I am working with Radek on his d-pad mod. He has the converter circuit done. Now we need a pad to include. He suggested the Ngage QD pad assembly which is fine but I can't seem to fine a good steady source of them. Radek if you know of one please let me know.

I am just scouting around but I don't want to design my part of the kit around the QD pads if the pads will be hard to get and the source dries up.

What I need is a pad assembly that includes the pad plus the little rubber membrane things with the metalized rubber. Radek can have the PC boards designed so that is not needed.

Does anyone here know of repair kits for any pad that will fit the GP2X size such as Gameboy, PSP, SNES, GCN, etc that include those items mentioned. Maybe a factory somewhere that makes these items cheap in China etc?

Any leads would be appreciated so we can get this mod going. I am sure alot of us would like to have a pad on your GP2X.

Thanks.

http://videogame.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00349


I don't know if this has everything that's needed, because the description is kind of bland. Sorry if this is a stupid post. Hope it helps though.

How much will a dpad mod cost, $20? $30? That will indirectly add more to the price of the GP2X, not because of an added feature, but just to FIX something. I think you should present the dpad mod to GPH first, to save many people's troubles of having to fix their GP2X just to get the full experience.

I don't have anything useful to add yet, but I do like the idea of finding a more generic pad. I always the thought the QD pad, although nice, stands out too much. A nice grey or black pad would be better. There has to be some company that makes random d-pads for all those chinese rip off handhelds.

It's a mod. If he submitted the idea to GPH, they will likely rip it off, like they did with his cap design (come on folks, admit it ... they stole the idea )

This is one of the coolest things about the '2X, and the GP32 before it ... modding your open-source device to your heart's content

Sorry I can't help Dave, but count me in as one of your first customers when this is ready

You know.. there should be a DaveC store. lol. Now if only he had the resources to make custom shell replacements. Then we could have all different colored 2x systems.

could you maybe post something that DOESNT include a complaint? Im getting sick of reading your little whiny bitch posts.



This is definitly an odd request. I do hope you find a reliable source for d-pads; I'd definitly buy one for 20 or 30 bucks (assuming that'd be the price).

Good luck Dave. I look foward to seeing a nice result

Ok this would be expensive, but I have been searching and its all I can find so far, so check it out.

http://videogame.brando.com.hk/prod_detail...1e68ca8f9369265

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/zz-psp-dpadr

It is a pack with 2 dpads but there are no rubber pads for them so you would have to buy that seperately.

Edit: Here is another option. It is a NDS button set for 9.95.

http://www.xboxrepairguide.com/button-set-p-100.html

Eesh, definitely avoid the original DS pad. That thing is the most shallow, painful to use D-pad ever. It clicks mechanically, which is so incredibly annoying.

It wasn't as bad as the Playstation D-Pad. Seperated! Eeek. The DS Lite/Micro D-Pad is amazing.

The parts being segmented is the reason I'm not wild about the XGP-Mini's d-pad really..

Radek mentioned in the other thread that he had a source of QD pads for £2 each, maybe you should stock up on them

Yeah I never liked the clicky DS pad, or the clicky GBA-SP pad either. The new DS pad is much better.

Clicky is bad, it actually makes control worse too.

That DS replacement may not be as clicky, I would try it but at 10.00 plus Radek's $30, plus my spacer at? =40+ getting kind of expensive.

I wonder if I could get sued by Nintendo if I use a replacement pad with their "plus" design?

Mould a big Nintendo™ logo into it just for good measure. You may as well go down in style.

Try it. Sega did.

Worry not about it. The price will stay in an apropriate range.



Perhaps not as Nintendo being a corporate entity could not see small "bugs like us. And there would be a negative flashback of doing so but you never know... Only way what should be "safe" would be buying original Nintendo dpads. But where?

I Still think the QD pad is the best option for now. It will take a long time for the supply to dry up. There are a LOT of these faceplates and buttons out there. I know, as im involved in the "cellular" business.

Sticking with the QD pad seems very reasonable to me. If the supply dries up, then we can start to worry about finding an alternative part.

Sorry if I missed this, but what's the $30 for? I haven't followed the design but it seems the adapter should just be a bit of circuit board plus a couple dollars worth of logic chips.

labour my friend labour

Ok, I understand. I have some atmel chips sitting around, I might build myself one just for fun. Shouldn't take too long to design, code, and build.

