Expandable MultiJoy4 interface

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

Yesterday, we had four kids over. Aged 5 till 9. Believe me, YouTube isn't really an option (the 7 year olds like Michael Jackson, the five year old likes K3 (a Belgian group with fans from 2 till about 7) and the oldest one likes Lady Gaga) . But one of them wanted to play with the Atari. But how do you keep four kids busy... So an idea I've been having for ages came back up again. Let me explain:

 

We all know the MultiJoy8 interface (and if you don't, check out my Special Stuff page on this subject). Problem with the MultiJoy8 is that you hardly ever need it and it's usually quite large in size. You don't need it for most MultiJoy games, but you can't play "Shot 'em all" with it.

 

So what we really need is are MultiJoy FOUR interfaces that can be plugged together.

 

Usually, you don't need to use more then four joysticks on one computer. But if you do, like on meetings, you could plug one MultiJoy FOUR interface into another MultiJoy FOUR interface, to get a MultiJoy8. Or three to get a MultiJoy12 interface or four to play "Shot'em All". Since all MultiJoy FOUR interfaces would be the same, you could just plug any two, three of four together. Since the interfaces would be smaller (and probably cheaper) and less overkill (who needs eight joystickports?) more people would buy them. Making the chance that somebody on a meeting has a second MultiJoy FOUR interface bigger.

 

Only one of the MultiJoy FOUR interfaces would have to be connected to the computer. It's four joystickports (for the joysticks) would automatically be ports 0-3, the next plugged it would have ports 4-7, number three would have ports 8-11 and the last one would have ports 12-15. The joystickports we do not use (on interface two, three and four) would be used to plug them into the previous interface. Or we could have some extra connector, so we could stack interfaces.

 

So now all I need is somebody who figures out, how to turn this into reality.

 

greetings

 

Mathy

Edited January 16, 2010 by Mathy

[candle]

big?

Mathy, multijoy 8 can be fitted on 96x96mm board, and expanding it beyond 8 ports could be tricky

currently, one bit is used as global enable, and remaining 3 are for joystick select lines

if you want to make this compatible, you could make 16 ports (no global enable line) and still should be software compatible, but beyond that you need to think of something else (ie counter providing binary number to the decoder chip, and software with control over "increase" and "reset" of this counter)

[Mathy]

Hello Candle

 

I've seen a MultiJoy16 interface and if I remember correctly, we even played "Shot'em All" with 16 people on one of the Fujiama's.

 

 

But 8 Joystick ports is still overkill for most people. And if you do visit a meetings, you're more likely to take a MultiJoy4 interface with you then a MultiJoy8. Meaning the chance that at least somebody brings a Multijoy interface to a party is bigger.

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[candle]

Mathy, multijoy8 interface costs 3 euro including PCB and all parts required, if You want 4 port version of it - it would cost one euro less

size is not an issue here, nor are the costs, so what would you gain? except cripled version of multijoy 8?

[Mathy]

Hello Candle

 

It wouldn't be a crippled version, just a version for only four joystick ports. More people would buy one because 4 joystick ports is enough for most people while 8 joystick ports would be overkill in most situations.

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[candle]

i don't think economics has anything to do with this

if you'll put on the same shelf 4 port version for 2 euro, and 8 port for 3, what would you buy? a 4 port one and a candy bar? don't think so

[Mathy]

Hello Candle

 

I'm not talking economics, I'm talking "we don't need that ..."

 

greetings

 

Mathy

[+JAC!]

Hi Mathy,

Very nice page you have there, especially the MultiLink games are interesting (as I just bought some Links for X-Mas;-). Any while I don't really like the visual appearance of my multi-joy 8 (box is far too big) I agree with Candle. If the price is about the same, then the effort should rather be put into a more appealing/smaller box.

 

JAC!

[raster/c.p.u.]

Mathy, multijoy8 interface costs 3 euro including PCB and all parts required, if You want 4 port version of it - it would cost one euro less

Stackable 4 port version will be more expensive than MultiJoy8, because there would have to be some additional electronic parts and additional two joy connectors for next multijoy. So, I think stackable MJ4 interface is nice and impressive idea, but it's not effective.

Edited January 18, 2010 by raster/c.p.u.