[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Computer colors/joysticks (was: Re: Apple /// and it's beige color finish.)
On 11 Jul 1997 20:04 -0500, spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)
wrote:
>Come to think of it, almost all notebook computers I've seen are black
>in color, aren't they?
Please! It's "Granite", not black! ;D
>Years ago biege was more a color to
>blend in around the home, in fact that was the reason Apple choose
>biege for the II, II Plus, IIe, III and early Macs (late 70's, early
>80's color scheme). Heh, my old Mach III joystick is the prefect
>example of 70's color scheme: biege base, brown stick with orange
>and brown buttons (yuk!). The same model from the late 80's was
>changed to platinum with grey buttons.
It's the same way with Apple's joysticks for the //. I've got one of
each (one beige w/orange buttons [this stick RULES! It's got a lot of
collector's appeal, IMHO, just like those odd-looking cars, clothes,
cartoons, movies, etc. from decades gone by] and one that's platinum
and some other shade of platinum).
What is/was the best joystick for the Apple //s? I've tried Apple's
:/ , an Advanced Gravis >:P, and, my favorite, a Suncom Analog Plus :D
The Apple ones are OK, nothing special, tho. They're kinda small,
too. The Gravis one has three buttons, each of which can be set to
act as PDL(0), PDL(1), or PDL(2). PDL(2) buttons are very rare on
Apple // joysticks, but, they're quite useless, unless, of course, you
make your own games...The Advanced Gravis also lets you easily adjust
how tight the springs in the stick are. You can even have the stick
act as if it had no springs! BUT, this stick has one MAJOR NO-NO: the
corner positions (often called 0,0 , 255,0 , 0,255 , 255,255) are hard
to move the stick into. The stick's "shift pattern" (a real lousy
analogy, I know, but how else can I say it?) is almost totally round!
On a regular stick, when you move the stick in as wide "circles" as
you can, you move the stick something like up, left, down, right. On
THIS stick, however, you successfully make perfect circles. This is
murder in many games, (Wings of Fury for one) where it is necessary to
move the stick to the top-right, bottom-left, etc. corner. My
favorite stick is Suncom's Analog+, an IBM/Apple II joystick. It has
variable-rate autofire on the finger (trigger) button, and the finger
button's duty is reversable with that of the two base buttons and the
thumb button. It has a hand-sized/shaped stick, but it could stand to
be havier like the Advanced Gravis. However, this joystick doesn't
use the standard joystick pots, so it's more succeptible to wear.
Mine's quite buggy. If anyone cares, you can replace its springs with
bent paper clips easily. I did, and the stick now moves & feels
perfect(ly). It still doesn't fix the main part that wears out, tho.
The computer acts as if I'm pushing the stick towards the corner.
(mechanically, the joystick's fine--prob is there's a worn part giving
false resistance readings)
--
_ />___________________ +==Apple // Forever==+
|| | |/ \| | |M#M#M#||___________________---__ +-37th Wisest Wizard-+
|| | |`-.| | |#M#M#M||___________________--- +- Edhel Iaur, Esq. -+
||/ \|\_/|/ \| \> http://members.aol.com/owsw/1WSW.Home.Page.html
http://www.grin.net/~cturley/USA2WUG/FOUNDING.MEMBERS/HOME.PAGES/EDHEL
***For my correct email address, delete all the capital letters***