A new low-priced "Masterplay Clone" for Sega & A2600 joystick compatibility

[Danjovic]

13 minutes ago, ikonsgr said:

Can you be more specific on this? john_q_atari   that made thorough tests of the adapter, didn't mention anything about unexpected readings.

I heve read some messages from one the users (a guy in orange clothes)  saying that some games were considering full scale diagonal movements as cheating, but as no one else complained about, I quoted the terms "unexpected" and "correct" (values). The modification I have proposed is more an exercise of thought than a solution to an alleged problem

[Swami]

8 minutes ago, ikonsgr said:

Well,i didn't know that (at least i couldn't find any on ebay), still my version will support 2 separate fire buttons, fire 1 (pin6) left mouse button, fire 2(pin 9) right mouse button.

Fantastic! I have bugged the other makers about this and when I tell them it is for Atari 5200 or 7800 or Sega, they say they are for Amiga or Commodore 64 mouse replacement only and don't support other systems.

 

BTW, since I know you are not very familiar with the Atari 5200, the reason it would be nice to have a USB/PS2 mouse to 5200 trackball adapter, in addition to joystick adapter is that the joysticks don't work with analog only games like missile command, star wars arcade and breakout and only provide one speed in centipede instead of two.

[ikonsgr]

39 minutes ago, Swami said:

Fantastic! I have bugged the other makers about this and when I tell them it is for Atari 5200 or 7800 or Sega, they say they are for Amiga or Commodore 64 mouse replacement only and don't support other systems.

 

BTW, since I know you are not very familiar with the Atari 5200, the reason it would be nice to have a USB/PS2 mouse to 5200 trackball adapter, in addition to joystick adapter is that the joysticks don't work with analog only games like missile command, star wars arcade and breakout and only provide one speed in centipede instead of two.

Well, after a small research i've made recently ,considering the "ps2 mouse" adapters, i found out that all of the existed adapters are based on older "free designs" which used PIC 16F628  or (the very old...) PIC16F84. My design on the other hand, is a completely "from the scratch" project, based on a PIC61F630 (smaller-14pin- and cheaper than 16f628/16f84) where the code for the PIC microcontroller, was developed entirely by me! Thus,i had completely control of options/capabilites/function details of the adapter, something not possible when you are using a ready made hex file!

For example, my adapter supports a "non linear"  movement of  mouse ,resulting in much more easy usage compared to original mouse (it needs less fast mouse movement for the same pointer movement, where at the same time, maintains high accuracy on slow mouse move) , and also it has separate codes for amiga and atari st modes, since amiga hardware supports twice mouse resolution than atari st, thus suports twice the maximum speed! And ofcourse i've added atari 2600 joystick mode which none of the other ps2 mouse adapters for amiga/atari st support!

Edited November 14, 2019 by ikonsgr

[eightbit]

On a little bit of an off topic, good to see you here ikonsgr. I recently purchased your Amiga SCART cable and a DF0: switch (that is still in transit) on ebay. 

 

This gentleman does some really nice work!

[Danjovic]

Those are the calculations I have mentioned in a former post:

 

 

I think R2 might be reduced to 56 or 68 Ohms to compensate the 100 Ohm output impedance of the PWM source provided by R4.

 

[EpikalPuppy]

Any word from the testers yet? I am so excited for this!

[ikonsgr]

Finally, i receive the pcb boards so now the adapter is available again.

Price is 11.5euros (including the extra ribbon cable for connecting a keypad controller) +shipping (3euros standard/untracked or 5.5euros registered/tracked).

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by ikonsgr

[EpikalPuppy]

Will it be available on ebay or is it direct order? How much is shipping to the US?

[ikonsgr]

Well, for the moment i haven't uploaded to ebay but probably i will soon. The postage cost for US is 3euros standard/untracked or 5.5euros registered/tracked

[EpikalPuppy]

Great! I can’t wait to get one.

[Shawn]

On 11/22/2019 at 8:51 PM, EpikalPuppy said:

Any word from the testers yet? I am so excited for this!

 

I've been lightly testing it with the unit I got from a friend. Works quite well. Funny thing I've found is if you hook up a 7800 controller to it, it then makes all button presses add the second fire to it as well. So if you press "start" on the adapter it actually presses start+fire2 with a 7800 joystick attached instead of genesis  or 2600 one. I'm guessing it has something to do with the resistor setup inside the 7800 controllers and the difference that creates signal wise versus the genesis encoder chip. I don't have a single genesis controller on hand right now to test that part of the adapter.

 

All digital games have been great so far. Pete's test cart has it all acting as it should.

[ikonsgr]

It is known that 7800 controllers are NOT "2600 compatible",and i think it's the only exception, pracitcally ALL other home computers & consoles of the 80's used the atari 2600 standard from late 70's VIC 20 up to amstrad, c64, atari 8bit, sega master system, atari st and amiga, all used the SAME atari 2600 joystick standard, so all controllers desgined for these computers should work on atari 5200 too!

[ave1]

Got testing done this evening. 

