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Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!rutgers!mcdchg!chinet!edlee
From: edlee@chinet.chi.il.us (Edward Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.periphs
Subject: Re: Using a Joystick instead of a Mouse
Message-ID: <6255@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 9 Aug 88 03:06:55 GMT
References: <618@starfish.Convergent.COM> <525@dms.UUCP>
Reply-To: edlee@chinet.chi.il.us (Edward Lee)
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Lines: 27

I wrote:
>Have any of you plugged an Atari joystick into the serial port and used it
>instead of a mouse?  Doing so would make playing some games easier.

I have received several responses to my original posting, and more than half
of the people who responded told me something like, "Forget it."  Other
people alluded to the difficulties of interfacing a switch-type joystick to a
serial DB9 port, which I appreciate, and others simply misinterpreted my
original question.  I do not need a joystick to completely emulate a mouse.
All that I need a joystick for is to _indicate direction_.  If I manage to
interface a joystick to my Toshiba laptop, I will write custom software to
use the joystick, if necessary.  I am not too concerned with compatibility
with existing software, although that would be nice for playing some games
like Flight Simulator or Pac-Man.

Interfacing a joystick to a 9-pin serial port has been done before on the
TI-99/4A.  I recently bought a Toshiba 1100+ laptop, and it has a 9-pin
serial interface, so that's why I asked if anyone on the net had plugged an
Atari joystick into the serial port and used it instead of a mouse, with the
keyword _Laptop_ in the heading of the original post.  With the TI-99/4A,
the joystick port can be adapted to become a serial port that requires some
machine code to drive it. 

I get the impression that no one on the net has done this yet for a laptop.
I'm sure that there's money to be made if someone does.


-Ed L