neo geo sidewinder usb hack

[toredauei]

Im going to try to use my sidewinder (the first iteration) to make an adapter to use my neogeo stick on mame32 and have only found guides that show half of the process. does anyone know of a good tutorial on how to do this or alternatively would anyone like to write up a noob level guide with pictures. I would be eternally grateful for either.

[d123456]

What the hell is a sidewinder?
You can always just hack a normal pc pad and connect the wires from your neo stick to that! Make a female connector on your normal pc controller and you can just plug it in!
Good luck, try gamesx.com

[Phantom of Krankor]

Mr. d123456 a sidewinder, unless he is talking of the missiletype, is a brand of pc controllers created by Microsoft since the 80s.

Mr. toredauei, what kind of Neo Geo controller are you using for this? Is it one of the black arcade layouts that were standard on for the AES, one of the controllers that were commonplace with the Neo Geo CD, or one of the others I am less aquainted with?

If it is a standard AES layout I would not imagine it being much more complicated than opening them up and some soldering.

[toredauei]

Mr. d123456 a sidewinder, unless he is talking of the missiletype, is a brand of pc controllers created by Microsoft since the 80s.

Mr. toredauei, what kind of Neo Geo controller are you using for this? Is it one of the black arcade layouts that were standard on for the AES, one of the controllers that were commonplace with the Neo Geo CD, or one of the others I am less aquainted with?

If it is a standard AES layout I would not imagine it being much more complicated than opening them up and some soldering.

im using the stick that was standard with the neo geo cd (sometimes known as the kidney bean). the main problem im running into right now finding a +5v on the sidewinder pcb and im very much inclined to believe there is only 3.3v. The +5v is required for proper use of the stick unfortunatly. it has been suggested that i buy some sort of LED with a usb plug on it from the dollar store and take the +5v from that although ive never heard of such a thing as usb led.

[fastbilly1]

From my quick searching, your best bet would be to make an adapter. Go buy a 15 pin D-Sub Male end at Frys, aisle 38 I believe. It is the same as the the old Sidewinders used.
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=cont ... controller

I wont be cheesy and say then you can use a 15 pin to usb adapter - though it might work. What you can do is hack your sidewinder into the plug using that pinout.

That doesnt fix your 5v issue. But a usb light could be risky:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6800998091
And I am still not sure that would give you 5 volts. Most information Ive seen says that the sidewinder has a 5v - granted most of that information is some years old and I cannot find a schematic.

You could always just cop out and do the to psx adapter:
http://www.gamesx.com/stickadapt/

And this guy did something cool - but I cannot find anymore contact information for him:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showpost. ... ostcount=7


This has nothing to do with your kidney controller, but might help others looking for Neogeo AES controller mods in the future:
http://www.geocities.com/drjayd177/neogeohack.html

[toredauei]

@ fastbilly1

thanks for the help! it looks to me like that one controller thats unavailable in the us would be a very simple option if it were possible. I might have to track one down somehow. Why are you thinking the LED would be risky?

[fastbilly1]

Well it could work, but if it screws up it could fry your controller. I still think there should be a lead on the pcb though, can you take a picture of the sidewinder pcb? Front and back.

Also does your Neo Geo controller work by microswitch or by bias switch (suction cup looking) means? This is more for my curiosity than anything.

[toredauei]

Well it could work, but if it screws up it could fry your controller. I still think there should be a lead on the pcb though, can you take a picture of the sidewinder pcb? Front and back.

Also does your Neo Geo controller work by microswitch or by bias switch (suction cup looking) means? This is more for my curiosity than anything.

well i certainly dont wont to fry my controller i love that thing. and it uses bias switch


i can take another picture if this one is unsatisfactory

not much on the back

while were at it, would you say that there are multiple grounds on this? from what i can tell some of the grounds merge and compress in some kind of little black box along their traces or whatever they are called if you follow them. atleast thats what ive figured.

[toredauei]

Still havnt figured this one out. I do have a new question though, what will happen if I wire 3.3v to where im supposed to have 5v? will the controller work just a little bit or will it not work at all as it just doesnt have enough power?

[fastbilly1]

Im not 100% sure what will happen if you wire it that way. It could fry everything, it could work. But I err on the side of caution.

However, unless I am mistaken, I do not see a common ground, and since it is bias switch you will have to do the adapter method. Good luck is all I can say, you have stepped beyond the realm of my knowledge.