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Atari 5200 Controller Port Emulator

Develop joystick adapters for Atari 5200 without having the console

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This device was designed to allow the development of Atari 5200 controllers whithout having the console.

BACKGROUND

Atari 5200 systems joysticks provides analog directional controller, two fire buttons, 10 numeric keys , Asterisk, Hash, Pause, Start and Reset keys.

The analog stick is read by measure the time a capacitor takes to charge, but contrary to contemporary systems it was done by hardware, specifically inside the POKEY chip.

The keypad is a conventional matrix but the reading is also done in hardware by the POKEY chip, that activates a pair of analog multiplexers (external to POKEY). One of the muxes route a GND return to ground to activate the lines of the matrix and the other mux connects one of the four rows of the matrix to a input (KR1) of the POKEY chip. A binary counter drives both muxes (2 bits for each mux) and whenever a LOW state is detected on the KR1 input the binary value of the counter is latched and a IRQ is generated (to the 6502). Only one key can be detected at a time.

Bottom fire button is also routed to KR2 input of POKEY Chip by a MUX (that is also driven by the binary counter). On the Atari Computers, this input is used to activate key modifiers (SHIFT, ALT, CONTROL).

The TOP fire button is read (on the 5200) by the GTIA chip (not by the POKEY chip).

Regarding interfacing, both Fire buttons are activated by a connection to Ground.

Atari 5200 provides a dedicated pin to supply voltage to the potentiometers that in turn charge the internal timing capacitors to measure the position of each axis of the stick. Such voltage is internally adjustable in the range of 4.2 to 6 Volts (approximately) to compensate for tolerances of potentiometer values and threshold voltage of the POKEY chip inputs (ViH). The voltage adjustment requires opening the console and fiddle with a trimpot. Such voltage (named CAV or Vpot) can be turned on/off and that provides a way to differentiate a trackball controller from a joystick.

Joysticks and paddles provides position by charging the timing capacitor with a fixed voltage through a variable resistance. Trackballs, on the other side provide a variable voltage across a fixed resistance, but unlike a traditional trackball (or a mouse) the 5200 trackballs do not provide relative movement, instead they provide a speed measurement. The faster you turn the ball in one direction the closer the measurement gets to a maximum or a minimum of the equivalent axis, for instance turn the ball up quickly should provide a measurement for the 5200 equivalent to the analog stick full upward. A steady trackball should provide the equivalent of a joystick in its center position.

Whenever the circuit of a trackball detects a fall in the CAV (Vpot) voltage it forces its outputs to a voltage close to 3 Volts (according with Atari technical documents). The timing measurements with such voltage will then be used by the game code as a reference for a "steady" trackball. Such measurements should be near the middle of the timing range.

A joystick, on the other hand will never charge the capacitor with CAV (Vpot) is turned off, and the measurements will return a value above the maximum expected for a joystick.

The master clock for Pokey chip is the horizontal synchronization frequency. Timing is measured in terms of horizontal lines (64us each). Though the measurements can vary from 0 to 228 the the expected range for a controller is 10 to 190.

CIRCUIT

The circuit is built around a PIC16F628A. This microcontroller was chosen over an AVR because of the dual analog comparator with adjustable voltage reference, that can be set to simulate different ViH threshold voltages of POKEY chip POT inputs. Each pot input has a timing capacitor of 47nf, a series 1k8 resistor, and an extra 1nf capacitor just like the POT inputs of the POKEY chip in Atari 5200.

8 pins of the PIC are used to read the keypad. Each line is activated (held down) at a time and the rows are read one horizontal line time later (64us).

Top and Bottom buttons are read and all the values are printed at the serial...

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  • Updated firwmare: Trackball detection more acurate

    danjovic03/21/2021 at 04:08 0 comments

    Updated the firmware to make trackball detection similar to the 5200 softare:

    • Voltage at pin 9 is dropped and signal is sampled by two consecutive frames.
    • Voltage at pin 9 rises again and signal is sampled 4 more times.
    Yellow: X axis, Blue: Pin 9 Voltage
    Yellow: X axis, Blue: Pin 9 Voltage

  • Testing

    danjovic02/29/2020 at 04:43 0 comments

    The Port Emulator was used to test an alternative firmware to the "MasterPlay" clone board developed by [ikonsgr] from AtariAge forums.

    The original circuit allows the use of Atari 2600 compatible joysticks on the Atari 5200. The extra firmware allows the use of a NES (or SNES) controller using spare pins of the microcontroller altogether with few components.

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Discussions

Ali Jani wrote 02/12/2021 at 15:45 point

very nice!  Also check out my similar project for more advanced dual port and LCD screen with additional buttons for start/select/etc..   found here: https://hackaday.io/project/177671-atari-5200-controller-to-usb-adapter-2-ports

  Are you sure? yes | no

danjovic wrote 02/12/2021 at 15:59 point

Thank You!

  Are you sure? yes | no

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