Well...
(no... I will not pursuit it thought I'd have a point but it'd not worth the price)

Thank you.

Your criticism is well appreciated and will be used. The price can change and it was discussed in the main thread as well.

You are so sure about Atmel µC for this task?
(I was considering Atmel 8bit µC too but had to resort to ones from Microchip, why? )

You are free to compete so do it if you wish naturally.

Simple it is but it was so simple to design?

Again - thanks for your suggestion. I consider all feedback important.

Maybe you should PM DaveC and tell him where to get these in quantity.

That is what he was asking for.

I thought Bacteria said most emus and homebrew would work without the extra circuitry? If the circuit isnt too expensive then I'd get one. will there be an option for a circuit without the Dpad? If so, then I might go ahead and mod my GP2x with a Gamecube pad and add the circuit later.. heck, I'm an adventurous DIYer I would probably attempt making my own circuit with Perf board if Radek decided to sell just the chip..

$30 is just what Radek charges for the logic chip board. I don't know anything about programming these chips though or the costs of the chips plus making the boards, plus the QD pad. I know the spacers will not be free either. I don't know the costs of those either but shouldn't be too bad.

About the QD that is fine to use them but I just wonder how long they will be available for and how many can be found. If there are more QD pads than mods wanted then we are OK.






My part of the design will do the pad and mounting. Radek's chip can be done separate and later on if you wanted.

@DaveC: I've tried my best to keep up with these threads.. but what spacer are you talking about?

One that isn't made yet. I don't exactly know until I get a QD pad to see. It looks like you may need to remove the current stick completely with my method. It doesn't look like there will be much room there but I can't be sure yet.

Oh, I wasn't being critical, you can charge whatever you want, and it could be that with everything factored in $30 is a fair price.

I certainly don't want to sell a competitor to yours! If I do build my own though I'll probably post what I did in case somebody else finds it useful.

I wasn't intending to criticise, and I'm sorry if it came out that way.

As to whether the Atmel chips will work, beats me, I haven't investigated it yet. I can't see why it wouldn't and I only mentioned them because I have some sitting around. Don't spoil the fun by telling me why they won't work!

Look at my latest entry in GP32x archive...

And my "plan" was to do only the converter. It's why I'm willing to DaveC to improve it as he is much better at mechanical work than me.



The 30$ figure isn't true for the logic chip board. It was also discussed in the main thread.
(you have a PM about it also)



Pessimist is natural to me but to you?



YES.

And it's not 30$ for the converter. Did you get PM from me?

I like to be criticised especially by someone like you. You made a point the price is too high. You might be right or not. But your opinion is an important one and it will be considered.



Why not?

I have Microchip version, Xilinx CPLD version and two CMOS 4000 series versions done. It's not a big deal to do the conversion. And I posted some schematic as well.



You have the right to criticise. I welcome it. It's needed and many things about this mod were because of criticism. The QD dpad is a prime example of criticism. I had no idea about it before some persons were asking for it.
The actual form of PCB board is an effect of criticism as well (to reduce needed wires was one of major goals). The next revision will have some things what people were asking for too.



Voltage tolerance, sorry to spoil. Microchip with so called "Nanowatt" technology can work from just 2V.

Hey!

The Atmel options I have in mind are good down to 1.8v (I could use attiny2313 but I'd use an atmega88 becuase I have them sitting around, even though it's a dollar more expensive than the other one).

In the Application Note yes it's stating the 1.8V. But I was looking at that family earlier too and the pin out as well (and what I could buy). I could do a simple board using the 16F627A so why pursuit something else?

After some experimenting the µC what I'm using proved to be the best. Anyone is free to invalidate that claim so do so. And as I was considering many options (and done three of them) I had to settle with something in the end.

I'm confident that current converter is efficient, fast enough and small enough. It was working a week on a depleted NIMH batteries and it can much longer if I'd not be tired of waiting to drain them completely.

I'm not claiming you made the wrong choice, just that the Atmel parts I have laying around would work for building my own.

I was trying my best to do a best possible converter. It's why I was pursuing for so long the cmos 4067 chip.
So far now it's very good imho. (heh... thanks to ... scare me )
(not you)

If you have any issues or suggestions then posting them is welcome. And be harsh if you wish.

I don't deny you can (edit, correct?) built something like I have done. It's not rocket science however it was me who was pursuing it.
The price will be appropriate especially after some talks with...
(and any suggestions are welcome)

I bet your mod will be great and I think people will be very happy with it!

