Re: Apple II DIY systems?

[Raymond Wiker <raw@RAWMBP-2.local>]

Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> writes:

> On Tue, 5 Apr 2011, Linards Ticmanis wrote:
>
>> On 04/05/2011 02:52 AM, N.N. Thayer wrote:
>>> This ad, which Vectronic's Apple World dates as 1978, indicates that
>>> the Apple II motherboard was once offered as a standalone product:
>>>
>>> http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/ads/ads/appleii/introappleii2.jpg
>>
>> Off topic: do those odd game paddles depicted in that ad really exist?
>> They look like one-dimensional joysticks, I've never seen any like these
>> in reality. Or are they mock-ups?
>>
> No, they were more like slider pots.
>
> I don't know whether they ever came with the Apple II.  I thought there
> was a period when that sort of thing was common.  I guess because of
> ads like that one, and some article in Byte about making your own, or
> maybe it was about a game and it included how to make your own.
>
> I thought the idea was that you only needed up and down, because
> the games hadn't advanced much.  The ad mentions "pong", and that game
> came with similar controllers.  I'm sure "Breakout" used only one
> dimension, and "Breakout" was considered an important demo for
> the Apple II.

	The "Star Wars" game used two paddles; you had to use both hands
to keep the enemy fighters in your sights. There were also some later
games that did this, for example, "Rat and Dragon", which was an entrant
in a competition run by Byte magazine.