An Atari joystick this Christmas?

[Shawn]

Heck yeah I'd buy one! What's the MSRP going to be? I'm gonna take a stab and say $19.99?

 

Nope... a lot less.

 

Curt

 

Sorry Curt, but I want to pay $19.99 and not a penny less.

 

I'm thinking $4.99 to $8.99 tops is what I'd pay for one of these. I assume it's gonna come with the cord also.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Shawn Sr.

[nathanallan]

Cord included, Curt said it.

The choice was made to do a "B" USB connector instead of hardwiring the USB cable in so that longer cables could be used (includes a 6' cord) and yes, if you wanted you could hardwire an Atari 9 pin cable into it if you wanted and make it a dual use joystick too.

 

Curt

Edited September 15, 2008 by nathanallan

[Curt Vendel]

Cord included, Curt said it.

The choice was made to do a "B" USB connector instead of hardwiring the USB cable in so that longer cables could be used (includes a 6' cord) and yes, if you wanted you could hardwire an Atari 9 pin cable into it if you wanted and make it a dual use joystick too.

 

Curt

 

Yup, USb cable is included...

 

 

Oh! Something I didn't mention in the list of features... I noticed a lot, well almost everyone was saying they'd buy two of them... well, just so you know that I've tested up to 4 of the joysticks plugged into a PC and they were all recognized and made available to the games that could map them... I played a round of Robotron last night, I had to make a holder to keep both joysticks in place, but the bottom line - I could play Robotron with both sticks - one for movement, one for fire - the best way... actually the ONLY way such a game should be played! :-)

 

 

 

Curt

[mimo]

Cord included, Curt said it.

The choice was made to do a "B" USB connector instead of hardwiring the USB cable in so that longer cables could be used (includes a 6' cord) and yes, if you wanted you could hardwire an Atari 9 pin cable into it if you wanted and make it a dual use joystick too.

 

Curt

 

Yup, USb cable is included...

 

 

Oh! Something I didn't mention in the list of features... I noticed a lot, well almost everyone was saying they'd buy two of them... well, just so you know that I've tested up to 4 of the joysticks plugged into a PC and they were all recognized and made available to the games that could map them... I played a round of Robotron last night, I had to make a holder to keep both joysticks in place, but the bottom line - I could play Robotron with both sticks - one for movement, one for fire - the best way... actually the ONLY way such a game should be played! :-)

 

 

 

Curt

Cool, glad I have still got my original twin holder from Robotron for the 8bit

 

Think I need to order at least 6 then

[crunchysuperman]

Paddles in the works?

[Fletch]

These will be awesome for my current Sensible Soccer obsession. I just don't seem to do well when played with a gamepad. With a joystick I can at least score once in a while.

 

Fletch

[+Random Terrain]

Paddles in the works?

If I we could get real USB Atari-like paddles that I could play Atari 2600 paddle games using Stella, I'd be ready to buy in a second. That's one thing I wished I had for years. I hate playing paddle games with a mouse, so I rarely play them.

[mos6507]

Paddles in the works?

If I we could get real USB Atari-like paddles that I could play Atari 2600 paddle games using Stella, I'd be ready to buy in a second. That's one thing I wished I had for years. I hate playing paddle games with a mouse, so I rarely play them.

 

Is it even possible to play 4-player Warlords with 4 mice on Stella? It looks like it only supports one mouse at a time.

[+stephena]

Paddles in the works?

If I we could get real USB Atari-like paddles that I could play Atari 2600 paddle games using Stella, I'd be ready to buy in a second. That's one thing I wished I had for years. I hate playing paddle games with a mouse, so I rarely play them.

 

Is it even possible to play 4-player Warlords with 4 mice on Stella? It looks like it only supports one mouse at a time.

SDL (the underlying graphics library) only supports one mouse, so that's all Stella will see. Adding support for more than one mouse would require platform-specific code for Linux, OSX, Win32, etc. Up to this point, demand has been nonexistent, and since the next version of SDL is slated to add this natively, I'm putting it off for now.

 

EDIT: Note that Stella *would* support multiple USB paddles (if they're ever available), since those would be just another type of joystick (Stella supports up to 8 different joystick devices at the same time).

Edited September 19, 2008 by stephena

[+poobah]

Paddles in the works?

