Using 2 or more buttons on joysticks for the XL/XE systems?

[RevEng]

...With directions on how to modify the controller so all 4 buttons will work. This was on an Atari 2600 but apparently works on all Atari systems or other platforms (C=64 for example) which use the connector.

 

Correct, A and Start will not work, only B and C. According to the link above, a resistor added to one of the lines will enable the other two buttons to be read. Something about connecting the ground to the other paddle pot and letting it charge up.

 

The gist of the hack is to swap the +5 line and one of the paddle lines in the controller, with the result that the VCS paddle line is connected to controller's SELECT line, instead of +5. Since the VCS paddle line can be grounded (SELECT=low) and the added pull-up resistor allows the paddle capacitor to charge up (SELECT=high) it means the programmer can read both sets of buttons.

 

This gets you access to all 4 buttons (A, B, C, start) on a 3-button genesis controller. As I mentioned in the linked post, you should also be able to read all 7 buttons on a genesis 6-button controller with a bit of additional timing code,

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Bad news. Sleepy and I tested some 7800/dual trigger button joysticks (most of them owned by Tigerduck) at the H.A.T.Z. XII meeting. Both trigger buttons are detected via pin 6 (STRIG(0)), but none are detected using the circuits that are connected to the paddle inputs (PADDLE(x)). We did some testing with a digital multimeter and the problem seems to be, that the power drops to 0,5 V. Connecting a "real" paddle, we found out that paddle input needs to be at least 0,8 V to be detected (PADDLE(x) NOT = 228). Since it was about time to pack when we did the testing, we couldn't test any methods to fix this. We've talked about modding the joysticks (replacing the resistors) or putting a resistor in line with some pin(s) in-between joystick cable and computer. I'm not sure what the "right mouse button mod" does, but we might need a similar fix of the 7800/dual trigger button devices that'll still keep them compatible to the 7800.

 

Mathy

 

PS Values measured on my 65XE (upgraded to 130XE) was:

Pins 1-4 = 5.01 V

Pin 6 = 4.90 V

Resistance between pins 8 and 5/9 of my joypad = about 650 Ohm

[+playsoft]

Having recently come back to the 8-bit I was thinking how nice it would be to use a modern controller with lots of buttons.

 

Would it be feasible to develop an adapter which allowed an existing multi button joypad to be connected to two joystick ports?

 

The d-pad and one button would go to port 1 for compatibility with existing software. The other buttons go to port 2, which can be made use of by new software.