Does the GRS spinner work with Tron

[Zeosstud]

Hello,
I have given up on any hope of my Ultimarc Spintrak working with Tron, could anyone share what spinner they have working with this arcade core. Maybe the GRS Button Hole Spinner??

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HNB5933/

Seems like a reasonable purchase and they even have a Tron looking knob for it..

Just hoping to get some conformation before I pull the trigger..

I do see in a previous post that people have had luck with the Atari USB spinner from Micro Center, I could give that a shot, I happen to like
Glens Retro Show stuff, and have his Tron Joystick, so, if anyone might have that one working well it would be my first choice, but I am
flexible..

Thanks,
Zeosstud

[lamarax]

I have given up on any hope of my Ultimarc Spintrak working with Tron

Oh man, I's planning to build a box with the Ultimarc spinner Does it not work with other cores as well (I mean the bundled usb encoder)?

[thorr]

I was actually wondering about this spinner that is also for Discs of Tron (push/pull): https://www.amazon.com/GRS-Push-Pull-Ar ... B09DNYJB68
I hope the MiSTer can/will support it. It basically is a mouse with left click/right click and scroll wheel up/down, so I would hope it would work as long as the MiSTer can map those to the game.

[dshadoff]

I'm pretty sure that spinners *are* mice from the framework's point of view. (one axis)

[Zeosstud]

I have given up on any hope of my Ultimarc Spintrak working with Tron

Oh man, I's planning to build a box with the Ultimarc spinner Does it not work with other cores as well (I mean the bundled usb encoder)?

The Ultimarc works great with Arkanoid, perfectly in fact.. In Centipede it moves your guy left and right as you would expect.. However in Tron is just sits there and laughs at me, I have brought this up several times to no avail, it is kind of puzzling really..

[dshadoff]

…But Centipede is a trackball game…

[Zeosstud]

…But Centipede is a trackball game…

Agreed.. and my Ultimarc Trackball works with it very well, all be it upside down for player 1, but that is just nit picky.. The point is, the spinner is recognized in games that originally used a spinner and ones that use a trackball, meaning it is hooked up correctly and what not.. I am told other USB spinners work with Tron just fine, I really would love to understand why an industry standard like the spintrak does not, specifically with this core. I would be 100% okay with drop shipping a spinner and an ipac2 to the dev working on this or Sorg himself if it would benefit the community in the long run.

Zeosstud

[thorr]

I just ordered one of each (the regular and a push/pull). I will test them and report back my findings. I am going to make a hand-held Atari Paddle style controller with the regular spinner, and the push/pull will go into my still being built arcade cabinet. At first, I will just test them loose to see if/how well they work.

[dshadoff]

Hmmm… I think Sorg may already specifically have one of these, so I believe the framework should support it just fine. That specific core, on the other hand, may be a separate issue… do I understand correctly that other cores work fine ?

If so, I’d log a GitHub issue specifically against that core with all these details.

[Zeosstud]

I just ordered one of each (the regular and a push/pull). I will test them and report back my findings. I am going to make a hand-held Atari Paddle style controller with the regular spinner, and the push/pull will go into my still being built arcade cabinet. At first, I will just test them loose to see if/how well they work.

That would be very much appreciated.. I will keep an eye out for your response!!

[Zeosstud]

Hmmm… I think Sorg may already specifically have one of these, so I believe the framework should support it just fine. That specific core, on the other hand, may be a separate issue… do I understand correctly that other cores work fine ?

If so, I’d log a GitHub issue specifically against that core with all these details.

I have done that, a few times actually.. I have no real issue with changing spinners, do I think it should be necessary, no.. If however the GRS spinner, which has a Tron knob now available works, I will just smile, buy one and get on with being very average ( at best ) playing Tron!!

[thorr]

I got the GRS spinner and the GRS push-pull spinner. The regular spinner works in both Tron and Discs of Tron. The push-pull spinner doesn't work at all for the spinner, push-pull or buttons in either game. It does get recognized and works in ao486 using it as a mouse. The GRS spinner needs to be turned a lot more than I would like the in the Atari 7800 core, but seems ok in Tron. I never played Tron back in the day so I have no historical feel for how far you need to turn it to make it move on the screen. The push-pull spinner is currently useless to me. The cores have no way to adjust any settings or define which buttons do what for the spinners.

I added a github request to add support for the GRS push-pull spinner in Discs of Tron and mentioned it doesn't work in Tron either.

[Zeosstud]

I got the GRS spinner and the GRS push-pull spinner. The regular spinner works in both Tron and Discs of Tron. The push-pull spinner doesn't work at all for the spinner, push-pull or buttons in either game. It does get recognized and works in ao486 using it as a mouse. The GRS spinner needs to be turned a lot more than I would like the in the Atari 7800 core, but seems ok in Tron. I never played Tron back in the day so I have no historical feel for how far you need to turn it to make it move on the screen. The push-pull spinner is currently useless to me. The cores have no way to adjust any settings or define which buttons do what for the spinners.

I added a github request to add support for the GRS push-pull spinner in Discs of Tron and mentioned it doesn't work in Tron either.

