Is possible to pair a Saitek X35 throttle and a MS Sidewinder Pro?

[Riccardo]

Hi all, once I bought the Saitek Combo X36 Joystick and the X35 Throttle with
gameport interface. It didn't took much time to discover that the setup had
big problems to run on my computer, and in general with every PS/2 port based
computer. So it has been taken dust somewhere since a few days ago when I
thought I could make something working with it. I give up very gladly its
programmability but I'd like to have the throttle and the rudder lever working
using it with my 1998 Microsoft Sidewinder Pro gameport joystick.
I've built an Y-cable following this scheme (fixed pitch font):

Soundcard stick1 stick2
-----------------------------------------------------------
1 : +5vDC 1 1
2 : Stick 1 button 1 2
3 : Stick 1 X-position 3
4 : Gnd 4 4
5 : Gnd 5 5
6 : Stick 1 Y-position 6
7 : Stick 1 button 2 7
8 : +5vDC 8 8
9 : +5vDC 9 9
10 : Stick 2 button 1 10 2
11 : Stick 2 X-position 11 3
12 : MIDI
13 : Stick 2 Y-position 13 6
14 : Stick 2 button 2 14 7
15 : MIDI

(Source: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/joystick/pc_circuits.html)
On stick1 is connected the MS Sidewinder and on stick2 there is the X35.

Once connected both the devices to the cable only the joystick works like
before. No sign of life from the throttle, even if its leds are lit up. Now
I'm going to open it and see what's inside, removing everithing that goes from
the potentiometers of throttle and rudder to the 15-pin cable, maybe
electronics are filtering some signals.
But... are there some possibilities to make something working out of that x35
Throttle paired with the Sidewinder? It's a good shaped throttle, only it
doesn't works...
Thanks in advance and forgive my poor English.

Riccardo

[BUFF]

"Riccardo" > wrote in message
...
> Hi all, once I bought the Saitek Combo X36 Joystick and the X35 Throttle
with
> gameport interface. It didn't took much time to discover that the setup
had
> big problems to run on my computer, and in general with every PS/2 port
based
> computer. So it has been taken dust somewhere since a few days ago when I
> thought I could make something working with it. I give up very gladly its
> programmability but I'd like to have the throttle and the rudder lever
working
> using it with my 1998 Microsoft Sidewinder Pro gameport joystick.

>snip

> (Source: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/joystick/pc_circuits.html)
> On stick1 is connected the MS Sidewinder and on stick2 there is the X35.
>
> Once connected both the devices to the cable only the joystick works like
> before. No sign of life from the throttle, even if its leds are lit up.
Now
> I'm going to open it and see what's inside, removing everithing that goes
from
> the potentiometers of throttle and rudder to the 15-pin cable, maybe
> electronics are filtering some signals.
> But... are there some possibilities to make something working out of that
x35
> Throttle paired with the Sidewinder? It's a good shaped throttle, only it
> doesn't works...
> Thanks in advance and forgive my poor English.
>
> Riccardo

It is possible to use the throttle with another joystick if the game lets
you assign axis etc. & supports multiple controllers.
However, the Saitek throttle has to be connected to the Saitek joystick as
all the "brains" are in the joystick (just put the Saitek joystick out of
the way).
However, if you are having problems related to PS/2 then obviously this
won't change that.

From the Saitek FAQ for your controller.
Q4: While I'm playing a game, why does the shift key or something get stuck?

A4: This problem comes from PS/2 and the manner in which it communicates.
When the joystick was designed and first developed, it was built so that it
used the AT keyboard, 15pin game and the 9pin serial port. These came as
standard on every machine at the time, however this is no longer the case,
PS/2 controllers now comes as standard and control both keyboard and mouse
information. The problem occurs when both mouse and keyboard are providing
information at the same time. When the joystick is connect to your computer,
information is sent from both joystick and keyboard continually via the
keyboard port. The mouse will interrupt information from the keyboard, which
cause the sticky key problem. The only possible work around is to convert
your PS/2 mouse to serial, this will reduce the occurrence of the problem.
Again though, this can be related to the PC speed problem mentioned in the
above FAQ so it may be unsolvable

[Riccardo]

In article >, "BUFF" > wrote:

>It is possible to use the throttle with another joystick if the game lets
>you assign axis etc. & supports multiple controllers.
>However, the Saitek throttle has to be connected to the Saitek joystick as
>all the "brains" are in the joystick (just put the Saitek joystick out of
>the way).
>However, if you are having problems related to PS/2 then obviously this
>won't change that.

Ok, but my intention was indeed to bypass the "brains" and thus the PS/2
connections, since I think the latter is only needed to simulate pressing keys
on the keyboard for the rotary knobs and all the throttle and joystick
buttons.
I have to find if what make the throttle and rudder level works are two
potentiometers and connect their pins or wires directly to the Y-cable.
But all the above is useless if the MS Sidwinder joystick takes all control on
the gameport.That can be the case, since I guess it needs some sort of
controller to make the hat switch work. And all the pinout charts I've found
on the net about the gameport don't specify any hat switch pin...

[nightfire0]

Hey, any progress on this? I want to do the same with x45 and
sidewinder precision pro...

I tried wiring the pot from the x45 throttle to the where the sidewinder
throttle wires go into the ciruit board but that doesn't work (probably
because MS has a differnent type of signal) so I'm thinking I need to
splice into the the wires running out of the MS into the PC but I'm not
sure wich wires...

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