i hate commodore oe vic20 joystike

Iltanen · Post by **Iltanen** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:19 am

Before I had a joystick I always played with a gamepad so it never came to my mind that I could use my right hand to move the joystick. It doesn't feel natural after playing with gamepads

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:15 pm

ral-clan wrote:Will Sega Genesis controllers work on a VIC-20 without modification?

Sega Genesis: http://pinouts.ru/Game/genesiscontroller_pinout.shtml
VIC/C64: http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/ControlPortC64_pinout.shtml

I don't quite understand the Select business, if the Genesis controller will short pints 7 (Select) with pin 8 (Ground) whenever you press Start or Button A, and short pins 7 with 5 (+5V on the Sega) when you press Button B or C?

On the VIC, pin 5 is POT Y and pin 7 is +5V. I always found it scary to short a voltage with ground if you don't know what it will do, but perhaps there is no danger in that.

Perhaps if you only use button B for fire and avoid buttons Start and A, it is safe, assuming that feeding POT Y with 5V is less dangerous than connecting 5V to ground. Someone, please explain the electronics?

drvanthorp · Post by **drvanthorp** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 2:29 pm

Never liked a controller that made you use the left hand to control the direction. Some early arcade machines were set up like that, because the designers knew that right handed people would die quicker and spend more quarters if they were handicapped by the controller layout. Computers and consoles don't take quarters, so why handicap the player?

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:29 pm

Well, I'm a joystick player through and through (WICO bat is my controller of choice). But I bought the game pad because I have young nephews and nieces and my daughter, who find the game pad easier (the older nephews because that's what they grew up on, and my daughter because she is only five and finds joysticks a little awkward to use).

But, if the Sega gamepad does some sort of weird shorting of pins, then I'm not going to use it on my VIC at all (unless I totally modify it). I already have a Quickshot game pad from the 1980s that can be switched between Commodore/Atari, Amstrad and Sega Master System. So I'm going to just continue to use that then.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:12 pm

carlsson wrote: Perhaps if you only use button B for fire and avoid buttons Start and A, it is safe, assuming that feeding POT Y with 5V is less dangerous than connecting 5V to ground. Someone, please explain the electronics?

All electrical things are wired to some kind of ground. The purpose of ground is to provide a common path for electricity to flow.

There is a distinct difference between "Shorting" to ground and "Closing" a circuit to ground. For example, when you turn on a light bulb, you are completing (or "Closing") a circuit, providing a path for the electric current to go to ground. This permits the electricity to flow through a load; in this case, the light bulb.

When you "Short" a circuit to ground, you are essentially providing no load to the circuit. In some situations, it can cause the conductors to overheat. This is especially true when dealing with a high amount of current. On the other hand, if you're dealing with very low currents, the conductors used may easily be able to dissipate the heat without any ill effects.

In other words, shorting a circuit to ground is bad if there exists sufficiently high enough currents to generate enough heat to burn out the circuit. If the current is very low, and/or the conductor used is sufficient to pass such current without a load, then you're fine.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 6:28 am

So short bursts of 5V, 50-100 mA a couple of times per second should in theory not damage the VIC-20? Hm, it says 50-100 mA is the maximum you can charge from the computer but if you connect 5V directly to ground perhaps no current at all flows?

GreyGhost · Post by **GreyGhost** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:58 pm

The thumb pad works fine for all directions and the "B" button is the fire button.
Never mind, I finished reading the second page of the thread.

ravenxau · Post by **ravenxau** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:18 pm

vic user wrote:
Anyway, I prefer real joysticks over gamepads as you for some strange reason use your left hand to move around. Are all in Japan left handed or what?
i never thought of it before, but maybe that is why i love game pads so much, as i am left handed!

i use a sega genesis controller on my vic.

chris

Same here for the left -handedness, same for the genesis pad.

The atari 2600 pad that shipped with the Jr is also a good substitute - just unscrew the stick, fill the hole in the pad with some tissue (for padding) and duct tape over the top to seal - much more comfortable.

Also if using a pad, I find the best way to play is to put my thumbs under the pad and use my fingers (same as a keyboard) - less fatigue for those long gaming sessions