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First post, by Muz

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How do I add Joystick capability for old laptop? Can't find game port attach to it...

Reply 3 of 8, by gilly76

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The Toshiba Enhanced Port Replicator III comes with a gamepad/Midi port. I got one on eBay for $15 in 2021. I believe it should work for you.

<edit>
https://www.recycledgoods.com/toshiba-satelli … or-iii-pa2717u/
Looks like the 225 works.

Reply 5 of 8, by megatron-uk

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In DOS? No. DOS has no understanding of USB at *all* (beyond USB keyboard if your BIOS has 'emulate legacy keyboard support' or some similar setting).

That adapter looks like it will let you use gameport (15 pin) joysticks on systems without a gameport, but you will need a driver for it; I'm 99.99% certain there won't be a DOS driver. If you want to game in Windows, sure, it will probably work - but you'd almost certainly be better off with a simple USB gamepad/joystick at that point.

There are some weird adapters available to let you connect joysticks to the keyboard, mouse or serial ports, but your best bet is the docking station mentioned above - as long as the gameport is exposed on the standard IO ports that games expect (I don't know of many [any?] games that allowed you to change where it looked for the gameport).

My collection database and technical wiki:
https://www.target-earth.net

Reply 6 of 8, by Bondi

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A PCMCIA game port is a good solution, if you can find one. (You can check my signature for the list of existing ones).
The best chances is to track down a PCJOY on Yahoo Japan auctions.

There is also this device Notebook GAMEPORT that connects to a COM port. Guess it's limited to real mode games as it requires a driver to work. This one is also not easy to find, though.

Noteboook Gameport.jpg
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PCMCIA Sound Cards chart
archive.org: PCMCIA software, manuals, drivers

Reply 7 of 8, by Zeerex

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It’s worth mentioning some non-unobtainium options for OP

Here’s one: can simply purchase the cheapest SNES USB controller on Amazon like https://www.amazon.com/Mafiti-Controller-Joys … y/dp/B079HPDLPC. Within Windows 98 SE this requires no driver, and if DOS games are launched from Windows, it works as a joystick seamlessly.

The other notable alternative is an LPT to SNES which works within DOS using SNESKey - however SNESKey documentation is not good and takes some figuring out. Works well on a Pentium 233mhz laptop I have but it’s too slow on a Pentium 75mhz (libretto 50CT) so I’m not sure how it will perform on a P133 like OP’s Toshiba. These were usually available on this site, https://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/snes_co … rport/index.php, but unfortunately out of stock however the schematics are openly available should one choose to build one.