rec.autos.simulators

by **Herwig Hensele** » Sat, 12 Apr 1997 04:00:00

Racers,

I race ICR2 and N1 since they came out. Like crazy. I am totally ***ed
with no end in sight. Problem: Steering. I use the keyboard but I want to
get better, more realistic.

Option#1: Joystick.
Not much more realistic than keyboard.

No option for me.

Option#2: Thrustmaster T2.
Very expensive here in germany (>200$). Buying in
US doesn't make it cheaper (postage, tax, shipping, ...).
The T2 is said to be of average quality. Good, but does not stand
heavy use. Springs break after a while. Cheap plastic made.

No option for me.

Option#3: Choicestick adapter and PC wheel.
Product not yet available. (http://www.racesimcentral.net/)

No option for me.

Option#4: Do-it yourself.
Make a wheel and a pedal yourself
(http://www.racesimcentral.net/~wottenad/wheel2.htm).
Problem: The Mac does not use a PC-joystick port but ADB. The ADB
is a bus which needs a controller. Definitely not a do-it yourself
part.

I want to do that!

_ANY_ chance for me to make a home-grown wheel? A possibility to misuse an
existing controller? (Misusing an old mouse would be a bad choice since
fast and slow movements are treated differently, resulting in inaccurate
centering of the wheel). Buying a cheap joystick, take it apart and use
the electronics would only give me one analog controller for the wheel.
But gas and brake also need analog input. The Choicestick adapter seems to
solve this problem, but even the manufacturer does not know when it will
be available.

Anyone with a better suggestion than buying a (*yuck*) PC?

Thanks in advance ... if there is a solution, I will post a summary.

Herwig
---------------------------------------------------------------------
## Herwig Henseler Tel: 0441/9722-222
## Universitaet Oldenburg Fax: 0441/9722-202

## Escherweg 2
## D-26121 Oldenburg
##
## http://www.racesimcentral.net/
## Life is a heuristic guided depth-first search without backtracking

by **Ryan John Cousine** » Sat, 12 Apr 1997 04:00:00

>Racers,
>I race ICR2 and N1 since they came out. Like crazy. I am totally ***ed
>with no end in sight. Problem: Steering. I use the keyboard but I want to
>get better, more realistic.
>Option#1: Joystick.
> Not much more realistic than keyboard.
>Option#4: Do-it yourself.
> Make a wheel and a pedal yourself
> (http://www.racesimcentral.net/~wottenad/wheel2.htm).
> Problem: The Mac does not use a PC-joystick port but ADB. The ADB
> is a bus which needs a controller. Definitely not a do-it yourself
> part.
>I want to do that!
>_ANY_ chance for me to make a home-grown wheel? A possibility to misuse an
>existing controller? (Misusing an old mouse would be a bad choice since
>fast and slow movements are treated differently, resulting in inaccurate
>centering of the wheel). Buying a cheap joystick, take it apart and use
>the electronics would only give me one analog controller for the wheel.
>But gas and brake also need analog input. The Choicestick adapter seems to
>solve this problem, but even the manufacturer does not know when it will
>be available.

Note that when you set your Mac mouse to "Very Slow" in the mouse control
panel, it tracks 1:1, no acceleration (the setting is meant, if the picture
is to be believed, for grapics tablets and similar input devices). That
should suit your needs.

--

http://www.racesimcentral.net/~rjcousin/
Warning: words have power. please properly ground yourself while reading.

by **Jim Sokolo** » Sat, 12 Apr 1997 04:00:00

On Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:26:54 +0200, "Herwig Henseler"

>Option#2: Thrustmaster T2.
> Very expensive here in germany (>200$). Buying in
> US doesn't make it cheaper (postage, tax, shipping, ...).
>Option#4: Do-it yourself.
> Make a wheel and a pedal yourself
> (http://www.oz.net/~wottenad/wheel2.htm).
> Problem: The Mac does not use a PC-joystick port but ADB. The ADB
> is a bus which needs a controller. Definitely not a do-it yourself
> part.

>I want to do that!

>_ANY_ chance for me to make a home-grown wheel? A possibility to misuse an
>existing controller?

I don't know what you are willing to work for per hour, but I bet the
cheapest would be to buy a T2, and if you're unsatisfied with the
quality, remanufacture the mechanical pieces. (Sure, it'll cost over
$200, but I've seen the ADB specs, and you don't want to tackle
writing an ADB interface on a microcontroller as your first project
:-) ) Just take what Thrustmaster has already done. (If the $200 is an
issue, you're far better off getting another (unrelated) job, working
for 50 hours or so to get the $200 than to fool around trying to build
your own ADB interfaced component, which would undoubtedly take more
than 50 hours, and would likely amount to being back where you
started...)

I don't think that modifying a mouse would be a realistic way to solve
the problem, as the mouse interface has frequency limits and
occasional errors would compound, causing the "logical" center of the
controls to drift from the physical center of the controls.

---Jim Sokoloff

by **bert molina** » Sat, 12 Apr 1997 04:00:00

> Racers,

> I race ICR2 and N1 since they came out. Like crazy. I am totally ***ed
> with no end in sight. Problem: Steering. I use the keyboard but I want to
> get better, more realistic.

> Option#1: Joystick.
> Not much more realistic than keyboard.

The joystick may not be much more realistic, but it certainly makes
driving a lot more enjoyable than a keyboard. It would seem that investing
$70 for a good joystick might be your best bet, a good compromise
between the keyboard and the $200 T2 (or the time it would take to
build your own wheel).

--
bert molinari
mac programmer
5d games inc.

by **Attilio Tarabu** » Sun, 27 Apr 1997 04:00:00

>Option#4: Do-it yourself.
> Make a wheel and a pedal yourself
> (http://www.oz.net/~wottenad/wheel2.htm).
> Problem: The Mac does not use a PC-joystick port but ADB. The ADB
> is a bus which needs a controller. Definitely not a do-it yourself
> part.

>I want to do that!

>_ANY_ chance for me to make a home-grown wheel? A possibility to misuse an
>existing controller? (Misusing an old mouse would be a bad choice since
>fast and slow movements are treated differently, resulting in inaccurate
>centering of the wheel). Buying a cheap joystick, take it apart and use
>the electronics would only give me one analog controller for the wheel.
>But gas and brake also need analog input. The Choicestick adapter seems to
>solve this problem, but even the manufacturer does not know when it will
>be available.

>Anyone with a better suggestion than buying a (*yuck*) PC?

Hi there,

i have a thrustmuster FCS & WCS and i made the pedals for mac on my own
it was quite simple and now the can act as rudders or as gas/brake
it was simple because i used the port on the FCS that is the same port that
you can find on a PC, so evrything works with potmeters.

Now i'm trying to make a wheel too, so if you have clues, please drop me a
line.

Attilio

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