The game port is the traditional connection for video game input devices on an x86-based PCs. The game port is usually integrated with a PC I/O or sound card, either ISA or PCI, or as an on-board feature of some motherboards. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor architecture first developed and manufactured by Intel. ... The tower of a personal computer. ... This article is about the computer interface. ... A sound card based on VIA Envy chip A sound card is a computer expansion card that can input and output sound under program control. ... It has been suggested that XT bus architecture be merged into this article or section. ... 32-bit PCI expansion slots on a motherboard The Peripheral Component Interconnect standard (in practice almost always shortened to PCI) specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. ... ASRock main board - KT400A chipset A motherboard, also known as main board, logic board or system board, and sometimes abbreviated as mobo, is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a computer. ...

Other types of game controller connectors on the IBM-PC

The game port has been to some extent replaced by the Universal Serial Bus, which allows for better plug-and-play support, although it remains a popular choice for both analog joysticks and gamepads, as game port based controllers tend to be somewhat cheaper than USB-based ones. Earlier attempts to replace game port based controllers with e.g. parallel port, serial port or PS/2 ones had little success, until the introduction of the USB standard. Type A USB connector USB 2. ... Plug and Play is a term used in the computer field to describe a computers ability to have new devices, normally peripherals, added to it without having to restart the computer. ... Joystick elements: 1. ... Categories: Computer and video game stubs | Input devices | Computer and video game terminology ... In computing, a parallel port is an interface from a computer system where data is transferred in or out in parallel, that is, on more than one wire. ... A male DE-9 serial port on the rear panel of a PC. In computing, a serial port is an interface on a computer system with which information is transferred in or out one bit at a time (contrast parallel port). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with PS2. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ...

MIDI connectors

Game ports use DB-15 connectors, and usually double as connectors for MIDI instruments. To use a game port with MIDI instruments, one had to obtain an unusual cable with both DB-15 and 5-pin DIN connectors (similar to old-style pre-PS/2 keyboard connectors known as Baby AT or AT 5 connectors). The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector used particularly in computers (i. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ... The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector used particularly in computers (i. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with PS2. ... The Baby AT is a computer motherboard form factor that is smaller than the older AT form factor. ...

Gameport details

Analog interface

Unlike other joystick connectors (and controllers) during the early days of home computing and game consoles, the game port is actually analog rather than digital, relying on some form of ADC to interpret joystick movements. Early IBM-PC manuals describe this port as suitable for connecting two analog paddles rather than joysticks. This approach has historically given the IBM-PC an advantage in simulation games, especially flight simulators, but on the other hand rendered the design and use of simpler arcade or console joysticks more complex and needlessly convoluted, apart from being essentially incompatible with any existent joystick interface, most notably the standard 9-pin Atari joysticks. An analog or analogue signal is any continuously variable signal. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... ADC is short for: analog to digital converter American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Apple Developer Connection Apple Display Connector Aide-de-camp Automated Data Collection Americas Dumbest Criminals ADC Aircraft American Deserters Committee This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... This article is about the boat propulsion implement, etc. ... IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151). ... A simulation is an imitation of some real device or state of affairs. ... A flight simulator is a system that tries to replicate, or simulate, the experience of flying an airplane as closely and realistically as possible. ... For the concept Atari (当たり) in the board game of Go, see Atari (go term). ...

Acquisition and programming

Also, while other joystick standards (such as Atari or NES joysticks) are very easy and straightforward to use by programmers, the game port requires careful programming and well-timed software interrupt triggering in order to read an input. This of course caused performance issues as reading the game port took a notable amount of CPU time, especially compared to systems with a 'normal' digital (TTL) joystick port. For the concept Atari (当たり) in the board game of Go, see Atari (go term). ... The Nintendo Entertainment System (North America, Europe, and Australia) The Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia. ... The abbreviation TTL can refer to: time to live, when talking about Internet Protocol packets, or the Ping Internet diagnostic tool, transistor-transistor logic, the first widespread semiconductor integrated circuit technology, through the lens when talking about photography. ...

Circuits

The typical implementation of a gameport uses a capacitor and a ramp-compare ADC, which needs to be reset and triggered at precise moments in order to read an input, something that needs to be done several times (generally above 30) per second in order to provide a responsive game input, and the actual value read may also depend on the joystick's internal resistance, noise, CPU speed and ADC counter speed (which is not standard and, on many implementations, not programmable). AD on USB In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (abbreviated ADC, A/D, or A to D) is a device that converts continuous signals to discrete digital numbers. ...

