Dumb question, but how is it joysticks work correctly?

[wonkalow]

The short question... an 8 way joystick... do you bind 8 different directions? or just UDLR and it figures the rest out on its own?


The long question. Ive been reading, trying to figure out how my control panel is going to come together, and started to wonder how you bind the keys, namely for the joystick. On the typical keyboard, theres only left, right, up and down. No up/left, down/right, etc. Is this something the Computer/Ipac is capable of filling in on its own? I assume you just bind the U D L and R keys to one joystick and 4 letters for another and it figures it out and runs smoothly from there?

Sorry, Dumb question I know... but I had to know, It was bugging me 

[Apollo]

8 way joysticks are wired 'up' 'down' 'left' and 'right' only. when a diagonal is hit, say for example 'down-left', both switches are activated at the same time and the appropriate signal is sent.

[spacies]

or just UDLR and it figures the rest out on its own?

 

Sounds like you are having a 'dumb' day

 

[unclet]

Yes, a joystick only requires 4 different characters (ie: letters, numbers, etc..) to be mapped for it to work properly.

[shardian]

Go play a game on your keyboard for a "hands on" experiment.
If that doesn't help, we'll have a lesson in physics and force vectors.