bluetooth to 2600

[+Karl G]

For bonus points, does anyone know of an Atari-like bluetooth joystick controller that might work with this? E.g. a speciality stick designed for one of the consoles that use bluetooth controllers or somesuch.

 

Mind you, I do fine with gamepads, but not everyone in my household does. ? 

[0078265317]

2 hours ago, Karl G said:

For bonus points, does anyone know of an Atari-like bluetooth joystick controller that might work with this? E.g. a speciality stick designed for one of the consoles that use bluetooth controllers or somesuch.

 

Mind you, I do fine with gamepads, but not everyone in my household does. ? 

I like using a wii remote with this works great.  Or a classic controller.

[Lillapojkenpåön]

On 7/6/2020 at 11:22 PM, Karl G said:

For bonus points, does anyone know of an Atari-like bluetooth joystick controller that might work with this? E.g. a speciality stick designed for one of the consoles that use bluetooth controllers or somesuch.

 

Mind you, I do fine with gamepads, but not everyone in my household does. ? 

?

[+Karl G]

31 minutes ago, Lillapojkenpåön said:

?

Is this real? Link? 

[Lillapojkenpåön]

Don't know, stopped following it a long time ago

https://atarivcs.com/

but it would be really cool

https://medium.com/@atarivcs/peripherals-update-designed-for-atari-vcs-in-partnership-with-powera-252685b0f2f1

 

can someone call them and tell them to make sure it works with the 8bitdo on the original vcs  

nomnomnom

Edited July 12, 2020 by Lillapojkenpåön

[+Karl G]

Oh! I've forgotten that that the "Atari VCS" even exists. Maybe because it doesn't. 

[RevEng]

Heads up there's an open bluetooth adapter project in progress, which should support twin sticks and much more!

 

 

[flickertail]

I've got 2 x modern VCS controllers and 2 x VCS classic controller on pre-order through Walmart. As soon as I receive them (Nov?) I plan to add support for them.

4 minutes ago, RevEng said:

Heads up there's an open bluetooth adapter project in progress, which should support twin sticks and much more!

 

 

 

[Centurion]

@RevEngThanks for this mod tip. Do you know if these should be safe/work with Atari compatible DB9 systems such as Commodore 64/128, Atari 8-Bit & ZX Spectrum? Also do the two buttons work with 7800? Just curious if this mod will be safe to use on those systems or not. I have been wanting a general use DB9 wireless solution for a long time!

[RevEng]

it's electrically and functionally a genesis controller. In regards to safely: Any of the Atari platforms won't be damaged by genesis controls. I don't know the details, but I've read that genesis controllers can damage the c64. No idea about the ZX.

 

In regards to working, first it needs either the wirehack in the first post in this thread, or you need to plug it into a seagull 78 adapter.

• On the 7800, using the seagull adapter it works with 7800 two button games. Plugged directly into the 7800 it doesn't work for two button games, and may or may not work ok for single button games. (depends on the game)
• On the 2600 (or the 7800 in 2600 mode) plugged directly into the console will be compatible with regular 2600 joystick games *and* the 2600 genesis two-button hacks. I believe using the seagull adapter on the 2600 will only work for regular 2600 joystick games.

[Centurion]

4 hours ago, RevEng said:

it's electrically and functionally a genesis controller. In regards to safely: Any of the Atari platforms won't be damaged by genesis controls. I don't know the details, but I've read that genesis controllers can damage the c64. No idea about the ZX.

 

In regards to working, first it needs either the wirehack in the first post in this thread, or you need to plug it into a seagull 78 adapter.

• On the 7800, using the seagull adapter it works with 7800 two button games. Plugged directly into the 7800 it doesn't work for two button games, and may or may not work ok for single button games. (depends on the game)
• On the 2600 (or the 7800 in 2600 mode) plugged directly into the console will be compatible with regular 2600 joystick games *and* the 2600 genesis two-button hacks. I believe using the seagull adapter on the 2600 will only work for regular 2600 joystick games.

Thanks for clearing this up for me. I ordered a couple of receivers and am gonna do the mod and play around with it a bit.

[spspspsp]

FYI, for any one else wanting to use Bluetooth or 2.4Ghz Genesis/Mega Drive controllers without soldering like in the top post, you can also just use a cable adapter that swaps pins 5 and 7. Best, for example, sells a short Genesis controller adapter for the 2600, and all it does is swap pins 5 and 7. I have one and have used a 2.4Ghz 8bitdo controller in my 2600 for a year and a half or so.

 

It's pretty easy to throw such a cable together at home too.

[Conrad_Roentgen]

Hi, I hope you know an answer. I have the same 8bitdo bBluetooth dongle, even the model number on the board is the same. (MDRR 83FA V4 0925) I bridged pin 5 and 7 as you have shown but as soon as I plug it into my Atari 7800 the Atari receives a continuous B-Button signal that I cannot stop. Pairing the bluetooth controller with the dongle doesn’t change anything. How is that possible?

[RevEng]

If by "B button" you mean one of the 7800 two-button mode buttons, then yes, that's expected with genesis controllers. They aren't compatible with 7800 two-button-mode. You'd need an adapter to make genesis controllers work in two-button mode with the 7800, like the seagull78.

