Microsoft sidewinder

[Krusty]

For upwards of $45 USD... sure!

That's only... hrm.... 2.5x the price I actually paid for the stick itself (including shipping!) and 1.5x the cost of getting a new Saitek USB-ready stick.


Not worth the price of buying the converter.

[BaldEagl]

You can get Gameport -> USB adapaters.

The problem is that they are designed for analog joysticks.  The MS Sidewinders were digital and the standard adapters don't work with the Sidewinders.  Even those adapters advertised as working with MS Sidewinders often don't.

Microsoft did manufacture and include gameport to usb adapters with some of the later versions of the Sidewinder sticks and these work with some of the Sidewinders (not the earliest versions like my 3D Pro) but are difficult to find.

There are people out there building custom gameport to usb adapters for MS sticks on a small scale but they are custom order and relatively expensive with long wait times (due to the need to wait for enough interested parties to get the required circuit boards manufactured).

[Krusty]

Those little adapter plugs that come with the sticks are NOT to be used on "just any" stick.

The joystick itself has to be built from the circuits upwards to support USB adapters. If you put this plug on a stick that is pure analog (no USB support at all on the inside) you can damage the stick, damage the computer, and it just plain won't work.

The reason you have to pay $45+ is because the adapter has a circuitboard in it that changes analog signals into USB clock signals. It's not just a plug, there's guts inside it.

[Fulmar]

So I can make a pretty penny on my original Microsoft Gameport -> USB adapter?

[BaldEagl]

So I can make a pretty penny on my original Microsoft Gameport -> USB adapter?

IIRC they sell on e-bay for ~ $10 but are specific to certain model sticks.  I know I looked all over for something that would work with my 3D Pro when I built my new machine and the only option for me was the custom order stuff.

[Krusty]

My first-generation Sidewinder doesn't work with the simple plug adapter. I tried it a long long time ago. Got the plug off an older Logitech 3D stick. It's just before USB was common so it doesn't even support it.

[Nefarious]

I have two of these, both bought in 2002. Although I have used both, one still remains in the original packaging. USB.

[1pLUs44]

Used nothing but 1 sidewinder for 7 years, only just moved to a Saitek Aviator last few months.


<S>...-Gixer

Saitek Av8tor is a great great stick. Very very rugged. I've had mine for over a year now, still works almost as good as the day I bought it.