the perfect paintball controller....

[314159]

well, i was at a funco land, or whatever the new name of the store is now. i saw a used dreamcast vmu....

i looked at it, saw the directional pad, the buttons, the screen, and thought of the programable controller inside.... then i saw the price tag.... $7 bucks.

well my mind drifts from video games to paintball, i have this programible controller, with good i/o, that is about the size you could shove into a grip frame if you took off the case. (if you haven't seen what i am getting at by this point, you are pretty blunt.)

i guess tomorrow at work, i will see what techinical info i can find on the dreamcast vmu. right now my thoughts are to run this as an open project, and watch where it goes.

[314159]

Specs (i will edit this post whenever i need to add technical info/links to keep things neat).

A Sanyo LC86K87 8-bit cpu
128 KB of Flash memory
512 bytes RAM
48 by 32 pixel LCD display
Sound generator

Manufacturer SEGA JAPAN
Product Code POTATO
Product ID 315-6124-03
5J49 8LGJ


links:
cpu http://mc.pp.se/dc/vms/cpu.html

VMS firmware http://mc.pp.se/dc/vms/fw.html

VMS flash ROM http://mc.pp.se/dc/vms/flashmem.html

VMS file header http://mc.pp.se/dc/vms/fileheader.html

VMI files http://mc.pp.se/dc/vms/vmi.html

custom icons http://mc.pp.se/dc/vms/icondata.html

VMS assembler http://mc.pp.se/dc/files/aslc86k.tar.gz

VMS hardware include file http://mc.pp.se/dc/files/sfr.i

vmu i/o http://www.maushammer.com/vmu2vmu.html

vmu rs-232 interface http://soeren.infoserv.de/vm/serialtovm.html

general site w/ good info http://soeren.infoserv.de/vm/

[AGD]

WHAT is it?

AGD

[luke]

:) Lets start with, what in the world is a dreamcast vmu?

[Thordic]

This is actually an interesting idea :)

For those who aren't familiar with Dreamcast (Which I'm sure is lots of people, I think I'm the only person in NJ who has one <G>), VMU stands for something like Visual Memory Unit or something like that.

Its basically a memory card, it is used to save your games on a Dreamcast.

HOWEVER, it also has a little screen, and buttons like a TEENY little gameboy. Some games, when you save a normal game to the VMU, have little mini-games you have play on the VMU.

The problem I see, however, is that the board will probably get fried if you try to run any actual voltage through it. It uses like watch batteries or something.

[synreal]

http://outerspace.terra.com.br/retrospace/materias/consoles/imagens/parte40/dreamcast-vmu.jpg

[314159]

it looks like i might be able to get it to comunicate through the external interface on it with a microcontroller..... i think that i am going to pick one up on the way home from work from the local funcoland so i can pop it open. ^_^

the current thought is to use the dreamcast vmu to handle the frontend user enterface, and have a microcontroller handle the operational capablilites. this might change depending on how many free i/o ports i see on the thing.

[314159]

http://www.speakeasy.org/~aaronw/vmuSm.jpg

http://www.speakeasy.org/~aaronw/vmuPcbBottomSm.jpg

http://www.speakeasy.org/~aaronw/vmuPcbLcdSm.jpg

mmm potato
http://www.speakeasy.org/~aaronw/vmuPcbTopSm.jpg

[Remington]

I think I know what general direction your heading in? Are you gonna try to make your mag electronic?

[314159]

i don't currently have a mag =/ (long story about buying one used from challange games before i knew that they were supposed to have serial numbers on the air valve)

i currently have functional circutry for an autococker and a m3 blowback based on the picmicro. i am just looking for a new toy ^_^.

[Gambit22]

Seems to be a bit too big to be used with a PB gun.

[314159]

Case Dimensions: 47 mm (W) x 80 mm (H) x 16 mm (D)

the pcb is even smaller... dimensions to soon follow

[subbeh]

What about making software for the VMU that could assist you in changing settings for some of today's supermarkers? I.E. IR3, adjust dwell or BPS on impulse, etc.? Kind of like the new palm tool that's coming out for the IR3?

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by subbeh
What about making software for the VMU that could assist you in changing settings for some of today's supermarkers? I.E. IR3, adjust dwell or BPS on impulse, etc.? Kind of like the new palm tool that's coming out for the IR3?


Yeah. Or maybe just have it be like a field programmer. Not actually be able to specifically change settings. But be able to upload one of several software programs saved onto the VMU. Guess it depends on how much you can cram into 128k. Although you could probably add a flash device.

[magnj]

wow i never thought of that i have like 3 dc vmu's( 3 PEOPLE IN NJ HAVE DREAMCASTS LOL ) BEfore i crack one open, how much money are we looking at to get this functional and what prgraming languages do i need?

[314159]

right now you are looking at learning assembler for the LC86K87 cpu.

you do not need to crack one open.... yet. (i just did it to instill fear in the other dreamcast vmu's ;) ) actually i figured that i would end up dooing it anyway to get acess to the headder to make a programmer for it.

as far as $ goes, it depends on whatcha want to do with it :D

[magnj]

well i waz thinking i could put some modes into it like burst and stuff. Put a lightswitch for input to rect to the trigger. what were you gonna do?

[petefol]

www.booyaka.com is a page about VMU development, it may have some usefull information.