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The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback


Byte Knight

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thank you. I was going to have to get a software dude do that part for me anyways. Do you know if jzintv allows for 2 controller adapters. I was thinking of adding the 2 vga ports on the back for keyboard and piano

 

The Ultimate PC interface already has ports for two controllers. You'd have to contact its creator, David Harley, if you plan to use two UPCI interfaces to see if that would work. Then you've used up both USB ports so you'd have to use a hub or the GPIO port for the Function key inputs.

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thank you. I was going to have to get a software dude do that part for me anyways. Do you know if jzintv allows for 2 controller adapters. I was thinking of adding the 2 vga ports on the back for keyboard and piano

 

jzIntv supports up to 4 "joysticks." I believe the UPCI exposes itself as a single joystick. (Not sure, never played with it, don't have one myself.) So, if it exposes itself as a single joystick, you could connect 4 of them.

 

Just change all the "JS0" references in the kbdhackfile to JS1, JS2, or JS3 as needed.

 

If the UPCI exposes itself as two joysticks, then you're still OK. Just change the JS0/JS1 references in the hackfile to JS2/JS3 for the other UPCI.

 

Any limitation wouldn't be on the jzIntv side.

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I think one UPCI will look like two controllers. The keyboard hackfile on Intellivision.us works fine w/ jzIntv.

 

What I've found is, as I purchased my second UPCI some time after the first, that there was a firmware revision to the device and the result was a need to modify the hackfile. At the bottom of this page, you'll find a couple links called HACKFILE.CFG -- one named hackfile.cfg, the other hackfile12.cfg. Which one you need depends on the firmware you've got.

 

Since the two I have are different firmware versions, a few oddities arise, especially if you try to use both. Can't recall the details.

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I think one UPCI will look like two controllers. The keyboard hackfile on Intellivision.us works fine w/ jzIntv.

 

What I've found is, as I purchased my second UPCI some time after the first, that there was a firmware revision to the device and the result was a need to modify the hackfile. At the bottom of this page, you'll find a couple links called HACKFILE.CFG -- one named hackfile.cfg, the other hackfile12.cfg. Which one you need depends on the firmware you've got.

 

Since the two I have are different firmware versions, a few oddities arise, especially if you try to use both. Can't recall the details.

 

The hackfile he posts is a little confusing, because I do see mappings for JS0 through JS3. But I also see Retrobox mappings in there... Huh?

 

I see on the page he says:

 

 

jzIntv supports 4 controllers but not 4 joysticks. If you wanted to use 4 controllers, you would need a CGC.

If you have 2 interfaces and want to use 4 controllers, use the Nostalgia emulator which properly supports 4 joysticks.

 

I don't know what he means by that. jzIntv has command line flags for configuring up to 4 distinct HID joysticks. If UPCI reports itself as two HID joysticks, then in theory it should be possible to interface two UPCIs to jzIntv.

 

As for how the UPCIs get mapped to joystick numbers as reported by SDL? That's a little out of my control. Given the number of USB plug/unplug events that the UPCI seems to need to vary its configuration, if you have two connected, their mapping to joystick numbers could keep changing, which would be one source of confusion for sure. ie. they might swap slots with each other.

 

I suppose I could teach jzIntv to read the joystick name strings to bring some stability there, but for it to be a truly stable mapping, each UPCI would have to have some unique identifier so I could tell which one was which.

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As for how the UPCIs get mapped to joystick numbers as reported by SDL? That's a little out of my control. Given the number of USB plug/unplug events that the UPCI seems to need to vary its configuration, if you have two connected, their mapping to joystick numbers could keep changing, which would be one source of confusion for sure. ie. they might swap slots with each other.

I've observed this -- even with a single UCPI -- especially when you use different USB ports. Never took careful observations, but definitely noted that the mapping changes. I may have some old email thread buried that was discussing this -- possibly with David.

Edited by intvsteve
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The hackfile he posts is a little confusing, because I do see mappings for JS0 through JS3. But I also see Retrobox mappings in there... Huh?

 

I see on the page he says:

 

 

I don't know what he means by that. jzIntv has command line flags for configuring up to 4 distinct HID joysticks. If UPCI reports itself as two HID joysticks, then in theory it should be possible to interface two UPCIs to jzIntv.

 

As for how the UPCIs get mapped to joystick numbers as reported by SDL? That's a little out of my control. Given the number of USB plug/unplug events that the UPCI seems to need to vary its configuration, if you have two connected, their mapping to joystick numbers could keep changing, which would be one source of confusion for sure. ie. they might swap slots with each other.

 

I suppose I could teach jzIntv to read the joystick name strings to bring some stability there, but for it to be a truly stable mapping, each UPCI would have to have some unique identifier so I could tell which one was which.

 

When trying to tell different models of joystick apart:

In general, don't rely on joystick name strings in USB (or Bluetooth). These are intended as human-readable strings, not as programmatic strings. These can vary for a single joystick model (ex: a joystick that can be renamed by the user). Alternatively, the same name can be used across different models and even different manufacturers (ex: some joysticks out there have a name of "joystick" or "").

