Using Analog controls with Apple IIe Core

Classic80sgmr
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Using Analog controls with Apple IIe Core

Unread post by Classic80sgmr »

From 1979 I grew up with an Apple II+ and a Laser 128 up to Jr year of college (1990) when the power supply for the Laser ended with a loud pop. After that I caved and went to PC. I was missing my old Apple setup so I bought a complete Mister. Things have gone reasonably well but I am stuck on analog controls. Anyone from this era will remember the joysticks were often 2 axis analog with 2 buttons.

I bought an original 15 pin CH joystick with 2 buttons off eBay and a Rockfire USB adapter. The adapter I am running in switch position 4 which is 2 axis with up to 8 buttons. It works perfectly on a PC with Mame. When I try to use it with the Mister I start with the main Mister joystick assignments and I use space to skip dPad. When I press the joystick right the HID information appears but it does not move to the down question. I grabbed an old XBox controller and using the left thumb stick I could get past right and down, map the buttons, and also map tilt right/down. I Googled everything I could find to understand why the XBox (appeared) to work and the CH did not until I came across a thread that talked about the right threshold not getting high enough to be recognized.

I ended up installing in the CH joystick a 1K resistor in series with the x axis potentiometer. Made progress, I now could see the higher values via a serial Putty connection and the CH would now get past the press right question. I completed right/down/2 buttons and tilt right/down. Off to the Apple Core. Successfully learned right/left/up/down and buttons. Excited I ran the 4am crack of PacMan. It goes up/down and left, no right. Karateka my guy will stand up, go into fighting stance and fall off the ledge, no right. Back to the XBox controller… same thing. Back to Google.

There is one thread that talks about changing the analog thresholds using edev-joystick but it was not clear how that would work. I know zilch about Linux and Google did not help. Nearly every post/video related to this subject focuses on either the DualShock or XBox controller. Other posts regarding the Apple //e core imply this is a known issue that needs to be addressed. I am using the Mister to get back as close as I can to the real hardware so getting the CH working is a quest. I appreciate any suggestions or clarity that this is not going to work until the core is updated.

Thank you.
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Newsdee
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Re: Using Analog controls with Apple IIe Core

Unread post by Newsdee »

It looks like an issue of tweaking the deadzone for an analogue controller.
I suggest you post this in the "other computers" sub-forum where there is an Apple II thread.
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