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USB game controller? — Parallax Forums

USB game controller?

LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
edited 2010-10-13 00:05 in Propeller 1
I realize this might be an expensive item to have on a wish list, but a Propeller board with a USB master to allow a regular USB game controller for input would be greatly appreciated.

Or an add-on board that would plug-in a USB master to existing Propeller boards would be just as good.

Sure NES game controllers work fine and are much simpler to encode, but they are also a bit more limited in terms of options and features.

Comments

  • blittledblittled Posts: 681
    edited 2010-10-12 14:40
    I've been thinking about the same thing. I believe there is a post about someone doing a USB master object on the Propeller but I couldn't find it. I think it has successfully read a USB thumb drive but hasn't done much more.

    I have a FEZ Domino that has a master that has ready made classes for USB Thumb drives, hard drives, mouse, keyboard and joysticks. It is programmed in C# and I'll probably interface it via SPI.

    The drawbacks to having a master is that you probably have to use another micro controller such as a PIC, ARM or USBizi and most of those are surface mount. Also you'll have to learn another language and IDE to program the chip. Also you have to develop an interface via SPI, I2C or serial to interact with the chip.

    As for boards Microchip has development boards, Sparkfun has a PIC breakout and TinyClr has a series of FEZ products. I'm sure there are more.

    Probably for most people the solution would be to see if the USB master object could be extended to a joystick interface.
  • John AbshierJohn Abshier Posts: 1,116
    edited 2010-10-12 15:40
    As I remember the Propeller USB Host required 4 cogs. That may force you to a 2 chip solution. MSDTech used the Memory Stick Datalogger as an HID controller to get data from a Philips USB game controller using a BS2PE. I don't have a link. It was in Completed Projects in January 2010. I assume that other USB game controllers will have different data packages.

    John Abshier
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2010-10-12 18:06
    There is certainly no reason for us to continue on the NES controller.

    There is an excellent N64 controller object which requires only a single data line.
    For that matter there is also decent Wii controller support as well.
    (I believe both are in OBEX)

    I wouldn't bet on Prop1 doing USB controllers readily, Prop2 on the other hand...

    OBC
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2010-10-13 00:05
    Wii support in OBEX? Thanks. I'd never have known. It is hard to 'surf' OBEX for overview and to keep a watch of what is evolving.
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