Input device test program in IntyBASIC - hand controllers and keyboards

[freewheel]

I wasn't quite happy with how the MTE-201 test cart works - I hate waiting for all of the other checks to complete - so I made my own in IntyBASIC. It's a really good practice exercise to reinforce hardware and software concepts.

 

Check it out, let me know what y'all think. I haven't put the code in for the second controller yet, in case I did anything stupid. I *think* I got the pins correct for the plug checks, but I won't swear by them (I spent all of 30 seconds with a multimeter - most of this was based on what people have reported online).

 

I figure now that everyone is getting their flash carts, some utilities like this would be handy. One thing that I don't like is how certain input combinations trigger other modes on the MTE-201, so you'll have to reset between tests. Realistically I could break this down into 2 separate ROMs - after all, if your controller is truly hosed, how do you select from a menu?

 

freecont.rom

[1980gamer]

I think you might get a few more downloads if your changed the rom name by 1 vowel?

[freewheel]

I don't think anyone cares about freecant.rom.

[1980gamer]

Hmmm, I was thinking freecent.rom

 

Download it 100 times and get a dollar?

[1980gamer]

Oh... That is very good! I didn't realize it not only tested the controllers, but the intellivoice as well!

CANT! Excellent!

Edited September 24, 2016 by 1980gamer

[+5-11under]

This will come in handy.

[mr_me]

It's perfect. Maybe add a couple of numbers to the DE9 port to indicate pin 1. Its the top right?

 

Edit:

Right, a bad controller might not start the test. Have it default to one test and then 1+9 to switch to the other.

Edited September 26, 2016 by mr_me

[freewheel]

It's perfect. Maybe add a couple of numbers to the DE9 port to indicate pin 1. Its the top right?

 

Edit:

Right, a bad controller might not start the test. Have it default to one test and then 1+9 to switch to the other.

 

Good idea. I like pin numbering. I'll see if I can come up with a smaller font to make it not so ugly.

 

I absolutely loathe controller tests where certain button combos take you out of the test. What if I'm specifically testing 1+9? My personal use is that if the controller is so bad that almost NOTHING works, then I won't be bothering to test it just to find the one wire that's good. What I usually run into with Inty controllers is one of the diagonals is a bit weak, or some of the keypad is broken. You'll almost always be able to move left/right in some capacity, and if none of your action buttons nor Enter work?

 

That being said, this is trivial to split into 2 ROMs for people who need to test absolutely borked controllers. If people think it's useful (and complete, and actually correct - I haven't properly wire-tested it) then I'm more than happy to put a zip together with all of them.

[freewheel]

Pin numbering added for the DB9 plugs, and the model 1 wiring. Not that it's really necessary, but I color-matched I found that a long line of black numbers in this small font was a bit blurry on a real console, so made them match the tan plug.

 

 

freecont.rom

[freewheel]

New version - I've had no reports that I did anything wrong, and some seem to find this useful, so I added controller 2. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up - because this is really trivial code in terms of execution, I've just done it brute-force. And I just duplicated the code and renamed it/changed screen positions for controller 2. Easy to mess up when you have that many lines to check

 

 

freecont.rom

[freewheel]

Surprise for everyone. If you have an ECS, check this version out

Let me know of any problems, this was a bit trickier to write.

freecont.rom

[freewheel]

I added a routine to the ECS keyboard tester, to print out the last 20 keys pressed in a scrolling buffer. Directionals and modifier keys print in different colours. You can clear the buffer by pressing "Enter" on either hand controller.

 

Pointless features, but I'm having fun now

 

Interesting random observation: if you allow the lower right action button as an "enter/select" action in a menu, and you happen to have spent a lot of time on IBM terminal keyboards of a certain vintage, it becomes incredibly natural to fly through menus

freecont.rom

[paisleyboxers]

Heya!

 

I'm looking for the intybasic source code for this project! I wanted to compile it myself and convert to the new Intv2 format created by Kevtris.

Any chance I could find the source for this?

[mr_me]

What is a kevtris intv2?  Maybe it's just not compatible with the intellicart format.  You can convert the rom file to a plain binary using the rom2bin tool that comes with jzintv.

[carlsson]

In the Nt-Mini-Noir-Jailbreak, an Intellivision core was added but the existing ROM formats were deemed unsuitable for the emulator so a brand new format was invented.

https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Nt-Mini-Noir-Jailbreak#intv2-rom-format

 

There is a tool "int2intv" here that may be useful: https://github.com/dot-bob/int2intv

As far as I know, .ROM and .INT should be the same thing, just different naming conventions.

[mr_me]

The kevtris file format is a self contained file like the intellicart and cc3 rom files but different.  The int2intv utility converts plain binary rom files to kevtris but it doesn't read cfg memory map files.  It would have to be modified to convert more files.

 

The .rom file extension is typically used for intellicart and cc3 formats; .int is typically a plain binary.

Edited December 27, 2020 by mr_me

[carlsson]

Aha, I thought that .INT = .ROM, but in practice .INT = .BIN? Then one either needs the .CFG file or in the case of Kevtris format, a look-up table like the spreadsheet that says which of a set of common configurations the program uses instead of allowing any combination of segments? I've got a feeling that the Intv2 emulator on the jailbreaked Nt Mini in that case may miss out a couple of programs, in particular if those use non-standard configurations.

 

It makes me wonder about the Intellivision emulator in Argon, which seems to take existing formats instead of inventing its own, if it has other requirements than the Nt Mini.

[Zendocon]

.int and .itv I think are just plain binary files, with alternate names in case someone's device has .bin being used for something else already.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Zendocon
Fixed typo

[+Lathe26]

On 12/26/2020 at 11:26 AM, carlsson said:

In the Nt-Mini-Noir-Jailbreak, an Intellivision core was added but the existing ROM formats were deemed unsuitable for the emulator so a brand new format was invented.

 

So someone decided to invent yet-another-file-format.  Great <sarcarsm>.  We already have *.ROM and *.luigi file formats that are self-contained.  There is no legitimate reason for Nt-Mini-Noir-Jailbreak to create a new one.

[+bhall408]

On 12/27/2020 at 11:30 AM, carlsson said:

It makes me wonder about the Intellivision emulator in Argon, which seems to take existing formats instead of inventing its own, if it has other requirements than the Nt Mini.

We prefer canonical formats (.a26, .a78, .vec, .col, .lnx, etc), and support .rom and .int, but not the 2-file BIN+CFG format.

 

@ZihuaCode Can chime in with more details if needed.

 

We also have a server side database where we can look up a ROM based on MD5 or SHA256 hash. This is why you get all the meta-data such as display title, publisher, developer, release date, update date and thumbnail image for BYO ROMS (so long as we have an entry for it in our database). We are not currently storing the CFG type info based on a hash, but we could if it became a problem.