TRS-80 Model III joystick interface
Moondoggie
drive, I can make DD bootable disks and have been reliving some old memories
playing my old games on the original hardware. Even hooked up so PC
speakers to it, replaced the old Archer Telephone listener and now my games
are in stereo.
The thing I'd like to do is find a schematic for an old 'Trisstick' or
something that would put me in the right direction so I could hook up a PC
joystick to my model III, even if I had the Atari joystick schematic, it
shouldn't be hard to adapt. I've searched google and search engines but to
no avail, I'm hoping some of the elders here could help me out. I think it
hooks up to the expansion card, but I'm not sure.
I'm also looking for a way to transfer .DSK and .DMK image files to floppies
as well, the best I can do so far is use XFER/CMD to move individual files.
Perhaps there's something written for the TRS-80 that can do it once you get
the file over there.
Thanks in advance.
Moondoggie
Neil
"Moondoggie" <moond...@fastmail.ca> wrote in message
news:kUMEa.519$JN6.1...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Check out the Jeff Vavasour Model I emulator and the D M Keil
emulators.
N
Jim Powers
formatted TRS-80 disks which can be read by your Model 3. I put a 3.5 in my
4p and can transfer from PC to LSdos disks and vice versa.
"Neil" <wh...@nothere.com> wrote in message
news:%9NEa.18401$MM4.3...@news0.telusplanet.net...
Tim Mann
> The thing I'd like to do is find a schematic for an old 'Trisstick' or
> something that would put me in the right direction so I could hook up a PC
> joystick to my model III, even if I had the Atari joystick schematic, it
> shouldn't be hard to adapt. I've searched google and search engines but to
> no avail, I'm hoping some of the elders here could help me out. I think it
> hooks up to the expansion card, but I'm not sure.
TRS-80 joysticks were generally just 5 switches, one for each of the
four directions you could push the joystick in, plus a fire button.
Pushing the stick diagonally would close two switches. Today's PC
joysticks have something like 8 bits per direction to tell the PC how
far you pushed the joystick, so it would be highly nontrivial to hook
one up, and the feel would be wrong for playing TRS-80 games. I'm not
sure about Atari joysticks -- are they one switch per direction? If so,
that would be more suitable.
The joystick that I emulate in xtrs works as follows. I'd be pleased to
hear about it if someone knows about other TRS-80 joysticks that worked
differently.
To read the joystick, input from port 00. The bit assignments are:
North (up) 0x01
South (down) 0x02
West (left) 0x04
East (right) 0x08
Fire 0x10
To make your own joystick, you will also need the pinouts for the Model
III expansion bus. I think you can find a suitable manual on either
Wade Fincher's or David Keil's TRS-80 manuals web site, but I haven't
checked. Links to their sites are on my TRS-80 links page,
http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80links.html.
> I'm also looking for a way to transfer .DSK and .DMK image files to floppies
> as well, the best I can do so far is use XFER/CMD to move individual files.
> Perhaps there's something written for the TRS-80 that can do it once you get
> the file over there.
There is software for that on the PC side. This should be handy for you
since you put a 3.5" drive into your TRS-80, and your PC probably
already has one of those. The most straightforward thing to do will be
for you to get one of the emulators working on your PC, then use it to
copy .dsk or .dmk images onto real floppies. There are some notes on
how to do that on my TRS-80 FAQ page, http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80faq.html.
--
Tim Mann use...@tim-mann.org http://www.tim-mann.org/
Jan Vanden Bossche
Tim Mann wrote in message <20030609001030....@tim-mann.org>...
>On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 16:20:33 -0400, "Moondoggie" <moond...@fastmail.ca>
wrote:
>> The thing I'd like to do is find a schematic for an old 'Trisstick' or
>> something
...
>TRS-80 joysticks were generally just 5 switches, one for each of the
>four directions you could push the joystick in, plus a fire button.
... and they were directly connected to the 4 arrowbuttons and the spacebar.
>Atari joysticks -- are they one switch per direction? If so,
>that would be more suitable.
Most TRS-80 joysticks I saw were homebrew.
>To make your own joystick, you will also need the pinouts for the Model
>III expansion bus.
Never saw one connected to the bus. The went into the keyboard.
>Tim Mann
Greetings from the TyRannoSaurus
Jan-80
Moondoggie
"Tim Mann" <use...@tim-mann.org> wrote in message
news:20030609001030....@tim-mann.org...
> On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 16:20:33 -0400, "Moondoggie" <moond...@fastmail.ca>
wrote:
> > The thing I'd like to do is find a schematic for an old 'Trisstick' or
> > something that would put me in the right direction so I could hook up a
PC
> > joystick to my model III, even if I had the Atari joystick schematic, it
> > shouldn't be hard to adapt. I've searched google and search engines but
to
> > no avail, I'm hoping some of the elders here could help me out. I think
it
> > hooks up to the expansion card, but I'm not sure.
