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New PC Joystick SNES Controller Interface


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I thought that I might share this here, as it is relevant to the forum. I recently designed an interface for vintage PCs with a Gameport (either an analog card or soundcard with Gameport). I had been thinking about the idea for quite some time. But thought that I would sit down and put the idea together. What I came up with is the SNES-2-GP. I've added a write up on my website. Clint Basinger from LGR liked the idea, and I'm sending him one to play around with. If anyone is interested reading about it's development, the link is below.

 

http://retrodepot.net/?page_id=1078

 

 

img_6333.jpg?resize=768%2C647

Edited by jdgabbard
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  • 4 weeks later...

It is using the second axis. But there is a difference in how those axis work under the two modes. In the traditional mode, it is simply another 2-axis current sensing. However, in HAT mode, it is a 1-axis current sense line. So the two modes are fundamentally different, and require different circuits to operate. I got around this limitation with some clever design implementations, and a bunch of digital to analog circuitry.

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Why would you use an SNES mouse on a vintage PC. My DOS PC has a PS/2 mouse port so I just use that wit a laser mouse. Though even PC serial mice would be better than the SNES mouse.

On PC flight games that have joystick compatibility and not mouse compatibility, it could be interesting...

 

Also, I have an adapter for 15 pin PC controllers to work on the 5200. If the mouse could be made to work in an analog way with the SNES to 15 pin PC adapter and the two adapters were combined, it might make playing some of the analog 5200 games quite cool (Dreadnaught Factor, Tempest, Beamrider, etc...).

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To get a true analog feel youd probably need extra circuitry. The way this is design is to provide an analog equivalent of a digital value. So when in the idle state it is mid range. When a button is pressed the value either goes full swing sink or no sink. What you suggest would be possible, but youd need a digital potentiometer. But I dont think they make them that: 1) have the correct value, and 2) the results Ive seen show they are not precise.

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It's possible, I may look into it. If I were to improve this, I think simply adding a method for variable current sinking so that it could emulate true analog values would be a must. Which would go well with Playstation analog sticks. So it's possible I might do something like that in the future. But the cost of bringing a product to market can be high. You don't want to guess what the cost on this project so far has been....not even counting my time... It's definitely a labor of love, fueled by the desire to give back a little of what I have benefited from in the various computing communities on the web.

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