Nintendo USB Controller Hack

[l8nite]

These have been mentioned at least once before on the forums (did a quick and dirty search), but this article showed up on slashdot today, so I thought I'd paste the link here.

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/7817137582525561/

-Shaun

[juggernaut]

must...build....and play zelda!

[SteveJ34]

These have been mentioned at least once before on the forums (did a quick and dirty search), but this article showed up on slashdot today, so I thought I'd paste the link here.

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/7817137582525561/

-Shaun

Not to be a "cheapskate" but I wonder if these parts can be sourced for less than $16.00 + shipping.

Can anyone tell by the diagram what rating resistors and capacitors are being used here for the non-electrical technicals like myself?

I guess the remaining issue is sourcing the chip and a USB cable for hack.

Steve

Revised: Looks like the kicker is the PIC16C74 Microchip which appears to run $8 - $9 in small quantities.

[Bgnome]

the problem with usb hacks is the controller chip.  as mentioned in another thread, it makes it so the average hobbyist can't do it with off the shelf parts.  if you have a PIC programmer and some free code that actually worked, then maybe.  but otherwise, you need to buy a controller chip from someone who has it programmed with the appropriate firmware, ie retrozone.

[SteveJ34]

the problem with usb hacks is the controller chip.  as mentioned in another thread, it makes it so the average hobbyist can't do it with off the shelf parts.  if you have a PIC programmer and some free code that actually worked, then maybe.  but otherwise, you need to buy a controller chip from someone who has it programmed with the appropriate firmware, ie retrozone.

Ah, thanks for the education. I was not aware there was some embedded code that had been placed on this chip.

[Stormy151]

I bought a USB NES controller from Retrozone.  They delivered quick, and it works great.  In fact, I liked it so much I bought another one, and a set of SNES controllers for 2-player action.  

I tried to find some NES controllers at thrift stores for a while, with no luck planning to do a hack.  Then after pricing them on Ebay with shipping and everything, I figured that it would be cheapest just to buy the controller already converted.

[Bgnome]

if you want a somewhat more functional controller and have a psx adapter for your pc already, you may want to take a look at the madcatz retrocon:
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3811167?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[Jakobud]

Is it possible for someone to figure out how to program that chip so we could do it ourselves?

[Bgnome]

why not hack a usb controller and steal the chip in it?  
http://www.gamesx.com/controldata/usbsatpad/

some information that may be of use:
http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~tabony/snestopc/usb.html

someone who was working on a multi-controller code, although i didnt see the code anywhere:
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/hemphacker/