] On Thu, 16 Jul 1998 22:40:12 +0300, Alex Wulms wrote:
]
] >Stupid question perhaps, but where do you plug-in the joystick
] >to play the multi-user game if both joystick ports are used to
] >communicate with the two neighbouring computers in the ring?
] Ha! Smart observation!
]
] Some years ago, there was at Japan an artifact called Ninja
] Tap that allowed to play up to four players with a single joystick
] port. I dunno if it would have been useful for this purpose.
] However, it is out of stocks.
I gues that with a smart design (both hardware and software) we can make
something like that.
I have an even better idea. In stead of using port1 and port2 for
communication, we can also use port1 for the joystick and port2, with a
device like the Ninja Tap, for communication with the neighbouring computers.
Like in the following picture:
+----------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+
| comp1 p2----+ mux p2a------------p2b mux +-----p2 comp2 |
| p1-+ | p2b--+ +---p2a | +-p1 |
+----------+ | +---------+ | | +---------+ | +---------+
joy-stick | | joy-stick
+-+ +-+
| |
p p
+-2-2-+
| a b |
| mux |
+--+--+
| +---------+
+---p2 comp3 |
+--p1 |
| +---------+
joy-stick
To keep the communication driver as simple as possible, we can define one
port on the multiplexer (mux) as in-only (for example p2a) and the other as
out-only (for example p2b). In this case, we have to implement a token-ring
network. A bus simply can't do because in a bus we need bi-directional
communication for the two systems on the end.
This schema can be implemented in very cheap hardware. Ofcourse, it will be a
little bit more complicated then only making a cable, but I think it still is
not too complicated. Or is it?
Kind regards,
Alex
--
Alex Wulms/XelaSoft - MSX of anders NIX - Linux 4 ever
See my homepage for info on the *** XSA *** format
http://www.inter.nl.net/users/A.P.Wulms
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