The bcr port input triggers a cpu interrupt.

One could imagine bit banging a byte of data with bits indicating joystick
status.

On interrupt you could then poll the bcr input and implement a kind of
software uart to read the byte.

The joystick would need some kind of adapter to convert the switch status
into a byte that fires at a known rate.  Kind of a fun idea.  Trick would
be to send the byte only when the status changes.

So two pieces
1. A hardware joystick adapter
2. A bcr port driver to read the joystick status as a byte of data, updated
on change of status




On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, Scott McDonnell <[email protected]>
wrote:

> I am back to thinking about a joystick for the Model 100. I have a
> specific reason in mind and even a specific joystick.
>
> My intent is to target the Atari/Commodore 64 digital joystick interface
> mainly because my inspiration is the Suncom Icontroller which mounts to the
> side of the machine.
>
> This interface is a series of 5 discrete switches to control direction and
> a fire button. Very basic.
>
> While the parallel port would have been ideal for something like this, it
> is not bidirectional and offers only two inputs.
>
> The serial port provides 3 inputs; still not enough
>
> While some multiplexing strategies might allow this to work, both of those
> ports are also often used for other important purposes.
>
> So I started thinking about the barcode port. It only has one input, but
> the joystick could be encoded into a serial stream. Maybe even using the
> original barcode drivers. I don't know the specifics of the BCR
> implementation  here, but often they are just keyboard wedges.
>
> Any thoughts on this or a better solution?
>
>
>

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