ORBital Reentry

PROJECT ABSTRACT

BACK IN THE LATE `90S, ASS WAS A ‘DESCENT II’ MASTER. HE CLAIMS IT WAS ALL DUE TO THE ‘SPACE-ORB 360‘ CONTROLLER.
THIS SIX-AXIS CONTROLLER ALLOWED A LEVEL OF PLAY AND CONTROL BEYOND ANY OTHER CONTROLLER THAT EXISTED AT THE TIME.
WITH THE 2015 RELEASE OF ‘DESCENT UNDERGROUND’ WE DECIDED THAT WE MUST RESURRECT THE ‘SPACE-ORB 360‘ SO THAT ASS MAY ONCE AGAIN ASCEND THE RANKS OF DESCENT MASTERY.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

THE SPACE-ORB 360 MUST BE CONVERTED FROM IT’S NATIVE CONNECTION/PROTOCOL TO A USB HID JOYSTICK. CAPABLE OF REPORTING DATA FROM ALL SIX AXES AND ALL BUTTONS.
OPTIONALLY, IMPLEMENT A BUTTON CHORDING SCHEME

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

THE ORB
FOR THIS PROJECT WE HAVE CHOSEN TO USE THE PLAYSTATION (ONE) VERSION OF THE SPACE-ORB 360 SIMPLY BECAUSE IT HAS MORE BUTTONS AND A D-PAD.

THE CONVERSION
TO CONVERT THE PLAYSTATION PROTOCOL DATA TO USB HID JOYSTICK DATA WE HAVE CHOSEN TO USE THE ST STM32F072 USB MICRO-CONTROLLER. OUR FIRMWARE IN THIS CONTROLLER READS IN THE PLAYSTATION PROTOCOL DATA, EXTRACTS THE ORB DATA FROM IT, CONVERTS THE ORB DATA INTO USB HID DATA, AND THEN SENDS THE HID DATA TO THE HOST COMPUTER VIA USB. THE HOST COMPUTER SEES THE UNIT AS A USB JOYSTICK WITH 6 AXES AND 32 BUTTONS. APPLICATIONS (LIKE ‘DESCENT UNDERGROUND’). CAN USE THE JOYSTICK CONFIGURATION TO ACCESS THE ORB’S AXIS/BUTTON DATA.

THE ASCENSION
THE FIRMWARE IS COMPLETE EXCEPT FOR BUTTON CHORDING. ALL SIX AXES AND ALL BUTTONS FUNCTION AS EXPECTED.
OVERALL, THE UNIT IS WORKING WELL. ASS CAN NOW AGAIN BEGIN HIS ASCENSION TO DESCENT MASTERY.