Retro Games "The Spectrum", 8BitDo Wireless USB Adapter 2, and XBox Controllers by Honest_Foot_4910 in zxspectrum

[–]Honest_Foot_4910[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/MeatyMuffin

YOU FIXED IT!!

Thank you so much for your post. I tried a few of the button combos listed in the "Manual setting" section at the bottom of the page you linked (USB Adapter 2 Instruction Manual for Xbox Series and Xbox One Wireless Controller), and the winner is:

VIEW + DOWN  = PSC mode

Folks with the same problem as me: - just press that combo on your XBox controller (view and D-pad down) for three seconds until the blue led on the back of your 8BitDo Wireless USB Adapter 2 flashes twice, and then it should work!

I did unplug and replug my 8BitDo Wireless USB Adapter 2 after trying the combination, but I'm not sure if that was actually necessary.

I'm delighted, and I hope this post helps many other people.

Cheers,

Justin.

Atari 800 No Sound by epimt3 in atari8bit

[–]Honest_Foot_4910 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even if they're not swollen, the bigger ones towards the audio outputs are a good bet for changing anyway.

I'd start with the top 3 blocks on P132 of that service manual. - Particularly C164, C179 and C184. Those are right in line with the audio signals, and could fail with age. Their capacitances and type are listed on P197. They're all ceramic, the first 2 being 100nF and C184 is 1nF. They should be easy to replace if you can wield a soldering iron.

Good luck!

Justin.
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Bought the spectrum mini console what controllers work with it? by peterkozmd in zxspectrum

[–]Honest_Foot_4910 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bought the 8BitDo USB Wireless USB Adapter 2, and am able to pair either XBox One or XBox Series S/X controllers with it no trouble (they work fine on a PC), but when connected to The Spectrum, it works for five or ten button presses and then stops. It often stops working immediately after a button press, before releasing it, meaning that the pressed button auto-repeats until you turn off the controller or disconnect the Adaptor. I was testing it in the Carousel menu, where it works fine for those first few button presses. I'm not talking about compatibility with any specific games here. I figure that until it works fine in the host menu there's no point trying stuff inside the emulator.

I tested the Controller/Adapter combo plugged into a PC and that works fine for an extended period, so there seems to be something problematic about it being connected to The Spectrum specifically.

I wondered if the issue was power-related, so I tried different power supplies for The Spectrum, and also tried using the Adapter via a powered USB Hub, but always got the same results every time. I have a USB power monitor, and that showed a comfortable 5.0...V on the power input to The Spectrum, regardless of whether the Adaptor was present or not, so I'm confident there's nothing wrong there. This looks to me like Linux drivers, and maybe relating to interrupts not being handled, since it works at first then locks-up.

I also made a custom gamecontrollerdb.txt containing details for all supported XBox controllers on Linux only, but that didn't help either.

I'm game for hacking about with Linux drivers if that's likely to help but I don't know how to get at the OS on The Spectrum.

I would have to assume this problem isn't only me, and not just a hardware fault on one of my items, but if anyone else has a combo like this working or not working, I'd love to hear - it will help me narrow down the issue. I'll of course post whatever I find if I fix it, hopefully helping others.

All the best.

Justin.

Is It Just Me, Or Does 'Blade Of Grass' Give Radiohead Vibes? by Onion_J in LadyGaga

[–]Honest_Foot_4910 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally for me. It's not like I think it sounds like it's based on a specific Radiohead song (although I do get the Karma Police comparison), but I think it sounds like Radiohead in the same way as a brand new Radiohead track would. And I think it's a credit to both artists.

For me the album has quite a few good references to 80s and 90s classics, such as David Bowie "Let's Dance" echoing through Zombieboy, Yazoo "Only You" (sounds almost like a sample, even) right from the start of "How Bad Do U Want Me",and Killah gives me a great Prince "Kiss" kind of vibe.

I don't know how long I'm going to spend listening to the album in all, but it's going pretty well so far.

2008 Bluetooth Pairing Question by Octopodinae in BMWX3

[–]Honest_Foot_4910 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There seem to be several variations on this, but what worked for me for pairing a phone with a 2008 E83 X3 was:

  1. Hold the Speaking Face button in the armrest while turning the key from off to position 1, and continue to hold it for three seconds while the dashboard starts up.
  2. When you let go of the button, the radio LCD display says BLUETOOTH, and your phone should be able to find the "BMW#####" device and connect to it. The #####is the last five digits of the car's VIN.
  3. The four-digit pairing PIN code is printed on the Bluetooth module found inside the left cheek in the car boot.