Need help with my joystick

[krispos42]

I have a Logitech Extreme Digital joystick. I want to plug it into my Dell, but it only has the old-style 15-pin sub-D connector, and there isn't a corresponding plug on my computer.

It's a female plug with the male pins in it. The back of my PC has a sub-D 15-pin on it as well, but it is also a female plug with male pins on it. I think it was used for old serial devices.

Does somebody make a sub-D-to-USB adapter? If so, how much do they cost and where can I get one?

[Pierre.Suave]

1. yes

I dont know, and any computer store.

edit: I think its called a serial port to usb adapter.

[krispos42]

4. Thank God

Or JasonC. Whichever... :-)

I have a Best Buy nearby. I'll try that tomorrow, I guess.

Thanks!

[Pierre.Suave]

29. LOL

I will respond to either god, or jason.

[Olney Blue]

2. So what does that have to do with Hillary?

:hi:

[driver8]

3. I needed help with my joystick once...

my urologist cleared up the problem for me, though.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. some lube may help.

Make sure you have a close friend ready to grasp and move. creative moves may feel strange at ah er . . . uh . . . .

never mind.

[krispos42]

6. Oh dear, I've started a sex thread

Single white male seeks independently wealthy voluptuous monogomous nymphomaniac... lmao

[Big Kahuna]

7. NO SEX THREADS!!!!!

:)

[The Straight Story]

8. I plugged mine into my wife with an adapter and got a baby

so be careful!

[JohnnyLib2]

9. Clenis? Is that you?

IBTL

[sce56]

10. I would make sure that you have the right type of adapter for it

the old joysticks used to go to game port adapter cards different from serial ports! check out the logitech site for help first before plugging in! They only put a little smoke in the motherboards and once you let it out you'll need to get a new one with a fresh supply of unused smoke.

[Skink]

11. Does it look like this...?

:freak:

[originalpckelly]

12. Joysticks lasting more than four hours...

:eyes:

[RoyGBiv]

13. Wait ...

Are you saying your computer doesn't have any USB ports?

The Logitech Extreme has a USB interface.

[originalpckelly]

14. I think that's it.

And I don't know where to tell the OP to find one. Maybe look on Froogle.

[RoyGBiv]

15. Oh, you could find the adapter ...

That's not an ideal solution, but it's possible. Radio Shack has them, and Best Buy probably does.

My question about this is the lack of a USB port on the computer. (I don't understand the OP description of the ports. Female plug with male pins?) If it doesn't have a USB port at all, it's *old* and may have trouble with the joystick even with an adapter.

[krispos42]

24. No, no, no opposite

My PC has the usual amount: two front two rear, and my keyboard has two on it as well, but they don't go so fast. Must be a 1.1 instead of 2.0 type of thing.

The joystick is a few years old. For example, it doesn't have the 'twist to turn the rudder' features that newer ones have.

But the end of the cable has the exact same gender as the serial port on my PC does, so I can't plug it into there anymore than I could plug one end of a cable TV wire into it's other end.

I need the opposide gender on my PC, and I don't have it. I assume there was some sort of PCI (or ISA) card that people could buy with he correct gender on it.

I just figured it would be easier to buy a joystick-to-USB adapter for five or six buck than drop twenty or forty on a PCI card.

[RoyGBiv]

26. Ah ...

Okay.

So what you need is a game port to USB adapter. The port you're seeing on the back of your computer is a serial port, which is different than a game port. Make note of that. If you get a serial to USB adapter, it will do you no good, and you'll have the same problem you already have.

Other comments suggest this might be hard to find, but I'm uncertain of why. Best Buy may not have such a thing (I honestly don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me), but they're not exactly rare. The link lectrobyte gave points to one.

[high density]

16. You need USB ports...??

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16815106007

Most computers built in the last five or six years already have four of these at least. If your computer has USB ports and you need more, buy a USB hub. If you have a Dimension then there might be a cover on the front that you can lift up to expose a couple of USB ports and possibly a headphone jack...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. No. They Need An Adapter To Convert A Serial Port Connection To USB.

[high density]

20. A joystick with a serial port connector? I doubt it...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812119002

Upon reading the OP again it sounds like they need to buy a cheap soundcard with a game port on it...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829126003

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

21. That's Correct.

I misunderstood initially.

It does sound like they just need a soundcard with a game port. Should be relatively cheap as well.

[lectrobyte]

22. it's called a game port. similar to serial port, 15 pins

[Connie_Corleone]

17. Be careful where you stick your joystick.

Use protection.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Bring Your Joystick In To Any Large Computer Retail Store And Ask What You Need.

After re-reading the OP, it sounds like you need a soundcard with a game port. Should be pretty cheap to pick one up and install it.

[krispos42]

25. Oh, yeah. I used to have one of those

A Yamaha one, IIRC. In my old Pentium I 233 MHz. With MMX!

I didn't save it, though.

Game port. Same as a serial port, but with the genders switched. That's what it's called. Thanks all who gave the name of the port to me! :-)

I have an old Ethernet card with a game port, but the PC didn't find it when I stuck it in a PCI slot, so it's currently useless. I worked the last time I used it, but it's been stuck in an anti-static bag for about 5 years, maybe more.

I know the new joysticks have USB ports on them, so I was hoping they just made an adapter for it. I could not find one on the Best Buy website, though, and I fell into despair!

[RoyGBiv]

27. Small, pedantic point ...

A serial port is in no way the same as a game port. The differences are multiple.

If they were the same, all you'd need is a gender converter. That won't work, however.

[krispos42]

28. Oh I know about that

I used to work in a place where I had to play with sub-D connectors all the time. 15, 25, and 37-pins, plus some of the hexagon-arrayed mil-spec stuff that was also 37 pins. Got them all from Newark Electronics. Not all of the harnesses were the wired the same by any means.

And god help you if you weren't careful with the soldering! "Hey, George, we got any more of the I/O boards? This one is out of smoke again..."

:-)

[sce56]

31. Isn't that what I said back in post No. 10?

Game card port and serial port are not the same.

[lectrobyte]

23. You need a game port to USB adapter, I don't ever remember seeing

one of these in the big box stores, or even Radio Shack, but it might not hurt to look. Google turns up this one, I bought one a couple years back from somewhere on the web, probably newegg.

http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_details.cfm?sku=ijoy1&cats=106&catid=626

[krispos42]

30. Update: I just went out and bought a new joystic

They didn't have the adapter at Best Buy, and the sound cards don't come with a game port anymore, so I just bought the cheapie $20 new one with the USB port. I wanted to buy the nice $38 one, but they were sold out. Oh well, I just want to do some recreational flying in the Wright Brothers plane....

Anybody want a lightly used joystick?

[WinkyDink]

32. Jeff Gannon, is that you?