mojo – blog.world3.net

Author Archives: mojo

Making a one session temp folder in Windows

30/05/2010 – 17:16

Back in the Amiga days we had a RAM disk. It was perfect for storing all kinds of temporary files as it was extremely fast and would be cleared every time the system rebooted. Windows doesn’t have anything like that. I found a way to make something similar. I use a temporary folder on a [...]

Posted in windows | Comments (0)

BBC Master Compact keyboard pinout

16/05/2010 – 23:42

I’m working on a project involving the keyboard from a BBC Master Compact. I couldn’t find an accurate pinout on the web anywhere so I got my multimeter out and mapped it. LED Power 01 – 02 Column Row 03 – 04 Break Row 05 – 06 Row Column [...]

Posted in hardware | Comments (0)

Bliss Box violating my copyright, GPL and more

13/05/2010 – 17:26

I just spotted this: http://spawnlinux.dyndns.org/Bliss-Box/technical.html It violates my copyright on some of the images such as the schematic and connector diagrams. It also violates the GPL by using V-USB and not publishing the relevant code. Chances are it probably uses some of my GPL’ed code, and the author admitted that it is based off some [...]

Posted in Internet, electronics, law | Comments (0)

CD32 pad support added to the Retro Adapter

09/05/2010 – 19:14

Just finished adding support for CD32 gamepads to the Retro Adapter firmware. I discovered a couple of interesting points. 1. The logic ICs used are really slow. I need a 75μs delay after the latch line changes before starting the clock and approximately 50μs before reading on every clock cycle. The shift register is a [...]

Posted in electronics | Comments (0)

MAME and paddle controllers

03/05/2010 – 21:02

I just got a Sega Master System paddle controller working with the Retro Adapter. It works perfectly but there is a compatibility problem with some MAME games I had not anticipated. I tried to use it with Arkanoid. That game uses a spinner control which can rotate endlessly clockwise or anti-clockwise, unlike a paddle which [...]

Posted in Retro Adapter, electronics, hardware, software | Comments (0)

CA-42 as USB to RS232 converter 5V signal compatibility

26/04/2010 – 00:23

The Nokia CA-42 cable is well known as a cheap USB to RS232 converter. You can get them on eBay for about �1. One thing that was not clear from most of the articles about it is how tolerant the signalling voltage can is. According to the datasheet for the IC used in the CA-42 [...]

Posted in electronics | Comments (0)

AVR / electronics quick reference sheet

23/04/2010 – 18:31

I am working on a quick reference chart (cheat sheet). It’s by no means done but a post over at Adafruit made me think to post it: quickref.pdf

Posted in avr, electronics | Comments (0)

Hori Famicom trackball protocol

22/04/2010 – 23:34

I just finished adding support for Famicom/NES trackballs to the Retro Adapter firmware. I can now use it as a mouse :-) The protocol is quite simple. Data is read from the controller in the same way as a normal gamepad. The first 8 bits are the same, followed by 4 bits of y axis [...]

Posted in electronics, hardware | Comments (0)

Famicom controller port pinout

19/04/2010 – 00:02

I am in the process of adding support for various Famicom controllers in the Retro Adapter firmware. I have a trackball and a mahjong controller I am working on. I thought it would be easy enough to find the Famicom controller port pinout online, but both of the pages I found (here and here) are [...]

Posted in electronics, hardware | Comments (0)

Playstation 2 controller I/O error

12/04/2010 – 18:49

I have been tracking down the last few bug with the Saturn/SNES to Playstation converters. It turns out that some revisions of the PS2 and one PS2 to XBOX 360 converter both have messed up timing. The acknowledge pulses come after the next data byte has started. Official controllers can cope with that, but some [...]

Posted in electronics, microcontrollers | Comments (0)

blog.world3.net