Game Controller

gimpynerd · Post by **gimpynerd** » Thu 26 May, 2005 2:27 pm

Since there is a TI-Keyboard...would it not be possible to make some sort of game pad? Kind of weird but why not? Probably already been asked but I was thinking about smash bros. on my 89...

mnc2fan · Post by **mnc2fan** » Thu 26 May, 2005 2:56 pm

Someone was asking if it would be possible to connect a playstation controller to there 83+, sadly we haven't heard anything else from him. I beleive he fried his calc...

I would think if you made the controller cable go down to a USD B size cable you could use the USB port to plug the controller in. Don't ask me how I have know clue...

You could reverse engineer the TI-Keyboard, and instead to a keyboard it would be a controller!

Andy_J · Post by **Andy_J** » Thu 26 May, 2005 3:45 pm

Can't use the USB port like that. Same reason you can't use a USB Mass Storage Device: The calculator isn't a full-fledged USB controller.

thecheat · Post by **thecheat** » Thu 26 May, 2005 3:47 pm

it's gotta be possible somehow...

mnc2fan · Post by **mnc2fan** » Thu 26 May, 2005 3:47 pm

HS, I'm forgetfull today. Hardware, hardware, hareware What about the link port, or is that the same problem?

Has anyone heard anything from that one guy who had a plan to ad buttons to the calc, that was using the link port if I'm not misstaken

thecheat · Post by **thecheat** » Thu 26 May, 2005 3:52 pm

let's hope nothing like a

hardware problem made it so he won't need to come here to program on his calc.

mnc2fan · Post by **mnc2fan** » Thu 26 May, 2005 3:59 pm

If you used a full controller like PS2, you would have to design a board to have something for the buttons to go to...

DigiTan · Post by **DigiTan** » Fri 27 May, 2005 3:08 am

mnc2fan wrote:Someone was asking if it would be possible to connect a playstation controller to there 83+, sadly we haven't heard anything else from him. I beleive he fried his calc...

That might have been me. (Calc was fried for other reasons).

I have a PSX Interpreter that may work with PS2, and I've been dying to get a calc to test it with. I wasn't sure if there was much community interest in a PS->Calc system so I didn't bother with the calc programming. The board can be made really small too. If I ever get my calc link to work again, I might pick this up.

mnc2fan · Post by **mnc2fan** » Fri 27 May, 2005 3:37 pm

Go savage on 2 broken calcs and make one working one. So that way if you do messup you haven't broken you calc with the bad link everything else working, and the two bad cals just get worse

DigiTan · Post by **DigiTan** » Fri 27 May, 2005 9:31 pm

I tried this with my existing calcs, but it seems to be a linking or PC problem. When I try to link up using my parallel or serial link, I get nothing! I've been trying to link for years, no thanks to these crappy link ports.

Post by **benryves** » Fri 27 May, 2005 10:00 pm

This is easy enough to do! If you wanted a simple controller with 8 buttons (up/down/left/right, 1/2 and maybe a pair of shoulder buttons or whatever) all you'd need to do is have a controller chip (PICAXE anyone?) that would send a byte for the current status then receive a byte from the calculator. The byte sent from the controller would have each bit representing the status of one of the buttons, and the byte the calculator sends back could, for example, start a vibrator.

Jim e · Post by **Jim e** » Fri 27 May, 2005 11:36 pm

Do you mean a rumble pack?

DigiTan · Post by **DigiTan** » Sat 28 May, 2005 12:04 am

That is basically what my Interpreter did, except it used an AVR chip (more throughput). The idea also works for SNES and NES controllers. Most people are interested in the joysticks you get with a Sony gamepad. Either decoder can be made really small. Maybe small enough to fit inside the calc casing.

Anyway, SNES is a good option because it sends you 12 keys in two bytes. I'd actually recommend PS1 pads over PS2, because you won't have that analog button nonsense.

Post by **Dwedit** » Sat 28 May, 2005 4:03 am

If any hardware nuts want to give this a shot, try the NES. This page has information: http://web.mit.edu/tarvizo/web/nes-controller.html

Post by **tr1p1ea** » Sat 28 May, 2005 5:04 am

I have some old NES controllers and some old Megadrive ones lying around. I should give this a shot

.