Atari 7800 questions

[Graham Mitchell]

So, I just got an Atari 7800. It's a great system, but I've got a couple of questions...

First off, there are little switches on the front of the console, right next to each controller port (one for each joystick). Anybody know what these do?

Also, the joysticks I have don't look like the ones in the catalog. They're very long and towards the top they have one button on either side. The interesting thing about these is that the joysticks themselves rotate very smoothly, as if they were designed to do so. I don't have any games that utilize the paddles, but is it possible that these joysticks have the paddle function built-in to them?

Thanks a bunch for any help guys, yer the greatest.

[ubersaurus]

The switches by the controller ports are the difficulty switches...most 7800 games don't use them, but many 2600 games do. As for the controllers themselves, the joysticks are the US controllers, and the joypads are the european ones. They are interchangeable on both US and Euro consoles. And though the stick may twist, it has no paddle function.