We will soon receive our D-SUB 23 shells from our manufacturer. All pre-order customers will be fullfilled and we will maintain pre-order prices until may. After May 31st, prices will resume to normal so hurry! We also offer D-SUB 23F connector and shell combo. See our pre-order page.
We’ve recently figured out that there is two Intellivision Flashback controller types with different pinout! It’s either AtGames or Dollar General version. We built two different firmwares to suit your controller on your favorite emulator. See our download section.
New beta firmware shows the versatility of the USB adapter by simulating keypad directions from a standard D-SUB 9 pin joystick. This works on almost any equipement or emulator as a keyboard is a very standard HID device. Works perfectly on WinUAE/Amiga Forever and C64 Forever. We now target set-up boxes and other OS limited devices. If you want to submit a request, we are open! Beta firmware can be downloaded here.
Some people asked us to integrate both joystick and paddles firmware together because they are switching often between both type of controllers. This is now a reality and works very well for Atari and C64 controllers while interpreting joystick moves. It auto-detect what kind of controller is connected and report it accordingly. Give us some feedbacks on it! See download section.
New hardware of our joystick adapter, version 3.2 (Vador), offers more analog compatibility. It now enables Apple ][ joystick (using a gender changer) and the Vectrex. You can download these firmwares in our download section.
Our partner Jeff Birt sent a DB23 connector to Adrian’s digital basement for review. Note that the DB23 case will be available real soon as first batch will be received in a week or two. 😁
We just finished to integrate Inteliivision flashback controller firmware in RAW reading mode. This enables to properly read the controllers keypad with special combination keypresses. A KBD file written by Joe Zbiciak (Author of jzIntv) is also available to properly interconnect to his emulator. See our download section.
This new flash tool is more easy to use with the new USB Joystick Adapter v3.2. It has the possibility to trig the bootloader of an adapter while in use and change its functionality in few clicks, without the need of doing the manual bootflash procedure. Available for Windows 10.
See: Download Section
We released a new revision of our Joystick Adapter firmware on this last day of 2020. It adds an interesting functionality that permits to reflash the adapter while connected. No need to push the button while inserting the USB connector anymore. It uses some clever code that trigs integrated bootloader to come up*. Use this link to download. Retronic Design Team wish you an Happy New Year!!!
*Works with black 3.2 version only (Vador)
After sucessfully kickstarted and produced DB23F connector for Amiga computers, we launch a new pre-order for DB23 hoods that matches these connectors. As they are rare and pricey on different selling platforms, we found that it would be better to start from scratch and have some new ones produced again. See our pre-order page.
ETA for shipping should be around March 1st 2021.
Pre-Order quantities are as follow
| Quantity | Price (Hood only) | Combo Price (Hood+DB23F) |
| 1 | 2,60$ USD | 7,40$ USD (Value price!) |
| 2 – 9 | 2,47$ USD | 6,88$ USD (Value price!) |
| 10 – 49 | 2,34$ USD | 6,36$ USD (Value price!) |
| 50+ | 2,21$ USD | 5,84$ USD (Value price!) |
We are very excited today as we received our first production batch of the new DB23F Amiga video connectors!!! You can order yours now as we will offer a 10% off the regular price until January first 2021. See side bar to order.
We are very pleased to announce that we are expecting the first production run of the NEW Amiga DB23F connectors to arrive in North America mid-December of 2020. It has been an incredible amount of work, creating mechanical drawings, finding the right manufacturer, getting the tooling made, testing the first sample connectors and then finally getting them into full production. But, encouragement from the community saw us through the struggle.
Once the shipment is received, we’ll begin filling preorders. There are still a few weeks left to get your pre-orders in at the special preorder pricing. Remember if we reach our pre-order goal everyone will get 10% more connectors for free. We have had some folks ask about adding more connectors to their pre-order. If you wish to do so let us know as soon as possible.
1980’s to 2000’s Arcades and Video Games have one point in common; they all use a CRT as their primary display. Most of them output their video signals directly in RGB + sync at 15KHz, like the Jamma and MVS standards.
