Ultimarc Servo-Stik plugin for Linux

[wrybread]

EDIT: don't use this method! The author of RGBCommander just made a utility that switches the ServoStik via commandline, works great. I'll update this plugin once he posts it.

Leaving this here in case it's useful, but repeat, don't use this method, since switching your ServoStik controller board into "hardware mode" is irreversable.






I couldn't find a reliable way to control my ServoStik under Linux so I made a plugin to control it using "hardware mode" and these cheapie USB relays ($4 shipped!):

https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay

Works beautifully with Attract Mode and my joystick is finally always in the right mode for whatever game I'm playing. Whoohoo!

Setup notes:

- put the Servo-Stik's control board into "hardware mode" as described here:

https://www.ultimarc.com/servostik.html

Note that this makes it so you can't control the Servo-Stik via USB anymore, which is a shame. And the change is permanent! So proceed with caution, and you might want to read my "alternative methods" section below before proceeding.

Once you make this change you're essentially switching the mode of the Servo-Stik with a relay acting as a toggle switch.

- Get your relay using the instructions here https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay, I got the single relay for $4 shipped to California.

- Strip the wires from a USB mini cable. Connect the red and black wires to a 5v power supply (the 5v pins on the USB relay didn't seem to provide enough power for reliable operation), then connect the white wire to the NO pin of the relay, the green wire to the NC pin of the relay, and roll up the shielding and connect it to the common pin of the relay.

- When you're done it'll look something like the attached image, except that I wouldn't recommend getting power from the relay board itself as in the picture, things were really flaky for me until I connected the power to a stripped down 5v wall wort.

- You'll need to install the usbrelay program as described here (https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay), or in Debian variants you can just run "sudo apt-get install usbrelay". After installing run "usbrelay" to see the address of your relay and adapt this plugin if needed. You can adapt it either through Attract Mode's plugin configuration section, or directly in the code of the plugin.

On my system this command turns on the relay:

usbrelay HURTM_1=1

And this turns off the relay:

usbrelay HURTM_1=0

If you have things wired up you should see your Servo-Stik magically switching between 4 and 8 way. If not, run simply "usbrelay" to get the address of the relay ("HURTM" in the example above). I don't know if the address varies from relay to relay. If you have a different address you'll need to edit the plugin either directly or by going to it's plugin config section of Attract Mode. You should be able to switch the mode of the Servo-Stik with the above lines of code at this point. If not, go over the steps above carefully.

- With the configuration here, I'm turning on the relay for 2 and 4 way games, and turning it off for 8 way games. Works great.

- And note that this plugin was adapted from http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?action=post;msg=14283;topic=1898.0

Feel free to email directly with any questions, since I don't think the post notification feature is working on this board. My email is wrybread at gmail dot you know what.


Alternate methods:

- I'm really impressed with the Servo-Stik, but it would be nice if we didn't have to put the control board into "hardware board" to control it in from a relay or switch, since doing so is a permanent change, meaning we can't control it via USB ever again. Andy, if you're listening, how about adding a couple of pins to the board so this is always possible, even in regular USB mode? Or a jumper to return the board to regular USB mode?

- I tried RGBCommander, which was able to control the ServoStik, but not in conjunction with Attract Mode since my version of MAME (.175) isn't supported. Most of my ROMs didn't work with later versions of MAME so I abandoned that route, but more notes on the issue are in this thread http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=156479.0.

- the author of RGBCommander said he has a commandline utility to switch the Servo-Stik, which would solve the issue completely, but as of now he hasn't released it yet. Please do?

- I'd love to make a Python script to control the Servo-Stik directly using pyusb, but couldn't find very many details on the protocol. Andy sent this over, maybe someone can make sense of it?

Code: [Select]

Private Sub button4_Click()
    OutputReportData(3) = 0
    OutputReportData(2) = 0
    OutputReportData(1) = 0
    OutputReportData(0) = 0
    Call ReadAndWriteToDevice
 
End Sub
 
Private Sub button8_Click()
    OutputReportData(3) = 1
    OutputReportData(2) = 0
    OutputReportData(1) = 0
    OutputReportData(0) = 0
    Call ReadAndWriteToDevice
End Sub
Anyway, plugin attached and pasted below, hopefully it's useful to someone.