The converter is done already. And so far there weren't too many complaints. And I will make a custom firmware if someone has different needs.

I received the PM. I know you said price is not final. That is Ok I am not worried about price now I just want to get pad working

I was not trying to be pessimistic about availability of QD. I am just thinking about the future. I just hope they don't run out before we sell all of our mods. Nokia will be wondering why suddenly there is such a high demand for their old pad replacements

There probably is. That is why I thought I would post a thread for some of you internet super-sleuths to munch on.

I looked but couldn't find anything.

Yes, most. All the emulators work fine without this "extra circuitry", with the exception of Gngeo, which doesn't seem to work diagonals by triggering two of the up/down/left/right directions at the same time. It clearly is looking for a true diagonal. This means that games on NeoGeo which don't rely on diagonals (Puzzle Du Pon, Puzzle Bubble, Turf Masters, Pop'N'Pop, NeoDriftout, NeoBomberman, etc) work perfectly (of course as they don't use diagonals). Action games which use diagonals vary in playability - Metal Slug works fine because if you shoot up and then right (for example) the guy shoots up, a couple of times diagonally, then right - this is sufficient to play the game effectively; some games are playable (Ghostpilots for example) although you can't use diagonals, but faster shooters (Captain Tomaday, Pulstar) aren't very playable as movement is too restricted; and fighting games won't be (combos). When MAME on the GP2x incorporates more NeoGeo games this may not be an issue - Metal Slug on the MAME port works very well. I have only recently been able to play Gngeo as I couldn't get it working properly before.

Interestingly enough, I think the only homebrew title which has an issue is Whack the rat (or whatever it was called - I didn't fancy playing it anyway). All the other homebrew works perfectly, especially Vektar, Wolfenstein, Tilematch, etc.

To conclude, if you are happy playing over 95% of everything available on the GP2x you only need to make your own D-pad (as I did), or buy a commercial one and mod it internally/externally on the GP2x. If you simply must play Whack the rat, King of Fighters, Pulstar, etc (not very many titles really), then you really need to buy Radek's circuitry mod - and whatever D-pad design sold with it. Simple choice really. Personally I won't bother as I don't play fighting games and the couple of games I would play with the advantage of the "extra circuitry" would not be worth the time and cost in persuing - there are literally thousands of quality games which don't need it after all - and many are real classics. Personal choice is this "extra circuitry", but changing your joystick to a D-pad is compulsary for gaming enjoyment. If GPH change their policy and incorporate a D-pad, they will surely double their sales.

I like the input from Tshroom's post (post 8) with the links. Personally I like the control on the Nintendo DS (I have one of these too). The DS D-pad is very flat, and it clicks nicely when you press the buttons. It is also responsive, with the usual Nintendo seal of quality.

If I were DaveC I would consider making three options for people to choose from : 1) economy - the QD pad/similar as discussed in depth, 2) traditional upmarket - the DS D-pad (this costs about $8 more to buy, so this would of course be reflected in the final product) - but could potentially be externally mounted on the GP2x as the DS D-pad is thin, so could potentially remove the need to hack at the GP2x so much, which will be a favourite option for many buyers, and 3) buttons - similar to the PSP or alternatively the same as the A,Y,B,X buttons on the GP2x. Three nice options for people to choose - does this sound a good idea?

Radek - one suggestion I would make - patent your design - send an application to the Patent Office. You could then offer to sell the design/units to GPH for them to include in their future GP2x designs...otherwise they might decide to copy your design and patent it themselves ...

I don't think he can patent it now because he has talked about it in public on the forums?

Indeed, I use in gngeo the Case2 of DaveC's joystick diagram. The goal was to try to avoid the diagonal bias present on the GP2X. I can add an option to desactivate it if you want.

Don't see why not, it's all about prior art. I don't believe you have to patent something before you use it (IANAL)

Someone patented the wheel and fire, I think.
I'm pretty sure it was done to point out faults in Australia's new patenting system a few years back, but still.

You don't even need to put in an option. Just make it so that if you press 2 ordinals at the same time it gives a diagonal as well as the way it is now. Adding that would not change anything for the standard stick.

yeah, that would help a few people out for sure, pepone.
I missed playing gngeo until radek sent me a sample board. His kit is still the way to go, to add the center push function back, so im very happy he took the time to developed it.

I think sometimes I'm not enough awaken
Great suggestion.