If I we could get real USB Atari-like paddles that I could play Atari 2600 paddle games using Stella, I'd be ready to buy in a second. That's one thing I wished I had for years. I hate playing paddle games with a mouse, so I rarely play them.

 

Is it even possible to play 4-player Warlords with 4 mice on Stella? It looks like it only supports one mouse at a time.

SDL (the underlying graphics library) only supports one mouse, so that's all Stella will see. Adding support for more than one mouse would require platform-specific code for Linux, OSX, Win32, etc. Up to this point, demand has been nonexistent, and since the next version of SDL is slated to add this natively, I'm putting it off for now.

 

EDIT: Note that Stella *would* support multiple USB paddles (if they're ever available), since those would be just another type of joystick (Stella supports up to 8 different joystick devices at the same time).

 

Shouldn't be horrible to do, hang the paddles off the ADCs on a microcontroller, grab the ADC value, perhaps do some smoothing, and then send that as an analog axis in a HID descriptor. Probably need to have some support for it in the emulator. I've got a cx-40 to usb circuit done using an AtMega8, I'll try the wiring up the paddles and see what I can get.

[nathanallan]

I read that the 2600 can get its data from one of the joystick ports, and having the paddles have a few embedded games in them would be a great easter egg.

 

Nathan

[Retro Rogue]

I read that the 2600 can get its data from one of the joystick ports, and having the paddles have a few embedded games in them would be a great easter egg.

 

Nathan

 

 

I'm pretty sure that's with a cartridge in the port containing code that has the 2600 read from the joystick port. It doesn't do it natively on its own.

[BigO]

Shouldn't be horrible to do, hang the paddles off the ADCs on a microcontroller, grab the ADC value, perhaps do some smoothing, and then send that as an analog axis in a HID descriptor. Probably need to have some support for it in the emulator. I've got a cx-40 to usb circuit done using an AtMega8, I'll try the wiring up the paddles and see what I can get.

One issue that has come up in several discussions about paddles (methods to permanently eliminate jitter) is the way they're wired. They are wired as a variable resistor rather than using both end terminals and the center tap to effect a voltage divider. All three terminals aren't available at the plug.

 

The challenge is that in order to read a voltage using the ADC directly (without the capacitor charging scheme found in the original Atari console or some other trick I'm not bright enough to figure out), you end up creating a voltage divider where only one of the resistances is variable.

 

The voltage divider in that configuration produces a non-linear voltage with respect to the resistance provided by the pot. If the ADC is of sufficient resolution and you build a map to convert the non-linear voltage to a linear physical pot position, then it would probably work.

 

I haven't dug deep enough to say how high the resolution would need to be in order to accurately determine the rotational position of the pot so it may yet be feasible to do with unmodified paddle controllers.

 

I guess if you have enough processor cycles available, there's no reason you couldn't follow the capacitor charging model. Though it wouldn't be a constant conversion rate, you could measure the time it takes the cap to charge to a certain level and report the corresponding paddle position. Of course, this wouldn't require the ADC if you did it like the original.

 

I had a thought just now on using the ADC with a cap charging scheme and still have a consistent conversion time. (I haven't done any of the math so this is pure brainstorming speculation.) Based on the concept that there is, in the charge curve, a sorta linear-ish portion. Would it be possible to use the ADC to measure the voltage a given time interval after the charging starts and use the resultant voltage to map to the physical pot position?

[jamesk]

I'd love to get a couple of these joysticks. Very cool!

[+poobah]

Shouldn't be horrible to do, hang the paddles off the ADCs on a microcontroller, grab the ADC value, perhaps do some smoothing, and then send that as an analog axis in a HID descriptor. Probably need to have some support for it in the emulator. I've got a cx-40 to usb circuit done using an AtMega8, I'll try the wiring up the paddles and see what I can get.

One issue that has come up in several discussions about paddles (methods to permanently eliminate jitter) is the way they're wired. They are wired as a variable resistor rather than using both end terminals and the center tap to effect a voltage divider. All three terminals aren't available at the plug.

 

The challenge is that in order to read a voltage using the ADC directly (without the capacitor charging scheme found in the original Atari console or some other trick I'm not bright enough to figure out), you end up creating a voltage divider where only one of the resistances is variable.

