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fluxit

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Posts posted by fluxit

  2. Posted

    Hey Tom(dualcam,)

     

    We(the fans) recently succeeded in adding 2600-daptor compatibility to the Retron 77. In testing this, I noticed some strange paddle behavior with my 2600-daptor upon which I thought you might have some insight. I hadn't really used it for paddles before, so I'd not seen this before.

     

    I'm using my Coleco Gemini 'Dual Command' paddles in their 'Y' adapter. They are newly repaired and cleaned, FWIW.

    The 2600-daptor is a 2600-daptor II flashed with the "2600-daptorII TB FB1" firmware.

     

    Demons to Diamonds works perfectly. Super Breakout works perfectly. Video Olympics is... strange. It acts as though there is invisible bubble gum sticking the paddle to the screen in a particular spot about an inch up from the bottom for both paddle 1 and 2. On the Retron, and also on my desktop machine in Stella, I get the same effect. When the paddle is about to reach the bottom of the screen, it stops, and there is a dead zone of movement, followed by normal movement *at* the bottom of the screen. Again, the behavior is the same for both paddles(and both players,) and it is entirely consistent.

     

    I see something similar in (normal)Breakout, but less pronounced. The paddle 'skips' the dead zone when almost to the left side of the screen instead of doing the virtual shoe in bubble gum routine.

     

    In MAME 0.185, Video Olympics(same ROM) skips the dead zone entirely, with the paddle never occupying that space at all AFAICT, using the default paddle settings in MAME, as I'm sure that I could eliminate the dead zone by tweaking settings in MAME.

     

    Is my 2600-daptor II malfunctioning?

  3. Posted

    Oops, you could also just use one of the usb connected 8BitDo bluetooth receivers as well. The trick is that the R77 never has to deal with the bluetooth, all it sees is a usb game controller.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted · Edited by fluxit

    For a complicated(and expensive if you don't have some of the parts already) solution, you could use an 8BitDo NES bluetooth receiver plugged into a NES to db9 adapter plugged into a 2600-daptor D9. That should work.

     

    Or, in place of the NES, I guess the D9 also supports Sega Genesis, so you could use an 8BitDo Genesis receiver instead.

  5. Posted

    Playing with a nes pad, I have to agree with bhall408. We need some debounce. About half the time I'm moving two levels unintentionally, and I'm only tapping.

     

    I like the concept and graphics.

    • Like 1

  6. Posted · Edited by fluxit

     

    Shift+Arrow keys should get you there.

    Ah-hah. I tried all combinations of Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Space, and Tab, and every other single key on the keyboard, but not that. icon_mrgreen.gif

     

    With Thomas' and your hints, Trak-ball games are now working as well as paddle games. I'm now loving the Retron 77- 'modern' Atari gaming goodness.

     

    Thank you both, and to all other contributors, including StephenA, of course .

    • Like 2

  7. Posted

    Trackballs are supported, but probably not configured for the ROMs you tested. IIRC with a Stella.pro file you should be able to fix that.

     

    Ah, yes. I see now where one can choose a controller type per rom in Stella now. I know that you can add entries externally as well, but I can't figure out how to access other pages in stella's configuration dialogs in order to do it with just a keyboard- directly on the R77. I can cycle through the buttons with the 'Tab' key, but Stella skips the dialog page tabs.

     

    Can it be done with keyboard only? I can't seem to manage it on my desktop Stella without a mouse either, and with no mouse pointer on the R77, it's very difficult to go that route.

  8. Posted

    I'm a little confused (haven't bought the system yet)... What would I have to do to connect the Stelladaptor? Is it a hardware mod?

     

    If this all works, is it definitely a better option than the Flashback 9 for a dedicated 2600 emulation machine with hdmi out?

     

    Go back a page in the thread. You need a special cable, no mod is required.

  9. Posted · Edited by fluxit

    Here's the dirt(so to speak) on 2600-daptor paddles and trak-ball vs the current(updated) Retron 77:

     

    Super Breakout - rom works, cart works

    Kaboom - rom works, my cart is in the bottom of a box that I'm not going to dig through today.

     

    In short, if Stella knows that a game is paddle compatible, your paddles(both) will be as smooth or as jittery as they would be on a 'real' 2600, unlike when they are plugged into the front ports on the R77.

     

    --------------------------------------------

     

    Trak-ball games... does this version of Stella understand trak-balls?

     

    My CX-80 is being detected as a mouse by the R77, and works as a mouse, as on my desktop machine.

     

    Missile Command TB - roms don't work, cart doesn't work. I tried the CX-80 and CX-22 variants, including those that *do* work on my desktop Stella.

    Everything else TB - I didn't find a rom that works. My optical mouse also doesn't work as a trak-ball(though it does as a mouse in the menu) on the R77.

