Author Topic: Why is USB better ? (Read 505 times)

Suave1 · « **on:** June 18, 2000, 10:59:00 AM »

What makes usb sticks better, do they spike as much ?

DrSoya · « **Reply #1 on:** June 18, 2000, 01:15:00 PM »

Well, from what I've been reading on this board, they don't seem to spike...

And it's not a question of digital vs analog, because many (most now?) sound cards support digital sticks.

It's rather a question of dependability, and what I mean is: can you depend on the damn thing to work on any system?

With gameport stuff many kinds of problems can come up. Personally I'm fed up with gameport problems.

On a previous machine, my MS SW 3D Pro worked only for a little time; I had an AOPen 16 bit ISA soundcard. So I bought a gamecard but it wouldn't even work in digital mode.

Last year I put a Diamond MonsterSound MX300 card in my machine. The same trusty old MS stick stopped working. It wasn't detected by my computer. After reading the support pages on the Diamond web site, I discovered that I had to install the latest SideWinder software. It had been years since I had installed it on my computer... never needed it (I use the game setup).

Two months ago, I made the move to Win2k and... found out that the SideWinder software isn't Win2k compatible, so my stick won't work in Win2k.

I've read of other gameport problems. For example, Diamond soundcards' gameport have a supposedly lower voltage which could cause problems with CH gameport sticks.

And you probably have squaddies who often have to go recalibrate their setup during a mission!

With gameport, you never know if a HOTAS setup will work on your machine or how well (or bad) it will work. It is my understanding that USB is less prone to those problems.

My trusty old MS SW 3D Pro is showing its age, so it's time to replace it (and I'm dying to get a full HOTAS setup!), and there's no way I'm buying gameport stuff. No Way In Hell that I'll buy some damn game card to make everything work. USB is the way to go.

So far though I'm really disappointed at the crawling rate USB joystick controllers have been coming out (and disappointed that very few games support multiple controllers). I've been waiting for months. CH USB stuff (throttle, F16 Fighterstick) won't likely come out before the end of the year. Suncom (F15E Talon, throttle) says during the summer.

The Saitek X36 USB combo and the CH Pro pedals are available NOW, and upon my return from WBCon I'm planing to order those.

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DrSoya
315 (Polish) Squadron "City of Deblin" RAF
Part of Northolt Wing

qts · « **Reply #2 on:** June 18, 2000, 02:06:00 PM »

Why are USB controllers so late? Because most games (AH being a notable exception) will only see one controller, which is a fat lot of use when you've got your stick, rudder, and throttle as seperate items. Allegedly this is being fixed in DX8.

That's what I've been told.

Oh yes - anyone else here with a MS FF USB wheel? On my system (256MB C400, W98SE, further details on request), if it's plugged in, no other game controller is recognised by games - though they're seen in Control Panel.

DrSoya · « **Reply #3 on:** June 18, 2000, 10:06:00 PM »

Well, like the CombatSim article said, controller makers could write unified drivers...

CH is supposedly working on it. But since they've been saying for more than one year on their Web site that their current USB GameCenter software is not compatible with Win98SE and that they are fixing it "soon", I'm not holding my breath.

It's disappointing that Suncom or Saitek don't make rudder pedals.

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DrSoya
315 (Polish) Squadron "City of Deblin" RAF
Part of Northolt Wing

[This message has been edited by DrSoya (edited 06-18-2000).]

funked · « **Reply #4 on:** June 19, 2000, 03:16:00 PM »

The standard PC gameport is an analog-digital (a/d) converter. So the analog potentiometer signals from your stick actually have to go inside your PC before they are converted.

Putting the PC into the circuit with the pots makes some bad things happen as far as electrical noise (aka spiking).

This is magnified by the fact that you have to send the pot. signals from all of your controllers through various long wires and connectors to get to the gameport.

On the USB sticks all of the a/d conversion is done inside the stick. The stick then sends the digital signal to the computer via the USB port which is reliable and not subject to electrical noise. The circuit for the potentiometers is contained completely in the stick itself, without 10 feet of wiring and connectors, etc.

funked · « **Reply #5 on:** June 19, 2000, 03:32:00 PM »

QTS I have a Logitech Wingman Formula Force (USB FF steering wheel) and it co-exists nicely with my gameport controllers under Win98.

I have to be careful with some older games (like WarBirds) which require the gameport controller to have ControllerID 1. However it is pretty easy to juggle the ID's around with the Advanced tab on the Game Controllers control panel.

[This message has been edited by funked (edited 06-19-2000).]

qts · « **Reply #6 on:** June 20, 2000, 01:14:00 PM »

Funked, coexistence is not the problem (unless you have a MS USB FF wheel), getting the sim to see the seperate controls *is* the problem. AH is a very notable exception.