VCS Classic HID

A specialized library for access to the Atari VCS Classic Controller.

Check out a showcase video of the library in action here.

This crate uses the hidapi for finding connected VCS classic joysticks and opening HID access to them. With this crate, an assortment of facilities are provided for reading the current state of the device and, more importantly, send force feedback and LED manipulation messages.

The library can be found in the vcs-classic-hid directory. The remaining directories are examples and other utilities.

More

The simulator is a crate that enables developers to create a simulated façade over the classic controller. Programs can choose to interface with the generic Device trait and programmatically operate on the simulated device's state, so as to test and develop for the classic controller without the actual hardware.

Examples

You will also find examples of use in the following folders:

• simon: the classic game of Simon Says!
• cat-mouse: a game of cat and mouse; catch the cheese while avoiding the cat!
• audio-monitor: show audio feedback on the joystick's LEDs!

To run an example program:

cargo run --release --bin vcs-classic-hid-cat-mouse
cargo run --release --bin vcs-classic-hid-simon
cargo run --release --bin vcs-classic-hid-audio-monitor

License and Warning Note

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0, (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.

This work is not affiliated with Atari.

As the software and firmware of the Atari VCS system is practically still in beta, it is unclear whether there are, or will be, any side effects from the prolonged use of operations to the classic controller, be it via this library or others. Although vcs-classic-hid was developed with the best effort from the original author to make it safe to use, it is unfeasible to make a complete assurance that it is and will always be, completely safe for the device, regardless of which capabilities from the library are used.

vcs-classic-hid is to be used at the user's own risk. As defined by the aforementioned license, authors and contributors to vcs-classic-hid and/or associated programs cannot be held liable for any damage which may occur from the use of this software.