ZXpand Joystick - programming.

[Moggy]

Hi Bobs.

Firstly I am in no way a games player and have little understanding of how the Xpand works so I assume You just plug a joystick in and away You go (sorry for the technical ignorance).

By a twist of fate I have somehow acquired a couple of joysticks amongst My tat, one a Sinclair and the other I assume a kempston compatable.

Sorry to say all I got was buzz through the AY a thick black band across the screen like a short circuit of some kind then the Xpand reset itself every time I moved the joystick.

Again I assumed a plug and play scenario if the Xpand has to be set up in some way then I'm lost.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Regards

Moggy

[Andy Rea]

That doesn't sound too good

I've had a good old root round here and can only find sinclair sticks, which are not pin compatible with the atari style, i'm wondering if the Kemston stick of yours presented too much of a load on the 5v line of the socket ? that would explain the hum and resetting i guess. i'm not giving up just yet, all i need to find is another 9way d plug and i'll chop the end of the sinclair stick and rewire it

Andy

[sirmorris]

Something from Sinclair NOT STANDARD??

All the AY boards are tested with an Atari stick so you may need to dig around a little for another :¬/

I'll try and get a zeddy together to have a play tomorrow - thanks Bobs!


C

[1024MAK]

Something from Sinclair NOT STANDARD??

Well, sold by Amstrad under the Sinclair name...
And yes, had a pin-out to suit the non-standard joystick ports on the +2 and +3
I think it unlikely that a joystick would load the +5V supply (unless it is faulty).
And they only have connections to the +5V supply if they have an auto-fire circuit.
Mark

See http://wiki.classicamiga.com/Amiga_Joysticks
and http://www.worldofspectrum.org/ZXSpectr ... ter10.html (Joysticks are part way down the page)

[sirmorris]

I used the extended atari standard with 5v on the connector. Any non-standard stick could potentially end up shorting these :¬.

[bobs]

Thanks for all the help with this - hope your ZXpand interface is still working Moggy!
(Must get myself a ZXpand soon - wish people would donate more monies for my games...

Hoping Sir Morris can get it working soon.

[RWAP]

Hi Moggy -

I presume you are using the joystick port on the ZXpand-AY unit, or have you added the joystick socket to the ZXpand itself?

Unfortunately, there were various different joystick types in the heyday.

Atari was the most common standard (and used on the ZXpand).
Commodore had another standard of their own (depending on which computer was being used)
Sinclair then introduced a different standard for the ZX Interface 2, the +2, +2A/+2B and +3 computers.

Typically a joystick for use with a Sinclair socket had a grey adaptor (some also had the black adaptor which was wired to Atari standard). The Sinclair joysticks will NOT work with a ZXpand (or Kempston interface)

Basically, if the joystick works with a Spectrum Kempston interface (which also used an Atari standard port), then it should work on the ZXpand.

[Moggy]

Thanks for all the help with this - hope your ZXpand interface is still working Moggy!
(Must get myself a ZXpand soon - wish people would donate more monies for my games...

Hoping Sir Morris can get it working soon.

Hi Moggy -

I presume you are using the joystick port on the ZXpand-AY unit, or have you added the joystick socket to the ZXpand itself?

Unfortunately, there were various different joystick types in the heyday.

Atari was the most common standard (and used on the ZXpand).
Commodore had another standard of their own (depending on which computer was being used)
Sinclair then introduced a different standard for the ZX Interface 2, the +2, +2A/+2B and +3 computers.

Typically a joystick for use with a Sinclair socket had a grey adaptor (some also had the black adaptor which was wired to Atari standard). The Sinclair joysticks will NOT work with a ZXpand (or Kempston interface)

Basically, if the joystick works with a Spectrum Kempston interface (which also used an Atari standard port), then it should work on the ZXpand.

@Bobs.

Yes Xpand still working, If I had a pound for every knock and wobble i have put Mine through I would very rich
This has got to be the most solid (electronically speaking) piece of kit I have ever had.

@Rich Yes one stick is a Sinclair +2a jobby the other an unknown, therefore I assume kempston, used on the AY unit.

Having looked at Charlies little diagram I might have a go at rewiring it.

Regards
Moggy

[sirmorris]

Hi Bobs - do I need to do anything special to enable joystick control? It's not working for me.

I've run the code under an emulator and it looks like you're doing the correct IO, I just need to dig a bit deeper to see what happens next.

*edit - I've looked at the code at $69ba onward and it appears to be correct.

The interface works correctly with the inkey$ emulation, I wonder if there's an issue with the IN/OUT model :¬.

C

[sirmorris]

I hacked the code to call the vector in ROM, which works in my test program.

The result is the same - no character movement :¬(

I'll keep trying.