Ultimate 8 way joystick

[Steve Graffeo]

Im a total newbie!!  Anyone know how to wire these? I plan on using a hagstrom encoder.. I kind of understand the matrix thing but Im wondering how that works for two keys or contacts at once..  Im also thinking i probably dont need a 8-way stick.. any advice would be great.

Thanks!

[GGKoul]

Check out there web site.  As they have the wiring information your looking for.  

How many input's do you think you need?  
EX: A 4 or 8 way joystick has 4 inputs and each button has 1.  

In my opinion.. the IPAC is a much easier inferface to work with.   As everything is labelled which makes wiring very easy.

[Steve Graffeo]

I looked onto the I-pac and I will go for it! Thanks!.. I was not clear what I meant.  The 8-way stick has four switches. IS there ghosting when diagonals are hit. (2 switches at once) Does a Key on the keyboard equal a diagonal hit on the stick? OR should I just return the 8-way and get a 4-way?

[GGKoul]

That's good to hear your going with the IPAC.  I found it's an easy interface to work with and install.

You'll have no problems playing any game with the IPAC.  As it doesn't suffer from any ghosting issues.  I have a 4 player panel and never had any issues with that.  

As for your joystick.  4 ways & 8 ways have the same amount of switches on them.  (4)  It's just, 4 ways don't allow for diagonal movement as the 8 way does.  

I recomend keeping your 8 way stick because it's hard to play most of the games (newer) ones without being able to move diagonal.  As the 4 ways are great on classic games like pac-man and donkey kong.  But the 8 ways will allow you too play those games as well as the newer games.

Hope that helps!
-GGKoul

[ErikRuud]

There is no ghosting with an IPac.  The IPac was created to eliminate the problems that occured with keyboard hacks.

Keep the 8-way, they work perfectly with the IPac.  When you move the stick to a diagonal, both switches are pressed, and both keystrokes are pressed at the same time.  In theory, you could activate all 28 inputs on the IPac simultaneously, and the PC would see that all 28 keys were pressed at the same time.

Get the IPac.

[Steve Graffeo]

Cool! Thanks! I'll Keep what I got Im totally psyched to build the cab! Thanks for the info!