Those CRT are becomming less and less common these days, replaced by LCD TVs and monitors that can be purchased at low prices with excellent quality. Nevertheless, the RGB + sync signal cannot be connected directly to these new TVs. Retronic Design’s new adapter is there to answer this need by converting theses primitive signals to components (YPbPr). With this adapter connected in between an Arcade board and an LCD TV, you can easily replace any CRT.
Classic Arcade and Video Games use 15KHz horizontal sync video output. This corresponds to today’s standard 480i. But there is also a common but not-so-well known mode called the 240p. This mode do not have odd and even line scanning. It uses the video standard in full 60 fps instead of 30 fps. It permits sprite “transparency” and induce a blank scanline pattern that charaterize most Arcade games. New LCD TVs are not equally supporting this 240p mode. But for those that supports it, a replacement can be operated in your old cabinet.
This adapter does not resize the original image like most competitive solutions does. It only operate a color space conversion and integrate the composite sync to the Y (green) signal. The best resizing/reformatting device to keep original image quality and effects is integrated in your LCD TV. Analog to digital conversion should only be done once; inside your TV.
Note that 240p and 480i are NTSC video modes. PAL/SECAM have their equivalent 288p and 576i modes, also compatible with this adapter.
Universal RGBS to Components adapter is currently sold on our website at 49,99$ CAD + shipping.
Exciting news here today at Soigeneris and Retronic Design! We received the first DB23F prototypes out of the factory. This means we are close at hand to fullfill our pre-order customers! It is not too late to order yours here.
Our next step is to made them pass a bunch of stress tests and see how they behave in overheat, mechanical torsion and electrical discharges.
Soigeneris.com and retronicdesign.com teamed together to bring back the DB23F Amiga video connector!
This is a story about Francis and Jeff, the Amiga community, and the quest for an obsolete connector. Francis and Jeff are vintage computer enthusiast who, unbeknownst to each other, both set off on a quest to find the fabled DB23F video connector for Amiga computers.
Their trek took them around the globe searching for the rumored long-lost connector molds. They encountered many dead ends and false leads, at times things seemed hopeless. There was even a villain who, when realizing that Francis and Jeff were unaware of each other’s quests, devised an evil plan to lure them into a trap. Luckily for our duo, and the Amiga community, a mutual friend Arizona Doug arrived just in the nick of time to help foil the villain’s plan and save the mission!
Now having joined forces Francis and Jeff ventured forward with renewed determination and certainty that their crusade was just. After many months of hard work, they found a manufacturer in the far East who had the skills to reproduce the fabled DB23F connectors in exactitude. A connector so perfect it is indistinguishable from those made back during the reign of Queen Amiga herself. A deal was struck, and the craftsmen are now hard at work producing the tooling to bring the long lost DB23F connector back to life.
An interesting experiment has been performed by Christian Simpson aka Perifractic from Retro Recipes to compare latency between an emulated C64 and a real C64 from 1984. Results shows latency induced by the software/hardware abstraction layers on an emulated machine.
New USB joystick adapter version 3.2 (Vador) has arrived, with its stylish black look.
It is retro-compatible with version 3.0 and 3.1 series of firmwares. Also adds compatibility to two analog joysticks: Vectrex and Apple II. Bootloader poping up at bootup with some joysticks is now fixed on this version.
We are currently in full shipping of this new version. Order yours now!
Unfortunately, we are out of stock. ETA end of March.
Some news from the flight deck; 2020 will be a big year for Retronic Design as we will roll out a new joystick adapter with better capabilities and compatibilities. This new adapter is backward compatible with 3.0 and 3.1 versions. It will support Vectrex and Apple II joysticks. Release date is Q2 2020.
We issued a price drop on the FlashFloppy emulator. It is now 36,99$CAD. This emulator is supported by a vast community of retro-enthusiasts and still the best selling in its class to this day.
All the Amiga Components video adapters in stock were sold quickly! Some new ones just came out of production. You can order them at the same price of 49,99$ USD. We ship next-day. Current owners are happy campers as they can now play their Amiga on the living room large TV.
