[CraigX] has been dabbling in iPhone accessories lately by adding a gamepad. Called the iControlpad it surrounds the iPhone making it look very PSP like. As anyone who has jailbroken and installed emulators probably knows, without feedback the touch screen based buttons are less than great.
The unit is currently a prototype however there are plans to produce and sell the units. They have received support from Zodttd, an organization that has created iPhone apps like snes4iphone and genesis4iphone. The developers also state they’ll provide source and SDK support. The sparse development blog announces their success using a hacked up SNES controller over the docks serial connector, but they provide absolutely no details.
[via Engadget]
YES! If this thing’s able to be produced at a decent price, I’d totally buy one. On-screen keys or accelerator-based controls simply don’t work.
urm.. not to be a hater but the documentation here is so sparse. Its also very clear that there is intent to manufacture and sell. so for hack-a-day it just doesnt fit the bill. big deal: someone is making a controller for the the Iphone to market off to manufactures. let the iphone community get excited about it, and when it hits market, let them buy it. but in the meantime, all this is doing is pot stirring.. look at all the comments on the two sites “Ohhh, I cant wait to buy one!” “wow it will be so worth it, no matter the price!” (not direct quotes) its all just product endorsement.
I always thought “no schematics, no source, or no pictures of the hardware, no hackaday.”
One shot of a circuit board that could be anything doesnt count. Two shot of a case doesn’t count. For all we know, thats a cardboard and shirt buttons mockup.
let me correct: one shot of the case, on shot of the circuit board to a Snes controler. Both at very low resolutions, such that zooming in for details is pointless. um, my *grandmother* has the technical capability to disassemble a snes controller and take a photo, and call it news. And she is a bit senile. Its a lot like taking apart an atari2600 and claiming hacker status for it.
“I bet you never seen that before! Im a hacker!”
“umm, yes, I have. and no, you are not.”
this certainly may be news for the iphone community, but I wonder…
Another troublesome point: it is clear that this project is based entirely off a snes control and a snes to serial interface. and yet, the people involved intend to manufacture and sell. now, im pretty certain there are some legal quandries there. selling a product in which the circuitry involved is a direct copy of another company’s work is illegal.
this is how the hack community works: “I will tell you (and show you) how you can make a snes controller connect to an iphone, but I *cant* sell this information or product to you. I cant profit from someone elses hard work. this product and its design is owned by another company. I did not design this circuit. I only repackaged and repurposed it.”
anything else is both law breaking and reflecting poorly on fellow hackers.
Yeah right, I remember a hacker making the original Passkey for the DS. How many companies took that information/schematics/etc, built a nice plastic box around it and then sold it commercially? Loads.
Same thing is happening here. “We’ll take this and this, combine together, add nice plastic box, and sell.”.
People will buy simply because they don’t want to buy the parts themselves.
zodttd is a person not an organisation :P.
It may be a very stupid thing for me to say, but I want a serial keyboard.
Well PS/2 is preferable, but serial is more simple.
Like the pocket pc, there are times when a keyboard is very useful.
would be nice if it also acts as A back up battery