VOGONS


Reply 260 of 293, by Volo

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LuigiStone wrote on 2022-01-14, 21:49:

Hey, are you still selling these? Thanks!

Yes, I do. I wanted to update this thread, but have had nothing to report (I don't want to "bump" on Vogons without a cause). I'll have some proper news in a week or so.

Want to play MS-DOS keyboard-only games with a gamepad? Feel free to purchase Volo's Pad-to-PS/2 by writing me an e-mail:
3hUGsDI.png

Reply 261 of 293, by LuigiStone

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Volo wrote on 2022-01-17, 07:48:
LuigiStone wrote on 2022-01-14, 21:49:

Hey, are you still selling these? Thanks!

Yes, I do. I wanted to update this thread, but have had nothing to report (I don't want to "bump" on Vogons without a cause). I'll have some proper news in a week or so.

OK, I sent you an e-mail on the 12th asking about them. I can resend if you didn’t receive it. Thanks!

Reply 262 of 293, by cyberluke

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Why no gameport? I invested in 50 gameport joystick and gamepad collection and have no SNES.

EDIT: something like this http://electric-handicraft.blogspot.com/2010/ … -converter.html

Reply 263 of 293, by Volo

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cyberluke wrote on 2022-01-18, 07:49:

Why no gameport? I invested in 50 gameport joystick and gamepad collection and have no SNES.

EDIT: something like this http://electric-handicraft.blogspot.com/2010/ … -converter.html

Dear cyberluke,

That is the question of priorities 😀 I have no gameport joysticks and only a single computer that can accept one. Originally, the device was conceived to allow me to play Turrican, Duke Nukem II and Hocus Pocus on my Pentium laptops (hence the default button layout). The project’s just grown from that simple premise.

I considered using a Gravis Gamepad, but nowadays, it’s far more expensive than SEGA or SNES pads and has four buttons instead of eight. Furthermore – the more I looked into gameport joysticks, the less I was willing to deal with them. That is a serpentarium of protocols and standards! You might hack necroware’s project for your needs: https://github.com/necroware/gameport-adapter

I considered investigating a concept of a reverse adapter (to allow USB steering wheels, joysticks and gamepads to be connected to the gameport), but no one was interested: Did any (strictly)MS-DOS game have force feedback to its joysticks or steering?

Is there really any conceivable need to convert analog joysticks into PS/2? I may hack up some kind of keyboard-mouse Frankensteinian adapter, if there is significant interest.

Want to play MS-DOS keyboard-only games with a gamepad? Feel free to purchase Volo's Pad-to-PS/2 by writing me an e-mail:
3hUGsDI.png

Reply 264 of 293, by cyberluke

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Ah, okay. Thanks for the info. Yes, I know necroware. I might finally heat up my solder station and have fun! That's good. Currently I'm using Teensy as USB HID to PC AT (DIN) to have Ajazz K510 gaming keyboard on 386/486 at home. So I feel your pain 😁. For a steering wheel, I have some modern USB wheel and that is supposed to work in WinXP (perhaps Win98 as well), so I did not have the need to do that.

Reply 265 of 293, by Pierre32

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Playing some Ironman Super Offroad tonight. It has joystick support but mine was all haywire, and the keyboard controls kinda suck. Volo Adapter and a SNES pad to the rescue. Love this thing 😁

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Reply 266 of 293, by carlostex

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Volo wrote on 2022-01-18, 14:59:

I considered investigating a concept of a reverse adapter (to allow USB steering wheels, joysticks and gamepads to be connected to the gameport), but no one was interested: Did any (strictly)MS-DOS game have force feedback to its joysticks or steering?

Is there really any conceivable need to convert analog joysticks into PS/2? I may hack up some kind of keyboard-mouse Frankensteinian adapter, if there is significant interest.

I'm very interested in that i just did not see that post of yours. Using a modern Joystick or wheel with an old system would be great for several reasons. The Force Feedback thing would be useless, but the reliability of modern controllers would just solve tons of issues. I go an old Thrustmaster FCS that broke, then got a Saitek Cyborg that its just useless now with haywire potentiometers. Now i got a Microsoft Sidewinder that its working ok but its not ergonomical.

