EzHID Gamecube
Controller Firmware
Introduction
The gcpad module is a firmware package for the EZ-USB device that
manages up to four Gamecube controllers.
It makes them available as generic gamepads to any computer system that
supports the HID class of the USB standard. Modern computer systems
should be able to recognize this bundle and to attach it seamlessly to
the set of input devices for game control. There should be even no need
for specific drivers as the HUT gamepad characteristics are
well-defined inside the HID specification. The generic driver of any
operating system should do the job.
It has been tested with Linux 2.4.22 so far, which implements joystick
handling within the joydev module. In case this module is not loaded
automatically, consult the documentation of your distribution on how to
activate this module.
Restrictions
Some restrictions apply when using this module. Not everything has been
tested yet and I do not know which flaws are still present. The
firmware is
known to play well with the original controller and certain clones. It
definitely works
with a "BigBen Interactive" clone.
Compilation and Installing
The file gcpad.ihx contains a compiled version of the firmware based
of the released source files. You
need the SDCC compiler
suite if you want to modify the sources.
Once it is installed, issue
make
The hex-file can be downloaded directly
to the EZ-USB device using your
preferred method. The firmware supports both downloading into the
device RAM or being bootloaded from a programmed serial I2C EEPROM on
the board. In the latter case you'll have to set the variable ROM_FW
accordingly in Makefile. After having compiled the source
code to suit the needs
of the bootloading, run create_ezhid_e2.pl on the compiled hex-file.
The output of create_ezhid_e2.pl has the correct format for the onbaord
I2C EEPROM.
The benefit of having the firmware permanently in the EEPROM is that
you do not have to
set up
a firmware downloader for every operating system you happen to use on
your computer.
Adapter Hardware
The Gamecube controller connector is quite straight forward. It uses
three
pins for power supply (+5.0V, +3.43V and GND) and one pin for the data
signal.
Please note that the voltages were measured at two PAL consoles only,
so it is a good idea to verify if their values match your paticular
console. Here's a schematic how to connect the controllers:
I am not 100% sure about the value of the four resitors. I followed the
description on James'
page
and they worked for me.
The assignment to the EZ-USB ports is arbitrary. It can be changed by
modifying the #define statements in pad_port.h.
Although some references for the Gamecube controller mention the supply
voltage to be 3.43V it seems not to be mandatory to stick exactly to
this voltage. I use the 3.3V on-board supply which works well with my
controllers.
If you are lucky you can find a matching connector and wire this to the
EZ-USB device. Alternatively, you can reuse an externsion cable and
replace the connector which plugs into the console by a standard male
connector. The matching female connector is then connected to
the EZ-USB according to the above schematic. 5-Pin DIN connectors are
well suited, cheap and provide compatibility with extension cables for
old keyboards. You can share the adapter hardware of an N64 controller and add the 5.0V supply to a
spare pin.
Once the firmware is downloaded and installed, the HID subsystem should
report four new gamepad devices. Each controller has eight axes (analog
joystick, analog C-joystick, digital pad, L and R) and 8 buttons. The
buttons are assigned in
the following way:
Gamecube Button
|
Gamepad Button
|
A
|
0
|
B
|
1
|
Y
|
2
|
X
|
3
|
Z
|
4
|
Start
|
5
|
L
|
6
|
R
|
7
|
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