Making a Saturn Playstation PAD, help requested

[M47R1X]

God, this is driving me nuts. I haven't had any time to mess with it, and I probably won't until Wednesday... Btw, the Grip is beefier than it looks. Still smaller than a Sony pad, but a bit chunky. It has two sets of triangle and square buttons, so one set could be potentially shaved off, maybe? Haven't had a chance to open it...

[CRTGAMER]

Be careful not to cut away any more than the spare button contacts.

[M47R1X]

Alright, I opened then up and took some pics. The PCB of the Grip shows a slightly different button configuration than the outer plastic does, so anything marked in red is what the oute casing showed. The buttons A and B are programmable by holding down Start I believe when firing up the console (there are two standard button configurations as well as a third with programable A and B buttons). So A and B may not be necessary. I will experiment with the controller to find out if the right Triangle and Square can really be O and X, then I might not need them.

Also, can someone tell me if either/both of these are common ground? As I said previously, my knowledge here is limited, but I know that (from what I've heard) common ground will keep the wiring minimal, with only one wire per button amd then one (or maybe a few) connecting the common ground of the PCBs, right? Thanks for any input amd I hope that this can be a guide to anyone else trying to do this. At least the GRIP has circutry on the backside. Too bad the Saturn Pad doesn't...

[M47R1X]

I may have found the perfect PS controller to hack apart for this:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19399

If it fits on a keychain then it's GOTTA be tiny! And the folding-in-half aspect may make it easier to cram in there. Sorry, progress on this still at a standstill. Too nervous right now to just hack away.

[CRTGAMER]

I may have found the perfect PS controller to hack apart for this:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19399

If it fits on a keychain then it's GOTTA be tiny! And the folding-in-half aspect may make it easier to cram in there. Sorry, progress on this still at a standstill. Too nervous right now to just hack away.

That is tiny, curious what the multiple PCBs would look like.

As for verifying common ground, just use a voltmeter.

[kenster2001]

Hmmm. I know this is an epic necropost, but I was browsing around on the internet and found this thread.

I just finished a Saturn -> PSX conversion a couple days back, If anyone endeavors to finish this project, I could explain how I did it and maybe post some pictures.

[CRTGAMER]

Hmmm. I know this is an epic necropost, but I was browsing around on the internet and found this thread.

I just finished a Saturn -> PSX conversion a couple days back, If anyone endeavors to finish this project, I could explain how I did it and maybe post some pictures.

First post a tease, yes definitely and welcome! A gain for everyone with new contributions.

[kenster2001]

The controller in its assembled state.

http://yfrog.com/n1relevent1resizej

[kenster2001]

The controller's PCB guts.

http://yfrog.com/n0relevent3resizej

http://yfrog.com/n0relevent4resizej

Edit:

Essentially, this mod is an inline Saturn -> PSX converter which instead of being placed in an external project box was miniaturized and placed in the controller itself.

The white wires are connections between the Sega multiplexer and the converter board and the colored wires are connections from the PSX cord.

The converter has an attiny2313 microcontroller which handles the demultiplexing and transmission/reception of data from the PSX.

The converter emulates a Sony digital pad which works well on my PS2 playing fighting games.

There are a couple things I need to do that would simplify construction. The first is that the chip is a weird SOIC-20 layout, and I had to create my own pad layout for the part, but the runout on the leads is too short to drag solder. The second issue is that there is no pad to solder a RESET line to the microcontroller, so it can't be programmed via my In Circuit Programmer (ISP) without soldering to the leg of the IC.

On the whole the project was an interesting one, but not for the faint of heart. Most of the effort lies in the construction of the mod PCB.

[CRTGAMER]

Nice! Makes for more compact. Is it possible to leave as external convertor with matching connectors? That would give an option of plugging other 3rd party Saturn controllers.