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TashPad: Super Nintendo to Gravis GamePad ADB Converter
Posted by: zefrenchtoon on 2024-06-28 14:53:14
It's doable, yeah, though as you say, the mapping would be highly awkward... part of the appeal of making a SNES controller emulate the GamePad is the straightforwardness of the button mapping. From a firmware perspective, it's not very difficult to make a SNES controller emulate a keyboard/mouse with any set of keystrokes or mouse behaviors, the difficulty lies in how the user is meant to configure it - that's why being able to use the existing Gravis control panel is such a significant win for user friendliness.
So why not emulating a Gravis Thunderbird ? 😉
I know, with this, we are going far away the initial goal of this adapter. 🙂
Posted by: opualuan on 2024-06-28 16:11:22
Agree on the straightforwardness of mapping inside the OS, and the application sets it allows
Posted by: Tashtari on 2024-06-29 06:52:49
So why not emulating a Gravis Thunderbird ?
Not familiar with that one, looks like it's a cut-down version of the Firebird? I only see the PC version on ebay, did Gravis ever make an ADB version?
Posted by: zefrenchtoon on 2024-06-29 07:47:27
Not familiar with that one, looks like it's a cut-down version of the Firebird? I only see the PC version on ebay, did Gravis ever make an ADB version?
I was pretty sure mine was labelled Thunderbird at the time but here is a Firebird 2 ADB version:

(Unfortunately, I don't recall where I stored mine)


After looking at some photos on G**gle, the Thunderbird seems to be the first iteration with less buttons than the Firebird 2, mine had many buttons like the one on Ricardo's link.
Posted by: Tashtari on 2024-06-29 08:04:50
Ah, yeah, I've RE'd the Firebird joystick, though I don't know if mine is the same as the Firebird 2. It looks similar except for the color scheme (mine has green buttons and red levers)...
Posted by: Tashtari on 2024-07-21 12:39:35
Interest check time!

I'm considering putting together some TashPad kits for the US audience. I haven't priced out such an endeavor but I assume it'd wind up being similar to @demik 's EU group buy, that is, somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 for the PCB, parts, the case, and the case front and back panels.

If I'm convinced there's enough of a customer base, I'll start ordering things and put the kits up for sale in my Ko-fi shop (along with the other neat stuff for sale at cost, nudge nudge).

Who's interested?
Posted by: opualuan on 2024-07-21 19:05:07
I’m in
Posted by: obsolete on 2024-07-21 19:31:03
Me too!
Posted by: davewongillies on 2024-07-22 02:30:26
Yes! In the US and would love to be able to buy one of these.
Posted by: demik on 2024-08-06 04:50:13
@Daniël got the 2.4G SN30 working with TashPad

SN30 2.4g

My new website
www.8bitdo.com www.8bitdo.com

Same as with the Bluetooth version, no visible lag.
Posted by: demik on 2024-10-06 05:07:30
During the group buy, a lot of people were interested for a color closer to our old gear (white/beige/light gray), here is what it looks like







Activity LED is orange-ish like the Mac II era HDD ones, whereas on the blue one LED collar is sea-ish blue
Posted by: Iesca on 2024-10-06 22:07:10
Looks awesome!
Posted by: davewongillies on 2024-11-09 16:09:38
1731197310328.png
So I decided to order myself a batch from jlcpcb. First one down, four more to go. Still need to order a PIC programmer since all the parts arrived quicker than I was expecting.
Posted by: Tashtari on 2024-11-10 06:21:08
So I decided to order myself a batch from jlcpcb. First one down, four more to go. Still need to order a PIC programmer since all the parts arrived quicker than I was expecting.
Nice, the beige looks great! I can program PICs for you, too, if that makes more economic sense than buying a PIC programmer - but if you like doing builds based on my projects, it may be worth your while to get the programmer.
Posted by: demik on 2024-11-10 09:48:21
So I decided to order myself a batch from jlcpcb. First one down, four more to go. Still need to order a PIC programmer since all the parts arrived quicker than I was expecting.
Nice job! I'm seeing lots of controllers in the background. What will you use with this one ?
Nice, the beige looks great!
Yeah, think I wall have ti extend that to a few others projects 😛
Posted by: davewongillies on 2024-11-18 21:27:36
Nice, the beige looks great! I can program PICs for you, too, if that makes more economic sense than buying a PIC programmer - but if you like doing builds based on my projects, it may be worth your while to get the programmer.
The programmer didn't cost too much (I got a pickit3) and I'm sure I'll use it again but trying to wrap my head around how to get the software working is a whole other thing since I've never used anything like this before. Its all part of the fun of this hobby though, I'll figure it out.
Posted by: opualuan on 2024-11-24 18:25:32
I’m having a strange issue. I have a tashpad with an 8bitdo snes controller, it works with the gamepad driver- sometimes though it prevents the keyboard from working- keyboard sends only tashpad keystrokes (even if from different keyboard keys). Only a restart fixes it.

Maybe there is interaction with my setup? Bmow wombat with logitech wireless usb keyboard/mouse. Does it matter if tashpad is first or second in the adb chain? This is on Lc475 running 7.5.5.
Posted by: Tashtari on 2024-11-24 18:40:54
Does it matter if tashpad is first or second in the adb chain?
Order shouldn't matter; ADB is a bus, not a chain.

keyboard sends only tashpad keystrokes (even if from different keyboard keys).
Can you explain this further? I'm not sure I quite grasp what you mean.
Posted by: opualuan on 2024-11-24 21:01:00
I have the gravis utility issuing u d l r / a b c d keys for the gamepad outputs for testing. This works. After trying the gamepad, typing on the keyboard will also only issue u d l r / a b c d characters, regardless what is typed. It’s very strange. Backspace key is “b” for example.
Posted by: Tashtari on 2024-11-24 21:08:10
I have the gravis utility issuing u d l r / a b c d keys for the gamepad outputs for testing. This works. After trying the gamepad, typing on the keyboard will also only issue u d l r / a b c d characters, regardless what is typed. It’s very strange. Backspace key is “b” for example.
That's very strange. I'm strongly tempted to blame the driver, because I have no earthly idea how the firmware could cause this behavior - the firmware only communicates the state of the buttons to the Mac, it knows nothing of the keystrokes to which they're mapped. Have you tried connecting a standard ADB keyboard in lieu of the Wombat?
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