>
> TRS-80 joysticks were generally just 5 switches, one for each of the
> four directions you could push the joystick in, plus a fire button.
> Pushing the stick diagonally would close two switches. Today's PC
> joysticks have something like 8 bits per direction to tell the PC how
> far you pushed the joystick, so it would be highly nontrivial to hook
> one up, and the feel would be wrong for playing TRS-80 games. I'm not
> sure about Atari joysticks -- are they one switch per direction? If so,
> that would be more suitable.
>
> The joystick that I emulate in xtrs works as follows. I'd be pleased to
> hear about it if someone knows about other TRS-80 joysticks that worked
> differently.
>
> To read the joystick, input from port 00. The bit assignments are:
>
> North (up) 0x01
> South (down) 0x02
> West (left) 0x04
> East (right) 0x08
> Fire 0x10
>
> To make your own joystick, you will also need the pinouts for the Model
> III expansion bus. I think you can find a suitable manual on either
> Wade Fincher's or David Keil's TRS-80 manuals web site, but I haven't
> checked. Links to their sites are on my TRS-80 links page,
> http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80links.html.
I've taken a look at my handy dandy technical reference manual but it has
very
little to say about the expansion bus. Anyone got any idea what pins I
ground out to
send info to port 00??
>
> > I'm also looking for a way to transfer .DSK and .DMK image files to
floppies
> > as well, the best I can do so far is use XFER/CMD to move individual
files.
> > Perhaps there's something written for the TRS-80 that can do it once you
get
> > the file over there.
>
> There is software for that on the PC side. This should be handy for you
> since you put a 3.5" drive into your TRS-80, and your PC probably
> already has one of those. The most straightforward thing to do will be
> for you to get one of the emulators working on your PC, then use it to
> copy .dsk or .dmk images onto real floppies. There are some notes on
> how to do that on my TRS-80 FAQ page,
http://www.tim-mann.org/trs80faq.html.
I've tried for a while, but the copy protection prevents the image files
from being
read properly.
>
> --
> Tim Mann use...@tim-mann.org http://www.tim-mann.org/
Thanks!
I think I'm going to mail Bill Hogue, hope he's not so old now that he can't
remember.
Mike Yetsko
> very
> little to say about the expansion bus. Anyone got any idea what pins I
> ground out to
> send info to port 00??
The expansion port doesn't work that way.
You have to externally decode the address you want, then 'loop back'
the address as an external 'select' to get the bus to input. Outputs, if
I remember correctly, you can just do with no loopback.
Also, if I remember right, the expansion connector doesn't do all 256
ports for IO, it only does 128, to keep external devices from interfering
with internal stuff.
Mike
Moondoggie
He designed the original Trisstick, so we'll see.
Moondoggie
"Mike Yetsko" <j...@user.com> wrote in message
news:ve9ndj2...@corp.supernews.com...
Knut Roll-Lund
> To read the joystick, input from port 00. The bit assignments are:
>
> North (up) 0x01
> South (down) 0x02
> West (left) 0x04
> East (right) 0x08
> Fire 0x10
This is the same, what I have for my Video Genie (model I clone). It came
with a game from Cornsoft. There are quite a few of the games that support
this.
The interfacing is easy, it can be done with very few ic's. I wonder if I
have the original card still. I later built it into the box, made a
connector to match C64 and extrapolated the design to have 2 joystick
ports; port 0 and port 1.
My model 3 (mine for 2 months) has a connector that puts a C64 joystick in
parallel with the arrow keys and space. This seems to work with even more
games. I have also a description of a similar thing for the Video Genie.
PC joysticks; I have never seen anything but analog joysticks there. To
interface an analog joystick would be a bit more difficult.
The switch based joysticks seems to be hard to come by now. I got the one
I have in a fleamarked. The ones I originally had were all worn out (by my
younger brother, using them on his C64).
Knut
Howard Boettcher
joystick to the Model III keyboard and it worked fine. A second attempt
with a Wico joystick worked equally well. I found it worked great for
running on "Olympic Decathalon".
If you connected a flashing LED in series with the fire button, you got
rapid fire.
I'll search through my files for a wiring diagram, but I recall that it was
very easy as the 4 arrows and space bar were along the same row, and shared
a common ground. The only modifications to the joystick was a different
connector, as I had mounted a 5pin DIN socket onto the keyboard.
