#necroware — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #necroware, aggregated by home.social.
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@onion @jonn_blanchard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTZtZhE9bI&t=763s has the trick. Way cleaner than dremeling/drilling.
(if timeskip-parameter is lost, start watching at around 12:43)
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Been loving necroware's board for converting MDA/CGA/EGA to VGA! Quick to solder, compact, and has worked like a champ on everything I've tried: Tandy 1000, Laser 128, C128DCR, etc.
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My #Necroware prototype has passed its first test! My old #GravisGamePad works perfectly on it. (The DIP switches aren't set correctly, I'm bypassing them manually in software for the moment.)
Now that I have a solid testbed that isn't a rat's nest of jumper wires, I can start implementing PS/2 keyboard support on top.
The time I spent designing and #3dprinting my own soldering station was well worth it - that's the quickest I've ever been able to throw a working thing together.
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I'm trying out a new low-cost #PCB maker to make larger projects more idle-hobby-viable. On the left is my next prototype #Necroware gameport-plus-PS/2-to-USB adapter; on the right is a new experiment.
I've had an idea to make a custom split keyboard as cheaply as possible - each board is one row of 7 keys, with pins for all 7 columns and that board's row broken out on the right; the columns are connected with those solder pads so the rows can be offset by 0.25 and 0.5 like a normal keyboard.
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If you're reading this text, it means my gameport-to-USB adapter now features PS/2 keyboard support. Long live the $10 keyboard I bought on Gumtree this weekend!
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In the '90s, if you wanted to make a PC controller with more than four buttons, you had to devise a serial protocol to communicate over the gameport (if you've ever plugged in a gamepad and seen buttons 1 and 2 flashing on their own, this is why), or add PS/2 and DIN connectors and send those extra button presses as keyboard inputs.
IMHO, no retro joystick adapter is complete without PS/2 keyboard support for this reason - this is why my #Necroware adapter will have it.
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Thanks to a burst of troubleshooting and inspiration this afternoon, my #Necroware derived gameport-to-USB adapter is officially alive! I have successfully tested it on Windows 10 with the Gravis GamePad Pro and original Microsoft Sidewinder, two 15-pin gameport controllers that can't and don't work with Rockfire or Mayflash adapters.
This is a significant milestone as I can now turn my attention to adding PS/2 keyboard support and some other important features.
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I haven't made much progress on projects lately due to work and life stuff, but I wanted to share a new acquisition: this beautiful A4TECH mouse, which according to its QA sticker is coming up on its 20th birthday.
This was the second-cheapest PS/2 device I could find on eBay, and it'll help kickstart PS/2 support on my #Necroware derivative adapter.
There's something special about how an old mouse feels and sounds - I can't wait to play some Dune 2 (and UnDUNE II) with this thing!
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The other is this - it's the proof-of-concept I'll be using to test my implementation of the #Necroware PC joystick adapter (The SEGA adapter looked like this until recently!). I'm designing my own board for two reasons: Because I want to add PS/2 keyboard support, to fully support the Gravis Phoenix, Firebird, and other oddball controllers with a keyboard plug; and because the stock Necroware board design features a gigantic ground plane, making it difficult for a casual hobbyist to solder.
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Quick plug for Necroware’s superb open source PC gameport to USB adapter. I built one a couple of weeks ago and have been playing Descent in DOSBox on my MacBook ever since! Much as I’d like a proper old retro PC I have nowhere left to set one up, so this is a great compromise as it enables the use of proper retro control hardware (the IBM Model M, which I’ve had for decades, has a USB to SDL adapter).