The Future for 5200 Owners

[Divya16]

For instance.....

The PC joysticks and Apple joysticks are already analog. The Atari 2600 kids controller is easier to use and can easily be hooked up to Atari 5200 keypad pin-outs. Of course, the analog stick getting replaced with a digital joystick would be best.

[+remowilliams]

The other part of that issue is: So what, are they going to sue the person who comes up with a Jag controller adapter? The "jag community" can scream and rant all they want, but it should not stop the development of such a device.

 

As insane and/or bereft of thought processes as certain members of the 'jag community' can be (and make no mistake there are more than a few who should be under constant supervision...), even they never came forth with that bit of nuttiness.

 

 

The jagpad does make a very nice Colecovision controller by the way

 

 

[bohoki]

For instance.....

The PC joysticks and Apple joysticks are already analog. The Atari 2600 kids controller is easier to use and can easily be hooked up to Atari 5200 keypad pin-outs. Of course, the analog stick getting replaced with a digital joystick would be best.

 

 

microswitch arcade joysticks are great with 4 resistors you can make a joystick that works dandy

 

even if all atari 5200 controllers were banished i would still be rocking with my home mades

 

 

and with the pc adapter and phone and alarm control button matrix you dont need anything "atari" brand

 

the jag pad is neat how it has the exact ammount of buttons as the 5200 although you need to make an active circuit to turn the pad into analog approximations

 

my next project will probably be to convert a wico coleco vision controller to 5200

[Cobra Kai]

Even better than converting Jaguar pads to work on the 5200, as I've suggested many times before, why not a 5200 Jaguar emulator/compilation JagCD? I personally cannot code such a disc, but it's still a damn fine idea IMHO, and a better use of some of the talent the Jaguar coders have, as opposed to some of the complete crap that is released for the Jag now.

[atariksi]

For instance.....

The PC joysticks and Apple joysticks are already analog. The Atari 2600 kids controller is easier to use and can easily be hooked up to Atari 5200 keypad pin-outs. Of course, the analog stick getting replaced with a digital joystick would be best.

 

 

microswitch arcade joysticks are great with 4 resistors you can make a joystick that works dandy

 

even if all atari 5200 controllers were banished i would still be rocking with my home mades

 

 

and with the pc adapter and phone and alarm control button matrix you dont need anything "atari" brand

 

the jag pad is neat how it has the exact ammount of buttons as the 5200 although you need to make an active circuit to turn the pad into analog approximations

 

my next project will probably be to convert a wico coleco vision controller to 5200

 

I think for Ms. pac-man, we need a special controller just for that game as it's using it's own some sort of weird routine of self-calibration.

[stringfellow]

found these sites and thought it might help someone with more skills than me.

http://www94.pair.com/jsoper/jag_adapter.html

http://kevtris.org/Projects/5200jr/index.html

[WERY]

+1

 

The Best stuff is absolutely top notch, I've never had to revisit a controller I've rebuilt with their parts.

As far as most 5200 owners these days, they are probably more afraid of the Grim Reaper than worrying about joystick parts/replacement shortages

 

And yet, these kinds of threads gives one nightmares about the death of retrogames

 

But it has to be said and not denied that the old stuff is beeing worn down a bit

[Rex Dart]

Yeah, I'm not too concerned about the eventual disappearance of one of the most-hated game controllers ever. Like somebody else here said, I'll just use something better. I already do with most consoles that I own.

[OldAtarian]

Some random thoughts:

 

As the 5200 console and its much-maligned controllers near the 30-year mark, how long until things start to go out? Thankfully, Atari had the foresight to use standard potentiometers, so they are readily available. Unfortunately, the same is not true for the flex circuits and carbon-dot rubberized buttons. I am guessing that Best Electronics has a finite supply of replacement parts available, then what? The day will come when it becomes impossible to repair the stock controllers, and the only alternative is the limited 3rd party models like Wico. Like the stock 5200 models, the pots go out on those too, and they are proprietary, so are impossible to replace. What will collectors do? Does anyone know what happened to the mold tools that made the rubber fire and number pad buttons? They will be needed soon.

 

What about the rev. 9 flex circuits? Does Best have the ability to make more?

 

Are new replacement wire harnesses available as original controller cords experience age-related rot? Not some 30-year old stock that has been sitting in a warehouse for all the years, because those are just as suspect as the ones in use.

 

The days of playable 5200 games may be headed strictly for PC emulation whether we like it or not...

And even if you're lucky enough to own a Wico, you still need the stock controller for the keypad and if the flex circuit goes, you're going to have a hard time playing the games that require it.

