Joystick with usb?

[JS]

I have a Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro, that has a 15 pin (8 on one row,7 on
the other) male connector. However, my XP pc does not have the female
connector on the back. Will an adapter (if available) from the 15 pin to a
usb work?
Thanks,
Jim

 

[Chuck]

Not unless it came with a USB Adapter!
Some of the versions worked with a serial or a USB port, and included the
adapter.
If you didn't get the adapter with the Joystick, It's quite likely that it
will not work with a USB adapter.
I have one of the early MS Joysticks with the "shaker". It will not work
with a USB adapter.
A later MS "digital" Joystick will work with a USB adapter.
If I really need joystick functions, I have (of all things) a converter that
uses the "trainer" pulse train output from a Futaba RC transmitter,
and with the appropriate Windows drivers, converts the output to USB.
(Works on XP, don't think the drivers will with Vista or Win 7.

 

[JS]

Thanks for your reply Chuck,
I have another pc that is not being used right now, and it has a 15 pin
connector in it. I bet it is some kind of sound card. It has plugs for the
speakers, etc. I wonder if I could install that. And would I have conflicts
with what I have now?
I think I have a slot available. What do you think?
Jim

 

[RobertVA]

Thanks for your reply Chuck,
I have another pc that is not being used right now, and it has a 15 pin
connector in it. I bet it is some kind of sound card. It has plugs for the
speakers, etc. I wonder if I could install that. And would I have conflicts
with what I have now?
I think I have a slot available. What do you think?
Jim

You still have to consider the type of slot(s) available on the
motherboard. Older sound cards might require ISA slots which might be in
limited supply, if present at all, on more recent motherboards. There
may even be issues obtaining drivers compatible with the more recent OS
versions.

The game port was originally intended to support two joysticks on a "Y"
adapter (with ONLY two axis and two buttons on each stick) and a
bidirectional serial Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)
(typically not joysticks and MIDI at the same time). Many game controls
utilized the game port's electrical connections that were originally
intended for both joysticks. An alternative technique to add functions
to a controller was to utilize the game port's MIDI interface, usually
marketing the resulting controller as "digital". Since the dual
"joystick" circuits are input only, any game port controller with force
feedback functions has to utilize the port's MIDI circuitry.

Many of the separately sold adapters for connecting a game port
controller to a USB port only support the dual joystick circuitry (no
MIDI/digital controller support). A few digital controllers came with
adapters that did support the MIDI circuitry.