 

The voltage divider in that configuration produces a non-linear voltage with respect to the resistance provided by the pot. If the ADC is of sufficient resolution and you build a map to convert the non-linear voltage to a linear physical pot position, then it would probably work.

 

I haven't dug deep enough to say how high the resolution would need to be in order to accurately determine the rotational position of the pot so it may yet be feasible to do with unmodified paddle controllers.

 

I guess if you have enough processor cycles available, there's no reason you couldn't follow the capacitor charging model. Though it wouldn't be a constant conversion rate, you could measure the time it takes the cap to charge to a certain level and report the corresponding paddle position. Of course, this wouldn't require the ADC if you did it like the original.

 

I had a thought just now on using the ADC with a cap charging scheme and still have a consistent conversion time. (I haven't done any of the math so this is pure brainstorming speculation.) Based on the concept that there is, in the charge curve, a sorta linear-ish portion. Would it be possible to use the ADC to measure the voltage a given time interval after the charging starts and use the resultant voltage to map to the physical pot position?

 

the non-linear bit shouldn't be an issue with the the mega8, plenty of room left to do a mapping, and I want to do some smoothing anyway, that should help with the jitter issue. I haven't hashed it all out yet, but I don't think its a terribly difficult problem. I think we can easily adapt to variations from one paddle to the next. I'll have to add the bits to my proto board and grind out some test code and see what we see.

[Trebor]

That looks pretty sweet. How's the feel on it?

 

Mitch

 

Has the exact same feel and tension response as the Flashback 2 joysticks.

 

 

Curt

 

Curt,

I would definitely take at least two as long as they are reasonably priced.

 

However, a concern I have for this product that may bother some people is the way the Flashback 2 joysticks are designed; specifically, the screwing of the handle into the base. At times with intense game play, the handle can become slightly unscrewed. While not a huge issue for me, and it has almost become instinctual for me to check and tighten the stick to the right every now and then with a break in the game play action; some users may find this to be a bother or cumbersome. I have read some have used glue to keep the handle in place. I'm reluctant to do that and I actually like the idea of being able to unscrew the handle for portability options. I just wish that once the handle would screw into place it would “lock in” more secure without unintentionally becoming unscrewed.

 

The above aside, I love the joystick feel and response is fantastic. I have two Flashback 2 controllers plugged to my PC connected via a RetroUSB connector (I would have purchased Stella adapters as they work just as good but were not available at the time). It definitely makes a difference as oppose to using a gamepad and even more so a keyboard.

 

-Trebor

Edited September 21, 2008 by Trebor

[unhuman]

call me the spoiler, but I'm way more interested in the Flashback 3 than this....

 

I build my own joysticks out of arcade components...

 

-H

[SRGilbert]

call me the spoiler, but I'm way more interested in the Flashback 3 than this....

 

I build my own joysticks out of arcade components...

 

-H

 

Understood, however, this could very handy for someone who does just that. Where else can you buy a usb ready control board for this cheap?

[TrekMD]

I would be interested in getting a couple of these as well.

[+orpheuswaking]

Ummm... Less than $19.99 each? HELL YES I'll take two...

 

I was thinking about getting a steladaptor, but if these work on my PC and work with Atari 800 winplus, and I can get two for a fraction of the price :0

 

Question, will these work with USB 1.0??? My emulator PC doesn't have USB 2.0...

[pepax]

So, is this just an Atari standard joystick modified for PC use.....Now, if you could do this for a compy pro...that would be lovely...I guess this is going to be cheaper and better then having a stella adapter or equiv

You mean Competition Pro (Retro)?

[mckafka99]

Count me in for a pair!

[KrazyKaiju]

Are there plans to offer these in retail stores like the Flashback, or will they only be available through atari.com?

 

At any rate, I would like two please.

[Murph74]

Are there plans to offer these in retail stores like the Flashback, or will they only be available through atari.com?

 

At any rate, I would like two please.

 

 

Sign me up, too! I may even try to map those extra buttons to a keypad of some sort to use them in Meka for Colecovsion.

[+SpiceWare]

Question, will these work with USB 1.0??? My emulator PC doesn't have USB 2.0...

Any free slots? Here's a USB 2.0 PCI card for $19.99.