Author Topic: analog controls... (Read 4040 times)

daveb · « **on:** March 17, 2004, 01:49:18 am »

Hello again... Just letting you know that I'm prettymuch done with my USB analog control interface. To reiterate, it supports 5 axes and 14 buttons. So far, the new firmware has been working great, so now I'm just waiting for some NY State paperwork to clear.

I've got a website up at http://dave.bit2000.com
Please check it out and tell me what you think!
For my next project, I'm gonna do a usb->49 way joystick interface.

Dave B.

Xiaou2 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2004, 03:00:23 am »

heya dave,

congrats - looks cool. will need soon...

question:

if you plugged 2 of those devices into the pc... would they conflict? or will if work like most usb joysticks... as many as you need can be plugged in at once??

Q#2:

On the 49way devices.... will you be making the original Sinistar/Arch rival sticks work with it? or just the lousy happs (nfl blitz) version??

Q#3

How many 49ways will the device support at once?

Tailgunner · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2004, 03:10:29 am »

Cool deal. I want two ASAP.

Minwah · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2004, 07:54:31 am »

Great news!

I'll be needing one or two as well...

Stingray · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2004, 08:30:55 am »

If this device works with Mac I will buy one from you as soon as they're on the market.

-S

Lilwolf · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2004, 09:07:12 am »

I can answer the 49 way... at least a little.

He has access to a sinister 49 way now. And I don't believe he has access to a happs one. The code will be VERY similar between them so if anyone out there has a happs 49way joystick, and you would like hardware support... you might consider donating for a few weeks.

daveb · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2004, 03:50:22 pm »

Xiaou2: To answer your questions, yes you can use more than one at a time. There's going to be an option of 9 different hardcoded usb identifiers so that the boards don't swap order when you reboot. You'll be able to specifiy wich usb identifier you want on the ordering page.
As for the 49-way board, I'm hoping to be able to support both.. I just won the happ version off of ebay, so I should be able to figure something out. As for number of 49-way sticks, well, I could do 1 and some buttons, or 2 and no buttons. What do you think would be better?

Everyone else: Great! I'm glad you're interested!

I've followed the Mac design guidelines for USB HID reports, so it should work on Macs without a problem.

Dave

Stingray · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2004, 05:40:31 pm »

Quote from: daveb on March 17, 2004, 03:50:22 pm

I've followed the Mac design guidelines for USB HID reports, so it should work on Macs without a problem.

If they were for sale today I would be ordering one instead of typing this. Can't wait for these to be available!

-S

Xiaou2 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2004, 06:16:09 pm »

Quote from: daveb on March 17, 2004, 03:50:22 pm

Xiaou2: To answer your questions, yes you can use more than one at a time. There's going to be an option of 9 different hardcoded usb identifiers so that the boards don't swap order when you reboot. You'll be able to specifiy wich usb identifier you want on the ordering page.
As for the 49-way board, I'm hoping to be able to support both.. I just won the happ version off of ebay, so I should be able to figure something out. As for number of 49-way sticks, well, I could do 1 and some buttons, or 2 and no buttons. What do you think would be better?

Everyone else: Great! I'm glad you're interested! I've followed the Mac design guidelines for USB HID reports, so it should work on Macs without a problem.

Dave

sounds good. i think 2 with no buttons would be best. anyone can use other methods to get more buttons such as kb encoders.

GamingGreg · « **Reply #9 on:** March 17, 2004, 06:21:35 pm »

There's certainly a place and need for both of those two products. Thank You!

unclet · « **Reply #10 on:** March 17, 2004, 07:16:24 pm »

Yes, two 49-ways with no buttons would be best..... button interfaces are easy enough to find elsewhere and there are many cheap alternatives for just buttons.

GGKoul · « **Reply #11 on:** March 23, 2004, 11:11:18 am »

If I wanted to hook up 2 - 360 wheels would I use this interface or my Optipac?

Minwah · « **Reply #12 on:** March 23, 2004, 11:27:26 am »

Quote from: GGKoul on March 23, 2004, 11:11:18 am

If I wanted to hook up 2 - 360 wheels would I use this interface or my Optipac?

Opti-Pac

But you could use this to hook up a few 270deg pot-based wheels

GGKoul · « **Reply #13 on:** March 23, 2004, 11:40:05 am »

Cool!

The interface certainly looks better then hacking a dual strike.

Is there any dual player 270 game out there?

Minwah · « **Reply #14 on:** March 23, 2004, 11:42:14 am »

Quote from: GGKoul on March 23, 2004, 11:40:05 am

Cool!

The interface certainly looks better then hacking a dual strike.

Is there any dual player 270 game out there?

LOL, I just read your other thread after replying to this one - check it out

GGKoul · « **Reply #15 on:** March 23, 2004, 11:48:32 am »

I was looking for a quick answer. And no one was replying to my post... so I posted the same question twice too see which gets answered first.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #16 on:** March 29, 2004, 03:04:40 pm »

I will be ordering both once they are available.