 

My Sega Genesis controller (original 3 button gamepad made by Sega) doesn't work well with the adapter (fire button issues). I can go into describing what's wrong if any of you are interested in the details...   

 

But, here's the good news: I've tried a good number of 3rd party Genesis 3 button and 6 button controllers, and they are working well. Meteorites is a two button games and these gamepads are working flawlessly to play it. The Sega Master System gamepad works, (even on the two button games). I've also found the Sega two button "Sportspad" (trackball) and "Control Stick" to be working just fine on the 5200 digital games. 

 

This is turning out to be pretty awesome. Not sure why the 1st party Sega gamepad doesn't work well, but so many other gamepads certainly do work well. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by ave1

[ave1]

The 15 pin port in the adapter that accepts the plug of the 5200 joystick (so you can access the keypad, Start, Pause, and Reset buttons) needs to be modified because it's a little small.  Here's how to do that:

 

 

Be careful to not bend the internal pins while doing this. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by ave1

[0078265317]

I have sega 1st party original controllers that work fine.

[0078265317]

And about your adapter video.  I modified a gender changer instead.  Just one side.  Plug a male into that adapter.  And then a female into the male.  Then modify just the one side.  Then you don't break your adapter.  And then your adapter stays good shape.  Or if you are worried about loosing the gender changers duct tape it to the adapter.  Then if the pins break un tape it and get new gender changers.  They are cheap on ebay.  Instead of wrecking your adapter.

[Swami]

56 minutes ago, ave1 said:

The 15 pin port in the adapter that accepts the plug of the 5200 joystick (so you can access the keypad, Start, Pause, and Reset buttons) needs to be modified because it's a little small.  Here's how to do that:

 

 

Be careful to not bend the internal pins while doing this. 

How are people getting these? I don't see them on eBay yet.

[ikonsgr]

Thanks for the feedback guys! :-)

What i don't understand though, is how standard DB15 connectors i use for the adapter, have plugging problems with 5200!

It's as if the male DB15 5200 connectors got "shrink", and keypad  female connectors got "swallen" over the years, and they don't fit with the brand new DB15 connectors i'm using...

Edited December 16, 2019 by ikonsgr

[Swami]

2 hours ago, ikonsgr said:

Thanks for the feedback guys! ?

What i don't understand though, is how standard DB15 connectors i use for the adapter, have plugging problems with 5200!

It's as if the male DB15 5200 connectors got "shrink", and keypad  female connectors got "swallen" over the years, and they don't fit with the brand new DB15 connectors i'm using...

The connectors on the Atari 5200 are custom designed and just a little bit bigger than standard DB15, like 0.5 mm. The male opening is a little larger, so the standard DB15 female is a little loose, but still holds. The female connectors are just slightly too big for the standard DB19 males. Bohoki also had to slightly enlargen the DB15 females for his adapters and I also had to for the homemade ones I made for myself.

[ave1]

3 hours ago, ikonsgr said:

Thanks for the feedback guys! ?

What i don't understand though, is how standard DB15 connectors i use for the adapter, have plugging problems with 5200!

It's as if the male DB15 5200 connectors got "shrink", and keypad  female connectors got "swallen" over the years, and they don't fit with the brand new DB15 connectors i'm using...

The 15 pin 5200 joystick plug has raised ridges on it and it's a hint bigger sized than what would be ideal for the adapter. If you take a file to the raised ridges and remove a bit of plastic there would be an acceptable fit (tho a little on the tight side), but I chose to not damage the joystick plug and instead enlarge the adapter 15 pin port by bending the metal just a bit. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by ave1
more info added

[ave1]

7 hours ago, Swami said:

How are people getting these? I don't see them on eBay yet.

The first batch were made available by contacting ikonsgr here on Atariage. I'm pretty sure they'll be available on Ebay soon. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by ave1

[0078265317]

Or is it possible to make an adapter from a 5200 controller?  I mean the 5200 controller wire has raised bumps or edges if you will.  So that plugs into the 5200 to make a tight fit.  And then chop the cord in half and solder a gender changer to the chopped half.  So kind of like an extension.  A Y might be hard to do.  But a straight extension would be nice.  So its tight fit in my atari 5200.  And then the other end my master play clone or what ever else I can plug in.

[EpikalPuppy]

I just got mine and it really makes me enjoy the 5200 more. I'd say it'a now my favorite early 80's system to play arcade conversions on, especially Qix, now that I don't have to use an analogue controller for games that were meant to be played with a digital joystick! 

[ikonsgr]

Glad you like the adapter, put it in a good retro-use!

btw, delivery to US from Greece in 10 days at Christmas high season? That's a new one....:-)

[ave1]

On 12/15/2019 at 11:38 PM, 0078265317 said:

I have sega 1st party original controllers that work fine.

Okay, today at the thrift store I found an original Sega Genesis 1st party 3 button gamepad that's the same model as my original one. I bought it and just now hooked it up to my ikonsgr adapter connected to my 5200.  It works very well. No fire button issues like my other one was having. I guess my other one was short-circuiting or something.  

 

Glad that I can now say that all Genesis controllers are compatible with the new adapter- it's very good news!