# Speedstack timer to USB



## DanielH (Jan 8, 2009)

Finely have we have made a cable to connect a stackmat timer to a computers USB-port. It works really well even if our software at the moment just works as as "ugly" display. 
A short demo: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1703705703868352878 (Sorry for the quality, it was hard to hold the camera/cellphone while starting/stopping the timer.)


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## JohnnyA (Jan 8, 2009)

Oh no. Just after I spend £10 to make a Stackmat->Microphone lead -__
But this is good! More people will have access to this technology now


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## jcuber (Jan 8, 2009)

You made the cable? Cool! Is the port hacked or is it one that came with it, because I know someone is working on hacking one onto a non-port version.


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## DanielH (Jan 8, 2009)

jcuber said:


> You made the cable? Cool! Is the port hacked or is it one that came with it, because I know someone is working on hacking one onto a non-port version.


Actuality a friend of my did the soldering that was required. I have made the software thats read the output of the timer. 
The timer is one that has the data port.


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## JohnnyA (Jan 8, 2009)

jcuber said:


> You made the cable? Cool! Is the port hacked or is it one that came with it, because I know someone is working on hacking one onto a non-port version.



The cable was pretty easy to make, it just plugs into the stackmat right out of the box. It needs 2.5mm->3mm stereo link to work with CCT if I remember right. I don't actully use it often, only when I take an average, if I'm just randomly solving I use JNET because I can move around the stackmat and CCT uses too much cpu 

EDIT: IDK if you were posting to me or not, but meh


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## Pedro (Jan 8, 2009)

CCT (and the speedstacks display) needs a mono cable, actually...

but great work with the USB  seems cool


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## JohnnyA (Jan 8, 2009)

Pedro said:


> CCT (and the speedstacks display) needs a mono cable, actually...
> 
> but great work with the USB  seems cool



It needs stereo. http://gnehzr.net/cct/readme.html control+f computer


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## Pedro (Jan 8, 2009)

well, try it with a stereo cable then and tell me what you get...


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## blade740 (Jan 8, 2009)

There exists a premade cable that's used to connect some graphing calculators to PC via USB. Will it work with your software as well?


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## DanielH (Jan 9, 2009)

blade740 said:


> There exists a premade cable that's used to connect some graphing calculators to PC via USB. Will it work with your software as well?



Do you have a link or any info of to that cable?


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## jfly (Jan 9, 2009)

Pedro said:


> CCT (and the speedstacks display) needs a mono cable, actually...



I use a stereo cable, it works fine for me .

But this usb setup looks awesome! So many people have had problems with getting their stackmat working w/ CCT, and I would imagine that a usb interface would fix all those problems.
Any plans to make instructions for those who want to build such a cable, or write software that interfaces with it ?

Oh, the cable blade740 mentioned was this: http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_connectivitycable_silverusb.html. The TI Silver USB Cable. I wanted to use this cable to connect to CCT ages ago, see here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/speedsolvingrubikscube/message/36561


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## JLarsen (Jan 9, 2009)

Yeah I've had the ol stereo cable for about a month now. Everything works, except the timer lags behind the one on the computer by about .30 or so. The right time is sent in the end, so you know. I've tried messing with it but I've seen the same thing with others setups, so I'm not too concerned.


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## Pedro (Jan 9, 2009)

well, with a stereo cable I have to "half-plug" it, either at the stackmat or the computer jack
otherwise it won't work

works perfectly with a mono cable, since the stackmat sends a mono signal (just check the cable with comes with the speedstacks display)

oh, and Jeremy, you should know better than me that it's a mono signal


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## DanielH (Jan 9, 2009)

j-fly said:


> Pedro said:
> 
> 
> > CCT (and the speedstacks display) needs a mono cable, actually...
> ...



We don't really know how we will do. We have a working prototype of the cable and the software is no problem. The data from the cable is so easy to debug so I don't think we even have to write instructions on how to write programs for it. What we do with the cable depends on how big the interest of it is. The soldering for the cable was not very funny. Some swearing was made and we ended up with two cables that sometimes glitch (the person who did it has soldering as a part of his profession today). There are some alternative on how to make the cable and selecting hardware we are thinking of and we will see what it will be in the end. 

