SNESDev-RPi: a SNES Adapter For the Raspberry Pi

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SNESDev-RPi: a SNES Adapter For the Raspberry Pi

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 5, 2012 @05:14AM from the mashup-with-diagrams dept.

New submitter Blinky0815 writes "I just found what's quite possibly the world's very first SNES-Adapter for the Raspberry Pi. Florian's design helps create what he calls the 'universal console.' His blog explains everything in detail to create your very own 'universal console' at home. His blog has instructions, videos and even a github repository for downloading his software."

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SNES controllers by tepples · 2012-07-05 05:22 · Score: 5, Informative

I thought one could already use Super NES controllers with any USB host supporting HID through this adapter, and I thought one could already use Super NES Game Paks with any USB host supporting Mass Storage through this adapter.
1. Re:SNES controllers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-05 05:28 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed; prior work already exists for this project. Now if only the Linux kernel provided joystick for the SNES controller... oh wait (see: CONFIG_JOYSTICK_GAMECON)
2. Re:SNES controllers by Hatta · 2012-07-05 05:39 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  Or you could get a PowerPak and play your ROMs on a real machine. If you must use an emulator, use bsnes which is cycle accurate. It also requires a multi-gigahertz CPU to run in full speed.
  This is a nice project, but I don't see it getting much traction among classic console enthusiasts. Maybe if you could guarantee realistic input latency, we might be able to tolerate lower accuracy. Otherwise I don't see much here that isn't better accomplished with other solutions.
  
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3. Re:SNES controllers by babai101 · 2012-07-05 05:41 · Score: 1
  
  that one costs almost as much as the Pi itself
4. Re:SNES controllers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-05 05:47 · Score: 0
  
  at this point you should get an SD2SNES over the powerpak solution, its a far more capable flashcart.
  But realistically beyond novelty this project is kind of pointless, as stated if you really wanted an accurate system you'd need to use bsnes, which has fairly high requirements.
  bsnes in a decent enclosure with a retrode wired up as a cart slot and usb > snes connectors would be a real solid replacement for the real snes, but at that point I'd rather just build a dedicated system for emulating multiple consoles
5. Re:SNES controllers by DanTheManMS · 2012-07-05 05:49 · Score: 2
  
  The idea here is to use the Raspberry Pi's GPIO ports rather than using USB as a go-between.
6. Re:SNES controllers by MightyMartian · 2012-07-05 06:17 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Goddammit, it's not pointless! It made the weekly Raspberry Pi Slashdot article possible.
  
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7. Re:SNES controllers by slashmydots · 2012-07-05 07:54 · Score: 1
  
  I thought one could already use Super NES controllers with any USB host supporting HID through this adapter, and I thought one could already use Super NES Game Paks with any USB host supporting Mass Storage through this adapter.
  Also, I just checked and at my local pawn shop, an actual SNES system costs less than a raspberry pi unit lol.
8. Re:SNES controllers by Joce640k · 2012-07-05 23:16 · Score: 1
  
  It's only the controller? That's hardly newsworthy, NES controllers are easy to connect to anything with three spare I/O pins. I connected one to my Arduino/Gameduino last year.
  "Newsworthy" would have been a gadget that allowed you to connect NES cartridges to the Pi and play the games.
  
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9. Re:SNES controllers by tepples · 2012-07-06 00:47 · Score: 1
  
  bsnes in a decent enclosure
  Therein lies the problem. PC makers generally haven't shown interest in making a decent enclosure for a set-top gaming PC.
How did you get SNES emu working without SDL? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-05 05:27 · Score: 0

I've been trying to get an emulator to run but it seems as if there's no SDL support for the raspberry pi yet. Very interested in what you did to get it working!
1. Re:How did you get SNES emu working without SDL? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-05 05:36 · Score: 0
  
  I've been trying to get an emulator to run but it seems as if there's no SDL support for the raspberry pi yet. Very interested in what you did to get it working!
  of course there is SDL support in all the distros for the raspberry pi. you might be thinking of open gl which there isn't but there is gles
2. Re:How did you get SNES emu working without SDL? by Lose · 2012-07-05 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  If I had to take a guess, he probably used a plugin that supports straight up OpenGL, an audio backend with support for OpenAL, and for input used XInput2.
3. Re:How did you get SNES emu working without SDL? by SheaS · 2012-07-05 06:28 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  AdvanceMAME and AdvanceMESS work.
  
  I have binaries available on my site, blog.sheasilverman.com.
  
  You can also just download the AdvanceMAME source and compile it yourself if you want (it just takes about 6 hours). Overclocking my Pi to 900Mhz I can get Street Fighter 2 to run, and its playable, just slow.
  
