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Cheap analog joystick idea
Trimoor:
There are plenty of people around here who really want an arcade quality analog joystick, but can afford to buy one from Happ.
Why not take a lesson from a classic console, and use hall effect sensors?
I am, of course, referring to the Dreamcast.
The analog stick from the sega brand controller uses four hall effect sensors and a magnet to read analog data.
The idea would be to simply place these four sensors underneath a regular digital joystick, and glue a small magnet to the end of the joystick shaft. The interface could either use a DC->PC adapter, or you could directly wire the sensors to the game/midi port. Windows should map it to a regular joystick device.
To use it, configure MAME to use the analog joystick device, and tell it not to use the digital switches. The analog part of the stick is all solid-state, so it wouldn't affect the digital movement at all.
I would try this except for one problem...I'm using all of my Dreamcast controllers. If you have a sega brand controller you would like to (cough) send me for the sake of this project, go right ahead. Or else someone out there with a spare controller might try this themselves.
Let me know what you think.
brandon:
I was thinking about something like this too because there really doesnt seem to be many decent alternatives other than the $100+ happs stick.. the only thing I wonder about is whether or not a really digital stick has enough range of motion to make a decent analog stick..
allroy1975:
That seems like a great idea...it can't possibly be that simple though, can it?
NoOne=NBA=:
It COULD, but probably isn't.
There are alot of variables involved that may make it more difficult.
What vertical range must the magnet operate within to make the sensors function properly?
How much travel is necessary to make the sensors function to full efficiency?
Does the joystick travel TOO far, or not far enough, to give it this full range without going outside the operating range?
What physical obstacles need to be overcome to mount the base onto the existing joystick, etc....?
Trimoor:
If I could find some discrete hall effect sensors, I could experiment and probably get this to work, but I have only been able to find digital sensors. Anyone know where to buy analog HE sensors? I tried digi-key, but had no luck yet.
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