DIY vintage joystick to USB?

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:06 pm

I was looking at the Stelladapter. It's great but a little pricey - especially if you need two (with current exchange rates that would cost over $100 CAD).

I was thinking, couldn't one pick up a cheap USB gamepad from a Thrift store, open it up and solder a DB9 connector directly to the contacts? You'd plug your old, original joystick into this DB9 connector.

Voila, a cheap "Stelladapter". A little ugly perhaps, but it should work.

Anyone forsee a problem with this approach?

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:19 pm

I've got a piccy here:

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=PqunGh9

I think this is what your looking for.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:26 pm

Awesome! So did you whip up that picture, or is this a hack people are already doing?

I wonder if it's possible to get even closer to the chip, so you can cut away most of the un-needed circuit board and put it in a smaller package. There's no chip or pinout info in that drawing.

Also, is that depiction of the DB9 showing the back (solder side) or the pins (front side)? I think back side view is standard on drawings like this, no?

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:45 pm

ral-clan wrote:Awesome! So did you whip up that picture, or is this a hack people are already doing?

No, that is not a picture he whipped up.

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:01 pm

ral-clan wrote:Awesome! So did you whip up that picture, or is this a hack people are already doing?

I wonder if it's possible to get even closer to the chip, so you can cut away most of the un-needed circuit board and put it in a smaller package. There's no chip or pinout info in that drawing.

Also, is that depiction of the DB9 showing the back (solder side) or the pins (front side)? I think back side view is standard on drawings like this, no?

I think I got the picture from a post on Lemon 64 ages ago. I kept it with the intention of doing what you're talking about but RL kicked in...

As far as the orientation of the socket goes I think you're right. It's the back view.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:53 pm

Pedro Lambrini wrote:I think I got the picture from a post on Lemon 64 ages ago.

I've lost track of how many times I've posted it at Lemon. I think this might have been the first time though.