Wico Command Control joystick adapter

9 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 1 month ago
Joined: Sep 15 2021 - 13:45
Posts: 17
Wico Command Control joystick adapter

I picked up a Wico Command Control Joystick adapter in a box of misc gear today, and was wondering how this thing actually works.  It has a regular joystick pin connector that goes into a breakout box with two 9-pin joystick ports and it appears to be a digital to analog converter (officially for Atari-compatible Wico joysticks).  I assume this means it would allow standard Atari joysticks to work with the 2e?

 

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of device?

Online
Last seen: 1 hour 30 min ago
Joined: Feb 27 2021 - 18:59
Posts: 601
Potentiometer simulator

I have never seen that type of adapter before, but I think you're on the right track about what it does.

Software that uses the analog stick inputs to discriminate between "left, center, right" (and the corresponding states for the vertical inputs) could work with this type of adapter and a digital joystick. Any of the games with Lode Runner-style controls, for example. It would not work so well with flight simulators, or other software that uses the analog inputs actual value such as Dazzle Draw. My guess is that it simply uses pass transistors and fixed resistors to simulate the (left, centered, right) potentiometer states given the digital joystick switch positions.

I do have some Macintosh joystick adapters and those are a fair bit more complicated since they must understand the ADB protocol.

xot
xot's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
Joined: Oct 1 2023 - 00:54
Posts: 18
I picked up one of these last

I picked up one of these last year and took it apart to see how it works. Here is a schematic of one of the joystick inputs. The other input is identical.

 

Wico Command Control joystick adaptor schematic

 

It uses standard Atari/Commodore joysticks and works well in any Apple II, II Plus, or IIe with a 16-pin game I/O connector. I presume this also includes the Apple IIgs but I do not have one to check. In a neutral position, the Apple reads 61k ohms; in the left or up positions, 0 ohms; and in the right or down positions, 161k ohms. There are small trim pots to adjust the output if needed. The biggest flaw is that it doesn't work well with games that expect two buttons or absolutely require analog input.

 

You can play with an interactive simulation of the circuit here: WICO joystick adapter CircuitJS simulation (download CircuitJS file: Plain text iconwico.circuitjs.txt)

Offline
Last seen: 1 year 1 month ago
Joined: Sep 15 2021 - 13:45
Posts: 17
Very Cool

Thanks for the detail. That circuit simulation is pretty cool.

Offline
Last seen: 1 day 20 hours ago
Joined: Jun 18 2010 - 13:54
Posts: 795
Too many years ago I designed
Too many years ago I designed a digital joystick interface for the Apple II. It was used primarily by the US government in a Corvus (Apple compatible) computer. It generated an interrupt whenever the joystick was activated and then the switches could be read by software.
Offline
Last seen: 1 month 3 weeks ago
Joined: Jul 5 2018 - 09:44
Posts: 2587
Corvus Cat...  I remember

Corvus Cat...  I remember those.  Not very common.  I don't think they made a whole lot of them.  The first hard drive I had was a Corvus 10MB.  It was one of the early ones with 8" platters.

 

Pretty cool card though.  Of course it would be kinda like the Sirius Joyport which required custom code to read it.  That's the nice thing about the Wico style adapter or the one the schematics are up on Atari Age for that uses a digital multiplexer chip, they work with a lot of software out of the box.

 

macnoyd's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 18 hours ago
Joined: Oct 15 2012 - 08:59
Posts: 855
Interesting Card Jeff

Interesting Card Jeff,  Do you have a schematic of it?  Did it have some sort of analog to digital conveter on it?

Offline
Last seen: 1 day 20 hours ago
Joined: Jun 18 2010 - 13:54
Posts: 795
No, just parallel port for
No, just parallel port for reading switches.
macnoyd's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 day 18 hours ago
Joined: Oct 15 2012 - 08:59
Posts: 855
Thanks for sharing...

Thanks for sharing.  This clarifies its function.

Log in or register to post comments