T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
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2243.1 | Piece O'Cake | CRISTA::CAPRICCIO | Am I getting enough Oat Bran? | Wed Feb 15 1989 15:22 | 55 |
| >Does anyone out there know the hardware layout of the joystick
>versus the mouse?
The pinout for the joystick/mouse ports are in the back of
the manual that comes with your system (A1000 anyway).
>Could you have a joystick with two fire buttons?
You can have as many as your heart and/or fingers desire.
>By the way this will be my layout;
>
> B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6?
>
> Left Right Reverse Forward Fire Fire
> Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Button Button 2
Using this layout, you could have an arrangement similar to the
following *crude* diagram (better double check those pin assignments):
+-----+-----+-----+----------+
B2 | B1 | B3 | B4 | |
| o | o | o | o |
+| +| +| +| |
| o | o | o | o |
| | | | |
| | | | |
+-----------------------------------+ |
\ o o o o o / |
\ 5 4 3 2 1 / |
Joystick Port --> \ o o o o / |
\ 9 8 7 6 / |
+--------------------------+ |
Pin Function Button | | |
--- -------- ------ | +------+ |
1 Up B4 | B5 | B6 | |
2 Down B3 | | o | o |
3 Left B1 | +| +| |
4 Right B2 | | o | o |
6 Fire B5, B6, ... Bn | | | |
8 Gnd. +-----------+------+------+
|
-----
---
-
As you can see (I hope), all the switches are tied to ground (pin 8)
when closed, so you can put as many as you want in parallel for the
desired function. Just double check your wiring and avoid pin 7 (+5V)
unless you really need it. It's not required for the arrangement you
indicated.
Hope this helps,
Pete
|
2243.2 | This could lead to somewhere. | CAM::ARENDT | Harry Arendt CAM:: | Wed Feb 15 1989 23:26 | 25 |
|
Thanks Pete,
I checked the manual as you recommended and found the needed scematics
on page F-8 of my 2000 manual. What seemed interesting is that
the port seems to support a x/y joystick as well as 5 buttons.
The buttons seem to have predesignated purposes however I think
that this is only a convention. Now it seems to me that the current
round of joysticks available for this machine fall far short of
what is possible for it.
Do you know what the range is for the potentiometers is? 0-100k
would be IBM standard while 0-150k would be apple standard. I
know where to get both because I have designed and built custom
joysticks in the past for an apple I once owned.
Therefor I am going to begin building a variety of prototype
joysticks to serve various types of specialty games. Anyone
insterested should communicate via this note.
See you soon.
Harry.
|
2243.3 | WHAT IS A GOOD STICK | DAIRY::ROY | | Thu Feb 16 1989 07:51 | 7 |
| Seeing we are on the subject of joysticks, can anyone tell me whay
is the best one on the market for the 2000. I like the flying
simulators and would like a stick with good response time, any
suggestions? At the present time I am using a couple of sticks I
had left over from my Atari days.
Thanks, Bob
|
2243.4 | | MEIS::ZIMMERMAN | Ninja turtles fight with honor! | Thu Feb 16 1989 11:18 | 19 |
|
re .0
A while ago I had contemplated converting a cheapie telephone into a
pushbutton joystick. While I was puzzling over how to decode the
phone's button matrix, I came across a set of surplus Coleco
joysticks at Radio Shack that was perfect for this purpose.
A Coleco joystick has an 8-position control knob and two fire buttons
on top, and a 3x4 telephone-format touchpad below. The pad comes out
as 12 switchpoints and a common which all goes into a diode network.
It's pretty easy to modify.
The knob action is fairly stiff - I prefer a handle to a knob anyway
- and real switches with some travel would probably feel better than
the touchpad, but the sticks only cost about $9 a pair.
- Cliff
|
2243.5 | Venerable Vectrex | AYOV28::ATHOMSON | C'mon, git aff! /The Kelty Clippie | Thu Feb 16 1989 11:35 | 6 |
| I've often cast a greedy eye on the control panel that belongs to
my venerable Vectrex (remember them ?) machine - an analogue joystick
and 3 (4?) buttons. Pity is, one of my daughters loves the thing
and still passes many happy hours playing Minestorm.
Alan T.
|
2243.6 | Don't forget the diagonals. | SUBSYS::BUSCH | Dave Busch, NKS1-2/H6 | Fri Feb 17 1989 17:39 | 9 |
| While you're at it, why not add some switches for the diagonals as well (forgive
me if someone already suggested that). Some games require you to make diagonal
moves and it's next to impossible to get both the "up" and "right" switch to
close simultaneously. It could be done with active gates or by adding diodes to
the extra switches to prevent "cross-talk" between the normal functions. I'll
post a diagram later, when I get a chance.
Dave
|
2243.7 | Custom box is done ! | CAM::ARENDT | Harry Arendt CAM:: | Tue Feb 21 1989 14:41 | 27 |
|
Howdy y'all,
Well I created my own control box using low profile switches and a
custom box. This is my layout;
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5
Left Right Reverse Forward Fire
Joystick Joystick Joystick Joystick Button
This layout proved best for running games which required rotational
motion and rapid fire. You will notice that the reverse key would be
difficult to operate, and it is, however most of the time I will simply
rotate and thrust to stop.
I have tried this out with the following games and have liked it with
each one of them.
Space Killers
Space Invaders
Fire Power
Regards Harry
|