Instead, you should rely on the VID and PID of the joystick, which respectively are the Vendor ID and Product ID. Vendor IDs (VIDs) are uniquely assigned by the USB-IF and the Bluetooth SIG to each implementing company. Bluetooth adds one more field to indicate whether the VID is from the USB table of vendors or the Bluetooth table of vendors.

 

When trying to tell different instances of the same model apart (ex: telling each UPCI apart):

If the USB device implements a serial number, then use this. This is a string that is defined by the implementing company (i.e. each vendor defines their own set of serial numbers and can overlap with other vendors). At the USB protocol level, it is implemented similar to how device name strings are implemented. However, not every USB device, especially joysticks, implements USB serial numbers. Since the UPCI is still actively getting firmware updates, then I recommend contacting the creator to see if he's willing to add serial number support.

Bluetooth devices can have serial numbers as well but I don't remember that part of the spec clearly. However, it is common for Bluetooth devices to be uniquely identified by their Bluetooth MAC address. However, there is an option in Bluetooth for a device to randomize its Bluetooth MAC to avoid privacy issues. Fortunately for you, this feature is not commonly used.

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I'm thinking a usb to arcade pcb (mame type), inside an arcade type controller with a built in keypad. These PCBs usually have enough contacts for direction, action buttons and keypad.

 

Does jzintv allow for keypad not to conflict with disc and action buttons? If yes, then that would be another reason not to use an Intellivision controller. Games like Night Stalker would be so much better.

Edited by grips03
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I'm thinking a usb to arcade pcb (mame type), inside an arcade type controller with a built in keypad. These PCBs usually have enough contacts for direction, action buttons and keypad.

 

Does jzintv allow for keypad not to conflict with disc and action buttons? If yes, then that would be another reason not to use an Intellivision controller. Games like Night Stalker would be so much better.

we are trying to build a raspberry pi in an intellivision flashback. We want to be able to use all original controls in it. (Ie: the ecs keyboard, regular controllers, and synthesizer) we want it to be authentic looking and compatible but use roms so we can have great compatibility with roms, more games and authentic controls. I can already play emulated games with better controls. I just prefer using authentic controllers whenever possible and i cant do that with intv, 5200 and coleco. All other systems i made a custom classic controller box with custom wired controllers to use them on my wii for authenticity. Just cant do it with systems with a keypad. My next plan then would be to do the same thing with a coleco flashback. Edited by pimpmaul69
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There's a splashscreen (see below) that's displayed when the RPi is turned on and the emulator is loading up. It would be cool if someone could come up with an Intellivision-based splashscreen for the project. It should be 1920 by 1080 pixels and in png of gif format. Some examples of other RetroPie splashscreens are here. Any artistic people out there?!

 

post-16548-0-80310500-1415240819_thumb.png

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There's a splashscreen (see below) that's displayed when the RPi is turned on and the emulator is loading up. It would be cool if someone could come up with an Intellivision-based splashscreen for the project. It should be 1920 by 1080 pixels and in png of gif format. Some examples of other RetroPie splashscreens are here. Any artistic people out there?!

 

splashscreen.png

mine will be the intv brotherhood logo
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also here is the wallpaper i plan on using. i left the background black so if anyone wants to use it they can modify how they like. i am going to make all blue for me. i might eliminate the "box lettering" not sure yet. hell if someone added it to some other cool inty art that would be cool too.

post-30773-0-26656800-1415305839_thumb.png

 

here is the pic i will most likely use

post-30773-0-21073900-1415307030_thumb.png

Edited by pimpmaul69
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Pimpmaul, which model of the raspberry are you planning on using? I'm probably going to pull the trigger on this, and I might as well get the same thing as others who are fooling around with it so we can share config and such.

i need to see which one byte knight is using as he has already started. I am not starting until i get paid on december first

Edit: i do have a friend who i can get one from but he has to ship it to me and im not sure what version that one is either

Edited by pimpmaul69
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also here is the wallpaper i plan on using. i left the background black so if anyone wants to use it they can modify how they like. i am going to make all blue for me. i might eliminate the "box lettering" not sure yet. hell if someone added it to some other cool inty art that would be cool too.

 

The second one looks really good. Here's a quick one that I came up with - found an image on the web and added some text.

 

post-16548-0-74237100-1415332388_thumb.png

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i need to see which one byte knight is using as he has already started. I am not starting until i get paid on december first

Edit: i do have a friend who i can get one from but he has to ship it to me and im not sure what version that one is either

 

Ah, ok. I just think for the first round of this effort it will be simpler if we all have the same boards. Same device numbers, drivers, etc.

 

I'm using the Revision B Pi.

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Hmm... I can get a B+ for a bit cheaper. Do you think there are differences that matter?

 

Maybe there are - I see it has 2 more USB ports and no RCA output (only HDMI).

 

You're using the regular B, correct? 2 USB ports, 512 MB, RCA + HDMI video out.

 

Yes, I'm using the B. That's surprising that the B+ is cheaper with all the new features. The B+ comes with a micro-SD card socket instead of a SD socket like the B. The RetroPie disk image is in SD card format, so I'm not sure if you'd run into some problems there...

Edited by Byte Knight
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