Re: Joysticks for //E?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Robin writes ...
> 
> Anyone know a source for these? Thanks!


     In terms of getting a good quality stick, you are pretty much
'rolling the dice' in purchasing any for-A2 stick today; and, your odds
are not good.

     For one thing, there were never that many really high quality
joysticks around. Some solid models are the first Wico (big red stick),
the early Kraft sticks (thin black stick with lotus top), the CH Mach
III's, and the CH FlightStick.

     The CH FlightStick is easily the best Apple II game stick ever
produced. For combat simulations, nothing else is even close.


     To get a new joystick for an Apple II, your best bet is to build a
PC-to-Apple2 converter and shop for a good PC stick. The following info
comes from the Csa2 FAQs Csa2Kbpadjs.txt file:

>>

004- How can I make a PC-to-Apple Joystick converter?

     If you are looking for the best stick at the best price for your
Apple II, building a simple PC-to-Apple2 joystick converter is the way
to go. Practically every computer stuff store carries PC sticks and you
will have a wide selection of brands and models from which to choose.
 
     My PC stick is a standard CH Products "FlightStick". A resistance
measurement produced a disconcerting revelation: the X and Y pots
top-out around 100K Ohms-- 50K less than a standard Apple II stick!
Fortunately, you can compensate for the difference just fine by adding a
bit of capacitance. The finished converter is shown below:



     To PC Stick                        To Apple II
(15-pin female connector)          (9-pin male connector)

         [1] [4] and [5] -------------------[2]  +5V
         [2] -------------------------------[7]  Button 0
         [3] -------------------------------[5]  X-axis
         [6] -------------------------------[8]  Y-axis
         [7] -------------------------------[1]  Button 1
                                            [3]  Ground

     On the 9-pin Apple II side ...

        add 680 Ohm resistor between [7] & [3]

        add 680 Ohm resistor between [1] & [3]

        add .01 uF cap* between [5] & [3]
        optional: for easy fine-tuning, add 50K-100K trim pot
          in series with the cap

        add .01 uF cap* between [8] & [3]
        optional: for easy 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. You could mount the trim pots (and/or
switches with fixed "trim resistors") and select between settings for a
'Fast', short swing, 'hot' Game Stick and a 'Normal', full swing, 'cool'
Game/Graphics Stick.

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Rubywand