Other new products are in developpement. We signed a partnership with a new manufacturing provider. Software developpement is also taking new avenues as we started a new combined programming tool that allows to swap between different controller more easily.
Stay tuned!
We received our gifts in advance this year at Retronicdesign! Doug Compton from 10 minute Amiga retro cast did a torough review of our Amiga Component adapter. As you will see, our adapter gives the best render on a modern TV that is possible. The only downside is 240p compatibility that not every TV are capable of. 10marc blog is a very complete review blog for modern Amiga enthusiasts.
New firmware released for all adapters today. This makes all joystick, gamepads and controllers compatible with the new C64 mini. It also implements a new hidboot for firmware update. Improved version of the Intellivision controller firmware using raw readings from the keypad was also added, thanks to Joe Zbiciak from jzIntv! All adapters shipped from this date will have this new firmware programmed prior shipping. v3.1 is compatible with v3.0 hardware.
With some hard work, we managed to make our adapter recognized and used by the C64 mini. It mimics a USB gamepad with a borrowed VID/PID. Code to be released but you already can download the firmware for ;
v3.0: Atari_C64_Amiga_C64minimod_v3.0.hex
v2.1: Atari_C64_Amiga_C64minimod_v2.1.hex
We will be at MEGA expo Montreal gaming arcade november 9,10 and 11th 2018 at Marché Bonsecours. Come see us! https://mega-mtl.com/en/
Tested on a Commodore 64 emulator. This is a rev 2.1 but still…
These guys posted very interesting videos about retro gaming video stardards and tricks.
See: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpvtp7mH0Cdq8FQUxcjDq0Q
Using our new RGBS to YPbPr converter, you can display your old gaming console on a new LCD screen. Some caveats might be took in consideration. They explain theses very well!
Our collaborator Joel Edberg made this tutorial video on how to setup the joystick adapter on Amiga OS4.1
Michiel Overeem from Connecting Media in Netherlands did a nice video of Turrican II on a Mac Book Pro using our USB joystick adapter. Reviving memories!
In 2000, I designed a simple Atari numeric joystick to IBM PC analog joystick port adapter. This adapter was simply a voltage switcher that converted joystick movements to 0v, 2.5v, 5v (2.5v is centered stick). Easy you would say, but that was a bet I took with a friend that told me it was impossible to connect an Atari Joystick to a PC. This is where everything started… We are 16 years later and this quest for retro gaming is more present than ever!
As you can see, schematic was pretty simple…
A complete article written by one of our collaborator, Mike Louie.
Using a Raspberry PI, two Retro Joystick adapters running the new Intellivision controller firmware and Retropie, you can revive your childhood memories with a touch of modernity!
Interesting blog post from Christian Cawley
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/touchscreen-controls-useless-retro-gaming-how-to-fix/
We sucessfully tested the adapter on a Windows 7 machine running both Cloanto C64 forever 2013 and Amiga forever 2013. These emulator/launcher softwares detected the adapter right away and used it by default. Totally “no-brainer” installation!!!
Detection is automatic! Nothing to do here!
Cloanto and Retronic Design, a match made in heaven for your Commodore retro gaming needs!
Joonas Pihlajamaa wrote an article about the USB joystick adapter on Code and Life blog.
Kitty from Commodore Is Awesome wrote a nice article about us:
http://awesome.commodore.me/usb-joystick-adapter-for-9-pin-joysticks/
We just finished the first adapter and shipped it at the post office.
Thanks to everyone for your enthousiasm around this new project!
Our new USB adapter for Atari compatible joystick has just arrived from the factory!
We have our first working prototype.
It’s detected properly by Windows 7 without any 3rd party driver. It’s also detected properly by WinUAE. Okay then, it’s time to test it with some “serious” gaming…!
Performance are above expectations. No lag, no bug!
Time to push this baby to production.
Source code has been slightly modified to fit this hardware:
Arcade_Joystick_V1.2.asm
Hope to have a prototype soon!
