Grevle Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 (edited) The Atari Joystick Pinout seems pretty simple, Pin 8 is the ground.So that is the common ground then ? and the pins for joystick movement and the button then are the + connections that share this commong ground ? Can anyone confirm that this is the way the Atari pinout works. Pin 7 is +5v, is that for powering the joystick circuit ? Edited May 16, 2014 by GentleBaron Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricortes Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Yes, common ground. The 5V supply was for running paddles and the touch tablet. Since this is a circuit board trace and Atari power supplies are exactly over kill, limit should be ~200 mamp before tragedy strikes. The paddle inputs are charge pump<?> timers which count the time it takes for the paddle to change logic levels. Something like a voltage input of .8V would probably never trigger them. How it is done is the 5V is fed into one side of a pot/variable resistor and the wiper feed to the paddle pin. I've seen paddles in the 1 meg Ohm to 100k Ohm range. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-2991811 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 Directionals are held at "1" value by pullup resistors, grounding each switch returns it to a "0" value. Same applies to joystick button. +5 V should never be connected directly to GND and not normally used by joysticks, although used by some autofire circuits. Some joysticks actually operate by using the +5V (some Sega) and shouldn't really be used with Atari or Commodore gear. +5 V used by paddle rotary - the Pot reducing that voltage which is returned on the paddle inputs to the computer. Paddle value determined by how long it takes to charge a capacitor to a threshold level. Paddle buttons equate to joystick left/right values. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-2991823 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+David_P Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 The four joystick directional pins can be either read or write. There are plans in the wild for connecting two computers via a custom joystick cable. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-2991880 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 The four joystick directional pins can be either read or write. There are plans in the wild for connecting two computers via a custom joystick cable. Joystick ports have also been used for the CX-85 numeric keypad, modems(MPP/Supra/Anchor Automation) and a hard drive interface(Corvus) Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-2991923 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 (edited) Something the OP might find interesting when it comes to the joystick and paddle controls. http://atariage.com/2600/archives/schematics/Schematic_2600_Accessories_Low.html http://atariage.com/2600/archives/schematics/index.html Edited May 16, 2014 by BigO Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-2992001 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Detailed breakdown, explanation, including differences regarding expansions on the default/standard for (8 bit) computers here. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-2997554 Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLund1 Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) The Atari Joystick Pinout seems pretty simple, Pin 8 is the ground.So that is the common ground then ? and the pins for joystick movement and the button then are the + connections that share this commong ground ? Can anyone confirm that this is the way the Atari pinout works. Pin 7 is +5v, is that for powering the joystick circuit ? joystick.gif I am rebuilding a CX-40 with bad female connectors. I got cheap sage controllers to replace the cables. But the saga wire colors do not match the Atari wire colors. I see here the pinout for the female end of the cable but I can't find the matching side on the Atari PCB by pin number only by wire color. Can someone point me to a link that has a pic of the cx40 PCB that has matching pinout numbers? edit: the PCB with the connectors all on the right side Many thanks Edited June 9, 2016 by KLund1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/225470-the-atari-joystick-pinout-common-ground/#findComment-3527668 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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