Pi Pico[W] Peripheral Expansion Box Side Port Device

[+chue]

I figured out the crash issue with my compiled XB program. It turns out that I had the original version of TI XB (version 100) on my SD card.  I used the updated version (110) and the program runs without issue.

[JasonACT]

14 hours ago, chue said:

- Bluetooth keyboard LEDs (CAPS lock, NUM lock) only working after the initial pairing. LEDs do not work on Subsequent connections.  Same behavior with and without additional USB keyboard connected.  If I delete the pairing and then pair again, same thing.  Works when initially paired but not on subsequent connections.

- I was unable to connect the keyboard using bluetooth 5 so I did not test the additional bluetooth libraries. This is probably just a problem with my particular keyboard.  Long story short, I am unable figure out the bluetooth MAC address without pairing it to my Windows laptop.  To pair it to the Pico I need to unpair the keyboard from Windows; at this point the keyboard randomizes (changes) the bluetooth MAC address.

That's annoying about the LEDs, I can't think why that would be.

 

With BT5, I don't think you need to pair HID devices, at least I don't have to with mine - so you could try pairing yours with Windows to get the address, power down Windows and try connecting with the Pico without pressing the pair button (just wake the keyboard the usual way).

 

It's a fairly good result in the tests though, thanks again for doing them 

[+chue]

I tried BT5 without pairing and could never get it to connect. As with the LEDs it isn’t a problem for me. BT3 works great so I will use that.

 

Thank you for all the work on this! The functionality that the Pico has is amazing!

[JasonACT]

2.5 weeks of tinkering hasn't helped, it's only confirmed (at least to me) that the PS4 gamepad gets too (RF) noisy when it detects other BT devices in range (I suspect it goes into overdrive to ensure the gamer has a chance for their signals to be detected, when there's other gamers around also playing).  But you can plug these gamepads in via a USB cable, which seems to work OK, so I'm releasing this firmware (after a lot of re-writes) with the caveat that you can't use both the PS4 gamepad and BT speaker wirelessly at the same time.

 

New options for autoload.cfg:

 

BT Speaker  "BTSPK=" (Specified in the hex format HH:HH:HH:HH:HH:HH)
ForTI Sound "FORTI=" (Sound gets sent to a BT Speaker - with the following options...
                      =0 off,
                      =1 means one chip emulated    - plays left & right channel in mono the same as the TI,
                      =2 means all 4 chips emulated - plays in stereo,
                      =3 means all 4 chips emulated - plays in mono)
 

I've got a cheap sound-bar which is mono (accepts data for 2 channels, but only plays 1, I guess.. unless you buy a 2nd and link them) which works best in mode 1 or 3.  I've got stereo headphones, which works well in mode 2 - but as I've written before, the ForTI sound card's stereo option is dependent on the author's senses...  Chariots of Fire is kind of better in mode 3, otherwise you get playback in "one ear or the other" for the 12 voices.

 

Pairing BT devices is now done 1 at a time, so I hope it's easier to connect them - just power up everything you have in pair mode - and 1-by-1 they should connect about 10 seconds after the TI is powered up.

 

Pico PWM sound (going through the console's sound chip) no longer gets the ForTI sound card signals, there was too much going on in the interrupt routine before, and I'm sure it was distorting the Speech and/or the PIO Digi-Port.  I think this is for the best.  Oh, and "FORTI=0" specified with a BT speaker connected still gets those 2 "original" signals as sound output.  But a final word of advice, BT speakers have a latency/delay, so while in mode 1 you can play TI games, the sound is going to be out of sync. much like most TI emulators on a PC.

PEB2.zip