Joysticks

A joystick is a personal computer peripheral or general control device consisting of a handheld stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two or three dimensions to a computer. more...

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Most joysticks are two-dimensional, having two axes of movement (similar to a mouse), but three-dimensional joysticks do exist. A joystick is generally configured so that moving the stick left or right signals movement along the X axis, and moving it forward (up) or back (down) signals movement along the Y axis. In joysticks that are configured for three-dimensional movement, twisting the stick left (counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise) signals movement along the Z axis. These three axes - X Y and Z - are, in relation to an aircraft, roll, pitch, and yaw.

Joysticks are often used to control games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. Most I/O interface cards for PCs have a joystick (game control) port. Joysticks were popular throughout the mid-1990s for playing the Descent series and flight-simulators, although they have declined with the rise of first-person shooters which instead promote the mouse and keyboard. Modern joysticks (as of 2003) mostly use a USB interface for connection to the PC. The term joystick has become a synonym for game controllers that can be connected to the computer since the computer defines the input as a "joystick input".

Apart for controlling games, joysticks are also used for controlling machines such as elevators, cranes, trucks, powered wheelchairs and some zero turning radius lawn mowers.

Technical details

An analog joystick is a joystick which has continuous states, i.e. returns an angle measure of the movement in any direction in the plane or the space (usually utilizing potentiometers) and a digital joystick gives only on/off signals for four different directions, and mechanically possible combinations (such as up-right, down-left, &c.). (Digital joysticks were very common as game controllers for the video game consoles, arcade machines, and home computers of the 1980s.)

Additionally joysticks often have one or more fire buttons, used to trigger some kind of action. These are simple on/off switches.

Some joysticks have force feedback capability. These are thus active devices, not just simple input devices. The computer can return a signal to the joystick that causes it to resist the movement with a returning force or make the joystick vibrate.

History

Joysticks were originally controls for an aircraft's ailerons and elevators.

The name 'joystick' is thought to originate with early 20th century French pilot Robert Esnault-Pelterie. There are also competing claims on behalf of fellow pilots Robert Loraine and James Henry Joyce. The joystick itself was present in early planes, however the mechanical origins themselves are uncertain.

Read more at Wikipedia.org