

Included:

1.  How to hook them up using an external power source
        A.  parts and aprox cost
        B.  circuit diagram
2.  How to hook them up using power from the PC
        A.  parts and aprox cost
        B.  circuit diagram


Not Included:

1.  Required software information
         maybe a second document when I get that far, unless someone
         else wants to write it up before I start asking a bunch of
         questions again - any volunteers?  :-)   Wouldn't it be nice
         if we clearly documented our work so that newcomers could
         quickly and easily be brought up to speed without having to
         take up a lot of everyone's time and net bandwidth?

Obligatory Disclaimer:

I am not an electronics expert of any kind.  I don't understand most of
what is included in this summary.  This is only a summary of replies I
got to several questions I asked on this particular topic as well as some
information obtained from an article in Byte (July, 1990).  I assume no
responsibility for anything that happens if you attempt to use any of the
information in this post.  I don't care if you distribute, alter, copy,
etc anything in this post.  It would be nice though if you made your
additions, alterations, comments, etc available to the glove mailing list
at glove-list@karazm.math.uh.edu.  Also, the contents of this post do
not reflect any opinions other than my own, especially GE's.


Introduction

There may be many ways to hook a PowerGlove to a PC/clone.  The following
discussion describes two possibilities.  I used the first method and it
seems to work.  A number of others have reported using the second method
which is simpler and apparently works just as well.  There may be errors
in the methods, but I've tried to faithfully reproduce what I've done and
what has been reported by others.

The second method is the easier and cheaper of the two.  However, it
requires you to use another port on your PC (in addition to the printer
port that both methods require) or tapping unused power and ground
lines somewhere in your PC.  That's no big deal if you know what you're
doing and have an extra port or power source to tap.

The first method requires no PC modifications.  It only uses the printer
port.  However, it requires an external 5v power supply.  The discussion
in that method assumes you have a power supply, but that it isn't 5v.

The aproximate prices shown are about what I paid at my local Radio
Shack, execept for the glove and extension cable.  You might be able
to beat these prices by shopping around or rummaging through your
basement.

1.  Hooking them together using an external power supply

    Needed:

        Nintendo PowerGlove
                US$20-50
        power supply (ac/dc, battery pack, etc) that produces in the
        range of 7 - 9 volts at around 300mA
                I bought one with adjustable settings at Radio Shack
                for about $13.  I use the 7.5v setting.  You might be
                able to get by with a 6v source, but the 7805 regulator
                might not produce a steady 5v unless you give it at
                least 7v.  You might be able to get by OK with 9v or
                12v, but you may need a heat sink at higher voltages.
        (2) 0.1 mF capacitors
                less than US$1 for ceramic
        7805 +5vdc voltage regulator
                about US$1.25
        DB25 connector and cover
                about US$3.50
        heat shrink tubing and/or electrical tape
        soldering iron, heat sink, and solder
        wire

    Optional

        extension cable for the PowerGlove
                A package of two Curtis Super Extendo cables costs just
                under US$10.  The only reason to get these is so that
                you can modify an extension cable instead of the one
                attached directly to the glove hardware.  They also give
                you some extra length, if that matters.  I think Nintendo
                makes extension cables, too, but I don't know what they
                cost.
        2 female and 1 male connector
                My power supply had 1/8" (3.5mm) male phone jack connector
                on it.  I mounted a female connector on a small box to
                plug the power supply into.  I also used a pair of the
                connectors at the output side of the box so I could
                disconnect the box easily from the modified glove cable.
                I didn't want to chop up the power supply's cable, so
                the first connector seems like a good idea.  The others
                are completely unnecessary.  I only used this type of
                connector because my power supply came with one.  The
                connectors cost me about US$3.00.
        box to house completed circuit
                Mine cost about US$1.75.


    The circuit:



                                                            box
                                                 +----------------------------+
    +-----------+    male connector, tip - ?v    | female, outside, ground    |
    |  7 - 9v   |    outside - ground            | +-------------+            |
    |  power    |====================||||---     ]]] __          |            |
    |  supply   |                                ||___|-----+    |            |
    +-----------+                                | female,  |    |            |
                                                 | inside,  |    |            |
                                                 | ?v       |    |            |
                                                 |          |    |            |
                                                 |          |    |            |
                                                 |          +-||-+ 0.1 mF     |
                                                 | +------+ |    |            |
                                                 | |   in +-+    |            |
                                                 | |      |      |            |
                                                 | | grnd +------+            |
                                                 | |      |      |            |
                                                 | |  out +-+    |            |
                                                 | +------+ |    |            |
                                                 |   7805   |    |            |
                                                 |          |    |            |
                                                 |          +-||-+ 0.1 mF     |
                                male connector   |          |    |            |
                                tip - 5v,        |          |    | ground     |
                                outside - ground | +--------|----+            |
                        +====+=======||||---     ]]] __     |                 |
                        |    |                   ||___|     | 5v              |
                 ground |    | 5v                |  +-------+                 |
                        |    |                   +----------------------------+
                        |    |
                        |    |
                        |    +---- to glove pin 7 ---+
     DB25 pin 18 -------+--------- to glove pin 1    |
     DB25 pin 2  ----------------- to glove pin 2    |======== to glove box
     DB25 pin 3  ----------------- to glove pin 3    |
     DB25 pin 13 ----------------- to glove pin 4 ---+

    NOTE:  Connect the capacitors within about 1/4" of the 7805 for best
           results

              glove connector pin numbers

                  /--------+
                 /     o 1 |
                | o 7  o 2 |
                | o 6  o 3 |
                | o 5  o 4 |
                +----------+


glove pin number      nintendo wire color    curtis wire color
       1 ground            black                  orange
       2 data clock        orange                 red
       3 latch             yellow                 brown
       4 data out          green                  black
       5 unused
       6 unused
       7 5v                red                    white


DB25 pins
  2 data clock
  3 latch
 13 data in
 18 ground


2.  Hooking them together using power from the PC

    Ignore the circuit that provides the 5v and ground lines above.  Instead,
    get the 5v and ground from either:
         1.  an unused disk drive cable in your PC or
         2.  5v from pin 5 on a keyboard port and ground from pin 4 of the
             same keyboard port
    All the other connections from the glove cable to the DB25 are the same,
    including the ground connection.


    keyboard connector           -----
                               /       \
                           1  | o     o | 3
                            4  \ o o o / 5
                                 -----
                                   2


Hope this helps.  Feel free to add to and/or correct this information.