Howard
"Moondoggie" <moond...@fastmail.ca> wrote in message
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Moondoggie
Moondoggie
"Howard Boettcher" <howard.b...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:v6tFa.4942$0c4.5...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Leonard Erickson
<moond...@fastmail.ca> wrote:
>I've recently resurrected my TRS-80 Model III and outfitted it with a 3 1/2"
>drive, I can make DD bootable disks and have been reliving some old memories
>playing my old games on the original hardware. Even hooked up so PC
>speakers to it, replaced the old Archer Telephone listener and now my games
>are in stereo.
>
>The thing I'd like to do is find a schematic for an old 'Trisstick' or
>something that would put me in the right direction so I could hook up a PC
>joystick to my model III, even if I had the Atari joystick schematic, it
>shouldn't be hard to adapt. I've searched google and search engines but to
>no avail, I'm hoping some of the elders here could help me out. I think it
>hooks up to the expansion card, but I'm not sure.
The Model III can't use a PC joystick. It could use a modified Atari
joystick.
PC Joysticks have actual analog inputs for the X/Y values.
Atari joysticks use switches. A switch for up, one for down, one for
right, one for left. Plus the firing button.
The mods were a small circuit board that mapped the switch values to
bits on a particular port (and didn't fully decode the port address as
I learned when I tried to use my joystick with my Hi-Res graphics
board.
I don't recall which port or how the bits where mapped. But you could
probably build it easily enough if you can get the info. It was pretty
standard as a lot of games supported the Alpha Products(?) joystick.
I'd advise *fully* decoding the port address though, even if it does
take more chips.
I suspect that a "game controller" would be easy to interface, since
they use switch closures rather than pots.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at krypton dot rain dot com
Leonard Erickson
wrote:
>On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 16:20:33 -0400, "Moondoggie" <moond...@fastmail.ca> wrote:
>> The thing I'd like to do is find a schematic for an old 'Trisstick' or
>> something that would put me in the right direction so I could hook up a PC
>> joystick to my model III, even if I had the Atari joystick schematic, it
>> shouldn't be hard to adapt. I've searched google and search engines but to
>> no avail, I'm hoping some of the elders here could help me out. I think it
>> hooks up to the expansion card, but I'm not sure.
>
>TRS-80 joysticks were generally just 5 switches, one for each of the
>four directions you could push the joystick in, plus a fire button.
>Pushing the stick diagonally would close two switches. Today's PC
>joysticks have something like 8 bits per direction to tell the PC how
>far you pushed the joystick, so it would be highly nontrivial to hook
>one up, and the feel would be wrong for playing TRS-80 games. I'm not
>sure about Atari joysticks -- are they one switch per direction? If so,
>that would be more suitable.
>
>The joystick that I emulate in xtrs works as follows. I'd be pleased to
>hear about it if someone knows about other TRS-80 joysticks that worked
>differently.
>
>To read the joystick, input from port 00. The bit assignments are:
Ok, I *know* that port address doesn't match the documented address
for the joystick I've still got buried somewhere. But I also know that
the didn't bother fully decoding the address either.
Nick Andrew
>The mods were a small circuit board that mapped the switch values to
>bits on a particular port (and didn't fully decode the port address as
>I learned when I tried to use my joystick with my Hi-Res graphics
>board.
I just wired mine in parallel with the up/down/left/right arrow keys.
Nick.
--
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Do not send me email copies of postings. Keep it in USENET please.
Celebrity Direct Entertainment - Cord G. Coslor
'schematics' for how they did it. I'm going through my storage as we speak,
and if you still need the info when I find it, I'll pass it along.
Sincerely,
CORD G. COSLOR
Archive Software
www.archivesoftware.ent
-----
| PO Box 247 - Hutchinson, KS - 67504-0247
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| www.CelebrityDirect.net * C...@CelebrityDirect.net
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"Moondoggie" <moond...@fastmail.ca> wrote in message
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Neil
"Howard Boettcher" <howard.b...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:v6tFa.4942$0c4.5...@news20.bellglobal.com...
Atari
> joystick to the Model III keyboard and it worked fine. A second
attempt
> with a Wico joystick worked equally well. I found it worked great
for
> running on "Olympic Decathalon".
AllElectronics.com has switch joysticks in stock now.
"Rugged, precision-engineered 8-way joystick. Smooth, spring
return-to-center stick controls four S.P.D.T. snap-action micro
switches. Metal center shaft with heavy-duty black plastic stick and
mounting plate. 3" x 3.5" mounting plate. Stick stands 3.75" above
mounting plate. Switch mechanism extends 2" below plate.
CAT # JS-5 $11.95 each 10 for $10.50 each"
Neil
dwfincher
Products Joystick and got the specs. A schematic and info on
addressing is now on my web site at
http://www2.asub.edu/wade/hardware.htm
Hope this helps!
Wade
Moondoggie
Bill didn't even have that info.
Moondoggie
"dwfincher" <wa...@dax.asub.arknet.edu> wrote in message
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