Technical question about Apple II joysticks.

[SIO2]

I have an Apple IIe (not enhanced - yet). Anyhow, I have a suncom joystick that I have used with an Apple IIe Platinum. The joystick worked acceptably on the Platinum but doesn't seem to work well for the IIe.  I ran a diagnostic program on the IIe that polled the game port and gave values for each pot.  What I discovered is that the value would range from 255 to zero but if I went a little farther in the same direction, it wrapped and the value went to max. So, 5..4..3..2..1..0..255 - like that.  The result is if I play a game and get excited and move the joystick all the way up it thinks I want to move down.

 

Is this a problem with the controller or with the controller circuitry on the Apple IIe?

 

I can prevent the value from wrapping if I set the adjustments on the controller off center but that also negatively impacts game play.

 

Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.

 

 

[SIO2]

So, here is what I came up with for a solution.  I purchased an adapter that allows Atari style joysticks to be connected to the Apple IIe.  It works great.  Joystick diagnostic ran on the IIe showed that the Atari stick with adapter maxed out at 255 and the low end reading was 3 (close enough to 0).  Makes playing maze games fun again.

 

[MarkO]

On 7/11/2023 at 1:00 PM, SIO2 said:

I have an Apple IIe (not enhanced - yet). Anyhow, I have a suncom joystick that I have used with an Apple IIe Platinum. The joystick worked acceptably on the Platinum but doesn't seem to work well for the IIe.  I ran a diagnostic program on the IIe that polled the game port and gave values for each pot.  What I discovered is that the value would range from 255 to zero but if I went a little farther in the same direction, it wrapped and the value went to max. So, 5..4..3..2..1..0..255 - like that.  The result is if I play a game and get excited and move the joystick all the way up it thinks I want to move down.

 

Is this a problem with the controller or with the controller circuitry on the Apple IIe?

 

I can prevent the value from wrapping if I set the adjustments on the controller off center but that also negatively impacts game play.

 

Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.

 

 

It could be an Issue with the JoyStick, but if it works fine on the //e Platinum, it is likely an issue with the Non Enhanced ][e...

 

The Apple ][ uses a Tricky Hardware Circuit, that uses a 555 IC, ( actually the 558, which is a Quad-555 ) to Charge some Captors, based on the Resistance of the Potentiometer in the JoyStick, to determine the Position..

 

 

MarkO