Hello friends! i post here a question because i can’t find info on how to link the Mad Catz Microcon wireless Xbox and GameCube controllers to duemilanove botboarduino or Atom pro botboard 2, it’s because a friend have those controllers lying around and i like to buy them at a really cheap price (both looks so great, both are Mad Catz, and both works great) to use as an alternate controller for robotic projects and other applications.
could any roboteer, master, Guru or Wizard that already have done some project like that??? if not, why those controllers are not used with those kits or projects?
Note: the Xbox controller is for the first x-box, not for the 360.
well , first none of the controllers had a coaxial connector… i think that the receivers have the same specs like the wired ones, so i found a couple of pages with useful information:
there’s some info about the connector in the x-box controller:
ok so i think i need an extra chip (like usb to serial) to be able to use those controllers with botboard 2 and botboarduino? isn’t possible to make a code to read them? or it’s too challenging to make them work?
the images can haul the vision… but actually, the connectors they have are the same connectors used on their respective game consoles.
about trying that interface off course! :mrgreen: now i start to develop this code with the duemilanove, if i get stuck, then ill post here for more help.
As far as Xbox360 controllers goes, thats a nice controller they have some RTFM about how to connect a RF board to a pc with an arduino… there is some strange initialization string that has to be done to sync the controller to the RF board. The RF board is straight USB.
Maybe if you had an oscilloscope and poked around you might be able to find a data out pin of sorts to use it…
yes, but i can’t do that, the only problem is caused by this controller, because this is for the first X-box, not for the X-box 360… notice that there’s no leds to show the number of players
well about the initialization string, you’re right, this small protocol is used to check the reliability of the controller (in other words to check if the controller is a X-box controller) and to check the state of the buttons and sticks.
because this controller is an old x-box controller,i think there’s no such strange string (well by the moment ) because i don’t have an oscilloscope, ill try to make the audio scope to watch those signals. if there’s something strange, then ill report that to yours.
There is such a beast as a usb host shield for the arduino. I’ve never used it but from what I got from reading the discription it allows you to control just about any usb device…
He created a way to physically manipulate the controller without hacking it up. Fairly sure this has no relevance to what you want to do… (control a robot with an Xbox controller?) You’re going to have to figure out if there’s a way to interface with the controller directly. I’ve never wanted to use an Xbox controller for my robots so i can’t really help. I’d start looking for how the Xbox controller communicates with the console. For example the PS2 controller uses SPI to talk to the playstation which makes it easy to hack to our needs. Your controller could use spi, i2c, usb, the list goes on… See if anyone has figured out how the controller talks and then you’ll have an idea of what you’ll need to do.
Yeah but this information is still a secret, because at this moment i can’t find something useful about that controller, also, i only found topics about the 360 one, and this is a pain because the controller in fact is for the first xbox (i mean the classic xbox first generation) that info is almost nonexistent around the net… any help will be appreciated…
about the GameCube controller, I’m studying the code and the signals, to try to understand how it works, at least this can be used with the kits. 8)
NOTE: * if someone can share information relevant to the xbox first generation controller protocol, please post here, it would be appreciated*
If you can’t find the information you’ll have to reverse engineer the protocol yourself. I wouldn’t even begin to understand how to go about do that so it looks like you’re on your own.
yeah i think i need to uncover and decrypt that lost ancient technology, until I’ve completed my sound-card oscilloscope to read those signals… meanwhile, this may take more time than I’ve expected…
i think that the receivers have the same specs like the wired ones, so i found a couple of pages with useful information:
or it’s too challenging to make them work? 
)
i think we’re on the correct way! :mrgreen:
any help will be appreciated…