Posted by JP4 on 9, 2000 at 11:38 PM:
In Reply to: Building a arcade contronller for computer posted by Stan Frady on 9, 2000 at 9:06 PM:
Stan,
You asked, "Has anyone tried this?" Brother, you came to the right place. The first two sentences of your post IS bascially what we do!
It seems like the main thrust of your message is wondering about INTERFACING the controls, so that's what I'm going to mostly cover here.
"The joysticks and buttons could be used with a decoder through a db9 or perferably usb port."
You might want to click on the "Interfaces" link on the left-hand nav menu here just to see what's out there. A really good encoder which will cover joysticks, buttons, AND a trackball is the Hagstrom KE72 (http://www.hagstromelectronics.com). The joysticks/buttons interface through the PC's keyboard port, and the trackball will plug into the PC's PS/2 port.
If you really have a hankering for USB though, Happ Controls sells a USB "Fighting" Interface at http://www.happcontrols.com/interactive/joysticks/950800xx.htm , which should suit ya. Or, check out the IPAC and the soon-to-be-released OPTIPAC PLUS at http://www.spaceinvaders.uk.com/ - both of which support USB.
Good luck to ya!
-JP4