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Nintendo controller

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2001-02-07 12:36 in General Discussion
Greetings stampers!

Does anyone have any experience interfacing a nintendo or similar
style game controller with a stamp (thinking robotics applications
here). The newer ones only have 3 wires but a ton of buttons so it
has to be serial, does anyone know where to find information on the
protocol?

Also I would be interested in any experience making annunciator
panels, we will have roughly 20 error conditions to warn the user of
this device about, any suggestions on available products or ways to
control that many discrete leds in a pin-efficient manner?

Thank you,
Douglas McClean
jxm156@p... or IDiggles@a...

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-02-06 08:14
    you wrote:
    IDiggles@a... wrote: Greetings stampers!Does anyone
    have any experience interfacing a nintendo or similar
    style game controller with a stamp (thinking robotics
    applications here). The newer ones only have 3 wires
    but a ton of buttons so it has to be serial, does
    anyone know where to find information on the protocol?



    It just so happens that i am using a SNES controller
    in a robotics project myself. a good place to
    research all types of controllers, pinouts, voltage
    levels etc., is Gamestationx.com. anyway i just
    pulled the codes out of the SNES controller the other
    day and they go like this[noparse]:([/noparse]correct to the best of my
    knowledge, checked over 2 times)
    binary hex
    nopress:1111111111111111 ffff
    up: 1111011111111111 f7ff
    down: 1111101111111111 fbff
    left: 1111110111111111 fdff
    right: 1111111011111111 feff
    select: 1101111111111111 dfff
    start: 1110111111111111 efff
    y: 1011111111111111 bfff
    x: 1111111110111111 fbff
    b: 1111111111111110 7fff
    a: 1111111101111111 ff7f
    Top rt: 1111111111101111 ffef
    top lft:1111111111011111 ffdf

    this gives 2^12 combinations or 4096
    As you can see, a zero represents the button being
    pressed, and a one is a "no press". To use this, just
    set the correct bit from the chart above, and have
    your controller jump on the correct combination.

    The SNES controller pinouts[noparse]:([/noparse]from gamestation X)
    ____________________________
    / 7 6 5 | 4 3 2 1 |
    ( o o o | o o o o |
    \___________|________________|
    pin description wire color
    1 +5v white
    2 data clock yellow
    3 data latch orange
    4 data line red
    5 N/A
    6 N/A
    7 ground brown

    To use this, just hit the data latch w/ a 12us pulse
    to latch the parallel bits, and then reel them in on
    the data line using SHIFTIN on the BSII, and its as
    easy as that. The mode that I used to real in the
    bits for the chart above was: mode 0, or MSBPRE.
    You can also check out Al Williams's book,
    Microcontroller Projects w/ Basic Stamps, page 179,
    Expanding I/O. I hope all of that will help!!!!

    Ross Cooper
    klutch66@y...


    __________________________________________________
    Do You Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    http://auctions.yahoo.com/
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-02-07 04:04
    Ross,

    I can't access the the gamestationx.com site you mentioned.
    My browser comes up with a 'unable to locate' message. Any
    idea what's wrong?

    Regards,
    Adolph Stumpf



    --- In basicstamps@y..., ross cooper <klutch66@y...> wrote:
    >
    > you wrote:
    > IDiggles@a... wrote: Greetings stampers!Does anyone
    > have any experience interfacing a nintendo or similar
    > style game controller with a stamp (thinking robotics
    > applications here). The newer ones only have 3 wires
    > but a ton of buttons so it has to be serial, does
    > anyone know where to find information on the protocol?
    >
    >
    >
    > It just so happens that i am using a SNES controller
    > in a robotics project myself. a good place to
    > research all types of controllers, pinouts, voltage
    > levels etc., is Gamestationx.com. anyway i just
    > pulled the codes out of the SNES controller the other
    > day and they go like this[noparse]:([/noparse]correct to the best of my
    > knowledge, checked over 2 times)
    > binary hex
    > nopress:1111111111111111 ffff
    > up: 1111011111111111 f7ff
    > down: 1111101111111111 fbff
    > left: 1111110111111111 fdff
    > right: 1111111011111111 feff
    > select: 1101111111111111 dfff
    > start: 1110111111111111 efff
    > y: 1011111111111111 bfff
    > x: 1111111110111111 fbff
    > b: 1111111111111110 7fff
    > a: 1111111101111111 ff7f
    > Top rt: 1111111111101111 ffef
    > top lft:1111111111011111 ffdf
    >
    > this gives 2^12 combinations or 4096
    > As you can see, a zero represents the button being
    > pressed, and a one is a "no press". To use this, just
    > set the correct bit from the chart above, and have
    > your controller jump on the correct combination.
    >
    > The SNES controller pinouts[noparse]:([/noparse]from gamestation X)
    > ____________________________
    > / 7 6 5 | 4 3 2 1 |
    > ( o o o | o o o o |
    > \___________|________________|
    > pin description wire color
    > 1 +5v white
    > 2 data clock yellow
    > 3 data latch orange
    > 4 data line red
    > 5 N/A
    > 6 N/A
    > 7 ground brown
    >
    > To use this, just hit the data latch w/ a 12us pulse
    > to latch the parallel bits, and then reel them in on
    > the data line using SHIFTIN on the BSII, and its as
    > easy as that. The mode that I used to real in the
    > bits for the chart above was: mode 0, or MSBPRE.
    > You can also check out Al Williams's book,
    > Microcontroller Projects w/ Basic Stamps, page 179,
    > Expanding I/O. I hope all of that will help!!!!
    >
    > Ross Cooper
    > klutch66@y...
    >
    >
    > __________________________________________________
    > Do You Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    > http://auctions.yahoo.com/
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-02-07 04:19
    Adolph,
    I had the same problem, it appears the address for the site calling
    itself 'Game Station X' is www.gamesx.com.