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    So wait... Paddles and driving controllers and trackballs will actually work with it now? Has anyone tested them with this setup? Is there any noticeable lag with paddles /kaboom?

     

    I don't see any reason why they wouldn't, though I've only tested joystick on the 2600-daptor so far. Super Breakout with USB mouse was silky smooth and I didn't notice any more lag than my TV introduces in 'game mode,' ~50ms. If I get the time today, I'll test Kaboom with paddles, and a couple of games with trak-ball. I don't have any driving controllers.

  12. Posted · Edited by fluxit

    I can confirm that after replacing uimage with your experimental build that hotplug works and my 2600-daptor works.

     

    My nes styled generic USB gamepad worked after being configured in Stella(requires an attached keyboard.)

     

    I can also confirm that the USB power supply I received with my R77 is garbage. It died after a few minutes exposure to the tiny extra load of a USB 2.0 hub(unpowered,) a Logitech wired keyboard, a generic optical mouse, and the 2600-daptor. The PS was supposed to be able to supply 1 amp. I measured the full load(while emulating) on an LG 'charger' peaking at 560ma.

     

    Just to make sure that hotplugging(on my part) wasn't the issue with the 2600-daptor on the original build, I switched back to the original uimage to test, and the 2600-daptor definitely doesn't work with that build, hotplugged or not.

    • Like 7

  13. Posted

    IIRC mouse and keyboard only requires hid+-usbhid which is the larger chunk of code, and is apparently already included. On my sorely needs to be updated Mint system, the 2600-daptor loads hid-generic, which is 'only' 16k and has no added dependencies over hid & usbhid FWIW.

  14. Posted · Edited by fluxit

    OK, so we know that the usb port is connected to the data lines... will it recognize a usb joystick or 2600-daptor? I just ordered the above adapter OTG cable to play with, should be here by next week!

     

    I should have better emphasized that no hardware modification is required.

     

    The Linux kernel included on the Retron 77 does not support those devices. At some point in the future that may(probably will) change, and if it does only a new firmware on the sdcard will be required in addition to the above mentioned cable.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted · Edited by fluxit

    I received my Retron 77 last week, and it came with 'The Trooper.' I like it, though it's not my favorite. Time will tell how it holds up, though I'm not typically very hard on joysticks, so someone else will have to answer that question most likely.

     

    It's probably not a very good candidate for 7800 2-button conversion. While the two buttons are comfortable for left and right handed play, they aren't convenient for simultaneous use. Having just opened my stick, it also has only a 6 wire cable, so that would have to be replaced if converting for 7800 use.

     

    One thing I definitely like about the Trooper, is that while the action is soft, it's very easy to feel diagonals, unlike many rubber membrane sticks/pads.

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    I was thinking of using the existing 'power only' micro usb port for data, rerouting my existing data wires when what did I find? That it isn't a power only port. The data lines are connected. No hardware modification of the Retron 77 is needed for it to support USB peripherals, just a 'USB OTG cable with power.'

     

    post-47453-0-10027000-1548295727.jpg

     

    I didn't have one of these on hand so I did a quick bodge of one for testing, and it works fine.

    • Like 4

  18. Posted

     

     

    Would you mind sharing the pinout? I'll add to the Stella wiki page that describes the R77 hard- and firmware. As Stephen said, I guess the kernel is compiled without gamepad support. It shouldn't be difficult to recompile it and rebuild the firmware with the necessary modules. Did you find any other interesting signals on the headers with your scope?

    No, other than the previously explored debug TTY, I didn't see anything else interesting, although I was focused on finding the USB.

     

    Here's the USB pinout:

    post-47453-0-08188300-1548120576.png

  19. Posted · Edited by fluxit

    JP1 on the main pcb is a usb data port. I added a jack to my Retron 77 today after checking the 4 obvious "JP" choices with my scope to find out which was USB. USB hubs work. Keyboard and mouse work, but there is no visible mouse pointer.

     

    Unfortunately, my 2600-daptor II was not recognized, neither was a generic USB nes styled pad AFAICT. I was hoping to be able to use paddles plugged into the 2600-daptor to get around the jittery(and single) paddle issue.

     

    I may still be able to use my custom(formerly optical mouse) spinner, if I convert it to USB from PS2.

    • Like 3

  21. Posted · Edited by jaybird3rd

    I agree with jaybird3rd that there are probably better options available for playing Battezone, but if you do want to stick with your original idea, try AutoHotKey(AHK) if on Windows, or joytokey(available for Win, Linux, and Mac.) AHK will allow you to use any control method with virtually any program, and IME works well. It does take a bit of 'programming' though.

     

    -edit- stupid simple editor <sigh>

  23. Posted

    Fun game.

     

    If you press fire on the 'press fire for next level' screen while your auto-swimming diver is overlapping the tree, you will die instantly. I wasn't sure if that was intentional or not.

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