U360 IO Port - Do you use Output Mode or do you use Input Mode

[Kook]

In addition to a USB connector, there is a 10-pin I/O port on the Ultrastik 360 joystick. For those of you that own U360s, I was just wondering how you use the IO port. Input Mode, Output Mode with USB, or Output Mode without USB. Or do you just ignore the I/O port? Did you run into any "gotchas"?

For those who are unfamiliar with this, in input mode, you connect your cabinet buttons to the joystick's IO port and they are recognized by your PC as standard joystick buttons (just like any other USB joystick). In output mode, you can connect wires from the joystick's IO port to a keyboard interface such as a JPAC; in this mode, the Ultrastik emulates traditional up, down, left, right microswitches, which are converted to keystrokes by the JPAC.

[destructor]

I use it for buttons only. Stick is programmed by UltraMap.

[fatfingers]

I ignore the IO port.

[ids]

old thread, sorry to dig it up, but looking for similar info.  Just got some U360's, playing with output mode and getting nowhere fast.  My meter shows all (but ground) pins at +5v, relative to the ground pin.  The "auto switch" works how?  I tried pulling out the usb connector, applied +5v and ground according to spec, the little green LED came on, but still no response on the Up/Down/Left/Right pins.  Anyone have any more info?

[Kook]

It's been a while. Mine is wired in Output mode. I have a USB cable connected. IO wires go to my JPac. Works fine. I never looked at the IO pin voltage levels with a multimeter. Just curious, are you using an IPAC or JPAC?

[ids]

Tried wiring it to an afterburner.  In the control-panel/game-controller side, I never saw any reaction to movement.  With a meter, same thing.  I don't have the official wiring harness, and thought maybe I screwed something up.  But the fact that I got the led on the board to light up tells me I have things done properly - maybe.  Got a set of 10-pin connectors at a local shop for much less than the official cost, wired according to all info i could find, ...  Willing to accept I've done something wrong, just hoping someone has done same and has a solution.

It continues to work great in USB mode, so I haven't fried it

[AndyWarne]

The way that it detects whether its connected to a device such as an I-PAC is to look for pull-up resistors during power up. It floats the pins and checks that they are sitting at 5 volts. The I-PAC will pull them up to 5 volts. If the pins are connected to buttons they will not be pulled up. So to "trick" it into running in output mode the device you connect to must have pull-up resistors on its inputs. This would be normal for any device which is designed to have grounded switches connected to it.
Andy

[Kook]

This is a longshot, but is your Afterburner connected to a USB hub (not connected directly to a PC USB port)? I think a hub, even a powered one, could cause some problems here. If all else fails, shoot Andy (at Ultimarc) an email.

[ids]

Yes (afterburner on a powered hub).  I've not noticed any other issues, but can try going direct.  Perhaps it's not flipping into output mode because I've only tried connecting a single pin (other than +5v and gnd) -- another thing to try.  In the end, it isn't critical, usb is the way to go; but I thought it'd be nice to have "cursor keys" working from a stick.   (Also, the afterburner config is done this way, and starting a new game requires the "OK"/left-right -- I will investigate if this is configurable enough to support usb-joy5-left/right).

Thanks for all the feedback, very grateful to have some things to try.  (and answers the burning question - how does that stick determine its mode?)

[AndyWarne]

It checks pins 5,6,7,8 of the connector. These are connected to Right,Left,Up Down in output mode. So all those 4 pins need to be pulled up at boot.
Andy

[ids]

Thats it then - need all 4 pins connected; works like a charm.  Thanks again.