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Light pen compatible programs?


VicViper

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KoalaPainter (Disk) listed in the FAQ supports lightpen?? or is that a hacked version.

 

I have used the Cart version with the actual KoalaPad, and the disk versions I've come across I thought were joystick only. Will have to give it a try.

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Isn't the light gun "the same" as a light pen ? So light gun games should work I guess....although a lot harder to play I'm sure....

Depends on the game I suppose. Some of the light gun games require precision shooting which most Atari light guns can't do. A light pen on the other hand would make it easier to aim.

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Yeah I remember I once had a light pen to play around with for a while and I tried how far I could hold if from the screen and have it still work.....was pretty far.

 

The electronics of a light pen....(and gun) is very very simple, easy to make yourself....which reminds me I need to actually do that...

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Isn't the light gun "the same" as a light pen ? So light gun games should work I guess....although a lot harder to play I'm sure....

 

Unfortunately not. The trigger pin is different as well as the timing of the optical feedback. The light gun has a delay which is taken into account by the games supporting it.

 

The electronics of a light pen....(and gun) is very very simple, easy to make yourself....which reminds me I need to actually do that...

 

It depends. A simple pen is - ehm - simple to make, but a good one with better filtering of the optical feedback (trigger window) is a bit more complicated and needs some more electronic.

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Hmmm,

 

I had both Atari lightgun and Atari lightpen. With the lightpen I could play all Atari lightgun games, alas the lightpen is not as accurate as the lightgun (which itself is not very accurate). But the trigger of lightgun and lightpen are inversed (think you have to press the trigger to fire with a lightpen, while you have to release it with a lightgun) - without pressing the trigger on a lightpen I got autofire, while pressing the trigger on a lightgun (and not releasing it / holding it) did nothing.

 

Many lightgun games rely on precision, which the lightpen lacks, at least mine does: If I point anywhere on the TV screen, approx. 2cm to the left I get a reaction, if I hold the pen farther away then the reaction is also farther away (more than 2cm to where I pointed to, so my lightpen is very inaccuarate). And many A8 lightgun games have a limited amount of ammo, grenades and/or other things (e.g. Operation Blood) and if you use a lightpen (instead of a lightgun) you get autofire and therefore your ammunition is used up very fast. Then there are games that calculate the accuracy by number of shots vs. number of hits (Bug Hunt, Barnyard Blaster, etc.) - and with autofire/lightpen you therefore always have a very bad accuracy (and it is difficult to do a single shot with the lightpen)...

 

But evil as I am (or should I say crazy as I am ?), I kept the lightpen and sold the lightgun.

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Yeah I remember I once had a light pen to play around with for a while and I tried how far I could hold if from the screen and have it still work.....was pretty far.

 

The electronics of a light pen....(and gun) is very very simple, easy to make yourself....which reminds me I need to actually do that...

Or convert, I have a Sega Master System gun. It's been 30 years since I converted mine,but IIRC, it was just a matter of inverting the trigger so that "on/off" when the trigger is pressed are reversed. anything really, that uses the 9-pin port can be converted to use on Atari's if they don't automatically work. Or like Sega Master/Genesis controller that will work with one button fine with Atari's, but if you want to use them as two-button 7800 controllers they need simple converting. I have a Genesis three-three-button that I have two buttons that work as usual, and the third (middle) button is the 7800 second/alternate. . But it might be fun to make a light pen. I have to get my CBM 1084p monitor repaired before I have any use for either though. Of course anything can be hacked/converted to work with anything else, but 9-pin to 9-pin is less intensive.

 

Oh, the Sega Master system light guns are more accurate than Atari's. I seem to recall Best Electronics also had their own version that was far better.

Edited by Gunstar
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