Serpentor Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I was looking at a teardown of a FB9 Gold and noticed a structure labeled "antenna" on the mainboard that is identical to something I noticed on the FBX deluxe. It may be possible for someone with expertise beyond mine to enable bluetooth on this and get the wireless controllers from the FB9 Gold to work with the X. I am not sure if the X has the radio on the board (don't even know what to look for). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serpentor Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 I just picked up a cheap FB9 Gold on eBay. I’m going to open it up and examine the boards to see if there are any components connected to that antenna that are missing on the FBX Deluxe’s board. I suppose before doing any of that, I will simply put batteries in the controllers and see if the FBX Deluxe picks them up. Who knows? Maybe it’s already built for them but shipped with wired ones to cut costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robotube Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Curiously, a message pops up when you have paddles plugged in about wireless controllers not working when paddles are in use. It may very well already be set to use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naisatoh Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I wanted to follow up on this thread. I ended up purchasing a used FB9 Gold and it turns out the FBX did not recognize the wireless controllers. I tried updating the FBX firmware just in case the newest version had wireless capabilities, but still no luck. I would love if anyone could figure out a way to make this work, if it's possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robotube Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Did you try the pairing technique? You’re supposed to be able to pair the controller by holding UP+Fire while putting batteries in. Maybe it just needs to be unpaired from the FB9 and paired to the FBX? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naisatoh Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Yes. I tried taking out the batteries and resetting the controllers without any luck. Neither controller was able to pair with the FBX. Not sure if there's an issue with the frequency or whether the antenna is even active/functional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 So i took high quality pics so you can see that there is nothing for the bluetooth. There arent any capacitors or resistors and the two chips that appear to go to the fb9 (he posted bad pics so cant say 100%) uses for the bluetooth are missing on the front and back of the fbx board https://m.imgur.com/a/1iK6L6c.jpg https://m.imgur.com/a/HvYrZd9.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizzard Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 I wonder if I could use another replacement controller for FBX. The original one is not bad, but it has very short cable and I would like to play on my chair instead of a floor. I like my Atari Vault Bundle USB controller which has very long cable which can I use with my another SBC emulation machine. It would be fine to have also the original FBX style controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft55555 Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 I'm still not seeing the selling point of the FBX over the FB9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 (edited) On 1/2/2020 at 8:31 PM, Serpentor said: I was looking at a teardown of a FB9 Gold and noticed a structure labeled "antenna" on the mainboard that is identical to something I noticed on the FBX deluxe. It may be possible for someone with expertise beyond mine to enable bluetooth on this and get the wireless controllers from the FB9 Gold to work with the X. I am not sure if the X has the radio on the board (don't even know what to look for). Any chance you can take better quality pics of the motherboard so i can see traces and numbers and chips so i can compare to flashback x to see if i can just buy a flashback 9 and steal all the bluetooth circuits and put it all in the flashback x. The flashback x motherboard has spots on the backside where i believe the ic chips for the bluetooth plus some capacitors go. Plus the oscillator and other caps on the top side. Edited February 7, 2020 by pimpmaul69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serpentor Posted March 18, 2020 Author Share Posted March 18, 2020 On 2/6/2020 at 9:22 PM, pimpmaul69 said: Any chance you can take better quality pics of the motherboard so i can see traces and numbers and chips so i can compare to flashback x to see if i can just buy a flashback 9 and steal all the bluetooth circuits and put it all in the flashback x. The flashback x motherboard has spots on the backside where i believe the ic chips for the bluetooth plus some capacitors go. Plus the oscillator and other caps on the top side. Sorry, I just now got back on here and saw your message. I will work on getting pics tonight and post them tonight or tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serpentor Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 Here are better pics of the FB9 Gold board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serpentor Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 And here is the FBX Deluxe. The regular and deluxe versions use the same board and are identical to the point that a regular one can be crossflashed to the deluxe firmware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizzard Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 So it seems it is not possible to use wireless? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_from_the_80s Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Although I've not messed with it at all, I observed on the FB X that there are two new binaries in the /emulator partition, one named "serialinput" and one named "wireless". The "serialinput" binary is being executed immediately before launching the UI, presumably to handle the wired controller input as a sort of daemon. The "wireless" binary is not being used at all, and I can't say exactly what it does or whether it is even functional. FWIW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 I just acquired a flashback 9 gold and while it all looks like the same hardware could be used in the fb9 gold could be used in the x for the 2.4ghz, there are different traces going to the clock (which isnt on the x either) and a few other places, means the 2 chips designed to be used in the x must be newer/different chips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 (edited) If anyone finds out what chips need to be purchased/installed, I'm totally up for doing it to mine. That would definitely make it more worth using, imo. I wonder if AtGames would be willing to give us that info. Would probably be difficult to get hold of the right person who could find out unless you had the right contacts. To me, the X is nice from a "mini" appearance accurate standpoint, but as for functionality, I prefer the 9 Gold. Those wireless controllers are great. I prefer the front controller ports and even the looks of the 9 as well, except for those round system buttons. Eventually, I want to 3D print some black ones, maybe with a smaller silver circle inlaid. Edited February 16, 2021 by KevinMos3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draxxon Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 (edited) The previous flashback's buttons remind me of this. I never really disliked them. Edited February 18, 2021 by Draxxon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 https://www.8bitdo.com/retro-receiver-genesis-mega-drive/ I tried one of these in my broken fb 9 no luck. Does not even light up even with a seagull 78. Maybe with the wire mod mentioned earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted December 26, 2021 Share Posted December 26, 2021 I opened my regular non deluxe or gold fb9 and took pics. Looks like 3 chips are missing. So only gold has wireless. Not just controllers but regular was wired differently inside too looks like. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/338442443507139759/74709554253318891 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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