Competition Pro series III Honey Bee Sega controller compatible?

MikeyG · 05 July 2018, 17:52

I recently purchased a Competition Pro series III Honey Bee controller that was advertised for Sega Megadrive.
My understanding is that sega megadrive controllers should work on an Amiga fine.
Can someone confirm that this is the case?

At the moment when I plug in the controller it is constantly going left but the button works and Up is Up&left and Down is Down&Left.
Just want to check before starting to rip it apart and trying to fix it.

robinsonb5 · 05 July 2018, 18:16

Yes, it should work - or at least the directions and buttons B & C should work without modification. If you swap pins 5 and 7 then the right software can read all buttons.

MikeyG · 05 July 2018, 18:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by robinsonb5

Yes, it should work - or at least the directions and buttons B & C should work without modification. If you swap pins 5 and 7 then the right software can read all buttons.

Thats good. I'll have a look at it then

Daedalus · 05 July 2018, 19:29

It sort of works by accident. The way Megadrive controllers are wired means that they draw their power from a signal output pin from Paula, which isn't a very good way to do things. First, because it's a data pin and isn't designed to power anything, second, because sometimes software doesn't set it correctly, resulting in the controller not getting power (and this can cause other problems as it's a bad thing to drive logic chip inputs when the chip isn't powered), and third, some controllers might require more power than the data pin can provide, resulting in malfunction of the controller (which I suspect is the case here).

As robinson5 says, swapping pins 5 and 7 (or better still, making a short adaptor cable that does this so you can keep the MD pad original and use other MD pads if you wish) will power the controller correctly and let the Amiga read all buttons. I don't really know of anything that uses all the buttons, but at least it's correctly wired...

MikeyG · 05 July 2018, 20:52

Thanks Daedalus. I like the idea of a short adapter cable, fairly simple to wire up, and swap 5 & 7.

I tested it with Turrican 2 and then decided to make a blitz basic program that outputs joystick position thats how i know about the directions it does register.

05 July 2018, 17:52	#1
MikeyG Registered User Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: UK Posts: 109	Competition Pro series III Honey Bee Sega controller compatible? I recently purchased a Competition Pro series III Honey Bee controller that was advertised for Sega Megadrive. My understanding is that sega megadrive controllers should work on an Amiga fine. Can someone confirm that this is the case? At the moment when I plug in the controller it is constantly going left but the button works and Up is Up&left and Down is Down&Left. Just want to check before starting to rip it apart and trying to fix it.

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05 July 2018, 18:16	#2
robinsonb5 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 1,153	Yes, it should work - or at least the directions and buttons B & C should work without modification. If you swap pins 5 and 7 then the right software can read all buttons.

05 July 2018, 19:29	#4
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,334	It sort of works by accident. The way Megadrive controllers are wired means that they draw their power from a signal output pin from Paula, which isn't a very good way to do things. First, because it's a data pin and isn't designed to power anything, second, because sometimes software doesn't set it correctly, resulting in the controller not getting power (and this can cause other problems as it's a bad thing to drive logic chip inputs when the chip isn't powered), and third, some controllers might require more power than the data pin can provide, resulting in malfunction of the controller (which I suspect is the case here). As robinson5 says, swapping pins 5 and 7 (or better still, making a short adaptor cable that does this so you can keep the MD pad original and use other MD pads if you wish) will power the controller correctly and let the Amiga read all buttons. I don't really know of anything that uses all the buttons, but at least it's correctly wired...

05 July 2018, 20:52	#5
MikeyG Registered User Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: UK Posts: 109	Thanks Daedalus. I like the idea of a short adapter cable, fairly simple to wire up, and swap 5 & 7. I tested it with Turrican 2 and then decided to make a blitz basic program that outputs joystick position thats how i know about the directions it does register.

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