Atari Controller Notes
From: JTKIRK@urp.edu.pe
Date: 02/01/96-05:33:22 AM Z
From: JTKIRK@urp.edu.pe
Subject: Atari Controller Notes
Date: Thu Feb 1 05:33:22 1996
These are my notes on different types of ATARI controllers.
I decided to put them together after I read a posting by Mark Howard about
the steering controllers and trackball on some ATARI 8-bit page.
Joysticks
---------
circuital diagram pin assignments
----------------- ---------------
___________
org blk \5 4 3 2 1/
| | \9_8_7_6/
O-----+
| wht
| | pin wire
+-----O # col function
| -----------------
+-----\ 1 wht ^ (up)
| | 2 blu v (down)
grn -O +-----O- bwn 3 grn < (left)
| 4 bwn > (right)
| 6 org fire
| (7 red +5V) (*)
O 8 blk GND
|
blu (*) only used in joysticks
with autofire switch
autofire circuit
----------------
red firing frequency:
|
/----------+ f=1,44/[(R1+2*R2)*C]
| |
Z /--+ ( T=0,694*(R1+2*R2)*C )
R1 Z .__|__|__.
| | 8 4 |
+----7 | typical values:
| | 3----- org
Z | LM 555 | C1=0,42 nF
R2 Z /-6 5----\ R1=10 K
| | | | | R2=10 K
+--+-2 | = C1 C=100 nF
| |___1____| |
| | | (These are the values I selected.)
\---||---+---------/
C |
blk
Paddles
-------
circuital diagram pin assignments
----------------- ---------------
___________
pushbutton R \5 4 3 2 1/
__I__ /---NNN-- \9_8_7_6/
o o | ^
| | | | pin wire
L grn blk yel vio # col function
------------------------------------ -----------------
R bwn blk yel red 3 grn L button
4 bwn R button
5 red R paddle
R=1M 7 yel +5V
(R=500K for Commodore) 8 blk GND
9 vio L paddle
Keyboard controllers/Video touch pad
------------------------------------
circuital diagram pin assignments
----------------- ---------------
___________
grn vio wht blu \5 4 3 2 1/
| | | | \9_8_7_6/
+-NN-+-NN-+ |
| R R | | pin wire
O---------O---------O----- bwn # col function
| | | -----------------
| | | 1 bwn row 1
O---------O---------O----- red 2 red row 2
| | | 3 org row 3
| | | 4 yel row 4
O---------O---------O----- org 5 grn col 1
| | | 6 blu col 3
| | | 7 vio +5V
O---------O---------O----- yel 9 wht col 2
R=4,7K
Readings
--------
The following program appeared in COMPUTE!, 2/87, "Readers Feedback"
section, page 30. It allows to read a keyboard controller (or video
touch pad, since they are internally identical) connected to port 1:
1 GRAPHICS 0
10 DIM ROW(3),I$(13),BUTTON$(1)
30 GOSUB 6000
60 POSITION 2,7:PRINT "CONTROLLER # 1:";
80 GOSUB 7000:POSITION 19,7:PRINT BUTTON$;
120 GOTO 80
6000 REM
6010 POKE 54018,48:POKE 54016,255:POKE 54018,52:POKE 54016,221
6030 ROW(0)=238:ROW(1)=221:ROW(2)=187:ROW(3)=119
6040 I$=" 123456789*0#"
6050 RETURN
7000 PORT=54016
7010 P=1:PAD=0
7020 FOR J=0 TO 3
7030 POKE PORT, ROW(J)
7040 FOR I=1 TO 10:NEXT I
7050 IF PADDLE(PAD+1)>10 THEN P=J+J+J+2:GOTO 7090
7060 IF PADDLE(PAD)>10 THEN P=J+J+J+3:GOTO 7090
7070 IF STRIG(0)=0 THEN P=J+J+J+4:GOTO 7090
7080 NEXT J
7090 BUTTON$=I$(P,P)
7100 RETURN
STM1 Mouse
----------
circuital diagram pin assignments
----------------- ---------------
___________
(Are you nuts? It consists of \5 4 3 2 1/
23 resistors, 2 capacitors, \9_8_7_6/
2 movement sensors and an
LM 339N quad-comparator IC!) pin wire
# col function
Well, at least the buttons: -----------------
1 bwn L/R sense
L button R button 2 org L/R reference
__I__ __I__ 3 grn U/D sense
o o o o 4 blu U/D reference
| | | | 6 yel L button
yel blk wht blk 7 red +5V
8 blk GND
9 wht R button
readings
--------
The STM1 Mouse works as an inverted trackball (which is, in fact, what
it is). The left button corresponds to the joystick trigger; the right
button must be read in more or less the same way as the keyboard
controllers, I guess (I had to return the mouse I borrowed before
finishing my analysis).
Mouse rolling forwards (up) Mouse rolling backwards (down)
U/D U/D U/D U/D
REF SNS REF SNS
------- -------
0 1 0 0
1 1 <-\ 1 0 <-\
0 1 --/ 0 0 --/
... ...
Mouse rolling left Mouse rolling right
L/R L/R L/R L/R
REF SNS REF SNS
------- -------
0 1 0 0
1 1 <-\ 1 0 <-\
0 1 --/ 0 0 --/
... ...
I tried to write a resident handler which should convert the mouse
readings into joystick values and put them into the shadow register
for joystick 2 (remember that on the ATARI XL/XE only joysticks 0
and 1 are in effect, and 2 & 3 just contain repeats of 0 and 1).
Then, if you read STICK(2), you would have the translated values;
STRIG(2) would give you the status of the right mouse button; and
for the left button, you would still use STRIG(0). Unfortunately,
the routine got hanged sooner or later, and I had to return the
borrowed mouse before I could finish debugging it. Maybe I can
borrow another and resume the task...
Marco Antonio Checa Funcke
Botoneros 270
Lima 33
Peru
reachable at jtkirk@urp.edu.pe
-----------------------------------------
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