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Compatibility

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:05 am
by Galophanes
Hi there everybody :)

I´m from Spain and I´ve bought a CD-i 210 recently with a remote controller like this

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/har ... ller_1.jpg

but the console doesn´t respond to the commands. I know this remote controller isn´t the original for this CD-i model, so I bought a touchpad (first controller released) to UK, and I find that this doesn´t work too (I´ve used both ports 1 and 2).

I´d like to know if someone knows where the problem can be. I suppose that remote controllers only work with their specific CD-i models but... what about the touchpad?? I thought all touchpads are compatibles with all CD-i models...

I can´t find any information about this, so please someone help me!

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 10:47 am
by Lios
Likely a faulty cord on the touchpad and an incompatible remote. I bought a cd-i touch pad that was completely unresponsive, took a multimeter and checked the continuity from the end to the board in the controller, sure enough there were several internal breaks in the wires down the cord. Replaced with a cord I jacked from a ps/2 mouse and bent 1 pin so that it would fit the 8 pin mini din port on the cd-i. The controller did not look abused in any way, so I'd wager that other controllers have the same problem, likely from tightly binding the cord with a rubber band (you should never do that with cords anyways) and letting it sit in storage for years.

The cord actually detaches from the inside of the controller, and if you find a good replacement cord, you might not even have to solder anything, just plug and play.

If you can get the ir code for your player's model, you could also try a universal remote, or device that takes ir codes and provides remote control functionalities. Good luck with that though. Cd-i info is damn near impossible to find. It's all about the whole snes cd debacle and crappy licensed Nintendo games. Aside from that, about 3 websites catalog cd-i info, and it's still pretty sparse, I'm not sure if any of them have updated in a long while either.

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:04 pm
by cdifan
All wired pointing devices work with all consumer players (there are some issues with development players).

There are two variants of wireless: the "thumbstick" and the "commander". The first one works with older players, the second one with newer, though I don't know the exact cutoff point offhand. The reason is simply that the IR codes are different, the first one uses RC5, the other one RC6.

There are still a few good CD-i info sites around, but the most authoritative one is ICDIA: http://www.icdia.co.uk. Pointing device info is found here

Good luck with your controller!

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:24 pm
by Devin
cdifan wrote:All wired pointing devices work with all consumer players (there are some issues with development players).
Not in all cases. I'm aware of issues with the Touchpad controller and revisions of CD-i players outside the 2XX series.

Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:58 pm
by Lios
Any idea why? The touchpad is pretty much a single data line selector/mux ic of some sort, like most console controllers, and wires. AFAIK there isn't any crazy signal that should cause any problems. Is it possible that not all controllers ports on cd-i players follow a specified pinout? IIRC the cd-i spec from phillips does not define the exact pinout needed for pointing devices, though it does make a suggestion, of which the majority of players seem to use.

If I had one of the problem models, I wouldn't mind poking around the insides to see how the port is connected. It could shed some light on why touchpad controllers don't work. I'll bet it's a pin left floating on problems models or something similar.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:44 am
by Galophanes
Hi guys, many thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Hope I can find a solution with all your ideas.

Regards!