Denial

$$$$ I see no reason you couldn't do that, but I suspect the main reason Atari did it that way was cost. Analog joysticks were available at the time, but expensive. Even a very cost reduced version would have cost a lot more than the digital sticks Atari used. There would be other disadvantages, too...

A couple of years ago I started building a robot using my VIC as the controller. As part of that, I needed to build a power supply that ran from a battery. I also wanted to replace the power supply with a newer one that was protected from overvoltage in case my original one died; I didn't want my pr...

The Behr-Bonz prototype (2008) was built on a Vector Electronics board model 3677 and Digikey still carries them. The edge connector is gold plated. I just looked at Digikey's inventory for boards from the same manufacturer and found 11 different types of boards with edge connectors of 44 contacts ...

Ah, I understand now.
I have no idea if they offer that service, but I'm sure it would have to be specified and almost certainly cost extra. But three or four light passes with a file should do the trick if you want it.

The board looks quite nice. I'm not sure what you mean about the 45 degree edge. Do you mean you wanted a 45 deg corner on your board as the left one seems to have? I suspect that whatever you submitted to them is what you got. They seem to cut the boards exactly as the shape layer dictates. EDIT: I...

I suspect it is a function generator to create some specific waveform(s). Perhaps a sine or triangle wave. I have seen similar uses where a counter or shift register fed specific values of resistors to create an analog waveform from a digital signal. Kind of a poor man's wavetable synthesizer. If yo...

And you invariably begin to question whether or not you violated some rule.

And whether you did or not, if the corporate lawyers come calling claiming you did, you will run out of time, energy, and money LONG before they do. So you lose anyway.

Thanks, Floopy! I'm well aware of the hazards. The boards I had made were mostly a test run, so I didn't want to pay the extra. My uses for these won't involve a lot of use. JLCPCB offers ENIG at a fairly low price, which I mentioned in the original post I recommend anyone having these made for long...

I realize this is a REALLY old thread, that got way off topic, but ... Back on topic. I really like the idea of using the VIC as a keyboard for the PC. The Rube Goldberg audio frequency setup originally outlined is neat. But, why not just write a program on the VIC that makes it look like a PS2 keyb...

That would be cool. If I'm ever going to be there long enough to breath I will do just that. Thanks!

Nice!
My wife and I both grew up in the Chattanooga / north Georgia area. Our families are still there. I escaped when I was 18 and went back and rescued her later. I know Chattanooga quite well... or used to.
In fact, my VIC 20 was bought at the K-Mart in East Ridge (gone now, i think), '82 or '83

Thanks.
I'm very close to Clarksville / Fort Campbell area, NW of Nashville. I work in Nashville.

I do have the urge, I just don't have the time :-( The little bit of code I have wouldn't be of any use, but I do have a boatload of documents that would be useful. As soon as I get a free hour or two I will try to sort through and find the most useful stuff. I want to look at that fpga, too. Thanks...

Congratulations! This is a great project and I commend all the work you've done. Old speech synthesizers have been an interest of mine for a long time. I have done a LOT of research and even some coding to do exactly what you mention, create one in an ATMega328. Apparently it has been done before, b...

Prototyping boards that fit the VIC expansion port used to be everywhere. Now, finding them is somewhat difficult and they are usually quite expensive when you do. Not to mention they are usually of less than great quality. So I had some made. I've written it up and made the gerber files available i...