Code: [Select]

/*

This is an Attract-Mode plugin to use a ServoStik under Linux (or other OS's)
with a USB relay. These USB relays are dirt cheap, under $5 shipped to the U.S.,
and work beautifully with a ServoStik in hardware mode.

More notes on the relays here:

https://github.com/darrylb123/usbrelay

More setup notes for this plugin here:

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2123.0

wrybread at gmail dot you know what
February 12, 2018

*/



// user config
class UserConfig </ help="Plugin to use a ServoStik joystick in hardware mode under Linux. See the header of the ServoStikUSBRelay plugin for more information." /> {

// path to usbrelay if necessary
</ label="Executable name", help="Full path to the usbrelay utility if necessary", order=1 />
command = "usbrelay";

// command to turn on the relay
</ label="Command relay on", help="Command to turn on the relay for 2 and 4 way games", order=2 />
command_relay_on = "HURTM_1=1";

// command to turn off the relay
</ label="Command relay off", help="Command to turn off the relay for 8 way games", order=3 />
command_relay_off = "HURTM_1=0";

}

// process the local config
local config=fe.get_config();

// register the callback for when games are launched
fe.add_transition_callback( "joytray_plugin_transition" );

// function to  process each game's launch
function joytray_plugin_transition( ttype, var, ttime ) {

if ( ScreenSaverActive ) return false;

switch ( ttype )  {

case Transition.ToGame:

// turn relay on for 4 way games
if (fe.game_info( Info.Control ) == "joystick (4-way),joystick (4-way)") fe.plugin_command_bg(config["command"], config["command_relay_on"] );

// turn relay on for 2 way games
else if (fe.game_info( Info.Control ) == "joystick (2-way),joystick (2-way)") fe.plugin_command_bg(config["command"], config["command_relay_on"] );

// turn relay off for 8 way games
else fe.plugin_command_bg( config["command"], config["command_relay_off"]);

break;

}

return false; // must return false
}




[wrybread]

This method is now outdated! The author of RGBCommander released a utility that switches the ServoStik from commandline in Linux, confirmed working awesome. Once he posts it I'll update my plugin.

[mahuti]

In case anyone is interested, there is also an app called LEDSpicer that handles mode switching for ServoStiks, U360s, GGG Rotary and GGG 49-ways based on rom choice or via manual control (it handles LED stuff too). It's not my app, but I work with the author of it from time to time on documentation and testing. I did some work on the documentation for RGBCommander as well and have used both extensively.

https://sourceforge.net/p/ledspicer/wiki/Home/
https://sourceforge.net/p/ledspicer/wiki/Deployment/

There are some interesting features like the ability to design interactive LED lighting based on inputs. Like.... coin light flashes until a coin is inserted, and then player 1 flashes until pressed. It has support for MAME's output system too, which works great with stuff like blinking LEDs in DigDug and Galaga, or the knocker feature from Qbert. Just know, to use that feature you'd need to be using MAME versions over 188 or so. 188 manages to run old roms like DigDug and Galaga at fullspeed on my Rpi3b+ (as long as I'm not running a monitor in high resolution).

Anyway, sorry for the old topic bump, but I was searching for something and figured it'd be useful to have this info here.

[wrybread]

Awesome! And that reminds me, here's the updated Sero-Stik plugin that controls the Servo-Stik directly (as opposed to using a relay).

To use, download SetServoStik from here http://users.telenet.be/rgbcommander/ and place in the utils subfolder of Attract Mode (which you'll probably need to create. Or put it somewhere else and adjust the path below.

[mahuti]

On that note, If anyone ever needs it, I wrote a standalone utility for GroovyGameGear's 49-way joystick encoder. The U360 is great and I have a few, but I like the feel of the 49-way better.

https://github.com/mahuti/set49mode

This same code (or similar) is in LEDSpicer as well, but sometimes just having something simple is nice.