Bacteria's project: "Project Unity"

[bacteria]

Ok, this might work - a mix of using rubber tact switches for the main 4 way contacts and also some normal clicky tact switches with shafts (as per photo); the shafts can be made low enough so they only engage if the two rubber tact switches next to them are depressed. Trick is to get it EXACTLY right so the rubber tacts can depress separately from the clicky ones, and when to rubber tact switches are pressed the clicky one engages. It has to be exact.

So far, i've got one such clicky tact switch working perfectly with its rubber topped neighbours, got the other three to do yet.

Just cut out a piece of perspex to the size of a joystick top, and in the centre, for a pivot, used a pointed bead glued into the centre. The joystick top will be glued in place when this is finished and look like an analogue joystick, even though in reality this is an 8 way digital joystick.

The pinouts on the net for the Intellivision indicate that actually there are 4 contacts you need for 4 way and also diagonal variations, however as I made my own findings a while back, I worked out, and just tested and proved on my Intellivision modded console, that it isn't the case at all, (maybe technically but in practice not which is good enough for me) it's just the normal direction button plus ground, and the diagonals also need pin 6 of the controller, in order to get proper accurate diagonals; this is easy, if I can get all four of the clicky tacts working properly then I just add one wire (pin 6) to the clicky tact; job done, no logic gates as in effect i'm replicating a logic AND gate by switches automatically.

The bottom of the assembly will be held to the top via a piece of flexible wire to keep it in place and a rod/similar to keep the orientation correct.

In theory, this should work well. I'll make a circuit with LED's to illuminate the various directions so I can test, and demonstrate this gadget when the base is made.

So far:



Doesn't have to be a joystick top, could equally be a circular d-pad top (not a d-pad cross), down to preference; not sure which one i'll choose.

[bacteria]

Thanks, i'm making this system as good as I can make it. The project is a massive one for sure.

Well guys, had to remake the 8 way digital unit as it was too big to go through the back of the master controller with the tact button pins out the back, it is small, 24mm diameter, as you see in the pics, i've had to sand down the corners of the tact switches to make it fit. Decided to use a d-pad circle instead of a joystick, and fortunately, I had one that fitted perfectly, a nice bit of luck.

As usual, I share all my knowledge for others to use and benefit from:

Steps:

*Cut out a piece of perspex to the size of the d-pad circle.

* Made a hole in the centre of the perspex through was glued a pointed plastic bead with a hole in the middle; married them up so a thin wire can go through, tied two knots in the wire, dremelled out the inside of the d-pad circle for the knot to fit through, glued in place.

* Sanded (with a sanding drum) the edges of the tact switches, and cut off the two pins on the short edge on one side as not needed.

* Hot glued the tacts in place, the grey ones are rubber topped tact switches so have a nice mushy feel, the blue ones are normal clicky tact switches with a raised shaft, which I can sand down to the level needed. The grey tacts were raised 2mm so the blue tacts (clicky ones) could work better as less cut off them.

* Hole in the base piece, this keeps the part in place with friction; i'll introduce a shaft/groove to do this better, later.





In this pic, a normal direction is pressed, the grey tact is depressed, the blue one isn't



and here, two grey tacts are depressed, ie a diagonal - the blue tact is also engaged and depressed.



I need to wire it up to test, and demonstrate it working fine, however it looks like I got this probably working first time...

[bacteria]

This is the completed d-pad i've made, the grooves in there are to house the wires against the unit.

At the moment, the contact pads are under the d-pad pressing against the bottom piece, instead of the regular way of the other way around. Not decided if this is better or not.



I was originally wanting the diagonals to work in conjunction with their neighbours, so in other words, if you pressed NE direction, then N, E and the diagonal would register. On testing with 8 LED's, it seems that there is a sweet spot where the diagonal only works; slightly off and either N or E are on too, slightly more you get all three registered. So thinking laterally, if you're pressing NE then it doesn't matter if N and/or E also registers as the important thing is the diagonal. The diagonal will contain connections to ground, N, E and also pin 6 off the Intellivision connector which makes the proper diagonal register. I could do some fine sanding work to get the diagonal working precisely when N and E are pressed, but there isn't any point. I'll just use some diodes to separate the N, E, pin 6 on the diagonal direction (also SW, SE, NW of course too). I've used diodes to make the signals one way on the Intellivision matrix anyway: if using two diodes degrades the information too much, then i'll sand the diagonals down more; plan "B".

Pics showing what I mean:





Next job will be to rig this up for real on my Intellivision construction, that way i'll know it works or not and how well it works, before incorporating it into the controller cartridge for the Alpha Omega system.

[fastbilly1]

That is really awesome Bacteria.

[dsheinem]

you stole my hat idea!

[bacteria]

you stole my hat idea!

Mine's got "MBB" on it, ie "Modded By Bacteria" lol

I got a pack of "Jenga" blocks a while back, as they are nice small blocks of wood, handy for blocks for modding, like here to elevate the d-pad off the wiring!

[bacteria]

My next video was intended to be demonstrating the first three controller sections into the master controller, and showing them in a game situation; also of the master controller itself.

It turns out that will be the video after next.

The next video will be in regards to the Intellivision d-pad and the principles of making a manual d-pad that will work for it giving proper diagonals. Just made a 6 minute video covering a lot of this, when wired and tested the d-pad i've made into the Intellivision, i'll demonstrate it working with Tron Deadly Discs in the video, and YouTube it in the usual just-under-10-minutes video. I felt it was useful to cover this part of the mod as it not only covers the problem, theory, solution in test stage and demonstration; but may help anyone who might decide to make an Intellivision portable handheld get around the problem of diagonals on a d-pad on the Intellivision.

I am assuming the d-pad works on the Intellivision motherboard as well as it does in test mode with LED's, pretty confident it will, but proof is in the pudding; after all, one doesn't always follow the other. Assuming all goes well, and works fine; I should be uploading this video in a few day's time.

[bacteria]

Here it is at the moment; the Intellivision board (composite modded), with all the diodes for the kaypad, shoulder and d-pad buttons, as done several weeks ago. I'm adding extra diodes to connect the diagonals to.

The basic configuration, as per the upcoming video which will explain things in more detail:

Up = up + ground (as normal)
Right = right + ground (as normal)
Up & right diagonal = up, right, ground (as per usual) plus pin 6 of the Intellivision controller cable

Each contact, apart from ground, uses a diode to keep the data flowing one way and it works as per the previous Intellivision video clip for this project; I can't tap off the existing up and right d-pad contacts (as per above) as that would make either right or up become a diagonal, also they need to be segregated from the pin 6 extra contact or i'll get a different d-pad direction; solution in theory in easy enough, more wires and diodes to keep each line separate. On the tact switches for diagonal movement, ground will be one contact and the other three connections to make the diagonal work will be on the other tact contact.

Doing it this way will mean in my video I can show "before and after"; once it all works then, i'll make the whole thing compact to fit into the controller casing.

In the pic you can see the black backing controller piece with d-pad secured in place to go through the master controller perfectly.



Done about 1/3 of the extra wiring, hope to finish the rest today or tomorrow, and then test.

[bacteria]

Good news! I have a spaghetti junction of wires on the Intellivision, however after various experimenting, got the d-pad wired up, tested, and I now have proper diagonals! The d-pad is reliable too in gameplay, been testing on Tron Deadly Discs.

Will make a video to conclude this part of the work and then compile the next video for upload, soon.

Anyway, it works!

[bacteria]

Here's the link to my latest YouTube video : getting proper diagonals from a d-pad for the Intellivision: