DIY USB adapter
This page explains how to build a pc to ps3/360 usb adapter.
A much easier but less complete tutorial is also available: DIY USB Adapter for dummies.
A German translation of a previous version is also available on the forum: old German translation.
Warning: you are responsible for the hardware you buy, and anything right or wrong you do with this.
Required hardware parts
- a USB to serial TTL converter that can work at 500kbps and that is 5V tolerant - chip examples: FT232R, CP2102
- a USB development board working at 5V with a chip among the following: at90usb82, at90usb162, at90usb646, at90usb647, at90usb1286, at90usb1287, atmega16u2, atmega32u2, atmega16u4, atmega32u4
Examples:
- USB to serial TTL converter:
- CP2102 converters on ebay (as low as 3$)
- FT232R converters on ebay (as low as 4$)
- CP2102 converter at sparkfun (22$ excl. shipping costs)
- FT232R converter at sparkfun (15$ excl. shipping costs)
- Some devices like the arduino have an on-board usb to serial chip (remove the AVR chip to use it)
- A second usb development board can also be programmed as a usb to serial converter.
- USB development board:
- Teensy board (atmega32u4, 16$ excl. shipping costs) (to build a solderless adapter, take a board with header pins)
- Arduino Leonardo - distributors - (cheap Chinese clones can be found on ebay for 11$ incl. shipping costs)
- Boards used for the psgroove hack (check the on-board chip).
- Cheap atmega32u4 boards on ebay (about 8$). Soldering required. An ISP is also required.
Tested and working:
- Arduino duemilanove (on-board FT232RL) + Bumble-b (discontinued, at90usb162)
- Arduino duemilanove (on-board FT232RL) + Teensy++ (at90usb1286)
- CP2102 board (from ebay) + Teensy 2.0 (atmega32u4)
- CP2102 board (from ebay) + Teensy++ (at90usb1286)
Recommended: CP2102 converter from ebay (very low price, but sometimes low delivery) and the Teensy board (low price, good quality, and quick delivery).
Firmware loading
- Joystick: 16bit stick axes, for PS3
- EMUPS3: Sixaxis emulation, for PS3
- EMU360: 360 pad emulation, for Xbox 360
- EMUPS4: Hori 4 FPS pad emulation, for PS4 (no touchpad/motion sensing support)
There are several tools that can be used to load the hex file:
- Teensy loader (only compatible with genuine teensy boards)
- Flip utility from Atmel (not compatible with genuine teensy boards)
- dfu-programmer command-line tool (not compatible with genuine teensy boards)
dfu-programmer example:
sudo dfu-programmer at90usb162 erase sudo dfu-programmer at90usb162 flash at90usb162.hex sudo dfu-programmer at90usb162 reset
Wiring
The only thing you have to do is to connect the following pins:
| USB dev board | USB to UART board |
| GND | GND |
| RX | TX / TXO / RXD |
| TX | RX / RXI / TXD |
If you use the arduino on-board USB to serial converter, Rx and Tx are inverted, i.e. Rx = TX▶ and Tx = RX◀
The example below shows how to connect a CP2102 converter (left) to a Teensy board (right):
It's possible to solder wires or to use jumper wires (these are generally provided with USB to serial TTL boards) in case your AVR USB board has header pins:
Examples:
- Bumble-b and FT232RL wired on a breadboard:
- Teensy++ and CP2102 wired on a breadboard:
- Teensy and CP2102 soldered:
Connection
If you are using windows and a CP2102 usb to ttl board, install the CP2102 windows drivers first (mandatory).
Connect the USB to serial converter to your PC, and connect the usb dev board to your ps3. Turn the PS3 on (the ps button is not working yet). The ps3 should detect a controller (turn a sixaxis on, it should be detected as controller #2).
If it's not already done, install GIMX.
Start gimx-launcher:
TODO: update screenshot
In Ubuntu/Linux, the USB to serial TTL converter should be detected as "ttyUSBX" (with 'X' a number).
In Windows, it should be detected as "COMX" (with 'X' a number). Check the device manager to select the right one.
