game port vs USB for controlers?

When USB controller came out I remember reading how much better they were than game port controllers due to less overhead and possible some other reasons I can't remember now. Is that true or was it just hype? I am asking because in looking at high quality pedals, most are for the game port and if you want USB you need a converter box. Why not just go the game port rout if you have one? Is it worth using the converts to go USB? Is it better to go with a USB designed conttroler and avoid a converter entirely? Thanks, Russell

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:44:06 -0600, Russell <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>When USB controller came out I remember reading how much better they >were than game port controllers due to less overhead and possible some >other reasons I can't remember now. Is that true or was it just hype? > >I am asking because in looking at high quality pedals, most are for the >game port and if you want USB you need a converter box. Why not just go >the game port rout if you have one? Is it worth using the converts to >go USB? Is it better to go with a USB designed conttroler and avoid a >converter entirely? > >Thanks, >Russell

Best to go USB and bypass gameports completely. XP has very little support for gameports, if any. USB has a much higher sampling rate so the controller is polled many more times and thus more accurate. Whether you will notice it or not is another matter. :-) But I would only buy USB controllers now if I was you. Those gameport>usb converters are crap and don't work too well from what I hear. All contemporary game controllers are usb. What pedals are you looking at that are gameport?

Any Windows XP users care to comment on the Rockfire USB adapter? "Nigel Nichols" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:c2ofis$une$[email hidden]... > Hi Russell > > As a making of high end pedal units I am more than happy to recommend the > Rockfire USB convertor way. While I build the actual pedal units to suit > gameport I simply change the pots to a higher value to take advantage ofthe > Rockfire USB adapter. I only have experience with the Rockfire USB adapter > on Win98 and can 100% say that they are the best thing since sliced bread. > They auto detect in Windows and do not require added software other than > what is required from the Win98 CD. > The games port is old technolgy and is cumbersome at best. Other top end > controller makers also use the Rockfire adapter so I'm not the only onewith

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> high praise of it. > > Nigel > Redline Race Controls > http://www.wave.co.nz/~lakewood/Redline2.htm > > > > Russell <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > When USB controller came out I remember reading how much better they > > were than game port controllers due to less overhead and possible some > > other reasons I can't remember now. Is that true or was it just hype? > > > > I am asking because in looking at high quality pedals, most are for the > > game port and if you want USB you need a converter box. Why not just go > > the game port rout if you have one? Is it worth using the converts to > > go USB? Is it better to go with a USB designed conttroler and avoid a > > converter entirely? > > > > Thanks, > > Russell > >

I have one and it works excellent with Nascar 2003. Pete "Damien Evans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:c2oosv$1uj71r$[email hidden]... > Any Windows XP users care to comment on the Rockfire USB adapter?

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 17:49:13 -0800, Debug <[email hidden]> wrote: >Best to go USB and bypass gameports completely. XP has very little >support for gameports, if any. I have a gameport gamepad that works just fine in XP. -- Andrew. To email unscramble [email hidden] & remove spamtrap. Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards, please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevent text. Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

> I have one and it works excellent with Nascar 2003. > > Pete Thanks

Nigel Nichols wrote:

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> As a making of high end pedal units I am more than happy to recommend > the Rockfire USB convertor way. While I build the actual pedal units > to suit gameport I simply change the pots to a higher value to take > advantage of the Rockfire USB adapter. I only have experience with > the Rockfire USB adapter on Win98 and can 100% say that they are the > best thing since sliced bread. They auto detect in Windows and do not > require added software other than what is required from the Win98 CD. > The games port is old technolgy and is cumbersome at best. Other top > end controller makers also use the Rockfire adapter so I'm not the > only one with high praise of it. >

Would it not be better to bundle your pedals with this unit or something similar? http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=255 It's not rocket sience to put together an ADC and a USB interface. I'm sure many of your potential customers end up with BRD because it is USB. If you do, make it 10bit or more. The Act-Labs unit is 8-bit, I guess the Rockfire is too. Many homebuilders would be interested in a 10 or 12 bit device. -- Jone Tytlandsvik http://tytlandsvik.no mailto: firstname at lastname dot no

Jone Tytlandsvik wrote:

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> > Would it not be better to bundle your pedals with this unit or something > similar? > http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=255 > > It's not rocket sience to put together an ADC and a USB interface. I'm sure > many of your potential customers end up with BRD because it is USB. > If you do, make it 10bit or more. The Act-Labs unit is 8-bit, I guess the > Rockfire is too. Many homebuilders would be interested in a 10 or 12 bit > device. >

8bit should be fine for pedals. For a wheel axis 10bit or better should really be used. I'm surprised someone like Rockfire doesn't make a high resolution converter, would be a big selling point with only small increase in cost. Ken PS Jone, I have a circuit diagram for the AL wheels, will send it along once it's tidied up. Makes it fairly easy to connect the AL USB cartridges to a homebuilt wheel.