Edited October 21, 2010 by OldAtarian

[WERY]

microswitch arcade joysticks are great with 4 resistors you can make a joystick that works dandy

even if all atari 5200 controllers were banished i would still be rocking with my home mades

and with the pc adapter and phone and alarm control button matrix you dont need anything "atari" brand

 

That's exacly what I had in mind. Feel free to send me some schematics on this arcadestick so that I might build one when time comes

[OldAtarian]

There's more than enough geniuses out there in the community to design a really good replacement controller that doesn't depend on stocks of old parts to keep them going, it's just a matter of one of them being motivated enough to do something about it.

[jaybird3rd]

There's more than enough geniuses out there in the community to design a really good replacement controller that doesn't depend on stocks of old parts to keep them going, it's just a matter of one of them being motivated enough to do something about it.

Two words: tooling costs. Making anything out of injection-molded plastic, whether it's cartridge shells or new controllers or plastic parts, is damned expensive because of the costs involved in making the molds. Unless some suitable alternative comes along that makes economic sense for very small quantities (which anything for classic consoles is likely to be), then we're pretty much stuck using the existing supply of old parts.

[OldAtarian]

There's more than enough geniuses out there in the community to design a really good replacement controller that doesn't depend on stocks of old parts to keep them going, it's just a matter of one of them being motivated enough to do something about it.

Two words: tooling costs. Making anything out of injection-molded plastic, whether it's cartridge shells or new controllers or plastic parts, is damned expensive because of the costs involved in making the molds. Unless some suitable alternative comes along that makes economic sense for very small quantities (which anything for classic consoles is likely to be), then we're pretty much stuck using the existing supply of old parts.

 

Best has redesigned the internal parts of the CX-40 several times already so why couldn't they design a replacement to the plastic film piece of crap inside the 5200 controllers with something better?

[jaybird3rd]

Best has redesigned the internal parts of the CX-40 several times already so why couldn't they design a replacement to the plastic film piece of crap inside the 5200 controllers with something better?

The only CX-40 part they've redesigned (at least as far as I know) is the joystick PCB. The improved CX-40 handles that they sell are an updated design that came from Atari; they're NOS, not newly-manufactured parts.

 

They have had certain new parts manufactured (like the 5200 buttons with gold contact dots), but they've been very selective about it because of the expense involved. I'm sure they would have redesigned/remanufactured more parts if it was economically feasible.

[tz101]

Y, that is the biggest hurdle: Tooling cost. With the limited sales potential for 5200 controllers, it is most likely not economically feasible to manufacture new controllers/replacement parts.

[bohoki]

 

That's exacly what I had in mind. Feel free to send me some schematics on this arcadestick so that I might build one when time comes

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/156946-help-with-arcade-stick

 

this post pretty much explains all

[WERY]

There's more than enough geniuses out there in the community to design a really good replacement controller that doesn't depend on stocks of old parts to keep them going, it's just a matter of one of them being motivated enough to do something about it.

 

I believe that anyone that really wants to extend the lifetime use of a 5200 is ready to do so when the situation requires it

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/156946-help-with-arcade-stick

 

this post pretty much explains all

 

Thanks

 

Best has redesigned the internal parts of the CX-40 several times already so why couldn't they design a replacement to the plastic film piece of crap inside the 5200 controllers with something better?

 

Well they should made a new controller that might look like the original one but is different inside and with no plastic film. I recently tried to perform service on one of my malfunctional PS2 controllers but there's a plastic film in them as well

 

If they ever make a new controller like that I hop they use microswitches since they feel mor reliable than rubber and plastic film

Edited October 23, 2010 by WERY

[kamakazi]

Last I heard, Hasbro released the rights to the Jaguar when it bought up a portion of Atari. Did I miss something?

[kamakazi]

And, as far as 5200 parts goes, the same can be said about any console. New-old stock parts will deplete eventually. Best must know of a way to continue manufacturing the parts they have or they would have ran out already. It might be possible to switch to solid PCBs which I am looking into. I'm not sure yet how this is going to work with the original controllers design but it is a work in progress.

[OldAtarian]

At first I thought we were all doomed....

 

We are all doomed. Death is the one enemy none of us can outrun.

[OldAtarian]

Last I heard, Hasbro released the rights to the Jaguar when it bought up a portion of Atari. Did I miss something?

 

That was what I heard, too, that it was open source now just don't expect Atari to provide you with any technical details or support. You have to do everything yourself including reverse engineering the hardware, if necessary, to get the information you need to do anything with it.

Edited November 20, 2010 by OldAtarian