AUI to USB adaptor for old PC joysticks?

[S1500]

Okay, so you have a gamepad/joystick/flight stick that uses the older AUI port, found on just about any sound card of yesteryear. Well, I can't recall finding one on my latest system. Seems to have gone the way of the dodo.

 

Without installing a sound card, is there an adaptor to hook it up via USB? I have an interesting(but stupid) project in mind:

 

1. Take an old analog PC joystick, and put the guts into an Atari 2600 controller. I think it would be kinda neat to have the joystick go beyond its directional limitations. Heck, it has that rubber boot that seems quite flexible. The challenges would be the adjuster pots that may or may not be fixed to the joystick axes. That, and you gotta redo the buttons. Wonder if you could cut the old Atari joystick circuit board to have just the leaf switch for the button(discard all else). Maybe put the other button as front-mounted.

 

So basically, a heavily souped-up joystick that wouldn't serve much of a console specific purpose. Maybe if you could up it to a total of 4 buttons, you would have a Vectrex controller in an Atari sheath.

[Ze_ro]

Wow, I've never heard anyone refer to a PC gameport as AUI... I realize they're both 15-pin connectors, but AUI is a networking term.

 

Anyways, gameport to USB converters DO exist. I found one a while back with a Panther XL I bought at a thrift store, though the adapter is a Radio Shack label on it, so I assume it was purchased seperately. The device has a four-way switch on it to support different types of gameport controllers. It's been a long time since I tried it, and I remember having less than satisfying results from it, but I didn't try very hard to get it to work, so your mileage may very.

 

Honestly, I think you'd have an easier time just looking for a USB device and hacking that instead.

 

--Zero

[Bruce Tomlin]

Just because it has 15 pins in no way makes it (or the 5200 controller) an Ethernet Attachment Unit Interface.

[Great Hierophant]

The proper name of the port is a DA-15 male or female connector, depending on perspective.

[Matt Fisher]

Such things are readily avalible, such as

 

http://www.gamersection.ca/product_info.ph...&language=1

 

I hear, however, they don't work very well, and they seem a little pricey. If you've got a free PCI slot, I would get a cheap soundcard with a gameport and use that instead. Those older cards are a dime a dozen on ebay.

[JB]

At least AUI is a NEW mis-identification!

 

I sear, if I see one more person call it a MIDI port...

[S1500]

At least AUI is a NEW mis-identification!

 

I sear, if I see one more person call it a MIDI port...

 

 

I honestly didn't know the correct terminology for said port in back. So thus, I called it an AUI. Calling it a "game port" just seemed vague to me.

 

Looks like I'll have to go hit up Rat Shack to see what wonderful anachronisms they have for sale again.

[gdement]

At least AUI is a NEW mis-identification!

 

I sear, if I see one more person call it a MIDI port...

 

That's accurate on old Sound Blaster cards, not sure about everything else though. There's at least some basis for calling it a MIDI port since that's what it's been used for in the past. Do newer cards not hook up to MIDI anymore? I really have no idea.

Edited July 8, 2007 by gdement

[Great Hierophant]

The first well-known consumer use for the DA-15 port was for IBM PC Joysticks (1981). Creative Labs added midi input & output functionality on the unused pins in its first Sound Blaster card (1989), as did Roland in a different way in its MT-32 based LAPC-I card. The Nintendo Famicom (1983) used the port for peripherals as did the Atari 5200 for its joysticks. Apple used it in several of their computers for a video port. Not the most commonly used port. The only consumer use I know of for the DC-37 is for older external PC floppy drives. Most companies either used the DE-9 or DB-25 ports if they did not use a custom port.

[Ze_ro]

Calling it a "game port" just seemed vague to me.

The PC world is notorious for having an infinite number of incompatible standards, but strangely enough, the PC game port is actually surprisingly consistent even between different makes and models. Just about anyone in the computer scene will understand what you mean if you simply call it a "game port".

 

I always thought it was rather unfortunate that you generally only got one game port though. The standard kinda breaks down when you move into the realm of multiplayer games (there are all kinds of Y-adapters, and daisy-chaining controllers like Gravis made, and so on).

 

--Zero

[gdement]

Calling it a "game port" just seemed vague to me.

The PC world is notorious for having an infinite number of incompatible standards, but strangely enough, the PC game port is actually surprisingly consistent even between different makes and models. Just about anyone in the computer scene will understand what you mean if you simply call it a "game port".

 

I always thought it was rather unfortunate that you generally only got one game port though. The standard kinda breaks down when you move into the realm of multiplayer games (there are all kinds of Y-adapters, and daisy-chaining controllers like Gravis made, and so on).

 

--Zero

 

Yeah, most of the good joysticks aren't compatible with a splitter since they have too many buttons/axes, that was always frustrating.

I actually have a dual joystick port card (Thrustmaster I think), and it came with jumpers to reconfigure the 2nd port to different addresses since that wasn't an established standard. Unfortunately I lost the documentation for it, I was wondering at one point if Windows would be able to support the dual ports. I don't know of any DOS games that recognized the extra port, so it didn't do me much good.

[S1500]

Yeah, most of the good joysticks aren't compatible with a splitter since they have too many buttons/axes, that was always frustrating.

I actually have a dual joystick port card (Thrustmaster I think), and it came with jumpers to reconfigure the 2nd port to different addresses since that wasn't an established standard. Unfortunately I lost the documentation for it, I was wondering at one point if Windows would be able to support the dual ports. I don't know of any DOS games that recognized the extra port, so it didn't do me much good.

 

 

I remember many moons ago I had a standard IBM PC compatible joystick with a throttle slider. I only found ONE game that actually used it, and it was still in a half-assed manner. It was I think some helicopter simulator. There was a toggle switch next to the slider you had to use in conjunction with the slider to manipulate the collective.

 

Sadly, the quirks and incompatibilties of using a freakin' gamepad still haunt IBM compatible computers to this day. GTA San Andreas does not let me use my right analog stick at all, unless I use SAAC(a controller hack program). But I can't use SAAC with GTA MP(multi-player add-on) since it's considered a cheat device.

 

Ugh.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Actually, it's a D_B_-15.

[Prodos8]

DB15 is actually a misnomer, though I've always called them all DBx.

 

wiki on d-subminature sizes