D-pad, With Diagonals - Working!

[bacteria]

Question for Bacteria

Is this mod in 2 parts : 1- a soldering mod to the back of the pcb and 2 - a replacement cap but essentially using the original joystick?

If so how well does it function with the original cap? Many people will be interested in either the stock cap or Dave C's cap as they look good.

​

One part only - D-pad with 6 wires perturding. Wires > GP2x, soldered at back on mainboard. The original joystick is kept in place rather than removing it - there is no cap - the old joystick itself is redundant - just using its old connectors.

Put this into perspective - the joystick stick pertrudes from the GP2x a few milimetres when you remove its cap off. If you put something over this space, you therefore have to remove the old joystick entirely, or make a recess in the centre of the D-pad (as I have done) to accommodate the redundant stick, so the D-pad lies as flat as it can on the Gp2x.

DaveC's cap is only useful if you use the stock joystick - a joystick is not a D-pad. This is a D-pad with purpose made internal connections.

 

[Goity]

Goitfights will work with this.

 

[nickspoon]

Openglad2X uses diagonal input, but it isn't strictly necessary, as up and left together would probably yield the same reults.

Most apps should work reasonably well with this.

Also, I would like to join most people here in saying that it looks like a chewed up piece of cloth. Prettify it a bit and you've got me buying one.

 

[god_at_hell]

hm .. a softwarewrapper shouldn't be to hard to code, although i'm in no way to do it .

If you can pimp up the look of your mod, then it should be a good-selling substitude to the gp .. i for myselfe am very interested.
The best thing about it is, that i can torture it and it wouldn't break as easily as the damn stick *G*

The most important quiestion for me at the time: Does gngeo work without any problems? Can you so special moves?

 

[Hanz™]

I personally will wait for Radeks, but good work there.

 

[bacteria]

Radek - Of course, feel free to post relevant comments about this thread. I value all feedback, to various degrees, and take points on board where relevant. My issue was the hijack - competition is great, hijackking is not. I am sure that you know exactly what I mean.

Sure, the top of the pad needs improving - this is being sorted anyway, to make it look a bit better. My D-pad is not ugly, however it is not an object of art, I know that. The model I showed was a near-final prototype.

Technically, your product is better, of course; but my view is why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Purely on the basis of results, if your adaption plays 8 way with DrMD, MAME, Nintendo games, etc, etc; and so does mine, the bottom line is they both work, surely! I hadn't expected anything other than a 4 way solution, however what I got was 8 way - whatever the logic of this is, it doesn't matter - the result is success - when I press a direction, including diagonal in a game, that is what happens.

Yes, a true 8 way D-pad doesn't work properly - I too dismissed this - the unit has to be too small for the GP2x to work properly. It would need to be the size of an Intellivision controller (I had one of these c. 1980) to be reliable, which is not feasible.

Radek - is it obvious that people prefer your solution, that is fine. I take nothing away from your efforts. The public vote seems to be with your work. Nothing personal. Good luck in your venture.


What I offered was in the same idea principle as DaveC - there were hundreds of postings of different solutions people tried to replace the cap with, DaveC designed one which works to save other people making one and spending development time making one for themselves. This is the same for my D-pad - no re-invention of the wheel; something someone with lots of available time can create, but why not get one that someone else has perfected? It is the same argument for sliced bread, individual cheese slices, etc. I haven't created something amazing as such, but it is interesting that I am the first who has found a solution rather than just discussing the problem.

Goity - Why bother?


What I will do, once I am happy with my "final product" is decide if I want to market this or not. I have not been happy to date with the posts, and feel deflated. If the shoes were on the other foot, I would have been bullying me with encouragement to allow me to trial one and review it - I feel the opposite has happened however.

NickSpoon - great! Going to try some black foam material I got from a craft shop - better looking, great grip. Will need to experiment with it when I get a chance.

 

[sinkyboy2000]

I don't give a stuff about the appearance, just durability, functionality and ease of installation.

I'm not sure I get exactly how it's installed. Would it be possible for someone with no technical skills at all?

 

[bacteria]

I don't give a stuff about the appearance, just durability, functionality and ease of installation.

I'm not sure I get exactly how it's installed. Would it be possible for someone with no technical skills at all?

​

Finally, someone like me! Horrah!

Very easy for someone with (almost) no technical skills at all. All you need to be able to do is use a soldering iron (not even to be very good with one, I add, as the pins to solder to are apart), a pair of pliers, scissors, and a screwdriver (to open the GP2x's back with - no need to remove the motherboard itself, so no worries!).

Appearance - working on this. Durability - needs lots of testing and re-testing if required (I don't want people saying it failed after a week). I would rather spend a few days or so testing the unit than rushing it to market. Functionality - complete. East of installation - couldn't be much simpler!

 

[moz]

I



am interested

 

[DaveC]

Actually I'm lying DrMD would work.  I've just checked the source, for a UP-LEFT diagnal, I translate it back to UP and LEFT being pressed at the same time.  I'd guess that most other emulators will work as well.

​

Does this mean that somewhere in the SDK or even the electronics it automaticaly interprets a combination of ordinals as a diagonal automatically? Would all software work this way without modification? That is strange as with the original hardware it is impossible to press two ordinals at once. I even thought it may fuck something up because the electronics were not designed to ever have those connections made. If this is true then we wouldn't need those logic chips anymore, it makes it real simple then. Hmmm.


Bacteria: I would test all of the games you can too see if ALL work with diagonals. If so then we have something here.

 

[Goity]

Goity - Why bother?

?

 

[moz]

Goity - Why bother?

?

​

i was wondering the same thing

 

[bacteria]

Actually I'm lying DrMD would work.  I've just checked the source, for a UP-LEFT diagnal, I translate it back to UP and LEFT being pressed at the same time.  I'd guess that most other emulators will work as well.

