Reverse 2600-dapter?

[hizzy]

Hi,

 

I know there are several great adapters that allow you to connect your atari controllers to your computer. I love the 2600 adapter. Is there an adapter that does the reverse, allowing you to connect a USB controller to your Atari 2600/7800?

 

Thanks!!

[+stephena]

I believe there's some adaptors like that for Amiga computers.  They use the same DB9 port, so they should be compatible.

[+stephena]

They were commonly used to attach USB mice to the Amiga.

 

https://amigastore.eu/414-rys-mkii-usb-adapter.html

http://amigakit.amiga.store/product_info.php?products_id=12699

 

Can't guarantee that they would work on the 2600/7800, but the signals are the same, so I don't see why not.

[Swami]

1 minute ago, stephena said:

https://amigastore.eu/414-rys-mkii-usb-adapter.html

 

http://amigakit.amiga.store/product_info.php?products_id=12699

These seem to work well on the 2600 and 7800 for JS and mouse. The mouse results were a little more varied on the 800XL, ranging from good to poor, depedning on the game. TOM2 and TOM2+ also work, but had issues with the online updater not working.

[hizzy]

1 hour ago, Swami said:

These seem to work well on the 2600 and 7800 for JS and mouse. The mouse results were a little more varied on the 800XL, ranging from good to poor, depedning on the game. TOM2 and TOM2+ also work, but had issues with the online updater not working.

Do you have experience with both adapters? Is there one you prefer?

 

Thanks!!

[Swami]

3 hours ago, hizzy said:

Do you have experience with both adapters? Is there one you prefer?

 

Thanks!!

I can't speak authoritatively, but I liked the mouse conversion on the 2600 trackball games better with the TOM. The Rys was a little jittery. I know a couple people got TOMs that didn't work and two of us could get the online updater to work. Also, the only usb controllers I had at the time were a Wired Logitech ps2 looking pad (310?) and a wireless Logitech 710 and they worked well on my PC, but I couldn't get the jump and left/right to work at the same time to jump sideways in games. Also, I think the rapid fire with either fire 1 or fire 2 when combined with the seagull 78 on the 7800 was the left back trigger button which made rapid fire difficult while using the d-pad. I'm afraid I don't recall how the Rys worked with gamepads. If I get some time to throw it together in the next week I'll let you know. I've mostly been using either a standard joystick or Genesis gamepad. I mostly tried the usb and 8bitdo retro receiver for wireless, but seems like there is sometimes lag, if only 50-100ms. Although, the 8bitdo genesis retro receiver on 7800 with the Wii Pro controller or on 2600 Wii Pro or Wii remote work without lag.

 

Most of the TOM and Rys info I have is from ones bought 2-3 years ago, so I can't say if they've addressed these issues. Hopefully, someone else can chime in. The TOM+ is just the TOM2 with an atari joystick passthrough (Atari female on one side and USB and atari male on the other.

[Swami]

On 11/20/2020 at 8:38 PM, hizzy said:

Do you have experience with both adapters? Is there one you prefer?

 

Thanks!!

I checked the TOM+ with the latest firmware and also the Rys. I can add to the above that the newest firmware v7 is a bit better with the wireless 710, but still acts buggy in pitfall. Sometimes your character will run without moving the dpad or you jump and move rather than both went you want to. I did not have any problems with the wired Logitech 310 pad or Buffalo SNES USB pad with either adapter and the wireless 710 worked well with the Rys adapter. BTW, the instructions for recognizing some of these gamepads are nonsense. With the Logitech pads, I had to plug in the adapter, then plug in the controller, then press the home button after 1 second, which is not described in any of the instructions. It seemed to accept the SNES USB pad automatically, though. I was testing out my TOM2 as well, but forgot how dry the air is and zapped it to death with a big static shock, now it won't seem to turn on.

 

So, Rys works better with wireless controllers, TOM2/+ works better with mice, I'd give an edge t Rys with gamepad controllers overall, although TOM+ has an extra port to switch between usb mouse/pad and standard Atari controller. Also consider the 8bitdo genesis retro receiver + Seagull 78 if you want to use bluetooth wireless or Wii U Pro or Switch Joycon.

 

Also, if you are like most of the world, you can't access the TOM updater now, so here it is:

 

e4you_Updater.zip

[hizzy]

Thanks for the help and the DL link!

[Swami]

1 minute ago, hizzy said:

Thanks for the help and the DL link!

Also, as far as mice, the TOM is easier to switch between Amiga mouse, Atari mouse and C64 3500 mouse/joypad