Subject: Re: game i/o - joystick adaptor Path: lobby!newstf02.news.aol.com!portc03.blue.aol.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!207.207.0.26!nntp.giganews.com!cyclone.swbell.net!typhoon01.swbell.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <36B0592E.AD91D011@swbell.net> From: Rubywand Reply-To: rubywand@swbell.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 References: <19990128003140.15531.00000291@ng30.aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 118 Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 06:33:50 -0600 NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.193.8.8 X-Complaints-To: abuse@swbell.net X-Trace: typhoon01.swbell.net 917526795 207.193.8.8 (Thu, 28 Jan 1999 04:33:15 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 04:33:15 PDT Organization: SBC Internet Services Sagochangi writes ... > > i came across a copy of the pinout diagram for the game i/o port on the IIgs > motherboard (IIe, maybe others too), and it looked like the 16-pin socket > actually supports 4 buttons, as well as standard x-y controls. > The IIgs on-motherboard 16-pin Game Port supports two complete two-button sticks. The ][, ][+, and IIe on-motherboard 16-pin Game Port comes close but does not include the 4th button. The //c series (9-pin Game Port) supports just one two-button stick and will accept a mouse. > would anyone have a schematic outlining an adaptor for use with the input > socket, to use, for example, the Gravis PC Gamepad with the II? If the Gravis PC pad plugs into the PC Game port, it probably works very much like earlier pads such as the Koala produced for the Apple II. These pads 'look like' a joystick to the Game Port. You could try building the PC-to-Apple2 converter described in the comp.sys.apple2 FAQs file Csa2KBPADJS.txt ... >> To PC Stick To Apple II Or to 16-pin IC plug 15-pin Dsub 9-pin Dsub ribbon cable to female connector male connector internal Game socket [1] [4] and [5] ----------[2] +5V [ 1] [2] ----------------------[7] Button 0 [ 2] [3] ----------------------[5] X-axis [ 6] [6] ----------------------[8] Y-axis [10] [7] ----------------------[1] Button 1 [ 3] [3] Ground [ 8] On the Apple II side ... 9-Pin 16-Pin add 680 Ohm resistor between [7] & [3] [ 2] & [ 8] add 680 Ohm resistor between [1] & [3] [ 3] & [ 8] add .01 uF cap* between [5] & [3] [ 6] & [ 8] optional: for fine-tuning, add 50K-100K trim pot in series with the cap add .01 uF cap* between [8] & [3] [10] & [ 8] optional: for fine-tuning, add 50K-100K trim pot in series with the cap *Note: The Capacitors compensate for smaller R range of PC sticks.The C values are approximate. For standard 100K Ohm PC sticks, .01 uF pretty well guarantees you will be able to cover the full Apple II X and Y range (0-255). Values of .01 uf (X-axis) and .005 uF (Y-axis) worked well for a PC "FlightStick" when plugged into our Apple II+. For checking and adjusting stick performance on your Apple II, use a program which continuously reads and displays X and Y stick values. The program below does this and displays "B0" when Button 0 is pushed and "B1" when Button 1 is pushed. Do a CTRL-C to exit. 20 PRINT "X= "; PDL(0); TAB(15); "Y= ";PDL(1); TAB(30); 30 IF PEEK(49249)>127 THEN PRINT " B0"; 40 IF PEEK(49250)>127 THEN PRINT " B1"; 50 PRINT: GOTO 20 Note: If your Apple II uses an accelerator chip or board, make sure that it "slows down" for joystick accesses or just set Speed to "Normal" (1MHz). Most likely, you will find that the a stick tops-out too early in the X-max and/or Y-max direction. For best control precision, what you want is for extreme values to occur near the extremes of stick movement: X (horizontal) Left= 0 Right= 255 Y (vertical) Up= 0 Down= 255 This way, you have lots of active swing which makes graphics work and playing most games much easier. If you included the trim pots in your converter, adjusting for maximum active swing will be easy. If your converter does not include the trim pots, experiment with swapping in capacitance values between .002 uF and .01 uF to get the best control 'spread'. The converter I built fit inside heat-shrink tubing. Putting it in a small plastic box may be better. << Again, I can not say for sure; but, the above converter _should_ work with a 2-button graphics pad intended for the PC Game Port. If you build it, be sure to post the results. > are there any > drivers in existance for such a device? .... If the pad normally plugs into the PC Game Port, it should require no special drivers to work with the converter on an Apple II. Rubywand