How to get retropie to recognise a 10-button GameBoy PCB?

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BowmarDafty
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How to get retropie to recognise a 10-button GameBoy PCB?

Post by BowmarDafty » Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:23 am

We've got classic GameBoy styled PCB with 10 buttons. All the gameboy ones (no shoulder ones of course.)

How the hell do we get retropie to recognise this thing as a controller?

There are a million forums out there but I'm not sure we understand what we're meant to be doing...

Help us?

Thanks, guys!

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infinitLoop
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Re: How to get retropie to recognise a 10-button GameBoy PCB?

Post by infinitLoop » Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:37 am

BowmarDafty wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:23 am
We've got classic GameBoy styled PCB with 10 buttons. All the gameboy ones (no shoulder ones of course.)

How the hell do we get retropie to recognise this thing as a controller?

There are a million forums out there but I'm not sure we understand what we're meant to be doing...

Help us?

Thanks, guys!
there are a couple ways (assuming you're using a pi). you can wire each button signal to gpio inputs on the pi directly, and then use software that maps those to keyboard presses with an overlay, like adafruit's retrogame, among others. or, you can wire the buttons to a micro controller, like a teensy or a pro micro, and then program that to be a usb device like a keyboard or controller with arduino's ide. and then plug or connect that to usb on the pi. there are lots of guides on how to do either approach around the forums and the web.

BowmarDafty
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Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:19 pm

Re: How to get retropie to recognise a 10-button GameBoy PCB?

Post by BowmarDafty » Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:19 am

So, we've get the PCB wired directly to the Pi Zero.

But we're struggling to find exactly what we're needing to within RetroGame to get these buttons to work.... are we needing to install/download a driver? (We don't have the Zero W but we do have a wee USB wifi receiver.)

It feels like a lot of the build guides that we find gloss over the code parts of the PCB configuration.

Any advice?

Thanks for your reply, man!

- Alex

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infinitLoop
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Re: How to get retropie to recognise a 10-button GameBoy PCB?

Post by infinitLoop » Thu Jun 27, 2019 8:18 am

BowmarDafty wrote:
Thu Jun 27, 2019 6:19 am
So, we've get the PCB wired directly to the Pi Zero.

But we're struggling to find exactly what we're needing to within RetroGame to get these buttons to work.... are we needing to install/download a driver? (We don't have the Zero W but we do have a wee USB wifi receiver.)

It feels like a lot of the build guides that we find gloss over the code parts of the PCB configuration.

Any advice?

Thanks for your reply, man!

- Alex
yes, you would need to download and install retrogame.

instructions are here: https://learn.adafruit.com/retro-gaming ... s-software

select any option on their install for the button layout (you will need to override with your own mapping).

When it's done, edit the file with

Code: Select all

sudo nano /boot/retrogame.cfg

and set your gpio numbers and keys.

Example mapping here: https://learn.adafruit.com/retro-gaming ... -retrogame

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tinkerBOY
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Re: How to get retropie to recognise a 10-button GameBoy PCB?

Post by tinkerBOY » Tue Jul 02, 2019 3:04 am

BowmarDafty wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:23 am
We've got classic GameBoy styled PCB with 10 buttons. All the gameboy ones (no shoulder ones of course.)

How the hell do we get retropie to recognise this thing as a controller?

There are a million forums out there but I'm not sure we understand what we're meant to be doing...

Help us?

Thanks, guys!
You can download my custom RetroPie image with GPIO controller support.
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Game Boy Zero Controllers available @ tinkerBOY.xyz * Support
tinkerBOY Controller v3.0 - built-in usb controller, usb audio, and usb hub
tinkerBOY Controller v2.0 - GPIO buttons and builtin PWM Audio and Amplifier
tinkerBOY Controller v1.1 - simple pcb button
* DPI Adapter - better display for GBZ
* keyboard converters - IBM XT/AT Soarer's Converter | ADB to USB Converter

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