    Doug McClean

    (also, thanks alot for the excellent info Ross)

    --- In basicstamps@y..., apstumpf@u... wrote:
    > Ross,
    >
    > I can't access the the gamestationx.com site you mentioned.
    > My browser comes up with a 'unable to locate' message. Any
    > idea what's wrong?
    >
    > Regards,
    > Adolph Stumpf
    >
    >
    >
    > --- In basicstamps@y..., ross cooper <klutch66@y...> wrote:
    > >
    > > you wrote:
    > > IDiggles@a... wrote: Greetings stampers!Does anyone
    > > have any experience interfacing a nintendo or similar
    > > style game controller with a stamp (thinking robotics
    > > applications here). The newer ones only have 3 wires
    > > but a ton of buttons so it has to be serial, does
    > > anyone know where to find information on the protocol?
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > It just so happens that i am using a SNES controller
    > > in a robotics project myself. a good place to
    > > research all types of controllers, pinouts, voltage
    > > levels etc., is Gamestationx.com. anyway i just
    > > pulled the codes out of the SNES controller the other
    > > day and they go like this[noparse]:([/noparse]correct to the best of my
    > > knowledge, checked over 2 times)
    > > binary hex
    > > nopress:1111111111111111 ffff
    > > up: 1111011111111111 f7ff
    > > down: 1111101111111111 fbff
    > > left: 1111110111111111 fdff
    > > right: 1111111011111111 feff
    > > select: 1101111111111111 dfff
    > > start: 1110111111111111 efff
    > > y: 1011111111111111 bfff
    > > x: 1111111110111111 fbff
    > > b: 1111111111111110 7fff
    > > a: 1111111101111111 ff7f
    > > Top rt: 1111111111101111 ffef
    > > top lft:1111111111011111 ffdf
    > >
    > > this gives 2^12 combinations or 4096
    > > As you can see, a zero represents the button being
    > > pressed, and a one is a "no press". To use this, just
    > > set the correct bit from the chart above, and have
    > > your controller jump on the correct combination.
    > >
    > > The SNES controller pinouts[noparse]:([/noparse]from gamestation X)
    > > ____________________________
    > > / 7 6 5 | 4 3 2 1 |
    > > ( o o o | o o o o |
    > > \___________|________________|
    > > pin description wire color
    > > 1 +5v white
    > > 2 data clock yellow
    > > 3 data latch orange
    > > 4 data line red
    > > 5 N/A
    > > 6 N/A
    > > 7 ground brown
    > >
    > > To use this, just hit the data latch w/ a 12us pulse
    > > to latch the parallel bits, and then reel them in on
    > > the data line using SHIFTIN on the BSII, and its as
    > > easy as that. The mode that I used to real in the
    > > bits for the chart above was: mode 0, or MSBPRE.
    > > You can also check out Al Williams's book,
    > > Microcontroller Projects w/ Basic Stamps, page 179,
    > > Expanding I/O. I hope all of that will help!!!!
    > >
    > > Ross Cooper
    > > klutch66@y...
    > >
    > >
    > > __________________________________________________
    > > Do You Yahoo!?
    > > Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    > > http://auctions.yahoo.com/
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-02-07 12:36
    Here is a website that I bookmarked ages ago and had forgotten about.
    http://home.t-online.de/home/stephan.hans/n64.htm

    He is doing some sort of project with an N64 controller which has
    analog and digital controlls, plus a load of buttons. Hope that this
    helps.

    Andy


    --- In basicstamps@y..., IDiggles@a... wrote:
    > Greetings stampers!
    >
    > Does anyone have any experience interfacing a nintendo or similar
    > style game controller with a stamp (thinking robotics applications
    > here). The newer ones only have 3 wires but a ton of buttons so it
    > has to be serial, does anyone know where to find information on the
    > protocol?
    >
    > Also I would be interested in any experience making annunciator
    > panels, we will have roughly 20 error conditions to warn the user
    of
    > this device about, any suggestions on available products or ways to
    > control that many discrete leds in a pin-efficient manner?
    >
    > Thank you,
    > Douglas McClean
    > jxm156@p... or IDiggles@a...
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