Known issues

Its analog nature has also been the cause of many problems e.g. all kinds of joysticks needed "calibration", even arcade-style ones since no game controller and no joystick produced the same measurements each time, but they were dependent on the exact way acquisition was made and even by the CPU's speed in some rather poor designs. Also, all kinds of PC Gameports suffer from electrical noise. Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... This CPU uses numerous pins to connect to the motherboard. ... In general usage, noise can be considered data without meaning; that is, data that is not being used to transmit a signal, but is simply produced as an unwanted by-product of other activities. ...

The calibration procedure is still required at some phase, even under modern operating systems such as Windows XP and usually consists of moving the joystick around all of its axes in order to measure the maximum axis excursion values, no matter if the joystick uses analog signals (from potentiometers) or digital signals (using microswitches or contacts). USB joysticks do not require calibration, in general. In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ... As of 2005, Windows XP is the current desktop version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. ... For the Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact publication, see Astounding Magazine. ... schematic symbol for a potentiometer A potentiometer (or pot for short) is an electronic component which has a user-variable resistance. ... Digital Signal represents more than one meaning. ... This article is about electrical switches. ... A Contact is part of the active component of an electric switch. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ...

In the days of DOS, each game using the gameport(s) had to do its own calibration, often each time the game started, and some poorly coded calibration routines even failed to work consistently and properly, rendering some joysticks unusable with some games. The acronym DOS stands for disk operating system, an operating system component for computers that provides the abstraction of a file system resident on hard disk or floppy disk secondary storage. ...

Extensions of the gameport capabilities

Some advanced gameport joysticks support more than 4 buttons (e.g. 6 or 8) but typically require a special device driver for the 6 buttons to work properly, since the gameport doesn't have actual hardware support for more than 4 distinct buttons.

This can be overcome by either using some normally "unused" pins or changing the joystick's circuits (and related software) in order to read a 4-bit state code from the 4 button inputs, thus giving up to 16 button combinations (albeit with some limitations e.g. some buttons may not be held down) or a combination of both techniques. A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. ...

High-end gameport joysticks rely on multiplexing a proprietary data stream through the 4 standard button inputs and sometimes through the "unused" pins, achieving full support for a rather high number of buttons (e.g. 16 or 20) while special features such as daisychaining multiple joysticks, force feedback or joystick programming become possible in some cases. In telecommunications, multiplexing (MUXing) is the combining of two or more information channels onto a common transmission medium using hardware called a multiplexer or (MUX). ... The elementary meaning of daisy chain is a garland created from the daisy flower, generally as a childrens game. ... Haptic means pertaining to the technology of touch. ... Computer programming (often simply programming) is the craft of implementing one or more interrelated abstract algorithms using a particular programming language to produce a concrete computer program. ...

The obvious drawback here is the need for using a special device driver in order to interpret the joystick input, and making its usage rather time consuming and Operating System dependent, while the joystick is usually unusable without a special driver (unless multiple operating modes are supported). A device driver, often called a driver for short, is a computer program that enables another program, typically, an operating system (e. ... In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ...

Some hardware and DIY enthusiasts have found ways to connect a wide array of input devices to the gameport and even found other applications for it e.g. voltage or current measurement, simple interfacing and data acquisition etc. Hardware is equipment such as fasteners, keys, locks, hinges, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts, especially when they are made of metal. ... See also: DIY Network, a cable TV network. ... In classical physics and engineering, measurement is the the result of comparing physical quantities of objects, relations (e. ... Interfacing is a common term for a variety of materials used on the unseen or wrong side of fabrics in sewing. ... Data acquisition is the sampling of the real world to generate data that can be manipulated by a computer. ...

History and variants

The original gameport design by IBM initially allowed four analog axes and four buttons on one port, allowing two joysticks or four paddles to be connected, although but this required a special "Y-splitter" cable and isn't fully supported by some combined midi/game ports usually found on sound cards. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM, or colloquially, Big Blue) (NYSE: IBM) (incorporated June 15, 1911, in operation since 1888) is headquartered in Armonk, NY, USA. The company manufactures and sells computer hardware, software, and services. ...

Some poorly implemented game ports (usually built-in on old motherboards and I/O cards) didn't fully support either 4 axes or 4 buttons, making only the use of a single 2-axis and 2-buttons joystick possible.

See also

• Game controller
• Fairly detailed gameport pinouts and specs
• Page with extensive info and a lot of experimental/DIY material on gameports