USB game controller switches

[droseman]

Hello,

I am looking at a project to build a home flightsim cockpit, and am looking at how to interface a set of switches to the PC over USB so that it is seen like any other game controller.

I assume that somewhere along the line I will need a micro to do this, but does anyone have any tips / links to help me get this project going?

Thanks
Dave

 

[lockman_akim]

you can directly interface with usb..but it quite difficult..myb u can use usb to serial converter and do interface with microcontroller..

 

[droseman]

you can directly interface with usb..but it quite difficult..myb u can use usb to serial converter and do interface with microcontroller..

Thats quite a good idea, I wouldn't then have to find a more expensive micro with a USB interface. Do you have any experience with the microchip USB dev kit for their PIC18 chips, I read something that suggested to just modify their code a bit.

The one other thing that concerns me with that is the variability of USB - serial converters, when i last looked at these it was hit and miss if they would connect properly. That was a while ago, so maybe things have improved since then.

How would I map the keyboard commands to switches - is it just a case of writing hex numbers out on activation of IO line, or is it likely to be more complicated than that?

--dave

 

[lockman_akim]

no..i dont have any experience in USB interfacing.. but for me, i think it something more difficult to understand rather than serial com..

if you talk about interfacing with computer, you should be familiar with Visual Basic, VC#, or VB.net.. but i dont have any knowledge in VC# or VB net.. i have much experience in Visual Basic and i already done reading input from, Serial Comm, keyboard Input, and USB Joystick input..