Can anyone identify this device?

[papa_november]

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss258/papa_november/th_ALPHASTICK3-Back.jpg (http://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss258/papa_november/?action=view&current=ALPHASTICK3-Back.jpg)

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss258/papa_november/th_ALPHASTICK3-Front.jpg (http://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss258/papa_november/?action=view&current=ALPHASTICK3-Front.jpg)

The only identifying text on it is "ALPHA STICK 3". It seems to be an expansion device that lets you plug in a 1-button joystick. In fact, when I found it it had an Atari 2600 controller hardwired to it. In the meantime I've replaced the joystick with a joystick connector, but I'd really like to know what kind of machine this thing is supposed to plug into.

The connector is 50 pins, has no keying, and is female. Logic dictates that this is probably designed for a machine that ordinarily has no game controller ports, but the only one I can think of, the Spectrum, has a different expansion port connector. So it has to be for some other machine. A Google search of both newsgroups and the rest of the internet reveals nothing.

[Sonicwolf]

The Sega Master System has a 50 pin cartridge port... Thats the only thing I could figure out with that many pins off my head. Im pretty clueless as to this things real nature though.

[aclbandit]

The Sega Master System has a 50 pin cartridge port... Thats the only thing I could figure out with that many pins off my head. Im pretty clueless as to this things real nature though.

If that's the case, the Master System, Genesis, and Atari all use basically the same controller pinout (i.e., I use my SMS controls to play Atari because I'm not really a fan of the joystick).That could be useful info?

[bcombee]

The Apple II systems had 50-pin card slots. The internal joystick ports were just for paddles, so digital joystick interfaces where pretty popular add-ons.

The date code on the IC is "7940" indicating it was made in the 40th week of 1979; that dates it back to the Apple II era.

[iloveguns]

for me it looks like a sega master system too...

[skaar]

I remember my apple II having the controllers connected to the motherboard or something directly... but I haven't seen an Apple II in years and I was young then. I remember because my mom knocked stuff off my desk and that's how the computer died... awful wrench.

Maybe it's a hacked Player 2 ;)

[BrianDH]

[URL=http://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss258/papa_november/?action=view&current=ALPHASTICK3-Back.jpg][IMG]

The only identifying text on it is "ALPHA STICK 3". It seems to be an expansion device that lets you plug in a 1-button joystick. In fact, when I found it it had an Atari 2600 controller hardwired to it. In the meantime I've replaced the joystick with a joystick connector, but I'd really like to know what kind of machine this thing is supposed to plug into.

The connector is 50 pins, has no keying, and is female. Logic dictates that this is probably designed for a machine that ordinarily has no game controller ports, but the only one I can think of, the Spectrum, has a different expansion port connector. So it has to be for some other machine. A Google search of both newsgroups and the rest of the internet reveals nothing.

I'm pretty sure it's a TRS-80 Model III joystick adapter. I had something very similar to this, but the joystick (which was basically an Atari 2600 joystick) was hard-wired to it.

http://www.trs-80.org/alpha-joystick/

[papa_november]

That has to be it. Thanks so much!

Does anyone with a TRS-80 Model III want it? I only bought it for the joystick.

[jb143]

It looks homemade to me. Possibly one of the circuits people would print out of an electronics magazine, iron on a copper board, and etch in acid.


Edit--
I also found this...

eBay Feedback Profile for repc_auctions
RS Tandy TRS-80 Alpha Stick3 Model III Atari Joystick (#310090120649), US $39.95

It was in google link (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22alpha+stick3%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=) to an old eBay page so it doesn't find it now, but you could probally ask the seller. Or maybe the buyer. You can easily find them by doing a google search on the item number.

[Jorpho]

It looks homemade to me. Possibly one of the circuits people would print out of an electronics magazine, iron on a copper board, and etch in acid.Is that how it was done? That sounds pretty cool. Do people still do that?

[jb143]

Is that how it was done? That sounds pretty cool. Do people still do that?

I'm not too sure about from magazines since I've never done it that way myself but most electronic hobby magazines would have a mirror image of the board in it. In high school we'd design our own boards on the computer, print it on special paper with a laser printer, iron that on the board, and then etch it. Some people use magazine paper instead of the special paper because it's a whole lot cheaper, so I just assumed you could do that with the ones already printed in the magazine. It would make sense but I really don't know for sure. You can also draw it on with a sharpie so maybe it's just a guide to do that. But yeah, I think you can still buy the kits at radio shack. Or you can make your own acid solution at home and save a lot of money. Look up "homemade PC board" and your sure to find all sorts of info and circuits you can build.

The reason I questioned the above board is because the bottom of it looks a little crooked and becasue of the somewhat shoddy solder job. The Alpha Stick 3 was a real product though so I don't know. Maybe it was someones homemade version of it. I know this happens a lot with guitar effect pedals. It's also possible they just built them this way instead of maving them mass produced somewhere. It would make sense if it was a smaller company. Especially 30 years ago.