Dreamcast pad to PS1 port. Hack a pad?

[Antiriad2097]

Right, here's my problem. I have a PS to DC adapter that lets me use PS stuff on Dreamcast. That's primarily used for PS dancemats or my PS1 wheel for multiplayer racers.

I now want to do the reverse and hook up my Dreamcast Arcade Stick to the PS1, but there don't seem to be any commercial solutions and I can't find any info on building one.

I'm curious if it would be possible to hack a PS1 pad, adding the socket end of a Dreamcast pad extension cable to it so I can plug in DC stuff. Doesn't need to be analogue, digital is fine, although it would be good if I could register the standard pad triggers at least as on/off (I have a friend with a couple of DC Pop 'n Music controllers).

So far, I've found no reference to the pinouts on a DC pad plug and don't know enough to determine how that signal is sent down the line.

It doesn't matter if the PS pad is trashed, they're cheap and easy to get, I'd just like an adapter that works but I know it can't be as straightforward as a standard arcade control to PS1 pad hack due to the electronics in the DC pad (none of which needs to do much here, just register the d-pad and buttons).

Any clues how to go about it or places of reference?

TIA

[Chemixtry]

lik-sang has ps -> dreamcast converters
http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=29&products_id=151&

[abrannan]

Right, but he wants to go the other way, DC-> PS.

If gamesx.com doesn't have the DC controller pinout, I don't know who does (and they don't, I checked).

Sorry.

[Antiriad2097]

Yes, I already have a couple of Total Control Plus adapters for DC. As abrannan says, thats the wrong way round. Does make me wonder if its a two way device though - could be as simple as swapping the plug/sockets around if it was...

Thanks for the replies, wasn't sure I'd get a response on this one. gamesx is a new link for me if nothing else

[Antiriad2097]

Had a further thought on this. What about using the actual Dreamcast as a converter?

Its easy enough to write a small proggy to read a DC pad (all the routines exist already). How about taking that input and translating it to output on the DC serial port? Would it then be practical to have a circuit there that triggers PS1 pad movement?

Its a random thought, but I have no idea of the practicalities of it.

[abrannan]

My guess is the few milliseconds of lag that you would encounter processing the signals on the DC would be enough to make it unusable for anything action related.  It would work for RPGs, though.