Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Hardware Hacking, Programming and Game Solutions/Cheats
sixxie
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by sixxie »

That raytracing is pretty nice... bit slow on my now-a-few-years-old lappy though :)
Commodore
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by Commodore »

sixxie wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 10:39 am I did mess with Fritzing a while ago and get a PCB made - it works, so if it's useful: https://aisler.net/p/FRUJQVTV (German company, so I guess you'd have to be pretty quick...). PCBs are much easier to solder :)

But this weekend I actually tried learning a bit of KiCad, which was fun. As the simplest circuit to hand that was actually useful and involved a few different parts, this adaptor was what I used to mess about. The end result looks much nicer!

dgn-md.jpg

Absolutely love the 3D view in KiCad - makes you believe it could be real ;)

All through-hole, totally untested, didn't even bother to make sure the footprints made sense (as this was just a learning exercise), but again, if it's useful...

That looks great!
Commodore
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by Commodore »

I got some Dragon Joysticks in the end. Quite different, but they work!
johnha
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by johnha »

Hi All,

Just seen this post. Having rekindled my interest in my Dragon and spending time in the loft, I came across a box of games. Inside the box is a cassette for an Atari type joystick adapter from back in the day called a 'Dragon Tamer' (I'm assuming this is old news). It wasn't mine originally (probably bought from a car boot sale in the '90s) and I never had the hardware adapter - but the cassette inlay seems to suggest a couple of basic games were provided (hence the cassette).

Just thought this might be useful information for someone.

John.
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robcfg
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by robcfg »

johnha wrote: Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:08 pm Hi All,

Just seen this post. Having rekindled my interest in my Dragon and spending time in the loft, I came across a box of games. Inside the box is a cassette for an Atari type joystick adapter from back in the day called a 'Dragon Tamer' (I'm assuming this is old news). It wasn't mine originally (probably bought from a car boot sale in the '90s) and I never had the hardware adapter - but the cassette inlay seems to suggest a couple of basic games were provided (hence the cassette).

Just thought this might be useful information for someone.

John.
Hi John,

Could it be this one by any chance?

https://archive.worldofdragon.org/index ... gon_Double

Do you have the adapter or the box and manuals (in case there were any of those)? If that's the case, it would be nice if you could upload some pictures as I only had the cassette but not the adapter.

Cheers,
Rob
johnha
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by johnha »

Hi Rob, that's the one. No, I don't have the adapter, box or manuals. Back in the day we used a pair of 'T' shaped digital joysticks with tiny fire buttons that had Dragon plugs on - I expect they're in the loft somewhere too. I later aquired someone else's DIY analogue joystick that was a pain as it didn't self centre.

From memory, there's not much in the digital ones apart from micro-switches and resistors on each axis. I built my own analogue contraption but used a separate pot for each axis as I couldn't find a joystick mechanism.
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robcfg
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Re: Atari Joystick Adapter Build. Baby Step by Baby Step.

Post by robcfg »

Thanks for your kind answer!

I have a double digital joystick by Altai, and as you said it’s just some transistors and resistors: https://archive.worldofdragon.org/index ... ck_Adapter

Cheers,
Rob
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