49-way optical sticks question...

[tmasman]

What are these sticks good for???
I mean what all can they be used for & how do you hook up the optics to your PC?
Could you just use a mouse hack?
Does is basically work the way a spinner would (I know it's not free spinning).
Do they "click" 49 times with a full 360 degree rotation?
Just trying to decide if a deal I found is worth it.

Thanks!

[hooded_paladin]

it's not a spinner, it's a primitive analog joystick.  Each axis has 7 inputs (3 degrees of pushing either way, plus centered) so it has 49 positions total.  It's used in games like sinistar or gauntlet legends (I'm sure more but those are the only 2 I know)

I don't know if there's a PC interface for them or not.  Lemme take a look around.

[hooded_paladin]

http://www.arcadecollecting.com/info/

"A circuit to use a 49-way stick in place of a Hall Effect or Analog stick"

It'll take some work, but I suppose you could slap that into some joystick hack.

[tmasman]

EEEWWWWWWWW...........
I just had no idea what they were good for... Now I at least have an idea.
The "deal" i was refering to was this: ebay auction

I've seen lots of these types of sticks go for MUCH more that $45 with shipping.
Just though I'd ask before I made a fool of myself purchasing something that would be useless to me.

THANKS!

[SirPoonga]

only 2 drivers in mame where the 49 way was what the game used.  Sinistar and arch rivals/pigskin.

No good way to hook up to a pc