How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

I wanted to know if anyone knows how to make a Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick work on the robot> and if anyone has doen it in the past. Thank You

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

is this the controller you were talking about?



if so, it looks like it has a game port end (db15) so it looks like it would work fine with the operator interface. The best way to tell would be to try it

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Yes that's the joystick. Well i brought into our meeting today and we didn't get to try yet because we didn't have the electronics hooked up yet and i had to leave, but i read some other threads saying that this joystick wouldn't work for some people, because it needed to be ms-dos base--- you need to install the software to use it.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

If the joystick uses a regular game port connection (and it looks like it does) then it shouldnt need any software. If on the other hand it processes data internally then sends it to the computer somehow utilizing the game port to communicate with onboard software then you might have trouble. I have never heard of such a thing, but then again I never thought about it before either.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

I have this joystick (I am also planning to use to for robot control!)

IIRC it uses some proprietary drivers for dealing with that "shift" key they have. I'm not sure if we will need to do some hacking to get the 3rd axis to work or not, though.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

If a controller has a 15-pin connector like that, it's going to be an analog device, and it most likely conforms to the DB-15 standard. Plug it into the Operator Interface, pull up Dashboard, and see what kind of outputs you get. Even if the PC driver is "proprietary", you can still write your own FRC code with a minimal amount of effort. See what outputs you get when you do x with the controller, and make your code do y in response.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

we were thinking of doing the exact same thing!

the 3rd axis could have many applications!

plus, if you can get it to shake, or better yet - if you can use the force feedback system, you would get an amazing feedback system for the driver!

what is this dashboard you speak of?

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Funny you should ask.
http://www.ifirobotics.com/dashboard_viewer.shtml
I don't know how I could program without it.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Yeah, that makes sence, it'd just take some hacking (/me has no experiance with the frc joystick interface) AFAIK.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Thanks guys.. that helped alot... I'm going to try it out on Monday...

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

That's not at all true. From http://www.joy-stick.net/articles/essay.htm

It's getting harder and harder to find a joystick/gamepad with a DB15 connector that is still flightstick compatible. If you plug a new one it, like the one described above, you won't get any usefull data from the controller.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Wow. The thing that I guessed wasnt right actually was. Thats cool stuff with the joystick. So what you need to do really (if that joystick does this stuff) is write your own program to interpret the signals you get on the digital pins. Good luck. Its doable (assuming the RC is fast enough) but you are going to need a serious software genius. This is one of those things you play with in the off season.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Hm... I thought that any joysticks with that sort of protocol had switched over to USB. I didn't think it would make sense to use a modern protocol with an archaic connector, but I guess they are. Nonetheless, I'd still hook it up and see what you can find in Dashboard.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

I'm thinking this will require some rewiring... it will probally require multiple db 15 connections to accomodate all the axies and buttons...

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

I've opened up the MS Sidewinder Presicion Pro, and it is really, really digital, from what I can tell.... not even a potentiometer... a whole lot of optics, it seems... maybe we can convert the digital signal to multiple joystick inputs? i.e.: have xy, and some buttons on one port, and z and some more buttons on the other port...

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

The OI will only send the button values to the RC 40 times per second, so it's not doable. The data coming from the joystick over the button inputs will be changing much faster than that.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

It's Definatly doable... in hardware! :D

Allot of DAC work :rolleyes:

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Can you legally put that stuff on the OI end? What are the restrictions on whats inputting to the OI?

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

AFAIK as long as you don't use any external power sources, or emmit any light... it's ok

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

<R69> says that any device connected to the joystick port must be only powered through the joystick port.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Actually, there are pins set aside on the controller ports specifically for hooking up LEDs. It's all documented in the OI guide.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Well.... those are specificly exempt, right? or are you saying... "you can use a 20 million candle power spotlight"?

Oh yeah, hooking up a "computer" to the joystick ports is also not allowed.

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

If you read the Operator Interface manual, it says that the LED pins provide 5V at 10mA. The rules don't appear to say what you can and can't connect there (except for a computer), but the current restrictions seem to limit you to LEDs. (Well, unless you have a 20mil candela lamp that only draws 10mA... I'd buy one. :p)

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Well... technically, if it runs on the computer's battery.... ;) :D

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

Write a Windows application to collect user inputs from your interface device. Format the data and push it to the mini-RC via the serial port. Use the 8 PWM outputs on the mini-RC to drive servos coupled to 100k pots via gears. Connect the pots to OI inputs. Pots are not electrically connected to the OI and would have their own power supply. But is it legal?

Re: How to Make MS joystick work/has anyone used it in past?
 

AFAIK there is no specific rule prohibiting this. But the spirit of the rule that prohibits the connecting of laptops to the joystick ports is that a PC or PDA is not allowed to control the robot. So, judging by the spirit of the rule, it is definitely not legal.