[imstarryeyed]

@flickertail

 

Your 2600 Bluetooth project from a few years ago sounds interesting did you ever get a chance to complete it?

 

I idea of a flexible board that allows mapping dual stick and other controllers to a 9 pin system is awesome.

 

It would be great to have an interface that can work for 9 pin systems like C64, Amiga, Atari consoles and 8 bit computers too!

 

I saw your last posting here appears to be from 2020, I can imagine with supply chains and things going on, that these projects may have gotten stalled.

 

 

[flickertail]

@imstarryeyed

Thanks for the message. I have a blog on Atari Age that talks about what I've been doing somewhat recently. I have dropped my attempt at doing Bluetooth support for now as I switched from the Pi Zero to the Pi Pico. Mostly because it was instant startup. I have the basics of a USB adapter working with the Atari VCS classic and modern controllers, but work and family obligations have prevented me from working on it for a while.

 

It basically works as a 2600 joystick and a 7800 controller without much of a problem. Of course, it would be a lot cooler if it also supports the paddle controller. That's where it kind of gets sticky... I also sort of have a 5200 version working, but either my 5200 internal capacitors aren't working correctly, or I just basically am not wiring the DAC correctly. IDK... the DAC issues affect both paddle support and 5200 joystick support, so until I can figure out what I'm doing wrong... any boards we might manufacture will be delayed.

 

Maybe in about a month I'll get back to it, I'm not sure.

 

It's mostly a work related problem. Or more accurately, if I work on it on the weekends or at night, I tend not to get any sleep, and then that ruins me for the next work day. With some new important projects coming up, I had to make the choice of not working on it. I tend to obsessively work on the project once I start.

 

But I feel like I'm sooooo close to having it working though, it's really frustrating that it's not.

 

IDK, getting a joystick version and 7800 gamepad version working might be something people would be interested in... it's just it could be so much more, I just don't want to give up getting the paddles to work.

[imstarryeyed]

9 minutes ago, flickertail said:

@imstarryeyed

Thanks for the message. I have a blog on Atari Age that talks about what I've been doing somewhat recently. I have dropped my attempt at doing Bluetooth support for now as I switched from the Pi Zero to the Pi Pico. Mostly because it was instant startup. I have the basics of a USB adapter working with the Atari VCS classic and modern controllers, but work and family obligations have prevented me from working on it for a while.

 

It basically works as a 2600 joystick and a 7800 controller without much of a problem. Of course, it would be a lot cooler if it also supports the paddle controller. That's where it kind of gets sticky... I also sort of have a 5200 version working, but either my 5200 internal capacitors aren't working correctly, or I just basically am not wiring the DAC correctly. IDK... the DAC issues affect both paddle support and 5200 joystick support, so until I can figure out what I'm doing wrong... any boards we might manufacture will be delayed.

 

Maybe in about a month I'll get back to it, I'm not sure.

 

It's mostly a work related problem. Or more accurately, if I work on it on the weekends or at night, I tend not to get any sleep, and then that ruins me for the next work day. With some new important projects coming up, I had to make the choice of not working on it. I tend to obsessively work on the project once I start.

 

But I feel like I'm sooooo close to having it working though, it's really frustrating that it's not.

 

IDK, getting a joystick version and 7800 gamepad version working might be something people would be interested in... it's just it could be so much more, I just don't want to give up getting the paddles to work.

Flickertail, thank you so much for the update, i will be sure follow your blog as well.

 

I can certainly sense the frustration you are having with being so close. I totally get that way with projects as well.

 

Please let me and well, this thread know if we can help with anything or even testing configurations that you may not have or against different systems as I will be happy to help and give reports back to you as my background was doing hardware QA engineering for Sony for almost 6 years.

 

Thank you again for all of your hard work as I think your project will fill a gap that not many solutions exist at the moment.

 

[flickertail]

36 minutes ago, imstarryeyed said:

Please let me and well, this thread know if we can help with anything or even testing configurations that you may not have or against different systems as I will be happy to help and give reports back to you as my background was doing hardware QA engineering for Sony for almost 6 years.

Thanks... I might take you up on that. I should probably just build some testing boards. I should just make that my goal for the end of May... even if they're not working perfectly, to have some board built for volunteers to provide feedback.

[Dionoid]

Hi @RevEng, I recently bought an 8bitdo M30 2.4g wireless controller (for original Genesis) and the receiver didn't work when plugged into the Atari 2600.

So I did the same trick (soldering jumper wire between pins 5 and 7), which made the receiver work and connect with the controller. However, it still doesn't work on the Atari 2600 - no response at all. 

 

Any suggestions?

[Dionoid]

5 hours ago, Dionoid said:

Hi @RevEng, I recently bought an 8bitdo M30 2.4g wireless controller (for original Genesis) and the receiver didn't work when plugged into the Atari 2600.

So I did the same trick (soldering jumper wire between pins 5 and 7), which made the receiver work and connect with the controller. However, it still doesn't work on the Atari 2600 - no response at all. 

 

Any suggestions?

Never mind, this seems to be a firmware issue. I've updated the firmware of the controller, but can't update the firmware of the receiver and it seems the communication has broken.