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Atari Digital Joystick Interface for PC


Divya16

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Or is there a cheap digital joystick interface available for game port?

 

Depending on what you consider "cheap", there's the Stelladaptor, which is USB and very plug & play. It supports Atari 8-bit/2600 joysticks and paddles on any modern PC (Linux, Windows, Mac) with no special software or drivers. I've got one and I love it... but I paid $50 for mine (not really "cheap" but IMO worth it; back then I had more money than free time).

 

I bought my Stelladaptor right here from this very web site :)

 

Check the "Store" link at the top right of this page to see if there are any left in stock.

 

The parallel port option is cheaper (assuming you've got a source for the parts; you could always cut up an old printer cable), and only supports joysticks (not paddles), and needs OS drivers and/or special support in software (but most of them do work with the more popular Atari-related emulators, in most OSes)... but I've seen plans for hooking up 8 joysticks to one parallel port (the Stelladaptors only support one stick each, or one pair of paddles).

 

Edit: I just noticed you said "game port", not USB... so far as I know there's no standard way to connect an Atari stick to a PC game port, though you could probably do it by hacking up an old Gravis or a cheap knockoff (wire the Atari directions to the D-pad and the button to one of the Gravis buttons). You'd need the actual guts of the Gravis, not just the cord, since the Gravis has digital inputs and pretends to be an analog device as far as the PC is concerned. There probably isn't room to squeeze an Atari-style D-sub connector into the Gravis case, but maybe... or maybe cut the male end off a 9-pin extension cable and drill a little hole in the Gravis case, you'd end up with a still-functional Gravis with a an Atari-compatible "tail" sticking out of it.

 

Another (kind of bad) idea would be to get the Stelladaptor, then go to Radio Shack and get a "Universal USB to Gameport Adaptor", if you can still find one. Unfortunately the adaptors sell for close to $20... and I won't guarantee it'll work (I bought one, found it worked only in 2-button mode for the controller I really wanted to use it with, and put it on a shelf somewhere... of course 2-button mode would have been fine for Atari controllers).

 

Sorry, I've gone into rambling mode, somehow I think this reply could have been much shorter...

Edited by Urchlay
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I made the parallel version with a couple of the old style RS232 and DB25 plugs that you used to mount in the PCI brackets.

 

That setup works well since they come with the molded plug which slips over the plugs to hide your soldering.

 

I think I've seen a circuit which uses the gameport - involves using resistors to "emulate" an analog 2-axis stick.

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I made the parallel version with a couple of the old style RS232 and DB25 plugs that you used to mount in the PCI brackets.

 

That setup works well since they come with the molded plug which slips over the plugs to hide your soldering.

 

I think I've seen a circuit which uses the gameport - involves using resistors to "emulate" an analog 2-axis stick.

 

It probably would be better to use the 4 digital pins on the gameport for the directions but then the button would be analog! Anyway to lower the resistance so the button can be read in real fast at port 201h using the analog mechanism? Otherwise, parallel may be the better option since there are more digital pins.

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Where's a good place to find a cheap gender-bender for DB9 joystick connector?

 

I'm trying to attach digital joystick to PC via parallel port:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320224774557

 

Or is there a cheap digital joystick interface available for game port?

2 or 3 years ago I built LPT Joystick/ATAJoy [<-- link corrected] and used it with Windows 98SE and the PPJoy driver with Atari800Win Plus (and MAME). Later I used it with Atari800, compiled for DOS, on an old subnotebook. Now I'm using it on a Linux box with Atari800 (SDL). Really makes all the difference for me when using an emulator, though I've slowly returned to real hardware.

 

Now If only I could get it to work with SDLMAME...

 

- Steve Sheppard

Edited by a8isa1
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Yet another idea:

 

Last year I butchered a cheap USB gamepad, used a multimeter and checked which buttons were connected to ground and simply soldered a few wires to a DB9 connector. A lot (not all) buttons connected input to ground (just like the good old atari joysticks), so all that was left was to configure the software on my linux box. After this mod I reassembled the gamepad and cut a small hole in the case for the cable to the DB9 connector and it still is completely usable.

 

Depending on the gamepad you might even be lucky and connect a paddle to the analog joysticks. Since I don't have any paddles I couldn't try this.

 

BTW: I used a cheap Logitech gamepad (sorry, can't remember the name) for this experiment.

 

so long,

 

Hias

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Yet another idea:

 

Last year I butchered a cheap USB gamepad, used a multimeter and checked which buttons were connected to ground and simply soldered a few wires to a DB9 connector. A lot (not all) buttons connected input to ground (just like the good old atari joysticks), so all that was left was to configure the software on my linux box. After this mod I reassembled the gamepad and cut a small hole in the case for the cable to the DB9 connector and it still is completely usable.

 

Depending on the gamepad you might even be lucky and connect a paddle to the analog joysticks. Since I don't have any paddles I couldn't try this.

 

BTW: I used a cheap Logitech gamepad (sorry, can't remember the name) for this experiment.

 

so long,

 

Hias

Umm, has anyone tried the opposite, hack a good old Atari type joystick onto the interface of a USB gamepad?

 

[Edit]

Disregard.

 

I misread Hias' message. I thought he had adapted the gamepad for use on an Atari.

 

Sorry, Hias!

 

- Steve Sheppard

Edited by a8isa1
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Where's a good place to find a cheap gender-bender for DB9 joystick connector?

 

I'm trying to attach digital joystick to PC via parallel port:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320224774557

 

Or is there a cheap digital joystick interface available for game port?

 

Here's a cheap gender-changer (but it's not in USA):

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=300205846858

 

You can hook the gender-changer directly to the simulation cable here if you don't want to build your own cable:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320226995941

 

You can also build a digital joystick interface to the Game port and use the In AL,201h instruction to read the upper 4-bits as the directions (if you wired it that way). You can use the SSS (Simple Simulator Script) language available with MPDOS Pro to pass the input from the game port through the parallel port to the Atari and thus use the joystick on both machines without having to rewire or disconnect/reconnect wires/connectors.

 

You would have to read the button on the Game port via an analog mechanism but it should be faster than reading the joystick as you only need on/off status not three states (center, left/right or up/down). Atari does the sampling of the analog pin in hardware so it does not waste time reading the joystick and the same reading of the pots also gives you scanline information if needed.

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Where's a good place to find a cheap gender-bender for DB9 joystick connector?

 

I'm trying to attach digital joystick to PC via parallel port:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=320224774557

 

Or is there a cheap digital joystick interface available for game port?

 

Nothing "out of the box", at least. However, it's easy to make one yourself with a couple of parts (worth a few cent) and a soldering iron. The atari++ documentation should contain the schematics for an interface that plugs into the game port, and is supported by the emulator. The parallel port then remains available for the printer (which was the main reason for me to do it).

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