With PiTrex, can you use a PC gamepad as controller #2 for the Vectrex?

[madscijr]

I don't have a PiTrex or Raspberry Pi Zero yet, and was hoping someone with some experience would be able to answer: my understanding is that the PiTrex basically replaces the Vectrex's brain with a Raspberry Pi Zero. Would that allow you to use a USB or bluetooth gamepad attached to the Pi as a 2nd controller for the Vectrex? 

 

Much appreciated! 

Edited October 1 by madscijr

[gtoal]

4 hours ago, madscijr said:

I don't have a PiTrex or Raspberry Pi Zero yet, and was hoping someone with some experience would be able to answer: my understanding is that the PiTrex basically replaces the Vectrex's brain with a Raspberry Pi Zero. Would that allow you to use a USB or bluetooth gamepad attached to the Pi as a 2nd controller for the Vectrex? 

It doesn't currently do so but it could be made to.  The Vectrex emulation is based on the vecx emulator, which originally did use Linux joysticks but was modified to use the Vectrex controller instead - if the original code were restored, it would do what you want.  It would be a fairly easy hack to revert the code on the Linux-hosted environment, (which you could do yourself), but for the more robust stand-alone environment that most people are using, you'ld probably need the author (Malban) to modify it, as it would need a bare-metal USB joystick driver to be written or ported.

 

An alternative approach would be to use a USB to Vectrex converter, which by coincidence I created a few months back (originally on a breadboard), which you could make yourself) and actually we're alpha testing a few on PCBs at the moment.  Some info here: https://gtoal.com/vectrex/joystick/USB-to-Vectrex.html (that page hasn't been updated with info about the PCB version yet).

 

If you just want to use a BT device, have a look at Brett's "Vectorlink": https://www.playvectrex.com/vecstore/vectorlink/ - although my USB to VEC converter does handle BT (by virtue of the attached Pi handling BT) I didn't find it to be a particularly smooth experience, due to the hassle of pairing the BT and the incompatibility of some BT devices such as Wii remotes. 

 

Graham