I have spent some time reading about the TI Silver USB Cable and it looks like it is using a different chip then our cable. It's maybe not impossible to use the Silver cable but I am not going to start trying it out and write drivers for it. I leave that for someone else.


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## leandrobaltazar (May 1, 2009)

hello,

i've got a stackmat timer. at home i have a cable such as this:






the ends are the same but its a cable.
i can connect my stackmat timer to my pc and the pc finds the hardware, too.
but i cant use the timer with any timer software.
i tried CCT and JNetCube timer. nothing works with it.

can anyone help me out.


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## TomZ (May 1, 2009)

Did you notice you woke up an awfully old topic? This is generally considered as a bad thing to do.

The stackmat uses a serial communication protocol however it uses a 2.5m jack as output connector. CCT timer cheats by treating the signal as sound.

There's two possibilities for your connector cable:
- It is an adapter for a microphone or speaker to USB. In this case, CCT is what you need.
- It is an adapter for serial to USB. In this case, I can help you out.
- It is neither of these and you're screwed.

I happened to own a 2.5mm jack to serial converter but there wasn't any software around. So I wrote my own. It is not as featured as most timers. The only thing it does is connect to your stackmat, display your (running) time (full screen or regular screen) and record averages. It does not record single times. It is not completely bug free.

If the latter is the case my program will be able to recognize the timer once it is plugged in and turned on. Simply download the exe, run it and select file->recognize timer.

If it does not find the timer, then you will most likely need to use CCT and if that doesn't work the cable isn't any good.

The download is here: http://www.zandenonline.nl/stackmat.exe

Please note that while some virus scanners report the file as being infected or suspicious, I can guarantee that is not the case. The reason it is reported as suspicious is that I programmed it in a not so common language that is also widely used by wannabe hackers.


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## leandrobaltazar (May 1, 2009)

ok. i tried everything and nothing works. i need to buy the 2,5mm to 3,5mm cable.
is there something special about the cable?


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## d4m4s74 (May 1, 2009)

leandrobaltazar said:


> ok. i tried everything and nothing works. i need to buy the 2,5mm to 3,5mm cable.
> is there something special about the cable?


you might have to pull the plug out halfway one one side


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## TomZ (May 1, 2009)

What is it actually recognizing the USB device as?


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## panyan (May 1, 2009)

leandrobaltazar said:


> hello,
> 
> i've got a stackmat timer. at home i have a cable such as this:
> 
> ...



that is just an ipod shuffle charging usb, like the ones here:
http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.202~search.ipod shuffle


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## leandrobaltazar (May 1, 2009)

> What is it actually recognizing the USB device as?



the stackmat is recognized as a USB-HID (Human Interface Device).



> that is just an ipod shuffle charging usb, like the ones here:
> http://www.dealextreme.com/products....ipod shuffle



mine has two black stribes. the ipod cables have three stribes.


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## panyan (May 1, 2009)

leandrobaltazar said:


> > that is just an ipod shuffle charging usb, like the ones here:
> > http://www.dealextreme.com/products....ipod shuffle
> 
> 
> ...



i dont think that matters, i think they will both work, remember, an ipod shuffle also has power to transfer, not just data so that ma be the reason


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## TomZ (May 1, 2009)

leandrobaltazar said:


> > What is it actually recognizing the USB device as?
> 
> 
> 
> the stackmat is recognized as a USB-HID (Human Interface Device).



It is in fact not recognizing the stackmat. That is impossible.

Why do you have this cable? What is its intended use?


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## brunson (May 1, 2009)

It's probably recognizing the chip in the connector.


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## leandrobaltazar (May 16, 2009)

i decided to buy an audio cable.
but i dont know if there is a difference between two and three black stribes.
i want to buy this one. will it work?


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## d4m4s74 (May 16, 2009)

buy one with either one or two stripes


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## ChristianB (Sep 30, 2014)

What is the data port to USB cord called so I can buy it?


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