Hi Russell As a making of high end pedal units I am more than happy to recommend the Rockfire USB convertor way. While I build the actual pedal units to suit gameport I simply change the pots to a higher value to take advantage of the Rockfire USB adapter. I only have experience with the Rockfire USB adapter on Win98 and can 100% say that they are the best thing since sliced bread. They auto detect in Windows and do not require added software other than what is required from the Win98 CD. The games port is old technolgy and is cumbersome at best. Other top end controller makers also use the Rockfire adapter so I'm not the only one with high praise of it. Nigel Redline Race Controls http://www.wave.co.nz/~lakewood/Redline2.htm Russell <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> When USB controller came out I remember reading how much better they > were than game port controllers due to less overhead and possible some > other reasons I can't remember now. Is that true or was it just hype? > > I am asking because in looking at high quality pedals, most are for the > game port and if you want USB you need a converter box. Why not just go > the game port rout if you have one? Is it worth using the converts to > go USB? Is it better to go with a USB designed conttroler and avoid a > converter entirely? > > Thanks, > Russell

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 07:08:37 +0000, Andrew <spamtrap@localhost> wrote: >I have a gameport gamepad that works just fine in XP. Good for you. others have not been so lucky with gameport controllers on XP. Especially Force Feedback gear.

Debug wrote: > On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:44:06 -0600, Russell > <[email hidden]> wrote:<CUT> > What pedals are you looking at > that are gameport? Trying to check out as much as I can. I want a clutch pedal. So far I've seen these (a mix of game port and USB): http://www.interactiveracing.com/Pedals/Speed7/ (USB) looks like best set but too expensive for me. http://www.thomas-superwheel.com/prods/3pedal.html (says USB but talks about a control box and that link is broken) looks good but need to add in the control box to the price. No mention about how the brake is handled. Would be nice if it was more than just a spring to give more of a brake feel. Don't know what it is like because they don't go into detail. http://ecci6000.com/6000_pedal_01.htm (USB) another good looking expensive set. From what I understand, not sold separate from the wheel. http://www.wave.co.nz/~lakewood/Redline2.htm (game port) these look the best from a price performance view, but still more than I wanted to spend. Maybe .... http://www.act-labs.com/Products/pedal.htm (USB) These could be the ones, but I've read so much about springs breaking that I just can't bring myself to seriously consider them. Too bad. In the past I've seen home built pedals (game port), but I don't have those links. What else should I consider? Russell

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 15:31:37 -0800, Debug <[email hidden]> wrote: >Good for you. others have not been so lucky with gameport controllers >on XP. Especially Force Feedback gear. I was just countering your innacurate statement "XP has very little support for gameports, if any". -- Andrew. To email unscramble [email hidden] & remove spamtrap. Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards, please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevent text. Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

XP had no gameport support in it's initial release, to the extent that even MS wheels would not work. I think that's changed and if you're running off a sound card game port it probably has it's own propriatory driver. Andi. -- Remove only one zero to reply. "Andrew" <spamtrap@localhost> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 15:31:37 -0800, Debug <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Good for you. others have not been so lucky with gameport controllers > >on XP. Especially Force Feedback gear. > > I was just countering your innacurate statement "XP has very little > support for gameports, if any". > -- > Andrew. To email unscramble [email hidden] & remove spamtrap. > Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards, > please don't top post. Trim messages to quote only relevent text. > Check groups.google.com before asking a question.

It was NOT innacurate, MS said that itself, even about it's own products. If I find that statement link again, Ill post it, but IIRC it was when the sent me a new sidewinder wheel to replace my newly purchased gamport version when I upgraded to XP (when it 1st came out), that I read that in a note the person who toook care of me... so wont have a link. Andrew wrote:

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> On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 15:31:37 -0800, Debug <[email hidden]> wrote: > >> Good for you. others have not been so lucky with gameport controllers >> on XP. Especially Force Feedback gear. > > I was just countering your innacurate statement "XP has very little > support for gameports, if any".

THE usb converter TSW uses is good one, (not made by them in any case) I hear. Still the biggest problem is the resistance values of the pots in the controllers that were for GPorts, even Thomas Wheels had to replace with diff pots that TSW would provide or sell... Russell wrote:

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> Debug wrote: > >> On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 16:44:06 -0600, Russell >> <[email hidden]> wrote: > <CUT> > > What pedals are you looking at >> that are gameport? > > Trying to check out as much as I can. I want a clutch pedal. So far > I've seen these (a mix of game port and USB): > > http://www.interactiveracing.com/Pedals/Speed7/ (USB) looks like best > set but too expensive for me. > > http://www.thomas-superwheel.com/prods/3pedal.html (says USB but talks > about a control box and that link is broken) looks good but need to > add in the control box to the price. No mention about how the brake > is handled. Would be nice if it was more than just a spring to give > more of a brake feel. Don't know what it is like because they don't > go into detail. > > http://ecci6000.com/6000_pedal_01.htm (USB) another good looking > expensive set. From what I understand, not sold separate from the > wheel. > > http://www.wave.co.nz/~lakewood/Redline2.htm (game port) these look > the best from a price performance view, but still more than I wanted > to spend. Maybe .... > > http://www.act-labs.com/Products/pedal.htm (USB) These could be the > ones, but I've read so much about springs breaking that I just can't > bring myself to seriously consider them. Too bad. > > In the past I've seen home built pedals (game port), but I don't have > those links. > > What else should I consider? > > Russell

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 06:53:13 +0000, Andrew wrote: > I was just countering your innacurate statement "XP has very little > support for gameports, if any". but XP has great support for the latest virus tech, let's not forget that ;-) I'm still using a gameport (SBLive) for my TSW2, and it works fine with 98SE. The Papy "generic" driver looks hi-res enough for my driving style so that I really don't see the need to go all-USB on my windows gaming rig (all the productivity stuff runs on Unix, anyway) Cheers, uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61