I decided I was jealous of all you folks out there with your custom built 7800 controllers, so I built one myself. I used this Plug & Play game to do it:
![SIStk.jpg]()
The games on this are OK, but I've got so many ways to play them that I decided to gut it and turn it into a 7800 stick. FYI - It was remarkably easy to disassemble, and I could easily put it back together or use the guts for another project.
![7800_Stick_1.jpg]()
I took a 9 pin serial cable for PC and trimmed down the end to let it plug into my 7800. (cord trimming thread: http://atariage.com/...cable-trimming/) I then cut off the male end and stripped the cable about 8 inches. I was able to use the same spot as the manufacturer for some stress relief on the cable. I wound the wires through a large washer and then used the same screw in fastener to lock it in place. You can kinda see what I'm talking about in the pic above in the lower left where there is a close jumble of green, yellow, white wires on the manufacturer's unit. What I did was about the same size and shape so I could just use what they had to lock it down.
Anyway, the buttons are what is tricky on the 7800, so here is a closeup of the button switches on this unit before my modification:
![7800_Stick_2.jpg]()
In most case I was able to use the wires right from the cable to attach to the microswitches. I chose to leave two of "their" wires attached because the solder points were hard to get to. I used the pinout guide from the 2600 FAQ here on Atariage to know which wires went where. Also, thanks to user Prodos8 for this very easy to read schematic of the wiring configuration:
![Attached File]()
CX_24_Schematic_bw.bmp 24.06K
9 downloads
A closeup view of my button circuits when I thought I was done. I used some resistors I had that added up to 620ohm and a small board for the mounting. I'd made a mistake in this picture where I attached wires 9 and 5 to the NC (normally closed) side of the button switches which is not correct. If that doesn't mean anything to you then just keep reading as those wires are in the right place in the next photo. The wiring to my board is correct here with a ground wire from each switch and the joysticks attached to opposite ends of the resistors.
![7800_Stick_3.jpg]()
Below I really am done, and you can see the other side of my board. I've wrapped some electrical tape around it to avoid shorting the buttons out on the exposed metal of the resistors. In this photo, the grey wire is the ground from the cable that goes back to the 7800. It touches the "outbound" ends of both resistors and the joystick ground. On the other side you see wires 5 and 9 which connect to the button ground wires on the "inbound" end of the resistors.
![7800_Stick_4.jpg]()
After using it for a few games, I think its more responsive than it was for the original games it came with. The diagonals are very sensitive which is good and bad. Good for Xevious - bad for Dig Dug. Its small enough that you can just hold it like a modern controller working the buttons with your thumb, but you can also set it down in front and work it like an arcade stick. Tap tap tappy tap . . . .
Guys - this is really easy. You should try this. I have another one of these that I think I'm going to hack too. Now that I know what I'm doing, I think I could probably do a 2nd one in less than 3 hours. These are all over Ebay and going for cheap. You can get the resistors at Radio Shack, and I think you just need to be in the 500 to 700ohm range with whatever you get. You may not even need to be that close.
The games on this are OK, but I've got so many ways to play them that I decided to gut it and turn it into a 7800 stick. FYI - It was remarkably easy to disassemble, and I could easily put it back together or use the guts for another project.
I took a 9 pin serial cable for PC and trimmed down the end to let it plug into my 7800. (cord trimming thread: http://atariage.com/...cable-trimming/) I then cut off the male end and stripped the cable about 8 inches. I was able to use the same spot as the manufacturer for some stress relief on the cable. I wound the wires through a large washer and then used the same screw in fastener to lock it in place. You can kinda see what I'm talking about in the pic above in the lower left where there is a close jumble of green, yellow, white wires on the manufacturer's unit. What I did was about the same size and shape so I could just use what they had to lock it down.
Anyway, the buttons are what is tricky on the 7800, so here is a closeup of the button switches on this unit before my modification:
In most case I was able to use the wires right from the cable to attach to the microswitches. I chose to leave two of "their" wires attached because the solder points were hard to get to. I used the pinout guide from the 2600 FAQ here on Atariage to know which wires went where. Also, thanks to user Prodos8 for this very easy to read schematic of the wiring configuration:
CX_24_Schematic_bw.bmp 24.06K
9 downloadsA closeup view of my button circuits when I thought I was done. I used some resistors I had that added up to 620ohm and a small board for the mounting. I'd made a mistake in this picture where I attached wires 9 and 5 to the NC (normally closed) side of the button switches which is not correct. If that doesn't mean anything to you then just keep reading as those wires are in the right place in the next photo. The wiring to my board is correct here with a ground wire from each switch and the joysticks attached to opposite ends of the resistors.
Below I really am done, and you can see the other side of my board. I've wrapped some electrical tape around it to avoid shorting the buttons out on the exposed metal of the resistors. In this photo, the grey wire is the ground from the cable that goes back to the 7800. It touches the "outbound" ends of both resistors and the joystick ground. On the other side you see wires 5 and 9 which connect to the button ground wires on the "inbound" end of the resistors.
After using it for a few games, I think its more responsive than it was for the original games it came with. The diagonals are very sensitive which is good and bad. Good for Xevious - bad for Dig Dug. Its small enough that you can just hold it like a modern controller working the buttons with your thumb, but you can also set it down in front and work it like an arcade stick. Tap tap tappy tap . . . .
Guys - this is really easy. You should try this. I have another one of these that I think I'm going to hack too. Now that I know what I'm doing, I think I could probably do a 2nd one in less than 3 hours. These are all over Ebay and going for cheap. You can get the resistors at Radio Shack, and I think you just need to be in the 500 to 700ohm range with whatever you get. You may not even need to be that close.