Tried to Solder a DB9 to TheC64 Joystick Today

spannernick1 22 days ago

But its acting weird,I connected all wires to the right pins,On Jumpman when moving left and right he jumps too Like I pushing left and pressing fire and if I go right it just keeps going right and you can't stop it until to take the Joystick out of the DB9, and there no up,When I take the joystick out of the DB9 connector the pads on the board work fine...It just don't work,I might be having a problem cause of Ground or cause its USB...just don't know.

Howzat and Gurce like this.


Darbyram 22 days ago

Did you use a wiring diagram from somewhere?

spinal 22 days ago

Sounds like it's not wired correctly.


spannernick1 22 days ago

No I am using the same way,if you were going to add a DB9 to the C64DTV and i did that to mine a long time ago and it worked fine,I tested all the wires with a multimeter too, there were connecting and going to the right pins,its just TheC64 Joystick ,you can't add one for some reason..ah well,while I was in the joystick I changed the spring inside it and it's more stiffer at moving and more precise now,the problem with the joystick is it needs a stronger spring,in the DTV they use what looks like a C64 Keyboard spring,so I took that out and put it TheC64 joystick with its own spring to make it stronger and stretched them a bit too and it worked... The spring is under a plate with four screws in,it look abit like a X.and its red.You have to remove the main board of the joystick to get to it.


JohnnyG20 days ago

This idea came to me today too... if you wire a db9 port in parallel to the mini joystick internals, wouldnt the joystick act like a db9 to usb converter?
In theory it should not be hard because there are only 6 wires?
If it is not working, i can only guess there is a messy solder which is shorting a connection?
I cant speak as an expert because i now regret throwing out all my stuff many years ago

6 DAYS LATER


JohnnyG14 days ago

Any success troubleshooting the db9 port?


johlrogge12 days ago
I tried the same thing and experience the same behaviour. It surprises me since the circuit seems very straight forward.


tomxp41110 days ago

It sounds like the TheC64 stick is using a matrix, rather than a common ground. If that's the case, you'll get behavior similar to what you describe: controls won't activate correctly, or you'll get two (or more) controls activated with one button press.

A matrix input doesn't make sense for less than 4 inputs, but with with 6 or more inputs, you start seeing a cost savings in terms of pins. (6 inputs uses 5 pins, 9 inputs use 6 pins, and so on.)

I haven't looked inside the joystick that comes with the 64 Mini, but with 4 directional controls, a fire button, and at least 4 additional buttons, I wouldn't be surprised if it's using a matrix for input. In that case, you can't wire an Atari style DB9 to this stick; you'd probably be better off at that point trying to build a custom controller using a Teensy. (Something I plan to experiment with.)


spinal 10 days ago

tomxp411 build a custom controller using a Teensy

Let us know if it works, Arduino Leonardo doesn't.

tomxp411 10 days ago

spinal From what I've seen, the Arduino USB library isn't as robust as the one in Teensy. I don't actually have a Teensy board yet (that'll have to wait a few weeks for my budget to open up a little), but the Due I'm using as a Commodore keyboard controller right now definitely doesn't work on power-up. I have to unplug and re-connect the Arduino to get it to work. On the other hand, the Teensy-powered USB keyboards I have (about 8 of them) all work nearly flawlessly; the only weird thing about those is that they lose the first keypress after bootup.


spannernick 19 days ago

I was thinking maybe something like this with the Arduino Nano but would TheC64 Mini reconise it but add a DB9 connector on the end to replace the arcade joystick..??


spannernick19 days ago

Part 2


Part 3


What's everybody think,but first watch the videos and then your input is welcome..?

IMPORTANT:
I need Retro Games to respond to this as well please,I need to know if TheC64 Mini would reconise the Arduino Nano first cause this will be a waste of time if it don't work with it cause TheC64 mini is abit funny with USB devices.


spinal l9 days ago

I don't think Arduino nano has USB capability, just serial only. The usb connector is a serial adapter.
Arduino Leonardo / pro micro doesn't work on c64 mini as joystick, I tried.
T TwitchyMcJoe8 days agoEdited
The DigiSpark, which uses Arduino and an ATTINY85, can be used as a HID over usb. There are libraries made just for using it as a joystick. I'd look into those.

They're also dirt cheap, so getting one to experiment with would not be an issue.

digistump.com/products/1

There are generic ones for about $1 on ebay.

EDIT: I actually made a custom flight system by using a MEGA connected to one of these over i2c. I had a lot of input options to go with my old gameport joystick. It might (should) work with the Mini, but my experience was on Windows.


Gurce7 days agoEdited

Just read a post on the fb group of someone having success modding the joystick:

www.facebook.com/groups/209280506324242/permalink/216226672296292/

spannernick16 days ago

I think mine didn't work cause I have a switch on my Zipstik Joystick.