Controller Technical Questions

[yell0w_lantern]

I have tried to do a sega to 5200 adapter as well as a PC Jr joystick to 5200 adapter and I am not having great results. I am getting pulling up and to the left (but to different strengths) on each one. The fire buttons work great but X/Y are not useable in any meaningful way.

 

First I would like to confirm that this pinout for the Y adapter that I have been using is correct:

5200 Wico Command Control Joystick

 

This is for those who want to a)use a 5200 Wico but don't have the keypad or Y-cable, or b)use the 9-pin jack on the keypad or Y-cable to connect their own controller (very handy).

9-pin male D-sub connector on either the Wico 5200 Keypad or the Y-cable.

1. +5V
   
2. -
   
3. GND
   
4. Top fire button
   
5. Bottom fire button
   
6. Vertical pot
   
7. Pot common
   
8. Horizontal pot
   
9. -
   

 

My next 2 questions relate specifically to the PC Analog Stick to 5200 Adapter plans from section 6.4 of the Atari 5200 FAQ (I have noticed that +5V is not used in this diagram although according to the y-cable pinout, the Wico adapter supplies that line to pin 1).

 

Second, does anybody know the value of the pots in a PPC Jr stick? I just read on wikipedia that they are not the PC 100k standard but I cannot find the value.

 

Third, depending on the positioning of the solder joints, could running the caps from V pot and H pot to Ground be generating interference across the axes?

 

Fourth, is that unattached +5 line causing any problems?

 

[EDIT]

I have confirmed my wire identities from the PC JR are correct so they should not be the problem.

Edited July 10, 2012 by yell0w_lantern

[Rybags]

I'd say most likely you want 1M pots, that's the value used in paddles and will work with Pokey to give the full range. Lower value and you'll only get a subset of the range available, ie centred stick might be more like up/right or similar.

 

Unattached +5V - shouldn't matter. But the pots need a +5V source, I guess that must be what "Pot common" is for.

[bohoki]

i'm a bit of an expert on the pc adapter

 

the +5 volt if used makes the system think its using a trakball on most games you would not notice but on say missile command you notice

 

do not look at the wico pinout as it is useless for your application and i am almost positive pin one is not connected as the joystick only has a 6 conductor cable

 

 

i'll try your questions the best i can

 

#1 it looks like the right pinout to me i think they wired pin one just in case they adapted a tracball for use with the y adapter

 

#2 i dont know what a ppcjr stick is i only have ever used pc gameport joysticks that use the 15 pin connector

 

#3 the caps will not cause any interferance the one thing that can cause interferance is if the joystick has an autofire option some draw so much current it causes the axes to pulse if that happens you can cut pin 1 of the 555 chip inside the stick or jsut use a different one

 

the capacitors fool the system into thinking there is more resistance

 

the 5200 sometimes seems haunted you may notice weirdness that happens to just fix it self like say montezumas revenge i wish you luck

 

be aware that gameport joysticks can break a wire in the cable can break the contacts can go bad so it helps to have a little assortment of sticks and gamepads to test with

 

i like the gravis gamepad its often a good working item

[yell0w_lantern]

Aha!

I just made a simple error. Everything is fixed and working wonderfully!