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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : MMB4W Controller interface
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Mixtel90 Guru  Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6787 |
The ideal solution for MMB4W is to give it a driver for the Microsoft game controller system. Then it can handle most USB game controllers and joysticks natively. A simple serial port interface has a lot of attractions though, not least being able to keep it cheap & cheerful. I2C needs the same number of wires but is far more elegant IMHO. In either case you need to know where the virtual COM port is on a PC. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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Turbo46 Guru Joined: 24/12/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1611 |
And that's what happened! Much better than any serial port interface and it works well, thanks again Peter. I may still look at implementing a games console type of thing with the USB Keyboard Chip IC Module thingy. Bill Keep safe. Live long and prosper. |
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| Turbo46 Guru Joined: 24/12/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1611 |
When I found this and found out the price I was looking at was in USD and would take a couple of weeks to get here I decided to pull apart a $2.99 second hand keyboard I found at an op shop and found this:  While it is not quite the same module, I think it's the same under the blob. The columns number from C1 to C17 instead of 0 to 16 on the other one. A short test with a small jumper confirms that C1 on the one I have corresponds to the C0 on the other one (and so on I guess). With the jumper I can type characters into Notepad etc. I may get a chance to connect a joystick and some buttons on the weekend. Bill Keep safe. Live long and prosper. |
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| Turbo46 Guru Joined: 24/12/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1611 |
If anyone cares, I gave up on this keyboard blob thing, it's faulty. I probably damaged it with my fumble fingers.  I found the little board difficult to work with and I'm not going to buy more to struggle with. It is quite possible to do and you can easily find youtube videos where some have done so. So it's back to plan A for me. An Atari style joystick and 'mite with USB connection to the PC to give a single 8 bit word. Bill Keep safe. Live long and prosper. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 6787 |
You may not need to struggle before long. If the USB handling makes it into MMB4W you'll just be able to plug in a USB SNES controller. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| lizby Guru Joined: 17/05/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 3150 |
Not to guess at any plans Tom may have, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Aside from the deprecated sysfs method, pin I/O on Linux remains problematic and implementation-dependent. This was supposed to be fixed by the proposed libgpiod. Whether or not this is implemented by default on any particular Linux system depends. As of the last time I checked, Raspbian did not include it or have it available with apt-get (maybe 6 months ago). You can download source and build it--but then it's still not trivial to implement in MMB4L. Whether the work Peter has done with USB on the PicoMite could help solve this problem for USB controllers, I don't know (as I also don't know what Tom's schedule might be for implementing this if it seems feasible). PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed |
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thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4039 |
We seem to have "jumped the shark" in this thread, you are the first to bring up Linux I believe @lizby. Regarding MMBasic for Windows (MMB4W): I believe Peter added support for at least one USB game controller (PS/3 ?) to MMB4W at some point in the last 6 months, presumably using an extension to the OneLoneCoder library, in which case other USB controllers may just work, or subject to Peter's time and patience not be too difficult to add support for. There appear to be Atari joysticks out there with USB plugs, whether these would work or not is anyone's guess. Regarding MMBasic for Linux (MMB4L): Don't hold your breath. If/when I add high-res graphics I will also add USB controller support, both via SDL2, no GPIO involved. However I don't see me looking at this in the next 12 months, or 24 ... or maybe 36; I still have bills to pay and children to raise and this development requires an investment of time that is difficult to make with a few hours grabbed here and there. Plus to be honest the Game*Mite has attracted more interest than MMB4L ever did. Best wishes, Tom Edited 2024-02-07 00:01 by thwill Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| lizby Guru Joined: 17/05/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 3150 |
Oops, sorry--I mixed up my "MMB4"s. PicoMite, Armmite F4, SensorKits, MMBasic Hardware, Games, etc. on fruitoftheshed |
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| thwill Guru Joined: 16/09/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4039 |
Actually much more recent than that, as Bill mentioned at the top of this page ... I'm too young to be going this senile  .Best wishes, Tom Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4233 |
Too bad Bill, I think your project was the smoothest way into hobby gaming on MMB4W. Almost all operating systems support multiple keyboards and mice. And you could even use the NUMLOCK LED output for some haptics. Regards, Volhout Edited 2024-02-07 01:02 by Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4233 |
Where can I find this MMB4W version ? Is this V50703b23 ? Any documentation on how to use the game controller interface ? VOlhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Turbo46 Guru Joined: 24/12/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1611 |
Thank you Volhout, I believe so too. Many games written for Tom's CMM2 contest were keyboard only and I do have difficulty with the keyboard when games get intense. This could replace the keyboard for those games. I have been trying LeoNicolas' Knightmare game and I can not come near to the dexterity he shows on the video while demonstrating the game. This project would be the ideal way to add joystick control without modifying the code. Leo is using wine and has trouble with Peter's controller so cannot add it for MMB4W (I believe). While I could add the controller support for my own purposes it is not feasible to do it each tine he produces a new version. My problems with that keyboard chip PCB are that it is small, the column and row markings are on one side of the board while the 'edge connector' is on the other and my fingers do not work as well as they used to. The data for the board is incomplete.  I want to use the arrow keys for the up/down/right/left of the joystick and the space key for the fire button. The arrow keys are not shown but I suspect that they are R3C7, R5C7, R5,C9 and R5C10. Maybe I should try again, it's not rocket science. Next time I would use a hub rather than plug it into a USB port of my laptop, that was not a good idea. If there was something available commercially to do this I would buy one but I cannot find one. Peter's controller support for MMB4W is here and to the best of my knowledge it is not in Doug's manual yet. Bill Keep safe. Live long and prosper. |
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PEnthymeme Regular Member  Joined: 27/12/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 42 |
Love Poweshell - if you can wrangle the syntax: From a PS prompt: Get-WMIObject Win32_SerialPort | Select-Object Name,DeviceID,Description Will list the attached COM ports (tested on Win10 x64bit) Get-WMIObject will give all the details.It does take a second or two to poll the ports though. |
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