Connect an old PC Joystick to the Vectrex?!

[biobern]

Hi everybody. I'd like to modify an old IBM PC Flightstick (My Logitech Wingman extreme with 4 buttons) to work with the Vectrex. I hope to have a good Star Wars (Vecfever) experience with it. Old IBM PC Joysticks are nothing more than two potentiometers of 100k. Any ideas how to make the potentiometers compatible? To my surprise, i have not found anything about this anywhere on the net.

Thank you......

 

 

[bluejay]

If the potentiometer values don’t match, it won’t work correctly. There’s no way to change resistance; at least, as far as I know. 

[biobern]

On 6/29/2021 at 9:08 AM, bluejay said:

If the potentiometer values don’t match, it won’t work correctly. There’s no way to change resistance; at least, as far as I know. 

Oh yes, it works perfectly! Some nice people at "Vectrex Fans Unite" (Facebook) gave good hints. All you have to do is to substitute the two resistors and the two trimmer pots of the original vectrex circuit by four 10K resistors. I also painted a little circuit diagram. Near Arcade feeling for games like Atari Star Wars, Red Baron, Tailgunner etc... Really strange that nobody seemed to have published something like this in the last 40 years. ? 

 

Bern

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by biobern

[biobern]

 

The Logitech Wingman Extreme was very easy to modify for Vectrex. It also has 4 buttons. Should work with most analog Joysticks from the 80s and early 90s.

[hermi69]

This is really great! Wiring seems easy.. but which color is for Button 1 - 4 and GND??

[+fdr4prez]

On 12/29/2022 at 7:15 AM, hermi69 said:

This is really great! Wiring seems easy.. but which color is for Button 1 - 4 and GND??

Unless you are also using the the Logitech Wingman Extreme, your wiring coloring may be different, so I'd concentrate on using the pinout shown above for confirming what wire goes to what pin 

[hermi69]

To those who are interested ..found it out! 😃

I've two Logitech Wingman Extreme Analog, made in Taiwan and made in the USA.

The cable colors and their button assignments of both are identical.

The wiring harness from the handle has the following button assignment:

 

Grey = Button 1

Orange = Button 2

Purple = Button 3

Red = Button 4

Yellow = GND

 

Easy modification, great fun.

'Tailgunner', 'Starhawk' or 'Star Wars' f.e. plays fantastic with this joystick.