control panel and optional joypad connector?

[Akuma]

Hello everybody.

Since I am pretty weak when it comes to electro-technical stuff like wiring, I thought I might ask this.

Imagine a self made arcade control panel for the PSX. Pushbuttons and stick interfaced by a hacked PS Joypad and  combining this with a joypad extension cable to allow alternative control by joypad.

Now, if you open the connector from CP to PSX, aswell as the connector from the extension to PSX and solder the respective wires from both cables to one connector creating a Y shaped cable with the single end being the connector to the PSX and the other two ending in either the control panel or an PSX connector. Would this possibly work?

My goal is to allow the hookup of other hardware/ pads without any major controlpanel swapping - for example, if you beat your buddy in a fighting game and he complains, that he just keeps loosing since he is not used to play by arcade controls but to use a pad instead.

[BobA]

Not sure if I followed your explaination 100% but it sounds like both controllers would end up being plugged into the same port via a y sort of arrangement.  This would not work as you cannot have 2 ccntrollers plugged in at the same time to the same port.   You could set up a switch arrangement to disconnect the CP when the regular controller is plugged in.

[Akuma]

Erm, yes - you followed my explaination 100% - sorry, I didn't have many oportunities to practise my english lately.

So - I was wrong when I thought you might either play with the Controlpanel or plug in a pad and use it instead? Damn : / If I read about "setting up a switch" this already sounds as if it is complicated thing.

[severdhed]

is this just a panel that you connect to your playstation, or an arcade cabinet with a playstation in it?  if it is a stand alone panel, then it would probably just be alot simpler for him to unplug the arcade stick and plug in a controller.  otherwise you would have to wire up a switch so that both controllers aren't connected to the input at the same time.  Swapping a controller isn't that difficult.    If it is in a cabinet, that is another story.  then you would probably be better off using a switchbox.

either that or just tell your friend "too bad" and then kick him for being such a whiny little ---smurfette---

[Akuma]

erm -  I get the impression that my english must suck since I seem to have been unable to make clear what I wanted to do.

So - I've drawn a picture to explain it : ) But since you already said, maybe this won't work out without a switch...

[severdhed]

i figured that is what you were trying to do, and I don't think it will work.  Two gamepads plugged into the same port on the playstation just isn't a good idea.  You would need a switch to do this properly.  but even without a switch, it seems like alot of work to go through just to keep your friend from swapping a cable.  If it were in a cabinet then swapping cables could be a pain in the butt, but if this is just sitting on a shelf by your TV, why not just unplug the joystick if you don't want to use it?

[Akuma]

I thought to adding consoles into the cab I am planning along with a pc. And for a quick setup, I wanted to add some connectors to the outside of the cab allowing to overide the control panel and use custom controllers. The use of a pad was just an example : )

[severdhed]

ok, that makes sense.  I just wasn't sure exactly what you were trying to accomplish.  wiring up the external gamepad ports shouldnt be too bad.    If I were going to do that, i would use a 25pin manual switch box to do this.  I don't know how many wires there are in a Playstation controller cord, you may get away with a 9pin switchbox.   this is how i did with my x-arcade to switch it between my PC and my Dreamcast.  it is a little different than what you are doing, but the same theory applies.    the switch basically has 1 input and 2 (or more) out puts.  you would need some playstation extension cables, and some 25 or 9 pin cables to splice together.  you would connect the input port on the switch to the console.  one of the outputs would go to the arcade stick, the other to the gameport.  then you would have to turn the knob to switch between them.    you would have to use two separate switches, one for each player, so that one player can use the arcade stick, and the other a gamepad.  otherwise you would both have to use the same type of control.

unless there is some kind of other way that I am not aware of, this is also how you would switch your controls between the PC, and the playstation.