Does The Vintage Mac DB-9 Mouse Port (like on the 128k, 512k, etc) support a standard joystick that would work on a Apple II or Commodore 64?
thanks
Anonymous
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For the same reason you can hang a Macintosh SCSI disk box off the printer port of your PC: if the cable fits the jack, it's compatible. :^b
The real answer is "no". Pinouts:
Atari/Commodore digital joystick
9 Pin Apple IIc Joystick
Mac Plus Mouse
--Peace
all right. but then is there a joystick that is compatible with this early compacts?
thanks
I can only tell you there is because I've seen one, but what it was- I have no idea. c.1985, a friend's father got a fat mac, and some games for his kids. He had a joystick that was similar to the fragile feeling one (compared to Atari 2600 controllers) that I'd seen with Apple II systems. I had always assumed it was the same, but I never saw jacks... maybe it was special for mac, maybe it used an adapter...
So, based entirely on a dim memory and some Google-ing I uncovered a tidbit from the Pleistocene era of computing. Back in the early 80s a company called "Kraft Systems" (no relation to the Cheese and Macaroni people) sold ridiculously overpriced joysticks for both home and "business-y" computers like the IBM PC. They ran these glossy ads in most of the bigger computer magazines of the day, and for a while were trying to position joysticks as being serious productivity tools. (I seem to remember them hawking things like a driver for Lotus 1-2-3 that would let you use a joystick for navigating a spreadsheet.) Anyway, it occurred to me there was probably a good chance they made one for the Macintosh 128/512/Plus, since the lack of cursor keys might well create an opening *and* their entire business was based on trying to convince people that joysticks were workable substitutes for mice. Anyway...
Here's a link referencing a product called the "QuickStick", positioned as a "Mouse Alternative" and available in a Mac 512/Plus version.
Good luck finding one.
ADB Joysticks are fairly common. Swap your Plus for an SE and you're good to go, assuming you have a game to play that supports joysticks *and* runs on an 8mhz B&W Mac.
--Peace
Ya probably won't be able to and would trade a plus or 512 for an SE but i would look into just buying one. (haha
I would rather add one than trade one) well thanks.
I have a serial port joystick. It has a DIN 8 connector, but that's easy enough to adapt to the Mac 128 and 512 DB9 serial port.
Of course, it requires a driver to work at all. Unlike the ADB port, there isn't a default of what to do with data coming over the serial port. I can't remember the name of the thing though.
I've never actually tested it out so I have not loaded the driver. I do not know what the system or RAM requirements of the driver are.
Very few things from the commodore world worked with apple items. As for apple products, i would check the pinouts (as mentioned already) with any product you got before experimenting!