SwinginDick

Pics attached. Pretty standard in appearance. Worthy of note is that the encoder is "detentless" so the spin is smooth, not notchy. Enjoy. -SwinginDick www.chaosreins.com Controller_Pics.zip

Well folks, they are available (and have been for some time, actually). There are two still available on eBay (look for "Jaguar rotary controller") but the auction ends in a couple of hours. After that, you will be able to get them from Dan at The GOAT Store (http://www.goatstore.com/). I'm also in the process of setting up a website (http://www.chaosreins.com) which will detail this controller as well as others I hope to make available later this year (a NUON spinner for Tempest 3000, a more "arcade-quality" spinner for the Jag not based on a modified Jag controller and ultimately a dedicated MAME controller). But first I have to fight with HTML and get the site up. Arrghh! Dammit Jim, I'm a EE not a webmaster! Meantime, for those of you who have extra Jag controllers hanging around, I am going to be starting a program where you send me a Jag controller and $35, and I will modify it with the encoder and knob and send it back to you USPS Priority Mail. If you are interested in this option, drop me a line at [email protected] Thanks folks! -SwinginDick www.chaosreins.com

I don't know - Minnesota is pretty far away. How about the JagFest 2005 tour? East, Central and West?

Hey! What is the PhillyClassic? BTW - how's the encoder working out? I sold two controllers so far, trying to get some exposure to sell more. Finally got knobs and all that....

Are there any plans to have a JagFest in the US any time soon? Is there someone who has traditionally arranged this kind of thing, if it has occurred in the past? Anybody want to come to New Britain, CT for JagFest 2005?

Is there a US version of this convention? Or something similar?

no more by Minter that I know of. There's Breakout 2000, which I like, but could've been better (mostly should just be smoother). There's also Missile Command 3D, which I consider an honorary '2000' title, and a helluva game. Also heard of a "Gorf 2000" a long time back. anything ever come of that? Now, the big question - near and dear to my heart as a controller guy - did anyone build in backdoors for "proper" controllers for these games? A trackball option for MC3D and a rotary control for Breakout 2000? Did Minter do Breakout 2000 BTW?

Is ProtectorSE really all that and a bag of chips? Is it worth the exhorbitent price? Subjective question, I realize ...

I really like D2K, but I have to say that I am in a unique position: 1. I loved arcade Defender but always really sucked at it. I just couldn't hack the coordiation of so many buttons. Lame, eh? 2. Defender Plus and D2K (while not perfect) are actually less frustrating for me than Classic, especially with the rapid fire shooting and the droids. 3. I love the chaotic action, music, cool sound effects and lots of stuff blowing up. In the end, high scores mean little to me if I'm not having fun. I would probably have a different opinion if I was actually good at Classic Defender. So, go ahead and LOVE it for what it is... :-)

K3V - no, I looked around for a "proper" encoder with no detents, so the action is smooth. I carefully considered the optical vs. mechanical debate and settled on a mechanical encoder for simplicity's sake. I've worked with optical encoders in the past using them to replace volume potentiometers on high-end preamps - another life! :-) so I'm quite familiar with all of the benefits of using them. However, the Jag doesn't supply enough current to power an encoder, plus I would've had to add a bunch of combinational logic to make the output compatible with the Jag's keyboard strobing. This means adding a power supply to the controller, or stealing power from tht Jag wall wart (which has been done by someone out there) and it just gets ugly real fast. So, I will save that mod for another day - I have a pretty clear idea about how to do it, just gotta get the time. The mechanical encoder doesn't have the inertial feel like the original arcade controller and this is a function of the bearing as well as the fact that there is no practical way to build a flywheel into the controller without significant alterations. However, my initial testing proves that you can certainly get by without that feel. Since there are no detents, the control is smooth and it seems that the T2K "webs" are somewhat smaller anyway - I find that you really don't have to really spin the control wildly to get from one side to another. One thing that is missing in T2K, though, is the high-pitch "chirp" that the arcade machine generates when the shooter moves between lanes. Ahh, well, we can't have everything. Thanks for the tip for Oscar Controls - already contacted them and they don't discount very deeply in bulk. I'm not sure if the replica knob is the right way to go anyway. I'm finding that a narrower barrel on the knob allows for better control and faster movements when necessary especially since I have no flywheel. The larger the diameter, finer the control but it becomes more difficult to get around the web quickly. Only testing (and a lot of research) will get me to the right knob. sega - I'm thinking about charging $40 - $50 per controller, including shipping within the US. The final price is going to depend on the cost of the knob. jaysmith - Yes, I am considering a separate stand-alone controller with a heavy flywheel optical encoder. The truth is, it would be pretty expensive and I'm not sure if it would really be any better than this one. Something to think about though. Thanks to all of you, by the way, for the words of encouragement. I appreciate it! :-)

Hi folks, I'm a recent devotee to the Jag and an enormous Tempest fan. I found out that a backdoor was written into the code for a rotary encoder, did a bit of research and discovered that it is quite a simple matter to do. So, I bought a bunch of encoders and some brand new controllers and I'm about to get busy making them up for sale. The hard part at this point is finding a suitable knob. I have some options but I want to keep the cost fairly low while maintaining a good feel. Now, before Tyrant or anyone else who also makes these same types of controllers gets all up and angry, I just want to make it clear that this was something that I figured out pretty much on my own after reading many of the homebrew "on the cheap" controller mods. Let's be honest folks, this isn't rocket science. Anyone with a passing familiarity with digital electronics and who is handy with a soldering iron and a few tools can do this. I saw a lengthy thread from back in November 2004 where Tyrant and others were debating the "fairness" or whatever of other people somehow "ripping" off Tyrant's idea. This isn't really a fair statement - anyone who understands this mod knows that it practically makes itself. There is no secret that this capacity is built into the game and the input spec is pretty clear (Gray code). To be honest, I was really surprised by the tone struck by those who have made these controllers, like there is some kind of ownership ... shouldn't Jeff (Minter) or Atari take that same attitude? It was their idea to include the option in the cart - should we wait around for them to make us proper controllers? C'mon, no one is getting rich selling these things. The tent is big enough for all of us. And, on the contrary, the more of us making essentially the same thing, the better for all the Jag/Tempest fans out there, right? Given the limited production capacity of any of us alone, we will NEVER fill the demand for these things. So lighten up and enjoy the fact that we are (collectively) bringing joy to all these Tempest fans who clearly know what they are missing. That's how I got here - by being a huge fan and wanting to contribute to the cause in a way that I can. Besides, isn't a little competition a GOOD thing? :-) For those that are interested, I attached a zip of some pics of my prototypes. The knob that you see on there is not the final choice as I said above. Just enough to test with my son (gotta get them into the game early!) rotarycontrollerpics.zip