So, it would be nice to use my modern affordable HOTAS with my DOS Flight Simulators, supporting 4 axis (pitch, roll, yaw and throttle) at least. Then i could use a G27 steering wheel to play F1GP and Papyrus IndyCar and NASCAR simulators.

I'm surprised no one was interested. Honestly i'm baffled why people want to use an old joystick on a modern system. Maybe they like to combine that with DOSBox for a retro and nostalgic feel. But then, why not do it with a real DOS PC?

Reply 267 of 293, by Pierre32

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I think the lede is kinda buried in that thread. If the title was "Any interest in a USB joystick adapter for DOS?" there would be a good amount of interest.

Reply 268 of 293, by Volo

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Sorry guys. My country was invaded. I hear no shelling (yet), though future might become undefined.
I'll try to carry on selling the thing, but I might become AFK.

Please bug your Members of Parliament and politicians to ensure maximum possible support to Ukraine. We'll need it.

Want to play MS-DOS keyboard-only games with a gamepad? Feel free to purchase Volo's Pad-to-PS/2 by writing me an e-mail:
3hUGsDI.png

Reply 272 of 293, by dreamblaster

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Take care, Volo !

Visit http://www.serdashop.com for retro sound cards, video converters, ...
DreamBlaster X2, S2, S2P, HDD Clicker, ... many projects !
New X2GS SE & X16GS sound card : https://www.serdashop.com/X2GS-SE ,
Thanks for your support !

Reply 273 of 293, by Volo

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Sorry for turning this thing political. If you'd like to help, please donate to International Charitable Foundation "Come Back Alive". Link: https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ They accept card payments.
I won’t lie or sugarcoat it: this is not the charity to save cuddly polar bears and whales. Your donation goes to the army and tough people like these our heroes.

What you get in return:

  1. No need to update world maps. That is not only Ukraine. Russia officially threatens Sweden and Finland with military actions. China is considering similar treatment of Taiwan.
  2. Possible prevention of World War 3. Yes, really! Doomsday clock is a minute to midnight.

Please, understand that the stakes are high. Globally high. Outcome of this conflict shall directly concern whole of humanity and each of you in less than a decade. Surprisingly, we are winning so far, but we need A LOT of help.

P.S. Hopefully, I shall survive and be able to return to business as usual.

Last edited by Volo on 2022-03-03, 11:10. Edited 3 times in total.

Want to play MS-DOS keyboard-only games with a gamepad? Feel free to purchase Volo's Pad-to-PS/2 by writing me an e-mail:
3hUGsDI.png

Reply 275 of 293, by aha2940

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I've been away from vogons for some time now, but just thought of you Volo when I heard about the news of your country. Keep safe, hopefully everything will get solved soon.

Reply 277 of 293, by Evil_Orko

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Yay!!! Volo just reached out to me and he was able to get home safely and take some orders so I went ahead and ordered mine right away. He is a super nice guy, too - a pleasure to talk to. Can't wait to get this to finally play Alien Carnage, Jill of the Jungle, Vinyl, Jazz Jackrabbit, Commander Keen, etc with a proper gamepad! Stay safe, Volo, and thanks for everything!!

Reply 278 of 293, by BlackVega

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I received this product today. I can already say it is top quality as much as possible. Build quality and functionality is top notch. Most importantly, all buttons respond very fast and feels like real time, 0 lag. This is basically PC consolizer or at least that's how I would call it. This is exactly what I needed for many years. Easily 10/10

I'm using IBM Thinkpad T23. I must say the internal keyboard cannot program the controller buttons at all. However an external PS2 keyboard can program controllers perfectly fine. All games work and respond in DOS and Windows mode
NOTE: if you are using an IBM Thinkpad T20/T21/T22/T23 (or a similar Thinkpad from that time period) then you must buy a PS/2 splitter or build your own adapter to redirect PS/2 signals to alternate pins. Otherwise Volo gamepad adapter or any external PS2 keyboard in that matter will not work
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Surprisingly, it even works with PC-98! (using a handmade GKA-AT98 converter) Not to mention I can't see any lag at all. It works just as fast as on a regular PC. No one expected this to work on a different hardware so this is an enormous bonus for me. Now this is shocking and this is where you start to see the quality of this thing:
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Hell, why even stop there? It even works on Epson PC-98 clone!
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