Taito Egret II Mini Rollerball/Spinner Controller

[triangle]

Does anyone know of any Arduino-type devices w/ built-in USB host ports? Couldn't find anything online so I've picked up a couple of Pi Picos 'n USB OTG adapters; wish me luck! =D

Modern revs of the Teensy can be both USB client and host, though I think you'd need to wire up the additional port yourself.

[lamarax]

Potentially as an interim I could bodge together a USB converter from the controller to something the MiSTer is expecting

Hmm, I haven't taken mine apart yet, but I'm suspecting something like an Opti-PAC would be a better interim solution instead of an adapter.

[Reed_Solomon]

So I've been thinking about this, If the problem is that these USB spinners are basically just showing up as mouse scroll wheels (I don't have one but that seems to be the case from what's posted here), then there are 2 possible solutions I can think of at least when it comes to MiSTer.

1) Fix the drivers in the Linux kernel so that they function as intended for every device with a spinner.

2) Add an option in the MiSTer framework / cores to use mouse scroll wheel as spinner input. Therefore, anything that shows up as a scroll wheel would act as a spinner, including an actual mouse scroll wheel. Feature could be toggled on and off in cores.

#1 is the ideal fix, both solutions could probably be implemented in due course without conflicting with each other.

[lamarax]

#1 is the ideal fix, both solutions could probably be implemented in due course without conflicting with each other.

Certainly it is, but someone's got to do it. Right now it would seem that there's no motivation for people who know their way inside the kernel.

Maybe we should stage a group buy to spark interest

[Reed_Solomon]

#1 is the ideal fix, both solutions could probably be implemented in due course without conflicting with each other.

Certainly it is, but someone's got to do it. Right now it would seem that there's no motivation for people who know their way inside the kernel.

Maybe we should stage a group buy to spark interest

If you have one of these devices, file a bug report / issue in Ubuntu, say the controller works except for the spinner, and that on windows it shows up as a scroll wheel. It could help get eyes on the problem.

[lamarax]

Thankfully, a big player has come to the party

[MrMister1985]

That looks great, fingers crossed this can be added to the Mister project soon!

[Beeble]

While not useful for many, I would love to see the spinner working on MiSTer-

[MrMister1985]

Any further developments on this? Would love to see this work fully on MiSTer!!!

[MorkMikael]

So, I received mine today. The situation regarding MiSTer use, is exactly as flynnsbit describes; everything's working as it should except for the spinner.

As far as quality goes, it's surprisingly pleasant; the trackball has a heft to it despite its small size and fits my hand nicely. I was worried the whole thing would feel plastic-y and toy-ish, but it's far from that. The proprietary (⌀26mm?) buttons are also great; they're of the shallow snap-in variety, and feel somewhat between Seimitsu PS-15s and "western style" Happ/ILs.

The spinner is... indeed a spinner It's not a brush pot; obviously it relies on a gear mechanism and has a high resolution. I didn't open up the unit (yet), so I hope those gears are not out of plastic; they tend to 'catch' with finer rotation.

All in all, I believe this was a worthy purchase. Let's wish combined trackball/spinner (i.e. mouse with scroll wheel) support makes it into main.

At last I can play Centipede as intended

if you open it would you mind posting pics of the inside like to know if it would be possible to add your own stuff to it.

[lamarax]

if you open it would you mind posting pics of the inside like to know if it would be possible to add your own stuff to it.

spinnercon.jpg (2.39 MiB) Viewed 13137 times

Did y'all try @theypsilon's framework test build with Arkanoid? It works flawlessly!

MiSTer.zip

(531.44 KiB) Downloaded 280 times

[Edit]...and here's my input mapping with Arkanoid (World).mra, in case you find it difficult to set the controls up (it's tricky). Paste inside the [.../media/fat/config/inputs] folder. Also make sure you're using the MiSTer binary I posted above.

arkanoid_input_0ae4_0701_v3.zip

(223 Bytes) Downloaded 336 times

The little purple button is COIN, little blue button is 1P START, left button is SHOOT, and right button is FAST. I prefer setting the sensitivity to "medium" for the spinner in the OSD.

[ghostofthesun]

Hope nobody minds me bumping this topic up. Has it been determined yet if it's possible to swap the board out for something a bit more compatible?

Side question for those who have the joystick controller: does it support the 0ms polling feature on the Mister?

[KnightNZ]

Edit - nm, found an earlier post with the config process.

[lamarax]

Today the framework got promoted to stable with many updates, but alas the couple of lines of code needed to make the spinner functional (with Arkanoid at least), are still missing

Here are those lines by @theypsilon, in case anyone wants to compile the newest MiSTer binary with the fix incorporated inside input.cpp:

Code: Select all

	
5111						if (data[0] & 8) {
5112							int myspinner = data[3] & 0x80 ? ((int) data[3]) - 0xFF : data[3];
5113							//printf("IM HERE MAN %d "BYTE_TO_BINARY_PATTERN, myspinner, BYTE_TO_BINARY(myspinner));
5114						        //printf("\n");
5115							send_mouse_with_throttle(i, myspinner, myspinner, 0);
5116						} else {
5117							send_mouse_with_throttle(i, xval, yval, data[3]);
5118						}
5119					}
5120				}
5121			}
5122		}
5123	}

I love the comment; IM HERE MAN

[pva]

Did y'all try @theypsilon's framework test build with Arkanoid? It works flawlessly!

Hey @lamarax, I just got my controller in today, and I'm trying to make it work using the set of files you provided. However, I'm having trouble getting the Arkanoid (W) core (MiSTer v220619, A.ARKANOID v220521) to register any inputs.

