Version 3

Here's version 3 of the adapter, second public release.

The most important change in this release is that the firmware now uses PsxNewLib to read the controller. This greatly improves compatibility, as PS1 controllers are now supported, even those without analog sticks which didn't work in the previous release.

It also opens the possibility to use all those excellent arcade sticks made for the PlayStation, such as the Namco or the Asciiware, both very good IMHO. Using them on your Amiga gives a great feel! It even works with the might Flightstick, even though using it as a digital controller really does not do it justice. I'll work to improve the situation for the next version ;).

Another news is the possibility to "rotate" the CD³² buttons so that they might feel more natural to those used to the original controller, just press SELECT when in CD³² mode.

Please note that the firmware is fully compatible with the previous hardware revisions, feel free to flash it on older boards, you will even save some flash space.

Hardware-wise, changes are minor: the Reset button was removed and replaced with a level translator for the ACK signal. This is not used at the moment, but it will be required by future versions of PsxNewLib to improve compatibility even further. Beside that, the serial port connector was shuffled to match the standard FTDI pin order.

Released files

Note that the released gerber files are password-protected. The original reason behind my projects was to allow anyone to make their own retrocomputing accessories cheaply. Instead of this, what I achieved was actually fuelling greedy people grabbing my work, making boards for a couple of bucks and the selling them at outrageous prices ($15 for a badly-soldered OpenC64Cart that costs $2 to make is just ridiculous).

I still believe in free software and open hardware, and that is why my projects will remain as such. I am no longer providing ready-to-use gerber files, but you can still generate them from the KiCad project or ask me for the password, if you think you don't fit the above statement.

If all you want is to get boards made, I would really appreciate if you did it as explained in the Support section in order to get them cheaply while supporting the project, i.e.: just click on this button:

Note that you are still allowed to sell these boards, I have nothing against that as long as you do so at an "ethical" price. This is why I am adding the following restriction (inspired by DiagROM): if this board is sold at more than 5€ + production and component costs, 25% MUST be donated to a LEGITIMATE charity of some kind, like curing cancer for example.

First Release

So, after 218 commits, here's the first public release (which is actually V2) of this project. Enjoy!

Development of this adapter has been very long and tiring, but I wanted to release something that would be feature-packed and working well. So pleae refer to the README to understand all the available features, like different button mappings, programmable combos, mouse mode, C64 mode, etc.

This has currently been tested on a couple of Amiga models, the CD32 and the C64. A word about the CD32: games using lowlevel.library should work perfectly. Games that poll the controller on their own might misbehave if they use tight timings. Please open an issue if you find anything wrong.

Yeah, this adapter might not be perfect, but the nice thing about it is that it is fully open, both in hardware and software. This means that if anything is found to be wrong, someone can fix it.

Note that the released gerber files are password-protected. The original reason behind my projects was to allow anyone to make their own retrocomputing accessories cheaply. Instead of this, what I achieved was actually fuelling greedy people grabbing my work, making boards for a couple of bucks and the selling them at outrageous prices ($15 for a badly-soldered OpenC64Cart that costs $2 to make is just ridiculous).

I still believe in free software and open hardware, and that is why my projects will remain as such. I am no longer providing ready-to-use gerber files, but you can still generate them from the KiCad project or ask me for the password, if you think you don't fit the above statement.

If all you want is to get boards made, I would really appreciate if you did it as explained in the Support section in order to get them cheaply while supporting the project, i.e.: just click on this button:

Note that you are still allowed to sell these boards, I have nothing against that as long as you do so at an "ethical" price. This is why I am adding the following restriction (inspired by DiagROM): if this board is sold at more than 5€ + production and component costs, 25% MUST be donated to a LEGITIMATE charity of some kind, like curing cancer for example.

Internal Release

This is the first development release, so that we can get PCBs made and then work on the firmware.

This was archived here just for historical reasons, DO NOT USE.

(The PCBs work, but 2 pull-up resistors need to be patched in between pins 6 and 7, and 7 and 9 of the DB-9 connector)