weird connector?

[0078265317]

Found this on eBay.  Looks like a third party 2600 controller.  But that is not Atari at the end.  What is that weird connector?  Don't remember seeing that before.  Just says "GOES TO AN ARCADE GAME OR AN OLD VINTAGE COMPUTER.".  Does not specifically say.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/352623153037?ul_noapp=true

[Tavi]

That is quite unusual.

Looking at some of the images, It definitely says 'Alpha Stick 3' on the back of the controller board; but googling that brings up nothing relevant (Street Fighter controllers and hockey sticks).

I would think it is perhaps someones own home creation? The joystick looks like a pretty standard console use design, but the connector certainly looks like it is intended to be installed inside something, and not readily removed/swapped.

The base looks very much like a Wico command controller (They also had 'TOP' stamped into them), but I do not think they made a two button version? Perhaps someone had modified one to be a two button joystick?

Certainly quite an interesting unit!

[CZroe]

I think it has been modified for use with a ZX Spectrum, which has no joystick port so there are a variety of commercial and user-made options.

[0078265317]

I have seen the stick before on eBay with a normal 9 pin Atari connector.  I just can't find the link right now.  But that connector looked weird.  Almost like an old hard drive connector or something.

[CZroe]

 

 

 

 

 

I have seen the stick before on eBay with a normal 9 pin Atari connector.  I just can't find the link right now.  But that connector looked weird.  Almost like an old hard drive connector or something.

Exactly. 

I mentioned that it was so cheap that they didn't even include joystick ports, but the ZX80 (predecessor to the ZX Spectrum) was built too cheap to pay for a slot connector on the mainboard. The card edge connector they have instead is merely an exposed part of the mainboard PCB (effectively free). As a result, the accessory/expansion device needs to have the card slot.

 

Since it doesn't have a slot or a joystick port, even joysticks and joystick adapters need to connect with a "weird" card edge connector like that.

 

You are correct that the joystick is a common stick used on C64, Atari, etc with the traditional 9-pin joystick port. People building joysticks for a ZX micro would absolutely repurpose an existing joystick design if they didn't out-right or adapt or modify it with the stuff needed for a Speccy.

 

Edit:

Here is a modern adapter...

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=66

 

It has more pins so the one you see may not be for a Spectrum but it's gotta be something similar.

[JBerel]

I'm pretty sure that's a stick that was sold for the TRS-80 and that's the parallel port connector. They also made a TRSStick that was an actual Atari 2600 controller. It was just closed contacts on the printer port leads so games could recognize it.

[CZroe]

I'm pretty sure that's a stick that was sold for the TRS-80 and that's the parallel port connector. They also made a TRSStick that was an actual Atari 2600 controller. It was just closed contacts on the printer port leads so games could recognize it.

It is 25 pins.

[0078265317]

Yes that does not like parallel port.

[JBerel]

Nope, you're right that uses the old 25 pin serial port from the TRS-80. Here's one of their ads, I do remember seeing that model back in the day.

 

http://www.trs-80.org/alpha-joystick/

Edited December 28, 2019 by JBerel

[ChildOfCv]

Might be interesting to catalog the number of computers/consoles that used a 50-pin edge connector.  For instance, the Amstrad CPC and PCW appear to be a couple of the possibilities.

[0078265317]

WOW that must be rare.  So would that be worth having even as a collector?  Or is 50 too much.