Category Archives: Open-Source

CD-i 2 Bluetooth

Maartje Eyskens is an applied computer science teacher in Belgium, she is one of the many other developers from the Philips CD-i Discord server who are enjoying developing new accessories for the Philips CD-i system.

We all know how expensive it is to get an original CD-i gamepad or touchpad, that is why she has developed a CD-i accessory to connect any Bluetooth controller and let you play your favourite titles with.
Her work is based on Anarterb SNES2CDi and TwBurn Controller Library, but with modification to get the Bluetooth working, and she still keep it as an Open-Source on her GiHub.
But she went further… you can pair 2 Bluetooth controllers and play 2 player games! No need to use the same controllers to play Head-to-Head. Any working controller will be OK (the compatible controllers is on this article).

Visit her personal website at www.eyskens.me to discover all the process done since day 1 until the final product.

You can buy them at the official online store. Depending on your skills you can buy different products:

The complete set-box is for me the best choice you can make as it is a ready to go device, including a Mini DIN-8 pin cable!

Compatible controller list:

  • DualSense (PS5)
  • DUALSHOCK 4 (PS4) controller, both 2013 and 2016 editions
  • DUALSHOCK 3 (PS3) controller
  • Nintendo Switch Pro controller Confirmed by community
  • Nintendo Switch JoyCon Confirmed by community
  • Nintendo Switch Online SNES Controller Confirmed by community
  • Nintendo Wii U Pro controller
  • Nintendo Wii Remote and Remote Motion Plus, including Nunchuk and Classic Controller Confirmed by community
  • Xbox Wireless controller (model 1708, not the Series controllers) Confirmed by community
  • 8BitDo controllers Confirmed by community
  • Android controllers
  • iCade controllers
  • Nimbus SteelSeries
  • OUYA controllers
  • Some TV remote controls, like the Amazon Fire TV

From the first attempt until the final product, it just took a few days… incredible!
She worked on it mostly figuring out hardware issues at first, the biggest challenges were to re-work TwBurn library to work on ARM based micro controllers and debugging behaviour of the latest CD-i devices not recognising the controller due to a timing issue.
Only 3 prototypes where needed to get a final full working device, a very efficient work.

With the help of MrMii6 and Victonator, they designed a PCB, produced a prototype batch. Tested in well. Prepared packaging, shipping, assembly, a website a shipping box was made and a website for selling setup.

Congratulations and thank you Maartje Eyskens,you did an awesome work!

A work done by a lady must have a feminine touch, look at the back of the PCB “Made with ♥ in Belgium for the CD-i community”
A HUGE thumb up for the Interactive Community technical experts who contributed to the final product:
cdifan, Rosewood (retrostuff.org) and TwBurn with helpful tips on the community, MrMii6 with testing.


CD-i 450 Optical Drive & Timekeeper Repair

The World of CD-i Chronicle #22

I bought a CD-i 450 player in February (when the World was still “normal”) as 2nd hand.
The player wasn’t reading any discs and the Timekeeper was dead.
Here we are going to solve all those  problems, together!

Read the full article here!


CD-i Quizard MCU boards now available!


Team Europe that have developped the MCU’s board and also responsable for the MCU’s decapping proudly announced on there blog that some boards are ready for you!

You can read the article dedicated to the MCU’s decapping right here!
The price is 45€ and you can count with 15€ for shipping cost in Europe. The payment method is PayPal and if there is still available boards, the shipment is very quick!
For now the board doesn’t includes Quizard 2, but a further release of the MCU is planned. An important fact to remember… All Quizards titles are only in German!
To play the games you will need the CD-i discs of the corresponding MCU placed on the board, original discs aren’t needed as you can easily find ISO’s other the internet.

How to buy?
Comment his blog’s article and ask for one (or more…)

The package will contain:– Interface-board (ready to use)
– 1x Arduino MEGA case.
– 3x MCU’s (for Version 1, 3 and 4 – GERMAN)
– 1x serial cable

Let’s take a closer look ate the board:Click the picture to enlargeIf you have or are able to get an arcade cabinet, with this board, you can connect to external buttons and recreate the sensation of the glory days!

Great work Team Europe!


CD-izi Authoring Tool Open-Source Project

This is maybe the most ambitious Open-Source Project of all time for CD-i… The most important of all…
If we manage to accomplish CD-izi authoring tool project, we will be able to bring new programmers to develop new homebrew CD-i titles!
The objective is to give to any interested developer the opportunity to use it as simplest as possible.

Specifications required:
– Windows 7/8/10 compatible.
– Ready assets (drag & drop).
– Much easier than Balboa libraries.
– No professional CD-i player needed.
– Easy layout and intuitive functions.
– Output directly testable on a CD-i emulator (no disc burning needed).
– Updatable software (no new download required).

To participate on this project, use the Official Forum Section and leave there all your ideas and thoughts. You can also send e-mails for a more private contact.
The page will be updated with all the new contributions that we think CD-izi will need.


CDM Repair & Substituition

Chronicle #32 – CDM Repair & Substituition

More and more people are having issues with there CD-i player, especially with non disc recognition…
I found and helped (with other people trying to help) many of you on Facebook groups, Twitter, e-mail and other social media places.

I tried in this article to help you with the more information as possible and with the different ways of solving it.

Together we will solve your issues, one thing you have to keep in mind, like I always use to say, “NEVER LET A CD-i DIE!“.

Let’s start guys! Let’s take a look at the player’s CDM.

Find all the Hardware Repairs on our Open-Source section!


USB 2 CD-i Controller Library

Our website member TwBurn just smashed our forum with this great news!
He did managed to use a Wii U and a Switch pro controller to play some CD-i games.
This is still very soon to call it victory, but he made it. The first step as been done, and he can be proud of it!
Using an Arduino PCB known to be very versatile and compatible with almost everything, he created an Arduino Library that support 4 different modes.

His work is available on our Open-Source section.

On our forum, he says:

I’ve created an Arduino Library which can be used to emulate a CD-i controller. Currently it supports four different modes (Relative, Maneuvering, Absolute Coordinate and Absolute Screen). I’m hoping to also add Keyboard support once I can find some documentation on the subject.

I’ve been using this library together with a USB Host Shield to connect some modern controllers (in my case a Wii U and Switch Pro controller) to the CD-i with acceptable to good results, depending on the title used. I’ve included these as examples in the library.

The library can be found on: https://github.com/TwBurn/cdi-controller-library

For future updates I hope to include some more examples (like an USB mouse, keyboard), workout some issues, as well as moving my hardware beyond a prototyping phase so I don’t have random wires running over my desk.

Thank you TwBurn!
Your work will help so many people…