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Atari Jaguar controller to USB adapter
Content: Project overview | Picture Gallery | Schematic | Programming | Source code | PCB for surface-mount | Disclaimer
Project overview [hide]
I had to convert an Atari Jaguar controller to USB for a customer. As usual, I decided to make the schematic and firmware for this project available to everyone.

Specifications:
  • No drivers required. Implements a standard USB HID device.
  • Tested under Windows and Linux.
  • All 17 buttons are usable.
Button mapping:
Controller ButtonPC Button
A 1
B 2
C 3
Option 4
Pause 5
1 6
2 7
3 8
4 9
5 10
6 11
7 12
8 13
9 14
* 15
0 16
# 17

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Picture Gallery [hide]
Jaguar controller with surface mount circuit installed inside:


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Schematic [hide]
I used my usual Atmega8 circuit with a custom firmware using the Objective Development AVR-USB device implementation.

Here is the core schematic. For wiring the controller, use the table below.

I/O Micro.#pin HD15CouleurDescription
PC5 1 Brown Column [N/A,opt,3,6,9,#]
PC4 2 Red Column [N/A,C,2,5,8,0]
PC3 3 Orange Column [N/A,B,1,4,7,*]
PC2 4 Yellow Column [Pause,A,East,West,South,North]
PC1 6 Blue Row [Pause,N/A,N/A,N/A]
PC0 10 Black Row [A,B,C,opt]
PB5 11 Grey Row [East,1,2,3]
PB4 12 Pale Blue Row [West,4,5,6]
PB3 13 Pink Row [South,7,8,9]
PB0 14 White Row [North,*,0,#]
VCC 7 Green Power
GND 9 PurplePower
Component list:
RefDescription
U2 Atmega8 microcontroller. ATMEGA8-16PC, ATMEGA8-16PI, ATMEGA8-16PJ or ATMEGA8-16PU. Don't use an ATMEGA8L-*, the 12Mhz clock would be too high.
R1 1.5k resistor. Ordinary carbon film 1/4 watt resistors will do.
R2, R3 68 ohm resistors. Ordinary carbon film 1/4 watt resistors will do.
D2, D3 3.6 volts zener diodes.
Y1 12 Mhz crystal.
C2, C3 18 pf capacitors. If the crystal datasheet recommends another value, use it instead.
C1 1uf capacitor. Install it near the ATmega8 power pins.
J2 6 pin header, 2.54mm spacing. Needed for programming the ATmega8.

For the USB connection, just strip the USB cable and solder the wires directly to the board. USB uses standard wire colors, but beware of cheap cables using non-standard color codes.
Color Description
  Red +5 volts
  Black Ground
  Green D+
  White D-

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Programming [hide]
A microcontroller is a component which must be programmed in order to do something useful. So here is the hexfile which must be flashed into the microcontroller:
jaguar_usb-1.0.hex

Many microcontrollers have what is called 'Fuse bytes'. In the case of the ATmega8, there are two bytes: The high byte, and the low byte. Those bytes are used to configure some aspects of the microcontroller. What type of clock to use? Crystal? Resonator? Internal RC clock? Allow programming via ISP? It's very important to set the fuses to the right values. Using the wrong values can render your MCU unusable.

For this project, here are the appropriate fuse values:
high byte = 0xc9, low byte = 0x9f

For details about how to program an AVR, visit my AVR programming page.

Pre-programmed Atmega8 (DIP package) available

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Source code [hide]
The source code is released under the GPL license and compiles with avr-gcc. To prevent conflicts, please do not distribute modified version where the USB report descriptor has been modified without replacing the USB Vendor ID and Product ID by yours.

jaguar_usb-1.0.tar.gz

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PCB for surface-mount [hide]
The surface-mount version uses my Multiuse PCB2 circuit. Here's what it looks like:
Multiuse PCB2:
Ready to use circuits available

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Disclaimer [hide]
I cannot be held responsible for any damages that could occur to you or your equipment while following the procedures present on this page. Also, I GIVE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY on the correctness and usability of the informations on this page. Please note, however, that the procedures above have worked in my case without any damages or problems.

Now you cannot say that I did not warn you :)

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