I VERY much appreciate the information, I am going to go ahead and order the GRS spinner and get it setup in my control panel, if nothing else it will at least look good with the Tron knob and that game will become playable, since I do have the GRS Tron Joystick it makes sense.. It seems wild that one spinner would work in both games and the 2nd not work at all, similar to how the Spintrak simply is not recognized in Tron at all but works in other cores. I hope your github requests gains some traction, obviously the push-pull spinner needs to work in Discs of Tron and should in Tron too, I mean, the Arcade1Up guys figured it out, my guess is our devs can too!!

[thorr]

Does anyone know how to easily get the vid:pid of a connected spinner? I was asked this information after submitting the github request.

[dshadoff]

So probably the best way would be to:

1) Log in as root, either via the USB serial port on the side of the device (TTY console) or via network. It's been a long time since I logged in by network, I don't remember if telnet works directly or whether it needs to be a secure transport.
2) before plugging in the spinner, run 'lsusb' (without the quotes).
3) plug in the spinner and run 'lsusb' again.

The difference between the two results will be the new device.

It seems that I have one of these same units myself (
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HNB5933/ ) , so I did the above, and the line of difference is:

Code: Select all

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 32be:1420 Baolian industry Co., Ltd. BL button spinner # 1

The VID:PID portion is "32be:1420".
Some similar information pops up through the serial output when you plug in devices or when linux boots up.

Spinning the spinner, I see lots of USB messages being intercepted (again via the virtual COM port), so it's doing *something*.

Where did you log the issue ? Was it the specific core that you're having trouble with ?

[thorr]

Where did you log the issue ? Was it the specific core that you're having trouble with ?

Thanks for the help! I can ssh to my MiSTer, so I will do this tonight and see what I get. I logged the issue on github here: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Arcade- ... /issues/13

I am having trouble with Tron and Discs of Tron. I haven't tried it elsewhere too much, but it does get recognized and works in ao486.

I have the device you linked to and that one works in both Tron and Discs of Tron. I also have this one, and it does not work: https://www.amazon.com/GRS-Push-Pull-Ar ... B09DNYJB68

[dshadoff]

Oh, I think I had misread the thread previously... the spinner I have is the one I believe that Sorg had already. I don't know anything about the Ultimarc spinner or the other one.

Still, the 'lsusb' command description is what should work.
But if Ultimarc works on various cores but not that specific one, it would seem to be related to how events are processed by the core itself.

[thorr]

Thanks again. It came out like this:
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 32be:1422 Baolian industry Co., Ltd. BL button spinner Z # 1

[thorr]

I have given up on any hope of my Ultimarc Spintrak working with Tron, could anyone share what spinner they have working with this arcade core.

There may be an answer for you to get this working with your Ultimarc (and you could return your GRS if you want):

1) Assuming your Mister is connected to your network and you haven't changed the password and you have Windows, open Powershell and type:
ssh root@mister
For the Password, type 1
2) Assuming that worked, unplug your Ultimarc spinner and type lsusb
3) Plug in your Ultimarc spinner and type lsusb and make note of the newly added line
(Mine says: Bus 001 Device 006: ID 32be:1422 Baolian industry Co., Ltd. BL button spinner Z # 1)
4) Edit your MiSTer.INI file with these lines (they could be under a core heading or in the main section):
spinner_vid=0x32BE
spinner_pid=0x1422
spinner_axis=0

5) Be sure to change the above values to whatever your lsusb values are for vid and pid.
6) Reboot and try your spinner
7) You can also change the speed your spinner moves with the spinner_throttle variable, but I don't know how to use it yet.

Good luck!

So far, the above helped me get the GRS push/pull spinner to spin, but the up/down is mapped wrong for the game.

[Zeosstud]

I have given up on any hope of my Ultimarc Spintrak working with Tron, could anyone share what spinner they have working with this arcade core.

There may be an answer for you to get this working with your Ultimarc (and you could return your GRS if you want):

1) Assuming your Mister is connected to your network and you haven't changed the password and you have Windows, open Powershell and type:
ssh root@mister
For the Password, type 1
2) Assuming that worked, unplug your Ultimarc spinner and type lsusb
3) Plug in your Ultimarc spinner and type lsusb and make note of the newly added line
(Mine says: Bus 001 Device 006: ID 32be:1422 Baolian industry Co., Ltd. BL button spinner Z # 1)
4) Edit your MiSTer.INI file with these lines (they could be under a core heading or in the main section):
spinner_vid=0x32BE
spinner_pid=0x1422
spinner_axis=0

5) Be sure to change the above values to whatever your lsusb values are for vid and pid.
6) Reboot and try your spinner
7) You can also change the speed your spinner moves with the spinner_throttle variable, but I don't know how to use it yet.

Good luck!

So far, the above helped me get the GRS push/pull spinner to spin, but the up/down is mapped wrong for the game.

I will give that a shot!! Nothing to lose..

