>Greetings,
>Has anyone done any projects with a soundcard joystick port and a PIC16C74
or 16F874 >microcontroller?
>I am trying to digitize my homemade steering wheel and pedals.

Uhm.....didn't somebody just ask about this?  ;-)  Depending upon exactly
what you are trying to accomplish and how much software you want (or are
able to write) for the PC, that will decide your course of action.  You
really need to provide more information about what your trying to
accomplish.

The original PC joystick port is already an analog device.  It has crummy
built-in A/D converters, so if your controls (pots and switches) are
comparable to a standard joystick, you can just hook it straight to the
port.  If you are just needing to add auto-fire type capabilities you can do
this easily with a PIC or an RC circuit.  Then you just tell windows you
have x-axis/y-button joystick.

If you are wishing to add bi-directional comm. and a digital interface (such
as a modern digital joystick has), your best bet would probably be to search
the internet for documentation of a store-bought joystick that has similar
features that you wish to implement.  Then you emulate that joystick using
the PIC features by duplicating the protocol (this is real fun stuff to do
;-D, especially if you can't really find any documentation for the stick
your trying to emulate).  This will give you ready-made windows drivers.

Since I can't write winderz device drivers, this is how I would approach it.
I *can* write enough stuff on Linux to "hack up" someone elses code to
figure out some wierd protocol.  BTW, this is a real good place to look for
the information you need.  Run, don't walk to the nearest broadband internet
connection you can find and download Red Hat or any other distro of your
choice.  It comes complete with working "example" code on how to talk to
almost any kind of hardware imaginable that connects to a PC.  There's even
I2C examples, if you can believe that.  ;-D

michael brown

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