New Joysticks...Good or Bad Choice by FIRST?

[deltacoder1020]

Originally Posted by Phish32786

(tight turning maybe with out forward thrust?) I think that would be really cool.

you could do this without joystick twisting - simply make it so that when you push the joystick full to the right or left, the appropriate motor is not simply full-stopped, but instead reversed - i.e. the first 3/4 of the joystick motion to the left slows the left motor, the last 1/4 speeds it up again, but in reverse. then simply push the joystick up and right or up and left to turn sharply.

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Anthony Kesich

Those are null wheels. They adjust the offset and are used to null the joystick. What we're looking for is a wheel that gives its own analogue output, not just adjusts another.

Just wire your own. Look in the FRC default code doc for the tables. you can add 2 (Unless the D-pad uses them).

[CyberWolf_22]

The directional pad on top of the joystick does take one of the analog inputs but there still is that second one you can use to make your wheel that was on last years joystick with a pot and a piece of wood or metal cut into a circle.

[Astronouth7303]

To use a pot, all you need is to drill a hole. There's a litttle nut on top to attach it.

[Corina Martinez]

Can we buy are own joysticks or do we have to use the one's that FIRST gave use?

[ShadowKnight]

you can buy your own

[ahecht]

It looks like the reason that FIRST went with the new sticks is that CH Products has discontinued the Flightstick. However, you can still buy the Flightstick Pro (the 4 button version of the Flightstick) for around $15 from places like PC Connection. I can't personally vouch that the quality of the Flightstick Pro is the same as the Flightstick, but it is ambidextrous and has been well reviewed.

For those of you who really want the old 2-button Flightstick, you can buy them for $30 from FlightSim Central.

[ComputerGeek]

just to let you all know, the directional pads on the top of the new sticks are called hats
personally i think that the new ones should be used for things other than driving. that way drivers can still use 2 joystick driving.

[Aignam]

Originally Posted by ahecht

For those of you who really want the old 2-button Flightstick, you can buy them for $30 from FlightSim Central.

I can't find the old Flightsticks on there. Does anyone know where they are, or where I can get them?

[edomus]

Originally Posted by Aignam

I can't find the old Flightsticks on there. Does anyone know where they are, or where I can get them?

Looks like I got the last ones

[Aignam]

Originally Posted by edomus

Looks like I got the last ones

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by AlphaOmega870

Is there any other way to adjust sensitivity?

Look at the thread, desenetizing joysticks, for more than you'll ever want to know about cutting down on the crazy sensetivity of the joysticks.

[David Bryan]

The Joystick Does have p1_wheel but it only gives 5 values which we can use.
Leave centered p1_wheel = 45
push right = 202
push forward = 254
push left = 98
pull back = 149
These are approximate but you can make 4 decisions with these directions.
This assigned p1_wheel control is between p1_sw_aux1 and p1_sw_aux2.


David Bryan
818

[SeanCassidy]

I wrote a function like this to find what buttons where what on the joystick (The same joystick first gave us.)

void Default_Routine(void)
{
  if(!p1_x) 
    printf("p1_x\n");
  if(!p1_y) 
    printf("p1_y\n");
  if(!p2_y)
    printf("p2_y\n");
  if(!p1_wheel) 
    printf("p1_wheel\n");
  if(!p1_aux) 
    printf("p1_aux\n");
  if(p1_sw_trig) 
    printf("p1_sw_trig\n");
  if(p1_sw_top)
    printf("p1_sw_top\n");
  if(p1_sw_aux1)
    printf("p1_sw_aux1\n");
  if(p1_sw_aux2)
    printf("p1_sw_aux2\n");
}

What I couldn't find on the joystick themselves were p1_wheel, and p1_aux. Also, when I pressed the hat in different directions, nothing happened. Any ideas?

[deltacoder1020]

Originally Posted by SeanCassidy

I wrote a function like this to find what buttons where what on the joystick (The same joystick first gave us.)

void Default_Routine(void)
{
  if(!p1_x) 
    printf("p1_x\n");
  if(!p1_y) 
    printf("p1_y\n");
  if(!p2_y)
    printf("p2_y\n");
  if(!p1_wheel) 
    printf("p1_wheel\n");
  if(!p1_aux) 
    printf("p1_aux\n");
  if(p1_sw_trig) 
    printf("p1_sw_trig\n");
  if(p1_sw_top)
    printf("p1_sw_top\n");
  if(p1_sw_aux1)
    printf("p1_sw_aux1\n");
  if(p1_sw_aux2)
    printf("p1_sw_aux2\n");
}

What I couldn't find on the joystick themselves were p1_wheel, and p1_aux. Also, when I pressed the hat in different directions, nothing happened. Any ideas?

well, the hat control *should* be showing up as p1_wheel, and p1_aux is not used on the new joysticks.

also, most of the values are not boolean values - that is, you can't really use an if statement to check them. for instance, the wheel will never show up, because it is a analog value from 0-255, but in the case of the hat it is never 0 - it's neutral value is somewhat above zero. Same goes for the joystick x and y axis - they are analog values from 0-255.