Rex Dart Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 As for the microswitch modification that I mentioned in my previous post: I did get a batch of the switches I linked to, and they're almost suitable for the RSI, but the button on the top of the switch is a little taller than the ones in the XBox controller. This means that the microswitch closes before the rubber dome switch, which can be confusing to people who don't know what's going on: it feels like the switch closed, but it didn't, because the rubber dome switch is the one that's actually connected to the 7800. I suppose I could wire up the microswitch instead, but I didn't try this. I'll revisit the project at some point, after I have the multi-cart finished. Yeah, I would've wired it to those microswitches right away... I bet that'll make it work wonderfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Yeah, I would've wired it to those microswitches right away... I bet that'll make it work wonderfully. You'd still have the "dead" rubber dome switch in the middle. I'm sure it would work fine, but it would still feel different than a true arcade joystick. I'd actually like to come up with a solution to get rid of the dome switch altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Eh, you know what I mean. It's designed so that you'd hold the stick with your right hand and hit the buttons with your left. Counter-intuitive for most people who didn't grow up playing funky old arcade cabinets before the "stick on the left, buttons on the right" standardization. So you're saying the standard 2600 stick is for lefties? I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mugenmidget Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 Looking forward to having some good diagonals on these, I've been busy as of late but I still think about these controllers from time to time. Having better buttons is a plus for rapid fire! Thanks again for continuing to look into it, jaybird3rd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAtarian Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 (edited) With a little work the crappy Radica Space Invaders TV Game can be turned in to an awesome microswitch joystick for the 7800. First I ripped out the crappy game board and the AV, and DC jacks. Then add a joystick cord from an extra beatup proline joystick, some resistors and perfboard, a little extra wire and the 7800 button wiring from the faq here - and voila - one two button (left or right handed) joystick that's a pleasure to use with the 7800. The joystick cord fits neatly out of the space previously occupied by the DC jack. Seeing as you can get these things for $10 now, they're quite a deal I always love seeing people use things for other than their intended use. Edited November 3, 2010 by OldAtarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAtarian Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Eh, you know what I mean. It's designed so that you'd hold the stick with your right hand and hit the buttons with your left. Counter-intuitive for most people who didn't grow up playing funky old arcade cabinets before the "stick on the left, buttons on the right" standardization. So you're saying the standard 2600 stick is for lefties? I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. They're not. I would find it very uncomfortable to play with the stick in my left hand and my right thumb on the fire button. I always wondered about guitars, though. You would think that you would want your dominant hand doing the more complex task so why then do right handed guitarists strum with their right hand and do chords and picking out individual notes with their left? Shouldn't that be reversed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jferio Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 They're not. I would find it very uncomfortable to play with the stick in my left hand and my right thumb on the fire button. I always wondered about guitars, though. You would think that you would want your dominant hand doing the more complex task so why then do right handed guitarists strum with their right hand and do chords and picking out individual notes with their left? Shouldn't that be reversed? I would think it's for the sake of freely picking out which string you strum (with the dominant, easier to control hand), while you hold down the strings in a given area of the neck with your fingers (with the submissive, harder to control hand). Finer control is required to actually hit the correct strings, while gross control is more appropriate to modulating those same strings. (The last time I played any guitar was over 20 years ago, so take this with a large salt lick.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H311bender Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) My first Atari related project was converting the RSI. I bought 2 RSI's and a Gamestar for $10 off ebay. I took the micro switches from the Gamestar and added them to the RSI button's for a more responsive feel. I made one Pac-Man themed and the other based on the atari 2600 controller. Edited February 20, 2012 by H311bender 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Very nice job! I'll have to try something similar with mine: I still use my RSI sticks, and I've got a few new ones left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.golden.ax Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Would love to hear about the art application. That looks sharp! AX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 VERY impressive, H311bender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H311bender Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 (edited) For the art I peeled off the space invader sticker and scanned it into Photoshop at 2400 dpi to use as the template. I then downloaded the Pac-Man arcade Marquee graphics in .png file format, shrunk it down, and pasted them onto my template. I created the circle around the joy stick manually. The Photoshop file 525MB since its 2400 dpi so it took 30 minutes for my printer to buffer and print the page. I printed the page on high glossy photo pager then laminated only the face up side. Then I used a Sharpie to color the edges black. After all this I realized the RSI sticker I scanned in for the template was stretched out from peeling it off. So I had to do some trial and error trimming the outer edges using the joy stick circle as the center point. To apply the decal I used a thin layer Mod Podge. I waited 15 minutes and then scrapped off excess glue around the edges. Its a bear to scrape off if fully dry. After the decal was fully dried I used an x-acto knife to cut out the button and joystick holes. So that's it for the decal Another thing I did was add weights to the empty batter compartment to give it a nice heavy feeling. I REALLY hated the pro-line sticks and I love these as a replacement and it kind of has an arcade feeling to it now. So all in all, the entire project including the 7800 joysticks I gutted for the cables cost me $25. Edited February 20, 2012 by H311bender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorfcadet Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 That is a pretty thing. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I still have and use my converted RSI stick. Love love love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRTGAMER Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) Why not duel purpose it? It can easily retain the TV game option as well as be used as a 7800 controller. Couple of multiple pole mini toggle switches would fix that. The games inside: Lunar Rescue, Colony 7, Quix, Phoenix and Space Invaders Edited February 21, 2012 by CRTGAMER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenfused Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Why not duel purpose it? It can easily retain the TV game option as well as be used as a 7800 controller. Couple of multiple pole mini toggle switches would fix that. The games inside: Lunar Rescue, Colony 7, Quix, Phoenix and Space Invaders Once I played Qix on it, I came to the conclusion it is better used exclusively as a 7800 stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Why not duel purpose it? It can easily retain the TV game option as well as be used as a 7800 controller. Couple of multiple pole mini toggle switches would fix that. The games inside: Lunar Rescue, Colony 7, Quix, Phoenix and Space Invaders Once I played Qix on it, I came to the conclusion it is better used exclusively as a 7800 stick. If I remember correctly, all the games were really fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sqoon Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Anyone on here who would still mod my Space Invaders plug n play for 7800 use if I shipped it to them? How much would it cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.golden.ax Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Anyone on here who would still mod my Space Invaders plug n play for 7800 use if I shipped it to them? How much would it cost? Sure, I'll mod anything with at least two buttons and U,D,L,R for 7800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H311bender Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Here are my latest RSI modded controllers. These are still my favorite controllers for the Atari. I fixed the graphic template so it fits perfectly now. I decided to replace the ON/OFF switch which is no longer used with a 2P2T swtich so I can reverse the AB buttons whenever I want. Still waiting for the swtiches to come in. Anyway, here are pics of my latest controllers. I have 2 extra ones I will eventually be selling once I have them completed which I will post in the marketplace. Here's the template for another one I'm finishing up: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) Those are Awesome! Do you plan on making a generic one that matches the 7800? If so, would you consider selling a decal? If not, make a Pac-Man (or Ms. Pac-Man) themed one and I'll buy those decals off of you (again, if you plan on making them available). Thanks, Bob EDIT - completely missed the Pac themed one earlier (on the same page even!) Edited June 18, 2012 by PacManPlus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorfcadet Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I would love to buy one of you Donkey Kong or Mario Bros themed sticks! Let me know when you feel like selling one! Any idea how much you'd like for one? I'm totally interested! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 (edited) I would also be interested in buying a 7800 decal if you make one, or a pac man themed one. Edited June 18, 2012 by mimo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I would also be interested in buying a 7800 decal if you make one, or a pac man themed one. Me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H311bender Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 (edited) Hi all, I will not be selling the decal, but I will post the 7800 themed decals I am currently finishing up for free. I will post the step by step directions to print out and create the label as well. I've gotten enough free stuff from this website and other members so it doesn't seem right to charge for it . Edited June 19, 2012 by H311bender 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.