Re: Apple II game input devices

[Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Steven Weyhrich <a2history@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, March 9, 2013 7:41:56 AM UTC-6, Antoine Vignau wrote:
>> Le vendredi 8 mars 2013 16:12:42 UTC+1, Steven Weyhrich a écrit :
>> 
>>> After getting more of the story of Apple II game paddles straightened
>>> out, I was wondering if there were any other types of game devices that
>>> should be mentioned. Was there a company who produced a particularly
>>> good third-party joystick, game paddle, or other type of game device for the Apple II?
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>>> I remember Kraft joysticks, and CH joysticks, but don't recall if they
>>> were good quality. 
>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
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>>> 
>> 
>>> What was your favorite Apple II gaming peripheral?
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Steve,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> See my game input devices @
>> 
>> https://plus.google.com/photos/104707687928913128396/albums/5853337631175567521?banner=pwa
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Antoine
> 
> Wow.
> 
> That's a great collection!
> 
> Tell me, please: On the back of the black ones, is there a label and Apple product name?
> 
> It looks like there are a couple of generations of Apple-branded
> joysticks - do they have the same product name? Do they come with the
> 16-pin plug or the newer DB9 plug?
> 
> And what is that PQ box? A set of four hand-held answer selectors? Do you
> have any idea how they worked? (There are only 3 pushbutton inputs, plus
> how would the computer tell the difference between different buttons?
> Unless the buttons sent signals back through the PDL circuit, and each
> were set to a specific number that could be read...)

The multi-button game port add-ins, including the Muppet Keyboard, used a
chain of fixed resistors. They were read as a "paddle", with ranges of
values (to allow for tolerances) mapped to each button. 

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon