Author Topic: Need X-Arcade Serial to PS2 - does generic work? (Read 33438 times)

benarcade · « **on:** December 31, 2006, 02:57:19 am »

Hi,

I just picked up a used X-Arcade that came with Playstation and XBox adapters but none for PC. I read an earlier post addressing this, but I didn't see a resolution.

Can I just buy a regular serial to PS2 converter? What about a serial to USB?

Thanks!

Timoe · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2006, 09:23:13 am »

I might have one of these lying around. give me a day or two.

benarcade · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2006, 11:42:05 am »

That would be awesome!

The x-arcade will tide me over until I build a leaf switch unit. This is my first control, and now I understand about the clickity microswitches.

Fozzy The Bear · « **Reply #3 on:** December 31, 2006, 11:52:36 am »

Quote from: benarcade on December 31, 2006, 11:42:05 am

I understand about the clickity microswitches.

Yeah! they make a kind of pinging noise and the response is not all it should be either.... The cheapest and best upgrade you can give them, is to swap out the microswitches for Cherry Red Lever Microswitches. I have 2 X-Arcade sticks in my panel and doing that made a HUGE difference to them at next to no cost. I'm also planning to beef up the springs in them.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

benarcade · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2006, 05:27:15 pm »

I think the x-Arcade will be the last item I will ever buy that doesn't have USB or Firewire port.

Timoe · « **Reply #5 on:** January 02, 2007, 10:00:58 pm »

Here is what I have. I dont remember if this is the same as the X-arcade connector.

Let me know if it is.

leapinlew · « **Reply #6 on:** January 02, 2007, 10:44:42 pm »

As another option - you could install a serial port on your computer in a PCI slot. Here is a link to one at Newegg for $10 (not including shipping)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815166003

Chris Goodwin · « **Reply #7 on:** January 03, 2007, 01:50:40 am »

Is X-Arcade standard serial? Or does it use some weird proprietary connection?

steveh · « **Reply #8 on:** January 03, 2007, 08:40:09 am »

I would venture to guess that it is some odd pinout causing you to purchase the unit from them.

benarcade · « **Reply #9 on:** January 03, 2007, 01:20:25 pm »

Thanks for the photo Timoe. Yeah, according to the x-Arcade site, a generic serial to usb won't work. Unless that's the x-Arcade version, which comes with a funky box between the serial and usb plugs, I don't think that'll work.

I went to Fry's on Sunday and couldn't find a female serial to male ps2-kbd converter.

If I had the pin mapping, I could make one. I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to buy this thing.

benarcade · « **Reply #10 on:** January 03, 2007, 01:43:01 pm »

Digging around the x-arcade site - don't they use the J-PAC card for their units? If so, it looks like a generic serial to USB would work, unless x-arcade tweaked it so it doesn't.

BobA · « **Reply #11 on:** January 03, 2007, 03:30:46 pm »

No they use their own board and the DB9 is their own interface not standard serial as far as I know.
I think that is why there is no easy solution other then X-Arcade where the PC cable for PS/2
is listed as $9.95.

Here is a pic of the interface board being replaced.

NickG · « **Reply #12 on:** January 04, 2007, 09:55:55 pm »


PS/2 Male  |  DB-9 Female
-----------+-------------
        3  |  Shield (10)
        5  |  6
        1  |  5
        4  |  2 , 9

benarcade · « **Reply #13 on:** January 05, 2007, 05:54:00 pm »

Hey Nick - thanks for the pin map! I want to make sure I've got it right. Does this look right to you?

NickG · « **Reply #14 on:** January 05, 2007, 10:28:38 pm »

Yes, benarcade, except in your image the PS/2 port numbers are of the female pinout so if you are trying to pin this out on a male connector (the one with the pins sticking out of it) the numbers will be opposite.

benarcade · « **Reply #15 on:** January 05, 2007, 10:45:46 pm »

That's exactly right - you know your dins.

I checked my generic serial to ps/2 tonight and found that it doesn't match your pin map at all (x-Arcade -les batards-). There's no reason to do that other than to force people to buy their $0.50 converter for $10.

benarcade · « **Reply #16 on:** January 06, 2007, 06:48:00 pm »

I wired it up, but it doesn't work. When I boot up, I get the "Keyboard not found" error from my BIOS. Here's the updated pin config using a Female Serial and a Male PS/2:

The red LED on the x-Arcade lights up, but the keyboard error prevents me from continuing.

roguejedi · « **Reply #17 on:** January 30, 2007, 06:55:31 pm »

I too need help with this. Can anyone confirm the serial to PS/2 Pinout for the X-arcade interface ?

NickG · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2007, 09:00:38 pm »

My apologies to benarcade. I double checked tonight. It turns out that 3,7,9 are common at the DB9.

So:


PS/2 Male  |  DB-9 Female
-----------+-------------
        3  |  Shield (10)
        5  |  6
        1  |  5
        4  |  2 , 3, 9

roguejedi · « **Reply #19 on:** February 04, 2007, 06:55:10 am »

so is it 3,7 and 9 that are common ? or is it 2, 3, 9

i tried 2,3,9 as indicated and no joy ....

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help

NickG · « **Reply #20 on:** February 05, 2007, 03:46:52 pm »

I triple checked today. I was looking at the DB-9 upside down and matched the wrong numbers to the pins 1 and 2 (goofed and thought they were 2 and 3)

It turns out it is 1,2,9 that are common at the DB9.

So:


PS/2 Male  |  DB-9 Female
-----------+-------------
        3  |  Shield (10)
        5  |  6
        1  |  5
        4  |  1 , 2, 9

third times the charm or I'm gonna have to open up the shell to set things straight.

roguejedi · « **Reply #21 on:** February 05, 2007, 07:10:43 pm »

tried the new pinouts as above and still not working...

are we absolutely sure on the pinouts on the MALE PS/2 side of things ? (i'm pretty confident with the serial pinouts because they are actually printed on the connector!)

This is getting annoying...

no wonder the boss let me take one of these for free from work because we no longer had the cables !!

I might have to see if I can find a reseller of x-arcade here in australia and see if I can buy the cables. anyone know of a reseller that sells the original x-arcade to ps/2 cable ?

Cheers

NickG · « **Reply #22 on:** February 06, 2007, 02:57:01 pm »

I built a connector last night following this pin map table and it works, but I only if I hook a keyboard up to the pass-through extentsion. Also, pressing an x-arcade button does not repeat, but pressing a keyboard key does (in notepad.) Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Chris Goodwin · « **Reply #23 on:** February 08, 2007, 07:15:39 pm »

Quote from: NickG on February 06, 2007, 02:57:01 pm

I built a connector last night following this pin map table and it works, but I only if I hook a keyboard up to the pass-through extentsion.

This is correct behavior. Roguejedi, might this be your issue?

Quote

Also, pressing an x-arcade button does not repeat, but pressing a keyboard key does (in notepad.) Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Try it in MAME and see what it does.

NickG · « **Reply #24 on:** February 09, 2007, 12:04:36 am »

Quote from: Chris Goodwin on February 08, 2007, 07:15:39 pm

Quote from: NickG on February 06, 2007, 02:57:01 pm
I built a connector last night following this pin map table and it works, but I only if I hook a keyboard up to the pass-through extentsion.

This is correct behavior. Roguejedi, might this be your issue?

Ok. I thought it was supposed to work without a keyboard in PS/2 mode; couldn't remember.

Quote from: Chris Goodwin on February 08, 2007, 07:15:39 pm

Quote from: NickG on February 06, 2007, 02:57:01 pm
Also, pressing an x-arcade button does not repeat, but pressing a keyboard key does (in notepad.) Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Try it in MAME and see what it does.

I have tried it just now and can verify that it works properly. The key is "constant" instead of repeating. I had forgotten about that as well.

roguejedi · « **Reply #25 on:** February 09, 2007, 07:10:15 am »

sorry to be so pedantic, but just to be clear, what is the final pin-outs that you've come up with ?

Diagrams would be helpful

Cheers guys. Help is much appreciated

NickG · « **Reply #26 on:** February 09, 2007, 09:43:55 pm »

still the same as the last one

bye

Virgil Tracy · « **Reply #27 on:** February 11, 2007, 05:34:33 am »

This may help it was sent to me when I contacted X-arcades agent a long time ago.

roguejedi · « **Reply #28 on:** February 14, 2007, 12:01:45 am »

Thanks Virgil,

Your PinMap works for me

Thunderbirds truely are GO !

thanks to everyone else for their input and assistance.

Cheers

Virgil Tracy · « **Reply #29 on:** February 15, 2007, 12:59:31 am »

No problem, I had the same issue about 2 years ago and it took me months to get that answer. Happy to share.

travandalex · « **Reply #30 on:** August 02, 2009, 10:51:13 pm »

Ok... since this is the only source for this information that I could find on the web... I'll add to this very old post!

I have a X-Arcade dual (2 player) and I recently wanted to hook it up again but misplaced the PS/2 keyboard part of the adapter (female serial to male PS/2). So it seemed logical to try to build this with an old keyboard for the PS/2 end and a serial cable. Problem 1: the keyboard did not have all the wires in the cable to the PS/2 end. Lesson learned and I just cut off the end to solder the wires from the serial cable directly to the end.

So all I needed to know was which wires go to what pin. With the magic of searching, I found this thread. I tried both the diagrams above (they aren't the same) and neither worked. The red light comes on the X-Arcade, but I get a keyboard error on boot and no lights on the keyboard.

So this led me to try one last desperate act... I searched harder and found the original adapter.

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to trace the wires. Here are my results from the actual X-Arcade Serial to PS/2 Adapter cable:

DJ_Izumi · « **Reply #31 on:** August 03, 2009, 03:14:50 am »

Uhh... If it supports PlayStation and Xbox why not just use a PlayStation -> USB adaptor? You can get them at like any gaming store.

travandalex · « **Reply #32 on:** August 03, 2009, 09:01:40 am »

Only if you've got those adapters (for those consoles). My Dreamcast adapter is sadly not supported.

marcushg85 · « **Reply #33 on:** June 27, 2015, 12:27:27 pm »

Quote from: travandalex on August 02, 2009, 10:51:13 pm

Ok... since this is the only source for this information that I could find on the web... I'll add to this very old post!

I have a X-Arcade dual (2 player) and I recently wanted to hook it up again but misplaced the PS/2 keyboard part of the adapter (female serial to male PS/2). So it seemed logical to try to build this with an old keyboard for the PS/2 end and a serial cable. Problem 1: the keyboard did not have all the wires in the cable to the PS/2 end. Lesson learned and I just cut off the end to solder the wires from the serial cable directly to the end.

So all I needed to know was which wires go to what pin. With the magic of searching, I found this thread. I tried both the diagrams above (they aren't the same) and neither worked. The red light comes on the X-Arcade, but I get a keyboard error on boot and no lights on the keyboard.

So this led me to try one last desperate act... I searched harder and found the original adapter.

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to trace the wires. Here are my results from the actual X-Arcade Serial to PS/2 Adapter cable:

Hi there, i have an x-arcade without any of the cables, including the one from the pcb to serial. So I'd like to have a diagram on how to wire directly from the pcb connector to usb and ps2 without the serial connector in the middle. Can anyone help? I have the usb pcb version, it's marked pcb ver3.
Thanks in advance!

djfender · « **Reply #34 on:** June 30, 2015, 11:58:55 pm »

the x-arcade uses some interesting pinout.

ark_ader · « **Reply #35 on:** July 04, 2015, 03:22:27 am »

You can also use a 3-1 with the PS3 USB or 5-1 with the Xbox 360 USB adapter to work with the PC. This is better as a custom cable has some lag issues due to grounding. Better ask the guys at Xgaming to send you a proper cable. You don't want to fry your encoder board.

Also this works for those with the USB units with the classic "twister" mentality of having to press more than 6 buttons at once. Which I tried to recreate and injured myself trying to hit that 6th button with my nose....

marcushg85 · « **Reply #36 on:** January 18, 2016, 09:22:42 am »

Hi there, I know this has been dead for such a long time. I made the pcb to usb cable and it's working fine. The problem is that now i have another X-arcade with its cables and an original xbox adapter, but i've lost the serial cable (which they call console extension cable) a male to male serial cable, but i think it is not a straight pin to pin one. Can someone tell me how is this one?

marcushg85 · « **Reply #37 on:** January 26, 2016, 06:05:45 am »

Nobody? Maybe there's another place to ask for this?
Thanks

nabla666 · « **Reply #38 on:** May 14, 2017, 10:15:03 am »

Yes it is a serial straight pin to pin cable, but I guess you figured this out since the time


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