Questions on 49way Joysticks.

[dabone]

Hi, I'm a long time member, but I've been away from the hobby for awhile.
I still have a Candy cab running xp and mamewah for a front end...

(And a Multi Williams, Golden Tee Conversion, Night Driver and Atari Football)

During my staycation, I found a project I was going to work on back in 2005, But life happened and it was forgotten till now.

I have 2 midway 49way joysticks, 2 gpwiz49 interfaces,
and half of rotary kit from Mark Oates, I have one rotary encoder and the interface board.

I'm thinking of changing the candycab to a Groovymame setup with the 49ways, to use the ability to software switch between 2/4/8/etc on the joys.

Are these still a decent solution? I see led blinky supports switching the joystick modes if set49mode is a dead end.

Does anyone still have documentation on setting up the Mark Oates rotary board? I just have the board and encoder, but it's not wired up.

Thanks.
Later,
dabone

[PL1]

Does anyone still have documentation on setting up the Mark Oates rotary board? I just have the board and encoder, but it's not wired up.

Archive.org has the text of the support page, but no images.   
https://web.archive.org/web/20160803031712/https://www.markoates.com/rotary/TechSupport.htm

The board shows up in this Retroblast review, but the pics aren't much help.
https://www.retroblast.com/reviews/49-way_2.html

If you can't figure out your old Mark Oates + Druin boards, you can use another rotary encoder like an inexpensive 32u4 Arduino board using the miniArcade 2.0 firmware to convert your rotary switch clicks to keystrokes.   


Scott

[KenToad]

I still have my rotary boards wired up. what specifically do you need to know?

[dabone]

Mainly looking for the pinout from the encoder to the board. Mine has wires hanging off currently.

I guess if I want to add the second joystick, I'll need to source another encoder and duplicate the mounting with my 3d printer.

Also, opinions on the 49 ways.. I'm currently using Perfect 360s.

[KenToad]

What pinout are you looking for? The wires that go from the rotary board to the rotary attachments? The connections that go from the rotary board to the GPWiz49's are labeled on my board. Maybe you could take a picture of what you need and I could show or tell you how I've got it set up?

[KenToad]

As for opinions on the 49-ways, they work best with Groovy game Gear's rubber replacement centering grommets. Otherwise, the centering just wasn't snappy enough for games with digital controls, at least for me. For my old bartop, I had modular panels with Happ microswitch joysticks and it always seemed like people preferred them over the "squishy" feel of the 49-way joysticks. So, over the years, my 49-ways have seen the least use. The digital restriction system developed by RandyT for the GPWiz49 encoders worked flawlessly, though, so if you like the feel of the joysticks, then they could be the ultimate solution.

I have no experience with Perfect 360's, so I can't compare, unfortunately.

[dabone]

What pinout are you looking for? The wires that go from the rotary board to the rotary attachments? The connections that go from the rotary board to the GPWiz49's are labeled on my board. Maybe you could take a picture of what you need and I could show or tell you how I've got it set up?

The archive.org site finally loaded for me, it's been dog slow today and had the rotary encoder to the board pinout. That's what I was missing.  But thanks for looking.

As for joystick feel, I guess I'll mount one up and give it some testing.


Thanks for all the input.