​

Does this mean that somewhere in the SDK or even the electronics it automaticaly interprets a combination of ordinals as a diagonal automatically? Would all software work this way without modification? That is strange as with the original hardware it is impossible to press two ordinals at once. I even thought it may fuck something up because the electronics were not designed to ever have those connections made. If this is true then we wouldn't need those logic chips anymore, it makes it real simple then. Hmmm.


Bacteria: I would test all of the games you can too see if ALL work with diagonals. If so then we have something here.

​

DaveC - bang on the nail! This is what threw me - press a direction key on your keyboard, and then another, and the computer only accepts the dominant one, not both at the same time. This is why I failed to realise the full extent of my work unil today. It was because of the many (wiredly hostile) comments earlier, that I thought "right, why do I find this D-pad so great to use (even on 1942) " - I played StarForce on MAME and it hit me - diagonals worked reliably! (etc).

You are absolutely right DaveC, and thanks for your positive feedback - there does not, at the moment, seem to be a need for a logic chip (sorry Radek - funny how the table turns...).

Yes, it makes it simple! :rolleyes:

I am pleased - however many units I eventually sell is acedemic (although I would like to make some money!) - the community as a force will benefit, and I have, I believe, (even now) made a worthwhile contribution.

I will test lots of games, and will give an honest appraisal of what works and what doesn't work with the games on my system - I can't play everything! People can then decide if they want one or not.

I will probably compile a list of all users who have made/will make nice comments on my gadget, and I will offer two or three people a free unit (perhaps you, DaveC might want to be one of them?), on the basis that all I want them to do is to post an honest and unbiast review on the forum - this will either kill the project (no problem) or rocket it into mass order status - people can make their own mind up then as to if they want one - just like they did with your wonderful cap mod.

Lots of testing to do, one or maybe two final prototypes to make and fully test, then I will take it from there. No rush, people can wait for a couple of weeks if it takes that time - the onus is getting the product in a good state as it can be rather than rushing a release because of any pressure.

It is nice to see people are being positive now - I was getting down earlier about the whole thing.

 

[jmetal88]

Wow... It actually interprets diagonals correctly...

I think I may want one now...

 

[bacteria]

Wow... It actually interprets diagonals correctly...

I think I may want one now...

​

Cool! :lol:

 

[Drak]

I wouldnt be caught dead with something like that one my gp2x.. If it ever gets pretty looking please post pics

Thats what I think anyway, I couldnt imagine using it and some kid passes by and says 'wtf is that?'

With my davec joystick it looks just fine and it plays nicely...

 

[god_at_hell]

*poke* bacteria *pokepoke*

could you check, if gngeo works perfectly?

*pokepokepokepoke*

 

[Flexinoodle]

Flexinoodle - re-read your comments above, your arrogance and self importance is amazing, especially your last paragraph. Your comments are unfair, but it is not worth my time flaming them.

My arrogance and self importance says the person who is in so many threads dissing Radeks work ?
And here is how unfair i am about your unprofessionalism and bad treatment of the general public, When asked if this would void the warranty you replied
"if you removed your joystick first, yes. My solution, no, as you aren't removing the joystick - in fact, you can revert back to your original situation in about 2 minutes if you need to (so who would know)..." (Guess what another thread you hijacked to say how your product was better than Radeks)
Very ethical telling that to a potential customer considering they need to open their GP2X and solder inside it (Voiding any warranty)

You obviously dont understand the first thing about dealing with customers because very seldom will LIES work.
Anybody who trusts you to deliver a quality product and then back up service too should take another look at your photos and comments of the last few days.

 

[vic20-ian]

Send me one and I will do an independant user trial for you. It will void my warranty but hey I can afford to replace mine and a lot of younger users can't.

My loss of warranty and testing will offset your £11 fee. I think this is a fair exchange.

I will even agree to return the unit at the end of the trial or buy it.

 

[chimpoid]

Actually I'm lying DrMD would work. I've just checked the source, for a UP-LEFT diagnal, I translate it back to UP and LEFT being pressed at the same time. I'd guess that most other emulators will work as well.

​

Does this mean that somewhere in the SDK or even the electronics it automaticaly interprets a combination of ordinals as a diagonal automatically? Would all software work this way without modification? That is strange as with the original hardware it is impossible to press two ordinals at once. I even thought it may fuck something up because the electronics were not designed to ever have those connections made. If this is true then we wouldn't need those logic chips anymore, it makes it real simple then. Hmmm.


Bacteria: I would test all of the games you can too see if ALL work with diagonals. If so then we have something here.

​

DaveC - bang on the nail! This is what threw me - press a direction key on your keyboard, and then another, and the computer only accepts the dominant one, not both at the same time. This is why I failed to realise the full extent of my work unil today.

I fail to see where you get the idea that it does accept diagonals. It doesn't, and you've taken Dave's question and given him an answer that suits you rather than testing it.
Download Whacky Penguin and try it. It looks for diagonals explicilty. I would be very surprised if your mod works with it as it is simply pressing two directions at one time.

Reesy pointed out that his work will work with the joystick as it accepts two directions as a diagonal. Dave was asking if the hardware replicates this. I think you will most likely find that it does not. Your joystick will work with software that accepts two directions simultaneously and interprets these as a diagnonal (most emulators designed to work with a 4 way pad I imagine).

So, no, your stick most likely does NOT detect diagonals. It is more good luck than good management that it works with emulators. I also find it pretty offensive that your tone with regards Radek's mod is less than polite. Radek designed a 4 way setup that deliberately clarify's the 4/8 way problem with dedicated hard/software. This will work with all setups and you have succeeded in doing half the job that mod does.