Joystick Re-Wire Question

[boguski.1]

I've been looking at joysticks recently to be used with mach 3 as a jog control for my machine, and one of my co-workers gave me a 15 pin joystick (Gravis MK VI, 2 axis, 3 button) that he hasn't used for quite some time. Today's computers hardly ever use the required "game port" anymore, so I've been trying to come up with ideas on how to make this joystick work. I like the fact that it is simple, and also the fact that it may be a challenge to adapt!

Can I wire this unit to a DB-9 serial port, or should I either buy an adapter (I've seen game port to USB for about $20) or purchase a PCI sound card with a game port, or a PCI parallel port and go that route? I don't know much about serial pin language/assignments. I would imagine that the pin setup could be as follows:

1: Up
2: Down
3: Left
4: Right
5: Button 1
6: Button 2
7: Button 3
8: Ground
9: Unused

From what I've read, this is a possible configuration for the atari digital style joysticks. I think that my joystick is analog, but I don't know! The other part of my question is will Mach 3 be able to recognize pins 1-7 as "inputs" for the buttons and allow me to assign the jog functions? Maybe this is more work than it's worth, but interesting nonetheless!

[vger]

The serial port is not an option... unless there is a little processor in the joystick to produce serial data streams that represent the joystick/button positions and the software has some routine to decipeher that stream.

If you open up the joystick and see potientiometers connected to the stick, then it's analog and will not work as a jog for your system.

If it is digital (switches only) then it should be very very simple to connect to the parallel port for use as a jog control.

Steve

[boguski.1]

Thanks for the reply Steve.

The joystick does have potentiometers inside. Would one of these adapters work? It is a game port to USB converter.

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-to-Game-Port...QQcmdZViewItem