Path: news.uh.edu!barrett From: james_coulter@panam.wimsey.com (James Coulter) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Amiga Smart Port Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 11 Apr 1994 02:35:07 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 185 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2oad0r$l5l@masala.cc.uh.edu> Reply-To: james_coulter@panam.wimsey.com (James Coulter) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: hardware, gameport, joystick, analog, switcher, commercial Originator: barrett@karazm.math.uh.edu PRODUCT NAME Amiga Smart Port (TM) BRIEF DESCRIPTION A multi-purpose device that plugs into the joystick ports, offering joystick cable extension, a 15-pin IBM style analog game port, and auto switching between analog sticks and the mouse ports. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: InterACTIVE Digital Devices Address: 2238 Nantuckett Court Marietta, GA 30066 USA Telephone: (404) 516-0248 E-mail: m.labiche@genie.geis.com (Alvin Derouen) LIST PRICE $52.95 (US) SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Any Amiga with mouse/joystick ports. SOFTWARE None. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 2000 with A2620 68020 accelerator 6MB Fast RAM, 1MB Chip RAM A2091 SCSI controller A2320 Deinterlacer AmigaDOS 2.04 Advanced Gravis Analog Joystick Advanced Gravis Analog Pro Joystick Sega Genesis Joypad (modified, pins 5 and 7 swapped, so +5 volts goes to the correct pin on the joypad) REVIEW The analog port is a 15-pin IBM PC style game port, so you can plug any such stick directly. Although the primary purpose of the Smart Port is to provide an IBM-PC analog port, it offers many other features. Also included with the package are various patches for games to help with analog support. Installation is easy. Two extension cables are included which can be freely detached from the Smart Port. Also provided are four Velcro patches so you can place the Smart Port in orientations other than just lying on your desk. First off, it should be noted that the IBM joystick connector is capable of supporting two analog sticks (via a Y-adaptor). The Smart Port passes through all the pins, but to support both sticks simultaneously it puts one stick on mouse port number 1 and the other on mouse port number 2. Just remember, only one input device (on each mouse port) may be used at a time. Also provided are pots for adjusting the X and Y axis for either mouse port for fine tuning. The Smart Port uses 100k potentiometres instead of the usual capacitors. Note that some IBM analog sticks (such as the Flight Stick Pro, Gravis Analog Pro and Thrustmaster) with 4 independent buttons, "view controls", and/or throttle support are really "two joysticks in one". The extra features (if enabled) would use the other mouse port. To accommodate rudder pedals, the Smart Port provides a switch that "steals" an analog line from mouse port number 1. If this feature is used, if your mouse has three buttons, the third button cannot be used while the rudder pedals are enabled. IDD sells the rudder pedal adaptor separately. The Smart Port provides automatic switching between the analog joystick(s) and the mouse ports. To switch between devices, you simply press the first button on the appropriate device. Two LEDs tell you whether the currently activated device is on the 15-pin connector or the mouse ports. Included with the Smart Port is SmartPortCal. Its primary purpose is to help with calibration of analog sticks. It does provide a display for the currently activated device on a given port (mouse, analog stick, or digital stick). For example: if you had a digital stick and pressed a direction or button, the program would relay that back to you. What was most surprising was discovering the included patches for various games: Flight Simulator 2, F-15 Strike Eagle II, Knights of the Sky (rudder and throttle support also), Red Baron, Gunship 2000, F-18 Interceptor, World Circuit, Birds of Prey, and others. One of the reasons for these patches is that a directly connected analog stick on the Amiga (without any capacitors or potentiometres) gives a range of 0-38. The Smart Port on the other hand can give you the full range of 0-255. Some games expect the former, or weren't programmed right. Unfortunately I could not test any of these patches, since I don't own any of the appropriate games. The only game I have tested the analog mode with is Fighter Duel Pro Flight Recorder and Fighter Duel Pro 2. All the patches are copyrighted by IDD and are available only to Smart Port owners. At the time of this writing, the Smart Port Plus is pending release. Differences between the first Smart Port and the new Smart Port Plus are: 1. Three switchable gain settings. These will allow the unit to switch down to handle games with a hard-coded 0-40 range (low gain), DoubleNTSC (medium), as well as the standard range (high). 2. A built-in "trigger" switch. When turned on, it will cause BOTH ports to go to analog mode when your analog fire button is pressed. This allows you to use the mouse port in analog mode even if there is no analog device with a "fire" button on that port. 3. Having the multiple ranges allows me to narrow the adjustment range of the ports slightly. It will still be a little critical, but it is a bit easier to adjust. DOCUMENTATION The supplied 15-page manual contains information on installation, operation, adjustment of analog sticks, and troubleshooting. Also included are some tech notes and other notes on the software patches. These are just stapled pages and may have been updated since this review. On several occasion I have sent E-mail to the tech support. The response time was good and my questions were answered in detail. BUGS None that I could find, hardware or software. However, the tech notes mention that you cannot use the Smart Port and a Beetle Mouse simultaneously on an Amiga 500 (with stock power supply). The reason is that the Beetle Mouse draws too much power, WARRANTY 1 year. CONCLUSIONS About the only missing feature on the Smart Port is a third mouse port. Why? Because you still have to unplug your mouse to plug in a second digital stick. You could probably wire another digital stick on the 15-pin connector, but that would exclude the use of some analog joysticks. Other than that, the Smart Port lives up to to its claims. Perhaps it is a bit pricey, but it provides full analog support, and the game patches alone may be worthwhile to some people. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 James D. Coulter. All rights reserved. -- Via DLG Pro v1.0 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + James D. Coulter FIDO = 1:153/911 + + I'm an artist, I know where to draw the line. + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews