Pi newb looking for direction

[SigmaX]

Hey,

I have a very old control board now (wolfware howler), which I'm looking to set up on my pi3. I have the drivers which can be run on windows, but I think I can compile them for linux as well.

Does anyone know how I can start this project? I have some basic linux understanding, and I've been building computers most of my life. Any direction would be really helpful, as this project has been stalled on my shelf for years (the pi3 is new though). Thanks!

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

According to this several year old post:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/337/getting-the-wolfware-howler-controller-to-work-with-retropie/8
It sounds like the input itself is just HID compliant, meaning it should work without a driver, but the poster had some trouble getting it to work in ES, the front-end. Retropie has had quite a few updates since then. What's happened the last time you tried to use it?

Then earlier this year there was a followup post that points here:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/21573/ledspicer-led-animation-controller-for-linux/21
Which points to a project for controlling the LED outputs as well.

[SigmaX]

According to this several year old post:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/337/getting-the-wolfware-howler-controller-to-work-with-retropie/8
It sounds like the input itself is just HID compliant, meaning it should work without a driver, but the poster had some trouble getting it to work in ES, the front-end. Retropie has had quite a few updates since then. What's happened the last time you tried to use it?

Then earlier this year there was a followup post that points here:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/21573/ledspicer-led-animation-controller-for-linux/21
Which points to a project for controlling the LED outputs as well.

Thank you very much for responding! I honestly didn't think it would be so easy as to just plug it in, and have it work. I had the Howler working on a windows system way back when I got it. My goal was to eventually get a second one and make a 4 player cab, but I guess they don't sell them anymore. So I decided to make a 2 player bartop.

With the smaller form factor, the PC I was going to use, wasn't going to fit in (I'm sure I could if I took it all a part). So I was able to pick up a RasberryPi 3 last year, and I was kind of looking for a windows image. But then a baby came along and I kinda put that on the shelf until today.

So If I download the RetroPi image for a Pi3, I should be able to add the LEDSpicer to the image and get it all to work? I watched the video of getting the RetroPi running with no programming. It's been a long time since I've used linux but I'm willing to get my feet wet again. I just want to make sure I'm not running at a brick wall.

[SigmaX]

So after pulling everything out of the closest, figuring out how to hook everything up, and rewiring one of the buttons. I was able to boot to this screen (after realized I imaged the SD card wrong the first time).



Holding a button on the CB did nothing, so at least I got this far!   

I am thinking the next thing to do would be to download the LEDSpicer and copy the files to the Pi then follow the instructions provided by them?

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

You're to the point where that first thread trailed off and never got a reply.
They stated that it didn't work in the front-end (which is what you're seeing), but never responded if it worked within RetroArch, the actual emulator.

In a normal RetroPie setup, you configure the controller in ES, emulationstation, and then the buttons in RetroArch automatically map. Since ES isn't picking up how the input is configured out of the gate, it's worth checking to see if RA sees it either. To do that you'd want to connect a keyboard, configure that, and launch a game, then see if from within the menus of RA you can configure those buttons. If RA won't see the buttons that's when you're going to have to get into the weeds with compiling drivers or the like to get the inputs mapped to somewhere it knows to look.

[SigmaX]

You're to the point where that first thread trailed off and never got a reply.
They stated that it didn't work in the front-end (which is what you're seeing), but never responded if it worked within RetroArch, the actual emulator.

In a normal RetroPie setup, you configure the controller in ES, emulationstation, and then the buttons in RetroArch automatically map. Since ES isn't picking up how the input is configured out of the gate, it's worth checking to see if RA sees it either. To do that you'd want to connect a keyboard, configure that, and launch a game, then see if from within the menus of RA you can configure those buttons. If RA won't see the buttons that's when you're going to have to get into the weeds with compiling drivers or the like to get the inputs mapped to somewhere it knows to look.

I've been working on it a bit more and it looks like I can use my Windows PC to configure the buttons on the Howler to be Keyboard buttons. I think my right stick movement is not wired correctly because it's not working (It's been moved around so much it's not surprising wires are falling out). So I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

Otherwise, it seems to be working fine if I use the control board as a keyboard instead of a joystick. Which is awesome! There is only one game included on the retropie and I can't really seem to get it to run, so I'll have to also look at adding games to the system. But I'm pretty excited that thinks have actually been working!