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New Product: 49-Way USB Interface - The GP-Wiz49 with DRS Technology (TM)
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mahuti:
Well, hey, I think it's cool, and inexpensive enough for me to give it a try. I'll be buying one.
RandyT:

--- Quote from: paigeoliver on February 28, 2005, 12:22:10 am ---How secret could it possibly be Randy? I mean once I order mine I am going to be able to hook it up myself and SEE how it is interpreting the 7x7 grid for each mode. That isn't really the kind of info that you can keep secret.

--- End quote ---

Sure I can..  I can delete this thread, remove them from my store, delete the source code and drink enough gin to erase the past 2 weeks of my life that I devoted to this project.

But I guess I'll just take my chances that folks won't try to reverse engineer something that is almost being given away in the larger scheme of things and jeopardize whatever possible interest I might have in developing new things for them in the future.  :) 


RandyT
paigeoliver:

--- Quote from: RandyT on February 28, 2005, 12:40:38 am ---
--- Quote from: paigeoliver on February 28, 2005, 12:22:10 am ---How secret could it possibly be Randy? I mean once I order mine I am going to be able to hook it up myself and SEE how it is interpreting the 7x7 grid for each mode. That isn't really the kind of info that you can keep secret.

--- End quote ---

Sure I can..  I can delete this thread, remove them from my store, delete the source code and drink enough gin to erase the past 2 weeks of my life that I devoted to this project.

But I guess I'll just take my chances that folks won't try to reverse engineer something that is almost being given away in the larger scheme of things and jeopardize whatever possible interest I might have in developing new things for them in the future.  :) 


RandyT

--- End quote ---

Hee hee. I am glad you made them, and most of us could probably correctly guess your grid interpretations anyway. I'll be ordering one, I guess it can replace the Q*Bert stick on my cabinet. I guess I just didn't see the mentioned information as being particularly secret, if anything providing diagrams of what it was doing would be a selling point, I know it would be for me. But I will buy one anyway!

Perhaps I missed this, but will you be adding 49-way sticks to your store?

RandyT:

--- Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on February 28, 2005, 12:20:38 am ---What you are left with is a dead spot on the joystick from -1 < x < 1.
If the stick hasn't gone far enough left to hit -1, or far enough right to hit 1, then you don't get ANY output to the software from the device--exactly like any other 2-way out there.

--- End quote ---

Heh.  You need me to confim this stuff?  You have it covered just fine.


--- Quote ---The only difference being that you can fine tune a leafswitch 2-way to react IMMEDIATELY off-center--which may be a CRITICAL difference, in that it will create almost NO dead spot in the middle.

--- End quote ---

On the surface, that sounds like it might be desireable, but in reality, it's just a drawback.  If you have the switches that tight, you don't get faster movement, just unintended movements.  One tends to use gross motor skills with a joystick (unless you are talking about those tiny little Vectrex sticks you manipulate with your fingertips.)  The difference between a 1/16" deadzone and an 1/8" one isn't really going to affect your play nearly as much as you thinking you are stationary, when in reality you are moving left into enemy fire :)


--- Quote --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am GUESSING that, IF it was implemented properly, the digital restrictor on this SHOULD give performance at least on par with, and possibly better than, a P-360.

I am basing this on the supposition that the stick will in fact resolve the level 1 ring, which SHOULD give it a slightly smaller dead spot than the one on the P-360.

Add to this the fact that it SHOULD be capable of resolving a slightly smaller area as diagonal (when strafing around in the corner), and it SHOULD make for a really nice Robotron-type stick by spreading more of the shots around, instead of sending the major portion of them diagonally.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--- End quote ---

I believe every one of these  statements to be true.


--- Quote ---Without more information from RandyT (grid mappings, etc...) I don't even WANT to venture a guess as to how this will handle 4-way mode--which would be my biggest concern from a do-all standpoint.

--- End quote ---

And it was mine as well.  This is the most unforgiving mode for any non-physically restricted joystick., but extensive testing shows that it does indeed work and work well.

I have to underscore something here though.  All testing thus far was with a particular variety of 49-way control.  If I see that the Williams is not able to live up to the performance of the  Midway/Atari/Happ model, and definitions cannot be developed  to make it work as well, support for this stick will be removed.  This would be unfortunate for those who may already be using one, but as they are no longer in production...well you get the idea.   In that unfortunate event, I might make a version available for these folks by special request as not to leave them out in the cold.


--- Quote ---My biggest concern is how it will resolve the true diagonals close in.

--- End quote ---

You should never do things you can't do well especially when it doesn't matter if you do them or not ;)

RandyT




SirPoonga:

--- Quote from: RandyT on February 28, 2005, 12:26:58 am ---On one hand you have something that works very narrowly, with only one joystick model, with only one piece of software, with missing modes, and based on the lukewarm reception of it, definitions that do not perform optimally (no offense intended to those involved in the attempt).  And then there is the issue of another burden placed on the CPU to do  the translation.

--- End quote ---

To quote you

"Statements like these make me think the unwritten rule stating that one should have some real experience with something before "poo-poo"ing  it,  should actually be put in writing."

Have you tried analog+ mame?  Do you know what it can and can't do with the patterns for interpreting the 49way?


--- Quote ---On the other hand, you plug in the GPWiz49 and it works as adverstised.  No fancy configuring.  It works the same with ALL software. No additional burdens on the CPU.

--- End quote ---
The software in your IC is doing the same thing as the software on the PC would do.   So it takes a couple extra cycles to process on the PC.  Unless the IC the PC has MUCH more resources.  The few IRQ requests that go through due to the interpretation from the PC is not enough to slow emulation down, even on a slow PC.  The advantage of software doing the work is you can configure/modify software to do exactly what you want more easily than hardware.


I'm not saying your product is bad.  I'm just mentioning to people they can do the same thing with software.  Yes, hardware is a better solution in general.  But you and I both know in this community there are people who will want to know all the facts and want to know where they can save money when possible.



--- Quote ---Unless you can point me to something that you can honestly compare this to, I think it's safe to consider this a "new idea."
--- End quote ---

I'm saying the idea of having a 49way work on a pc is not a new idea.  Doin it in hardware is though.


Basically, if you don't want as much control over configuration and just want something to work  the way the majority of the people would want it to work your hardware solution is perfect.  If you want more control on how the 49way is recognized the software solution is better.   It comes down to the fact there are some situations hardware is better and some situations software is better.  That's all.  Don't read any more into it.
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