DIY Gamecube keyboard adapter

[kendrick]

Went searching, didn't find this in previous conversation, hope it's not a FAQ...

After finding a suitably small keyboard with a PS/2 connector, I went looking for Gamecube adapters and didn't find anything that didn't already have a keyboard attached. Silly me. Seeing as how the Dreamcast controller ports are so well known, I figured that there would be similar data on the Gamecube connector. No such luck so far.

Anyway, is there some data on a do-it-yourself PS/2 or USB keyboard adapter on the Gamecube that might someday make it into the Gamesx site? Just curious to know.

-KKC,

[NFG]

Modern consoles, such as pretty much everything post-SNES, use a complicated protocol for communicating with peripherals. This protocol requires custom-programmed microcontrollers in addition to specialized wiring and hardware.  GameSX.com has traditionally only been associated with the latter, I fear getting into the complicated issue of assembly programming will only lead to finished products - pre-programmed chips and kits - rather than useful data needed to build your own.  It's become a software, not a hardware issue, and at that point it leaves the purview of the site.

If there was an easy re-wiring way to do it I'd be all over it, but as long as it requires more software knowledge than hardware skills, it's something I doubt I'll be getting into it soon.

That said, if you find a solution, please let us know.

[kendrick]

Cool, thanks for shedding some light on that. I was kinda hoping that maybe the Gamecube ports had some commonalities with PC serial devices (which is essentially the way that the Saturn Netlink keyboard adapter works.) But if it's known that there's a PIC or some other logic translation device in the Gamecube keyboard adapter, then it's not practical to document a solution unless every last one of us gets a chip programmer in his hands.

-KKC, up late at night for no good reason...

[Aidan]

I was kinda hoping that maybe the Gamecube ports had some commonalities with PC serial devices

The good news is that there is something in common between the gamecube ports and PS/2 protocols. The bad news is that it only goes as far as they're both serial busses, and they both use electricity.

Yeah, as Lawrence says, you're slap bang in the middle of protocol conversion.

[kendrick]

Oy, I just found the old pantsofevilgamers website on the Wayback archive. The "Happy Fun Box" was the device I was hoping to build, and it requires a 20-pin PIC and quite a bit of programming. It also looks like such a device tends to get overly warm from the power consumption. I'm obviously 18 months behind the rest of the world on this topic

Oh well. Now I have an extra, tiny, JPN-region-style keyboard. Maybe I can prop up a table leg with it or something. :)

-KKC, who now focuses his extra energy on finding controllers that match his white Saturn.

[Ultimate Dev'r]

Can you post a link to the pantsofevilgamers site?

[Aidan]

Google and Wayback machine are your friends.

See: http://web.archive.org/web/20030122085811/...lgamers.com/kb/

[Ultimate Dev'r]

Do they have the code for the PIC up anywhere? I couldn't find any.