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[bertambala]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if it would be possible to get the X-Arcade (X-Aracde Two Player) to work with the Amiga. It operates as a PC keyboard sending the signal through a cable ending with a male DB-9 connector, and from there is connected to a USB converter for use with my Mac. I know they sell separate adaptors to use this controller with the XBox, PS2, and Gamecube, but I thought it would be rather nice to use it with my miggy.

Any ideas on how I could build a convertor box to use this for two player games? Getting two buttons per person functionality would be great, though I'd even settle for one. Thanks in advance!

[adolescent]

You could probably wire up the x-arcade directly to the joystick ports. For more two buttons you could use the Genesis layout, or if you want more use the CD32 schematics to build an adapter.

[bertambala]

Hi adolescent,

Thanks for the reply. I found some info regarding the CD32 schematics, but haven't found anything regarding the Genesis layout yet - is that something I should find on Aminet? I appreciate the reply and I'll post back if I ever get it working.

[adolescent]

Typical one button stick (Atari style):

1 Up
2 Down
3 Left
4 Right
5 NC
6 Button1
7 NC
8 Ground
9 NC

Typical two button stick (Sega Master System*):

1 Up
2 Down
3 Left
4 Right
5 NC
6 Button1
7 NC
8 Ground
9 Button2

* On the Genesis/MegaDrive Button1=B, and Button2=C. On the Genesis, pin 7 is used to select between layouts. Genesis 6 button pads have an additional chip inside to enable the extra buttons.

The easiest thing to do is directly wire the two button style stick. This should sufice for a majority of the games. Building the CD32 circiut is a bit more involved and could be left for later.

Oh, and the real thing to worry about is if the X-Arcade itself is doing anything funny. (ie. if it already has a multiplexer...) Do you have a pinout for the X-Arcade connector?

[adolescent]

Ouch. Never mind, I just checked the website and this isn't going to be easy. The X-Arcade shows up as a PS/2 keyboard. Sorry to get your hopes up, but without re-wiring the X-Arcade itself it's not going to be as simple as I made it sound.

[lempkee]

i have one of theese which i use for MAME and my emu's (uae etc) , works great on my AmigaOne , love it to death

[leirbag28]

@bertambala

Hey dude.....the solution is SUPER easy!

There is and adaptor that converts a Playstation joypad into an Amiga CD32 pad.......so just get the Playstation adaptor for that X-Arcade joystick........and then buy the adaptor for the Amiga that lets you plug in Playstation Joypads

Whalla! done!

do a search on this site...its somewhere here.

[mahen]

leirbag28 : you mean, the one that is plugged to the parallel port ? It's practically useless, as most games don't use the lowlevel.library...

I'm also looking for a solution to build an X-Arcade -> Amiga adapter

[mahen]

Any progress in building an X-Arcade -> Amiga adapter ?

[mahen]

Maybe this PSX -> Megadrive adapter could help (used along with the PSX X-Arcade adapter). But I think some MD gamepads were not compatible with the Amiga... (especially the ones with more buttons ?)

[Nlandas]

bertambala wrote:
Hi everyone,

I was wondering if it would be possible to get the X-Arcade (X-Aracde Two Player) to work with the Amiga. It operates as a PC keyboard sending the signal through a cable ending with a male DB-9 connector, and from there is connected to a USB converter for use with my Mac. I know they sell separate adaptors to use this controller with the XBox, PS2, and Gamecube, but I thought it would be rather nice to use it with my miggy.

Any ideas on how I could build a converter box to use this for two player games? Getting two buttons per person functionality would be great, though I'd even settle for one. Thanks in advance!

I might be oversimplifying but it says it doesn't require drivers for most OSs because it works as a standard keyboard. Since it has an adapter to go USB, wouldn't a USB card for your Amiga allow you to use it as a keyboard. The last I looked most standard USB keyboards were supported.

It's worth a try anyway. Of course, you need an Amiga USB card and a $200USD tankstick to try it out.

If it works, let me know, I'll be buying a tankstick this year for my Retro-Arcade project.

-Nyle :-D

[mahen]

Of course, it probably works out-of-the-box, thanks to the USB adapter, with the Poseidon USB stack (among others)...

But what we are looking for is a way to use it with classic Amiga games, that is to say, direct hardware banging pieces of software. (no USB stack, then

** Maybe ** I found a solution, but it's not sure it'll work, though, but I'll keep you informed in a couple of weeks

http://tototek.com/pio/main1/SUBMENU/PARTS/LINKS/OS/mdclassicconverter.htm
+
http://xgaming.com/adapters.shtml
+
http://xgaming.com/two-player.shtml
+
Amiga
=
???

What may trigger an issue, is the fact that, in my experience, there were some incompatibilities between the Amiga and 6 buttons MD controllers...

To be continued...

[Nlandas]

mahen wrote:
Of course, it probably works out-of-the-box, thanks to the USB adapter, with the Poseidon USB stack (among others)...

But what we are looking for is a way to use it with classic Amiga games, that is to say, direct hardware banging pieces of software. (no USB stack, then

Ah, I thought you wanted to use it with MAME - since you just said two players games my brain interpreted that as being with MAME.

For Amiga games I just love the old Atari Joysticks so I've never looked for a controller for that since Amiga uses them directly.

I burn some brain cells on this but I'd imagine it'd need a driver.

-Nyle

[Pertinax]

Maybe this (PSX64 in link) could be useful

http://freedomirc.net/~megaboz/shredz64/


Jason

[mahen]

I've just been sent this URL :

http://aminet.net/search?query=PSX+pad

Building this PSX -> CD32 pad adapter would definitely enable us to use the X-Arcade (with the official PSX X-Arcade adapter).

Problem : it requires technical knowledge & some equipment. Anyone willing to build a few ones for us ?