[Zeosstud]

I did what you suggested, and about the only thing I figured out was that since my Ipac2 has both my spinner and trackball attached, neither of them come up as their own device inside Mister. To solve this and to do some more testing I ordered the adapter needed to connect the Spintrak via its own usb connection instead of the Ipac2. The part is not expensive and if it does work that would be great, I can use my Spintrak or my new GRS Spinner easily in another cabinet. I appreciated the instructions and in a week or so if that part shows up and I am able to test it I will post the results here.

[Zeosstud]

I got the GRS spinner and the GRS push-pull spinner. The regular spinner works in both Tron and Discs of Tron. The push-pull spinner doesn't work at all for the spinner, push-pull or buttons in either game. It does get recognized and works in ao486 using it as a mouse. The GRS spinner needs to be turned a lot more than I would like the in the Atari 7800 core, but seems ok in Tron. I never played Tron back in the day so I have no historical feel for how far you need to turn it to make it move on the screen. The push-pull spinner is currently useless to me. The cores have no way to adjust any settings or define which buttons do what for the spinners.

I added a github request to add support for the GRS push-pull spinner in Discs of Tron and mentioned it doesn't work in Tron either.

I got my GRS spinner in and can confirm what you said, it works in Tron right out of the gate.. It is actually a little to sensitive if you ask me, but it for sure is 100% playable. I have been able to enjoy a few games this evening and it was pretty cool. I am 100% not very good at this game..

[thorr]

I got my GRS spinner in and can confirm what you said, it works in Tron right out of the gate.. It is actually a little to sensitive if you ask me, but it for sure is 100% playable. I have been able to enjoy a few games this evening and it was pretty cool. I am 100% not very good at this game..

Glad it works for you!

You should be able to control the sensitivity by setting the spinner_throttle variable in the ini (Additional information from the github issue feedback from Sorgelig):
; spinner_throttle with base value 100 gives one spinner step per one tick. Higher value makes spinner slower.
; Lower than 100 makes spinner faster. Negative value gives opposite direction.

Also, Arudinos seem to be what the MiSTer supports best for connecting multiple controllers to USB:
MiSTer support 2 major classes of input devices:

directional control + many buttons + possible spinner/paddle - these devices have mapping dialog system wide and per core.
simple spinner/paddle with 1 button. These devices have no mapping and overlaid on class 1 device.

So your option is either keep it as class 2 and have only basic support. Or you can make it as class 1. I don't know if this GRS spinner has separate hardware between USB board and mechanical parts of spinner and micro-switches. I believe this is a part of your cabinet where additionally you have directional control device and other buttons. So i suggest to remove all those USB boards and replace them by single Arduino Micro which will have all controls combined into a single input device, so you can map it flexibly for any core you want, including those additional switches up/down. Some examples of such controllers are here:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Retro-C ... USB-MiSTer

[Zeosstud]

Wanted to post my results following your instructions from a few posts ago.. I went ahead and ordered the stand alone USB adapter for my Ultimarc Spintrak and got it installed just now.. Fired up my Vertical Mister and tested Arkanoid, worked like a champ.. Fired up Tron, did not work.. So I did what you said and SSH'd into the Mister and ran the lsusb command and got the info about the spinner, it was very clear..

spintrak.JPG (46 KiB) Viewed 17587 times

then edited my mister.ini file, adding these 3 lines

spinner_vid=0xd209
spinner_pid=0x15a2
spinner_axis=0

Did a cold boot, fired up Tron and it worked just as you would expect it to!!

So to all the spinner folks out there, do not be afraid to get the Ultimarc Spintrak for use with your Mister!! Just be sure to get the adapter also because you wont be able to control it with an Ipac2 as you would think, for this particular core anyway.. This fix is pretty clean, and I do not know right now if I will reinstall the Spintrak or use the GRS Spinner long term in my setup, but it sure is great to know that we all have options!!

Zeosstud

[Zeosstud]

A follow up to my last post, did a little more testing and learned this, you CAN in fact use the Ultimarc Spintrak while hooked up to an Ipac2 as a spinner in Tron, you just have to add the 3 lines specific to the Ipac vid & pid in the mister.ini Pretty cool if you ask me.

spinner_vid=0xd209
spinner_pid=0x0420
spinner_axis=0

Zeosstud

[warham]

I added the vid pid lines for the minipac opto to the ini. and the spinner started working. Thank you guys.

Fingers crossed someone loves these cores enough to add the mouse input Arkanoid has. The 3 encoder sensitivity settings in the menu works great. Also, arkanoid recognizes the standard mame start and coinup keyboard number buttons that are programmed in my minipac already. If there is a way for the tron core to recognize keyboard inputs ill be in business.

[BabaYaga326]

I just added a GRS up/down spinner to my MisterCade today. Disappointed to not see a 'Pad Control: Keyboard/Joy/Mouse' option in the OSD so that the spinner would be recognized. It would be nice to see this addition to the Tron core.

[thorr]

I just added a GRS up/down spinner to my MisterCade today. Disappointed to not see a 'Pad Control: Keyboard/Joy/Mouse' option in the OSD so that the spinner would be recognized. It would be nice to see this addition to the Tron core.

Yep, I use GroovyMister for this game. The core doesn't work with the controls.