Mg Zs 180

[dan__wright]

Originally Posted by Enak

Sorry this is taking so long... I've abandoned the game controller as the circuit they've used to interface with the buttons is well over the top and gives only 4 usable inputs without extra circuitry.

My plan now is to use an 18F USB pic and directly interface (single chip). This solution is cheeper and less work. However to program the PIC to act as a USB game controller may require some work. Although the foundation code is available and should be easy enough to program for.

Option 2 is to use a Phidget and simply write an easy interface for a analogue voltage comparitor. Although this means a custom program on the PC to interface with the front end. Something I wanted to avoid by sticking to a simple gamepad.

I'm just waiting for some Microchip samples to arrive and I can get coding.

or option 3, get a k8055 board which is cheaper than phidgets and use my software that i wrote that i published on here ;)

[MC_Stoo]

Blimey you guys must be psychic - I was just pondering what what happening with this only this afternoon

[Enak]

Originally Posted by dan__wright

or option 3, get a k8055 board which is cheaper than phidgets and use my software that i wrote that i published on here ;)

Only problem with the K8055 is that I believe it requires constant polling to monitor the inputs. A hardware based solution would be needed for button presses and the like. Or am I completely wrong? Could the K8055 be used to monitor button presses?

[Enak]

The K8055 looks to be the perfect solution to getting button presses into the computer with minimal effort using some software.

But I still want to continue with my PIC project because it will provide a simple solution for people wanting a straight forward steering interface.

However this research has led to Phidgets and these provide the ultimate solution for interfacing the PC with everything. Specifically because of the Phidgets Plugin for Centrafuse. However they are a little pricy but may be worth it as the sensors available allow you to interface the kits with virtually anything.

[dan__wright]

yes you are right, you have to constantly poll the board and see whats going on, i poll it every 50ms and not had it miss a button press yet, i could add how often to read it to the ini, that way you can increase or decrease it as needed.

there is no noticeable cpu use from the app (apart from a spike on initial connection)

[ShawJohn]

Does this frequent polling not slow the PC down somewhat?

[dan__wright]

not that ive noticed.

[Enak]

A little update... I've been playing with some PICs and working various code to do the interface... The issue now is my programmer isn't compatible with the newer 18F variants and I need to purchase a newer one. I also don't have some much spare time.

However, I have found a much better, cheeper solution. A USB to Gameport Adapter. They cost about £10, have a friendly D connector and work out of the box. All I need is some software to interface.

The one I have is a Sitecom CN-108. Next step is to wire it into the steering wheel. The other benefit is that it is quite small and also could add push buttons easily if you wanted.

Pinouts: http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/PC_Gameport

[Enak]

This evening I have finally got round to installing the camera gommer sourced from the east!

Just a teaser until I can post more pictures (and finish the wiring).

[James]

nice feet :)