geekhack
geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: MOZ on Wed, 23 October 2013, 14:16:13
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So, having been tied up with uni work and seeing this post from wetto: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=33130.msg1087619#msg1087619 I had an idea, well here is the brainchild:
[attachimg=1]
Now, how does wetto's post come into this? I looked at the image and thought the ozone gripk was a a retro controller or something, and it struck me, we absolutely need something like this, we really do.
So a couple of quick mock-ups, and we have this.
Now, SA's DSA caps would be perfect for this, and this would be a real cool small project to do. Maybe we can design a couple of variants. I don't know.
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Reserved
Some useful links for firmware:
http://learn.adafruit.com/usb-snes-gamepad
http://www.instructables.com/id/SNES-Teensy-USBPS3-Gamepad/?ALLSTEPS
http://blog.gimx.fr/?b2w=http://diy-machine.blogspot.in/2011/05/teensy-20-cp2102-board.html
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Oh damn. SNES controller w/MX switches?
Would buy.
Now what would the center buttons be for on the D-pad? Or are they there just to be aesthetically pleasing?
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aesthetically only, just for the fun of it, nothing concrete so far.
Actually I had it mind to have the select/start/middle button on the dpad (if we go for it) on a lower layer than the rest of the keys.
Oh I should post dimensions as well.
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I like what I see.
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Updated with new mockup with dimensions.
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Added some useful firmware links.
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So, I guess the controller would be fatter than a standard snes/nes controller considering the size of mx switches.
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Eeeeehhh, while the concept seems cute, and I would totally get this if it came as a DIY package with all parts included, I think the D-pad is pretty much gonna suck for most gaming as rapidly changing direction with MX caps... Probably not going to work all that well.
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Yeah, I don't think it can be used for serious gaming, more like a novelty and fun thing, although tit would be interesting to test with DSA caps and the G20 line of caps SP has.
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So, I guess the controller would be fatter than a standard snes/nes controller considering the size of mx switches.
The NES/SNES is around 17mm thick, we can get that thickness if you don't include the top switch half and keycap. If you include everything, then it would be around 25mm.
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So, I guess the controller would be fatter than a standard snes/nes controller considering the size of mx switches.
The NES/SNES is around 17mm thick, we can get that thickness if you don't include the top switch half and keycap. If you include everything, then it would be around 25mm.
I thought it would need the support of the top switch half.
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Maybe use a trackball or something instead for the Dpad, and have more buttons on the other side to take care of common a b x y lft rgt etc? Perahps something along the lines of
(http://fuynfactory.dyndns.tv/wiki/images/4/42/Sega_Master_system_Sports_Pad_Power_Ball_track.jpg)
with more buttons. Shoot for something that would be ok to have in the lap maybe size wise?
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So like a mini arcade joystick, kind of what HORI has?
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How about something like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9032
Also, I'm thinking maybe we can have 2u buttons on the back like flippers.
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How about something like this: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9032
Also, I'm thinking maybe we can have 2u buttons on the back like flippers.
I have one of these from sparkfun... I made a cherry mx (blue) based Xbox 360 wireless
controller, and used this for the right analog stick. Would need to read an analog signal from it, but I guess it's also possible to translate that to a digital signal.
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I have one of these from sparkfun... I made a cherry mx (blue) based Xbox 360 wireless
controller, and used this for the right analog stick.
You lie, I need to see pics, nao!
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ML might be a better choice; gamepads are typically short-throw.
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I'm not aware of a source for switches, otherwise, I had given it a thought as well.
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Hmm, so I found some on onlinecomponents. SP does do keycaps for these, quite low profile as well. Hmm, now I'm starting to lean towards these.
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I have one of these from sparkfun... I made a cherry mx (blue) based Xbox 360 wireless
controller, and used this for the right analog stick.
You lie, I need to see pics, nao!
Well, it's kind of ugly, because it's hacked together, and it's not really in standard xbox 360 layout - I pulled all of the controller buttons off into a keypad-like WASD grid, and brought the right-analog stick off to the side to operate more like an arcade stick. The buttons worked great, but the analog stick mounting really didn't work as I had hoped, and I stopped playing with it.
I should note, the problems I had weren't with the analog stick device itself, but with sensitivity in the controller.
I'll get a pic in a bit. It's a really ugly hack job and nothing like what you're probably thinking.
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Anything bro, anything and everything is good.
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See, it's pretty terrible looking...
[attach=1]
Here's a closeup of some of the awfulness...
[attach=2]
So the WASD (which is not really WASD, but more like QWES, because I don't actually like WASD) is actually the left analog stick - there's no subtle movements there, it's full-on or full-off. The other buttons are just... buttons. The left and right triggers are converted from analog to just full-on or full-off and I brought them over to the thumbstick.
My next plan if everything went well, was to bring all the switches through a matrix, run that into a Teensy, then be able to use software to change the keymappings, so I could move the ABXY and D-pad keys wherever I wanted them, to change with the game. I didn't get there, because the thumbstick idea didn't really work out the way I wanted. Increasing the height to make an arcade stick, with buttons introduced additional dead-space at the center point of analog stick. I thought I might be able to come up with some way to improve response but I sort of lost interest.
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Aah, this is quite different as compared to what I am going for. This is a Orbweaver replacement.
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Aah, this is quite different as compared to what I am going for. This is a Orbweaver replacement.
Yes, sorry, I didn't mean to derail everything, I was just trying to say that the little analog stick thing from sparkfun was cool