crude beginnings
| My first computer was a “commodore vic 20” So, I suppose, I go right back to the start of home computing. Hours of typing in complex lines of a program, just to send a dotted line across the screen. |  |
The real story starts with the “ZX spectrum” and a program called “ fighter pilot” by “digital integration”. For those who don’t know, the spectrum needed an interface between the computer and the joystick. It plugged into an edge connector in the back of the computer. I took a joystick apart and realised it was just six live feeds and a common earth giving six potential signals [ normally two axes and two fire buttons simply touching the bare end of a wire to the earth lead gave the signal
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The real story starts with the “ZX spectrum” and a program called “ fighter pilot” by “digital integration”. For those who don’t know, the spectrum needed an interface between the computer and the joystick. It plugged into an edge connector in the back of the computer. I took a joystick apart and realised it was just six live feeds and a common earth giving six potential signals [ normally two axes{2 signals on each axis}and two fire buttons simply touching the bare end of a wire to the earth lead gave the signal
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A company brought out a programmable interface which emulated six keyboard presses. A company started producing a programmable interface which involved plugging six wires into a set of sockets which represented keyboard keys
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I phoned the company and asked what would happen if the interfaces were “piggy-backed”. The company said they didn’t know, because nobody had thought to try it. They said they’d try it and give me a ring back. They did, but they pointed out that the expansion port interfered with plugging the connected units into the computer
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| I razor-sawed the protruding bits off. Plus part of the computer case and it all fitted and worked. This gave me 12 signals, 4 for the joystick axes, two for a throttle axis, two for a rudder axis and four fire buttons. I just needed to make a micro-switched “throttle” and a “rudder”, which I did, and away I went. The only limitation was the availability of games; along with “fighter pilot”, came ”strike force harrier”, Microprose’s “ strike Eagle II” and a Digital integration apache helicopter simulation, whose name eludes me, but it featured the infamous “lens lock” copy protection system. An old 24” TV sat on a table . I made a wooden construction with a seat to mount everything else on. The main problem being the cold in the garage, which made the TV short and crackle | |
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My next computer was an amiga 600; a nice compact machine with an excellent sound chip It still used a digital joystick and there was no chance of increasing the basic six signal input I got round the problem by making a wooden lever affair which operated on the Plus, minus, & /backspace keys and even a means of swapping it for a different style for helicopter sims. I never managed to get a working rudder. It also brought me “out of the cold” and under the stairs .This had been “boxed in" previously when we had children. My best flight sims were Digital integration’s “F16—combat pilot” and Micoprose’s “Gunship 2000”, Spectrum Holobyte’s “Flight of the intruder” Psygnosis’s “Combat Air Patrol”, and, of course, the “Falcon” series. |
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