  I am having issues getting SNES games to run well, but Gensis, NES, GameBoy, and GameGear games work well, as do classic arcade games (pre-1991)
Raspberry Spam of the day by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-05 05:39 · Score: 1

I hacked up a SNES parallel port interface from the schematic in the kernel sources for my freaking Pentium 2. Where's my gold star?
Cool, but.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-05 05:58 · Score: 0

Too many wires. Just get a BlueTooth dongle and get the PS3 controllers to work with that Pi. That would allow you to play a lot of other games with other emulators. Plus you wouldn't need to have rats nest of wires.
Emulators. by tapspace · 2012-07-05 06:00 · Score: 1

Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't long for the controllers of days gone. Modern controllers can do just as much more comfortably.
Now, I'll be pysched when someone goes through and develops/tweaks a bunch of emulators for this hardware specifically. A modded Xbox is my go to Emulator device. It runs on very old TVs if necessary and can emulate N64 better than my computer. That's the advantage of emulating on a single hardware target. Everyone's emulator runs pretty much just like the developers machine did.
1. Re:Emulators. by cfalcon · 2012-07-05 07:57 · Score: 1
  
  SNES controllers are, IMO, very comfortable.
  More importantly, if you want to play the games accurately, you should use the controllers- or at least, that's one school of thought on it, and one that needs the most support to be realized.
2. Re:Emulators. by del_diablo · 2012-07-05 21:31 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't long for the controllers of days gone. Modern controllers can do just as much more comfortably.
  Well, I firmly disagree. But mostly because I want a actual PC gamepad. The issue is that whenever I go into the stores, its basically only possible to find Logitech gamepads. They have a grip issue, the analogs lacks resistance and has some of the Dual Shock problems, the buttons are too elevated, and the dpad is severely elevated along with that its still a chance that when pushing one direction it will also press up or down at the same time. Some of the models also feature a square "gate"(the form around the analogs is called gate when its shaped) which is a problem.
  Maybe I need to find a store where they have a lot of different gamepads, but the core issue seem to be that the gamepads that are released are poorly designed. The only well designed one for this generation seem to be the Wiis Classic Controller(basically SNES with analogs) and the Xbox 360 controller(a bit of random quality and a poor dpad).
3. Re:Emulators. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-07-06 05:30 · Score: 0
  
  Since you mention it, what is the best N64 emulator for the Xbox? I've got a couple of modded Xboxes and when I switched the one my daughter plays on for the other that I had updated some of the software on the newer N64 emulator wouldn't load one of the games my daughter wanted to play (I think it was Paper Mario, but it could have been Mario Party) and I had to switch them back.
4. Re:Emulators. by tapspace · 2012-07-06 05:56 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed.
  http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Xbox-Wireless-Controller-Windows/dp/B004QRKWKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341597176&sr=8-1&keywords=xbox+360+controller+for+pc
  The price is a tad steep. I think I paid $30 for a like-new condition used one some 4 years ago (with the dongle of course). I'll never buy one of those garbage big-box store pieces of junk again. I think there are decent controllers out there, but to get one approaching the quality of the 360 controller, you have to spend almost twice as much. Plus, this one works in linux with minimal fuss.
5. Re:Emulators. by tapspace · 2012-07-06 06:02 · Score: 1
  
  I guess I have Surreal64 Beta 5.00. PM me if you need more help. I actually haven't played it in over a year, but I remember it working.
Re:Oh Wow! by Lose · 2012-07-05 06:05 · Score: 2

Trolling aside, I'm just glad those who did buy one are doing cool things with them.

I had put myself on the waiting list a month or so ago and just today I got invited to purchase one. But they claimed delivery would take 12 weeks at least. Since I am likely moving downstate, and since I've already waited this long for one, I figure I can hold off at this point.

Besides, for what I want to use it for I need to pick up some more hardware and finish my software for the cause. I intend to set up an amateur radio repeater using the Pi as the controller.
Re:Oh Wow! by FilmedInNoir · 2012-07-05 07:07 · Score: 1

Well if you can't wait for the Pi you could always get a VIA APC http://apc.io/about/ .... Haha, trololo, nope that's made in micro-batches to.
Seriously though there are some cheap ARM based boards out there to play with.
I'm waiting on a Mele A1000 (it's been shipped) and I didn't need to add myself to a mailing list lottery (or is it FIFO?) for it.

--
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meh by kelemvor4 · 2012-07-05 08:13 · Score: 1

wake me when they have a working wii emulator for pi. Until then this is just something that's been done many times before on various other platforms. What makes it worse is the snes is so out of date that the real console with games and controllers sells for less than a raspberry pi in the first place.
1. Re:meh by teh+dave · 2012-07-05 10:50 · Score: 1
  
  What makes it worse is the snes is so out of date that the real console with games and controllers sells for less than a raspberry pi in the first place.
  Uh, sorry mate, but that's not correct.
2. Re:meh by kelemvor4 · 2012-07-05 11:31 · Score: 1
  
  There's an ebay sucker born any minute, but you can walk into a pawn shop any day of the week and get one for under 10 dollars. Stores that deal in used gaming systems like "gamestop" don't even sell them anymore at all. If you're on the hunt for one, then I'll save you some time. http://www.cashamerica.com/
Demo of Ras Pi running Fractals ! by Taco+Cowboy · 2012-07-05 18:28 · Score: 1

Here's the link to the photo that shows Ras-Pi running Fractals
http://board.flatassembler.net/topic.php?t=14044&start=54
And this is the link to the entire thread
http://board.flatassembler.net/topic.php?t=14044

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