the pcb.