Re: TI-H: Joystick connector

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Re: TI-H: Joystick connector


It wouldn't really matter whether it was a 9 or 15 pin, but mine is a
15-pin.  I found a joystick that I'm going to use, it is a SMALL 1in. X 1in.
X 2 in.!  Basically,  whenever the joystick is moved, a relay is pulled and
then any key (whichever you solder the relay to) is pressed.  Pretty simple.
Since joysticks have a calibration knob, this idea will work.  As for a
gamepad. . .  You would need a special port just for it.  You would have to
double the wires going to the gamepad, because they will have to diectly
short the keys.  I will have plans soon for a port that can be used by both,
with a modification to the gamepad.  Since a 15-pin port would be hard to
put on a TI-86 (or any other calc) and getting the cover to fit, I am going
to use a small phone (or any other) port that will fit, but I will have to
make an adapter.  I'm working on an interface for the link port, but I
haven't gotten that far, and I don't know if there are enough people who
would want that.  If you have any suggestions or comments, e-mail me at
reb@netride.com or, just reply to this message.


                                                                            
-Robert Brack

-----Original Message-----
From: Osma Suominen <ozone@clinet.fi>
To: ti-hardware@lists.ticalc.org <ti-hardware@lists.ticalc.org>
Date: Thursday, February 12, 1998 10:49 AM
Subject: Re: TI-H: Joystick connector


>
>Robert Brack wrote:
>
>> I got a huge brainstorm in the middle of band the other day.  Since we
weren't
>> playing, I got out a pad and started scribbling out an experimental
schematic.
>> This is still preliminary, but I figured out a way to interface a
joystick to
>> my calc (gamepads will be done a little differently).  The first thing I
did
>> when I got home was pull apart my joystick and use my DMM to measure
voltage on
>> everything.  I then fixed my schematic.  I haven't built it yet, but I'd
like
>> some feed-back.  This should work with and game currently out.  I will be
>> posting a finished schematic at ticalc.org within two weeks.  Tell me
what you
>> think.
>
>Some time ago, I thought about interfacing a joystick to the calc with an
>I2C system. A digital (Amiga, Atari, C64 style) joystick would be connected
>to the PCF8574 I/O expander, which in turn would be connected to the link
>port or SPinTerface port. The rest would just require some programming.
>
>I thought about an interrupt driven system where an interrupt routine polls
>the joystick port constantly, and hands over this information to the
>application. It might even be possible to make the joystick movements look
>like keypresses to the running game, but this is unlikely because I assume
>most games read the keypad directly and not via ROM calls. Making those
>games work with the joystick would require tinkering with the internals of
>the TI.
>
>Of course, the system would also work fine without even using interrupts. A
>game could have direct joystick support, and poll the interface chip
>whenever it wants. The programming should be a piece of cake with my MBus
>routines, and the hardware isn't difficult to do either. I just don't know
>if there's real need for a big clumsy joystick to be connected to a small
>and handy calculator, but there are some people who will want it anyway.
>
>How have you dreamt up the hardware part? Does your system connect to
>analog (PC,15pin) or digital(9pin) joysticks? The TI community ain't big
>enough for both of the systems, but if you want, you can do all the stuff
>yourself and I won't start making a rival system. I'm too busy even without
>the extra work.
>
>-Ozone
>
>--
>*** Osma Suominen *** ozone@clinet.fi *** http://www.clinet.fi/~ozone ***
>
>
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