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Joysticks..
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:25 pm
by Rink
Hi there,
Does anyone know the electrical characteristics of the Dragon joysticks?
The most I've been able to learn so far is that it's a typical 5v supply to the joystick, and that BASIC reports ranges of 0-63 (31 as a centrepoint) on the x and y axis. I'm not really sure how the Dragon's Analogue->Digital converters work here - for example, whether 0v on x = far left, 2.5v = centre, 5v = right or whatever.
Not many of the things kicking around for sale at the minute, so I was just going to build some kind of adapter.
Cheers guys.
Re: Joysticks..
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 8:58 pm
by rolfmichelsen
You can find the schematics for the Dragon joysticks in the booklet
Information for Machine Code Users. You'll find a PDF version in this forum post:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156
It is pretty easy to build an adapter to use a switching joystick with the Dragon. I did so myself back in the 80s. I can probably dig out some schematics if needed.
-- Rolf
Re: Joysticks..
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:33 pm
by Rink
Nice one mate. Hadn't seen that booklet before and aside from the joystick stuff, there's a few other bits of info in there I'm glad I now know.
I should be ok schematic/design wise, but if you come across any, I'd definitely say post it. If it isn't immediatiately useful to me then no doubt it will be useful for someone.
Re: Joysticks..
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:06 pm
by rolfmichelsen
This is a pretty good design from Hot CoCo (June 1984). This is a relatively simple to build interface for switching joysticks that even provide "autofire" functionality. The ICs are pretty standard and easy to obtain even today. There are some minor mistakes in the figures, and it might just be possible to see my penciled corrections (authentic from 1984
)
Anyone know if there is a repository of scanned Hot CoCo issues anywhere?
-- Rolf
Re: Joysticks..
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:54 am
by briza
rolfmichelsen wrote:This is a pretty good design from Hot CoCo (June 1984). This is a relatively simple to build interface for switching joysticks that even provide "autofire" functionality. The ICs are pretty standard and easy to obtain even today. There are some minor mistakes in the figures, and it might just be possible to see my penciled corrections (authentic from 1984
)
Anyone know if there is a repository of scanned Hot CoCo issues anywhere?
-- Rolf
G'Day Rolf.
There is some Hot coco Mags online, Here is a Link to quite a few copies online
ftp://maltedmedia.com/coco/MAGAZINES/Hot%20CoCo/
laters
Briza
Re: Joysticks..
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:08 am
by rolfmichelsen
Thanks. Will be fun leafing through these old rags again