But, I have a 49-way related question.

Will the 49-way sticks be seen as analog sticks under the control panel, or will they be something else?

Chris · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2004, 03:15:59 pm »

This looks like a must-have winner! Excellent job!

daveb · « **Reply #18 on:** March 30, 2004, 03:21:38 am »

Hey guys, just a quick update.
Still waiting for NY to issue my Vendor's Certification. Once it has arrived, I'll start taking orders

You may have noticed (on the website) there has been a revision to the AKI firmware - instead of reporting as 1 joystick with 2 centerable axes and 3 centerless, it will report as 2 joysticks - one with 3 axes (2 centerable), and the other with 2 (both centerable). That should make interfacing multiple controls on one board a bit easier.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the 49-way interface. It supports both happs & old stile sinistar sticks via autodetection. (I got my Happs stick today, and was amazed when the autodetection code worked the first time!)

Paigeoliver - It will be reported as an analog joystick... Essentially, each switch (a1, b1, c1) adds 1/3 of the total magnitude.

I was wondering what you guys thought about the scaling of the axes - should each switch add to the magnitude of the value linearly? (I.e. it goes from middle to 1/3 up, to 2/3 up, to all the way up).. Or should I use exponential scaling or some variant (i.e. the first switch moves the axis a very small ammount, the second moves the axis a bit more, the third moves the axis a lot more). From my experimentation, linear scaling seems to work fine, but I can understand why someone might want the other behavior. Any thoughts, anybody?

For various reasons, I might not be able to support more than one 49-way stick per interface, in which case I'll use the rest of the inputs as buttons... It depends on a couple other issues I'm still working out with the software.

That's all for now,
Dave

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #19 on:** March 30, 2004, 06:56:17 am »

Quote from: daveb on March 30, 2004, 03:21:38 am

Hey guys, just a quick update.
Still waiting for NY to issue my Vendor's Certification. Once it has arrived, I'll start taking orders

Cool!!!!

Quote

You may have noticed (on the website) there has been a revision to the AKI firmware - instead of reporting as 1 joystick with 2 centerable axes and 3 centerless, it will report as 2 joysticks - one with 3 axes (2 centerable), and the other with 2 (both centerable). That should make interfacing multiple controls on one board a bit easier.

Dumb Question, but - How does centerable, not centerable applies to the interface. I assumed I just wired up a pot and if I wanted auto centering, I did that with return springs in the hardware, not with the interface.

Quote

I was wondering what you guys thought about the scaling of the axes - should each switch add to the magnitude of the value linearly? (I.e. it goes from middle to 1/3 up, to 2/3 up, to all the way up).. Or should I use exponential scaling or some variant (i.e. the first switch moves the axis a very small ammount, the second moves the axis a bit more, the third moves the axis a lot more). From my experimentation, linear scaling seems to work fine, but I can understand why someone might want the other behavior. Any thoughts, anybody?

You might PM or E-mail UrebelScum about this, he did a lot of work with 49-way sticks and MAME (obviously)

paigeoliver · « **Reply #20 on:** March 30, 2004, 08:22:43 am »

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I am SO glad I kept those analog baseball sticks and 49-ways that I had in my parts box for so long.

Now, as to the issue of how much each switch moves the stick. I am not sure, but I bet a third for each switch would be fine.

daveb · « **Reply #21 on:** March 30, 2004, 09:45:49 am »

Tiger-Heli: What I meant by centerable is that you can calibrate a centerpoint.
For some reason, windows only lets you calibrate a center point for x&y axes, the rest just get a range of motion. Joysticks have a centerpoint (typically) that they return to... pedals/throttle controls typically do not. It's just a matter of how windows interprets the data. Not a big deal, but it helps people who want to use 2 joysticks, or other return-to-center type controls. Otherwise, the center-point of the stick might not be interpreted by windows as the centerpoint of the sticks axes.
I hope this makes sense.

Dave

Stingray · « **Reply #22 on:** March 30, 2004, 09:58:31 am »

**giddy with anticipation**

-S

Aceldamor · « **Reply #23 on:** March 30, 2004, 04:38:56 pm »

That is hella sweet!! I think i'll order a couple of those when they come out..

GREAT WORK!!

Xiaou2 · « **Reply #24 on:** March 31, 2004, 02:35:18 am »

** Dave, Can you make it selectable with some sorta toggle input? That way one could change the way it operates 'on the fly' for different games.

"was wondering what you guys thought about the scaling of the axes - should each switch add to the magnitude of the value linearly? (I.e. it goes from middle to 1/3 up, to 2/3 up, to all the way up).. Or should I use exponential scaling or some variant (i.e. the first switch moves the axis a very small ammount, the second moves the axis a bit more, the third moves the axis a lot more). From my experimentation, linear scaling seems to work fine, but I can understand why someone might want the other behavior. "


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