Dual Shock Analog Stick In A Dc Controller?

[TJ_Kat]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the analog stick on the official Dreamcast controller. I do have a disfunctionnal Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 laying around, and I wondered if their analog sticks would fit/easily interface with the DC controller? I haven't bothered to open up my DC controllers because the less you handle something, the less likely it is to break...

[kendrick]

It's funny, I'm in just the opposite position. I love the analog control on the Dreamcast and Saturn pads, and I despise botht the position and the response on the first-party PSX controllers.

As for sticking one in the other, remember that the PSX analog control also has the L3 and R3 switches located underneath, which affects the spacing of the hall-effect magnetic potentiometers underneath. Better than hacking parts around, it might suit you better to get one of the Total Control convertor boxes for the purpose of attaching a PSX controller to the Dreamcast directly, and bypass your issue altogether. Unfortunately, this has the effect of negating the analog shoulder button input, but I can only think of a handful of games that make full use of that anyway.

Anyway, Lik-Sang carries such a beast, as do other retailers. The link below is provided for illustration and not for testimonial:

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=...roducts_id=527&

-KKC, up early for MegaCon. Do they sell game hardware at those events?

[Lawrence]

The dreamcast uses Hall-effect sensores for analogue, but the PS uses potentiometers.

I concur with kendrick, the PS analogue sticks are awful, and poorly located.  The DC stick, is great, though I have no problems with the xbox or GC sticks.

[phreak97]

gamecube is my favorite over any for the most part. there was only one game where i wanted to have a ps2 con in its place.. and i forget what game it was so i guess it wasnt that important. i like the dreamcast controller.. never failed us for crazy taxi..
are there any dc->pc interfaces with readily available drivers that i could build?
or gamecube.. i saw a gamecube interface, but the drivers didnt turn it into a joystick.. basically you could see what buttons you were pressing and thats about it.. near zero functionality:'(

kendrick.. you sound like you know what youre talking about.. too bad thats all.. the psx cons arent hall effect.. theyre regular potentiometers.. and i'd say it'd be a bitch to get pots going in a dc con.. but i know near nothing about hall effect joysticks.

*phreak97 apoligises for overuse of ".." in the second paragraph

 

[Aidan]

Hall effect sensors work fairly simply. There's a square (or rectangle) of sensing material inside. The power supply connects across opposite sides, and a small current flows.

Depending on the sensor, there may be one or two sense terminals connected to the other two sides of the sensor. When you bring a magnet near, the electric current is forced to travel through a curved path due to the magnatism. This brings the current closer to one side of the sensor, which causes a voltage to appear on one of the sense terminals.

Now, in theory, it'd be possible to simulate this with potentiometers, but I'm not sure how many terminals the sensors on the DC controller have. If there's a single terminal, then you might be able to use the pot as a voltage divider. You might need a couple of resistors to reduce the voltage swing on the pot though, as the sensors may not output rail to rail voltages.

[TJ_Kat]

This is starting to sound too much like work.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the DC controller, but the analog stick doesn't feel very precise in it's responsiveness...

I like the tension on the PS2 and Game Cube analog sticks; I find it easier to make small motions with them.

I don't know, maybe it's just how the system responds to the motion... maybe it's not the controller at all.

[kendrick]

Sorry, I didn't know that the PSX Dual Shock didn't use hall effect sensors. Never hacked one or did any diag work on one, just made assumptions based on a quick glance at the components.

Aidan's right, you can use the potentiometer components of the PSX analog control to simulate the output of the hall effect gear, but it would require a lot of work. Also, there's no telling how much slop there is in the output of the dual shock pots, and how much slop the Dreamcast decode chip would accept in its input. By 'slop' I mean variances in input ranges, which supposedly the console accounts for when powering up the controller.

-KKC, up too early after a con..,

[replicashooter]

you can use the potentiometer components of the PSX analog control to simulate the output of the hall effect gear, but it would require a lot of work.

What would be required? I just dug out my Dreamcast for a dose of Daytona and the analog mech feels so bad these days.

Whacking a real analog mech into the controller would make my day :lol:  

[knohbody]

Weren't the third party controllers for the Dreamcast pots instead of hall effect? I seem to recall that the Madcatz ones were, but i could be wrong.

[kendrick]

The short answer is, yes and no. MadCatz controllers aren't all the same, and some may or may not have pots instead of hall effect sensors. The two I have use pots, but that doesn't mean that the ones you buy will necessarily have them as well.

A lot of third-party N64 controllers have pots, if only because they're cheaper to implement than the optical wheel sensors that the first-party controllers have. Fortunately, a lot of these controllers also have translucent front panels, so you can take a look at the circuit board and make an educated guess before you buy.

One thing to consider is that third party controllers have sloppy voltage control, as compared to first-party Dreamcast pads by Sega. This is the cause of the controller daughter board fuse failure you see in a lot of second-hand Dreamcasts.

-KKC, job hunting. Woo.

[panzeroceania]

I have someone on another board claiming that sega switched manufacturing from Hal Effect to Pots in their first party controllers half way through the dreamcast life cycle, this isn't true is it?

[Lawrence]

I've never opened a Dreamcast pad to find pots, 100% of my experiences suggest Hall-effect was the only system used.  Go on, find something we don't know.  =)