I've copied both the main binary and input mapping over to my SD card, and set the core settings to the following:

Code: Select all

Pad Control: Spinner
Spinner Resolution: Medium
SNAC Spinner: Disable

Are these correct, or have more recent updates broken support for the controller? (I'm well aware the change hasn't been merged yet, and thus the controller isn't officially supported, but I'm impatient. ) Could you please share your methodology for setting up the controls for the core so I could try to replicate the process? I suspect the controller should be set up as a mouse instead, but I can't wrap my head around how to do it.

Thanks!

P.S. when connected to a computer the trackball moves the mouse cursor and and spinner acts as a scroll wheel, so I think the the controller is working fine.

[lamarax]

Did y'all try @theypsilon's framework test build with Arkanoid? It works flawlessly!

Hey @lamarax, I just got my controller in today, and I'm trying to make it work using the set of files you provided. However, I'm having trouble getting the Arkanoid (W) core (MiSTer v220619, A.ARKANOID v220521) to register any inputs.

I've copied both the main binary and input mapping over to my SD card, and set the core settings to the following:

Code: Select all

Pad Control: Spinner
Spinner Resolution: Medium
SNAC Spinner: Disable

Are these correct, or have more recent updates broken support for the controller? (I'm well aware the change hasn't been merged yet, and thus the controller isn't officially supported, but I'm impatient. ) Could you please share your methodology for setting up the controls for the core so I could try to replicate the process? I suspect the controller should be set up as a mouse instead, but I can't wrap my head around how to do it.

Thanks!

P.S. when connected to a computer the trackball moves the mouse cursor and and spinner acts as a scroll wheel, so I think the the controller is working fine.

I forgot to add that you first have to setup the device in the main core. Mine is setup beforehand so that the small white button acts as F12 (bring up the OSD) and all the other ones have some function as well. Maybe there's a conflict between your basic configuration and the Arkanoid (W) specific I posted above. I'd like to check, but I've reverted to the stable MiSTer binary for now.

It's important that once you first enter the specific core's controls setup menu, you don't touch the kb or another pad. When it prompts you for 'left, right' etc., just press the button you have designated as the 'menu' one in main (in my case the small white one). Then you should designate only relevant functions ('coin', '1P start', 'shoot' and 'fast'), skipping all the others. By the time you get to this stage, vid:pid of the Taito controller is registered, so it doesn't matter if you use the spacebar to skip.

Hope all that makes sense

[pva]

I forgot to add that you first have to setup the device in the main core. Mine is setup beforehand so that the small white button acts as F12 (bring up the OSD) and all the other ones have some function as well. Maybe there's a conflict between your basic configuration and the Arkanoid (W) specific I posted above. I'd like to check, but I've reverted to the stable MiSTer binary for now.

For anyone else looking to test this out, performing the basic controller setup in the main core was the charm.

Now, the next question is: How can we help @theypsilon to get his changes merged into Main?

Alternately, if anyone has any pointers on how to build the Main core in Docker (Rætro Archives' toolchain seems to be both out-of-date and broken), I'm all ears. (As I said, I'm impatient, but I'm willing to put some effort into maintaining my own fork while we wait the change to land in Main.)

[pva]

Alternately, if anyone has any pointers on how to build the Main core in Docker (Rætro Archives' toolchain seems to be both out-of-date and broken), I'm all ears. (As I said, I'm impatient, but I'm willing to put some effort into maintaining my own fork while we wait the change to land in Main.)

At the risk of derailing the thread, I'll just add that after a bit of research last night, I got the build working using @theypsilon's Dockerized GCC ARM build environment. If anyone else fancies building their own up-to-date Main binary with the experimental spinner patch, shoot me a DM and I'll send you a link to my fork. (I'm not linking to it here because I'm not going to support it in any way, shape or form. ).

[numbski]

Mine just showed up as well, but under “define joystick buttons”, when I get to mouse right/mouse left etc, the trackball is just flat out ignored. I can map the buttons, but not the ball.

[Lightwave]

Mine just showed up as well, but under “define joystick buttons”, when I get to mouse right/mouse left etc, the trackball is just flat out ignored. I can map the buttons, but not the ball.

Mice work automatically in MiSTer, no need for mapping.

The joystick definitions are for mapping non-mice devices to simulate mice.

[therourke]

Has this been implemented in the main Mister build yet, or do we still need to use this variant?

I got this working with Arkanoid on the Mister build posted here. Does it / will it ever work with any other games? The trackball works great with the Amiga core. Could do with the ability to increase responsiveness/sensitivity though.

[therourke]

Has this been implemented in the main Mister build yet, or do we still need to use this variant?

I got this working with Arkanoid on the Mister build posted here. Does it / will it ever work with any other games? The trackball works great with the Amiga core. Could do with the ability to increase responsiveness/sensitivity though.

Any updates at all on this? Or can I find input on a particular discord? Thanks

[therourke]

Attempting a bump of this one last time... did this get implemented in the main Mister build? Will it?

[FPGA64]

Its on a branch its not in the Main Mister.

[Doop]

Is there any chance of getting this merged into the main branch Sorg? Thanks for all your work.

[MrMister1985]

Just checking in, will this go into the main Mister build at some point or will it stay seperate? Any reason why it cant go into the Main Branch? Would be great for new folks to Mister to have a more simple plug and play once its set up in the normal way if possibe!

I understand if not possible

cheers

[dryosh]

Bump! Let’s put it in the main branch! I would do it but I don’t know how! Maybe we can make a little funding for that, I am willing to pay

[KnightNZ]

Just putting my 2c in on this one, would love support for this so I can play Arkanoid and Centipede the way they were meant to be played!

Please and thank-you!

[killersquirel]

I would also love to see this controller added to the MiSTer main. Please and thank you.

[uberyoji]

Anyone know if it got merged in main afterall?