Learning is Painful Sometimes!

What's up, party people? I've got some exciting updates here!

I'd been contacted about making a wireless, right-handed version of The Great Pyrenees for a dude, and I initially thought it would be a piece of cake. Boy, was I wrong. There's a weird quirk with CircuitPython and Bluetooth Low Energy that makes Windows not want to accept connections for any length of time. I decided I would take another shot at trying to use the little NRF52840 Pro Micro with the Arduino IDE again. It took a couple of days, but I got it working! 

After that, I tried to make a sketch to get it to work right, but no luck. It would just give me some bizarre behavior, like saying a button was pressed when it wasn't even connected to anything. I don't know why, but I had an epiphany one day about the pin numbering on the NRF52840 versus the Arduino Pro Micro. After digging through the five corners of the internet, I found what I needed and was able everything connect right.

From there, it was a matter of getting the joystick to work right. Turns out, I had a broken pin on the joystick, so it wasn't registering at all. But once I connected that pin, everything worked perfectly. It charges its battery, it connects with minimal fuss, and it actually sends presses like it's supposed to. Progress!

Here's the especially exciting update. I've got a new set of circuit boards on the way, and these are going to (hopefully) be my best work I've ever done. 

The most recent update of the GP2040-CE firmware for the Raspbery Pi Pico added the ability to use USB passthrough to controllers. Why's that important? Because it means we can piggyback off of the official controller's authentication and use third-party controllers with the PS4, PS5, and XBOX One! 

The new controller has dedicated buttons for every function now, so no weird shift or chords to memorize. It has a USB C and a USB A port. You connect your PS4, PS5, or XBOX One controller to the USB A port and the USB C to the console, and you're ready to play. 

The GP2040-CE firmware also has a really cool function where you can reprogram the buttons with a web configuration tool. So if you don't like my layout, you can mess with creating your own! I hope to have the circuit boards within a week, then have the first ones done within two weeks (but as excited as I get, it would probably be much sooner than that)!

It won't be long and I'll have a one-handed controller for everything! -VCRchitect