Well, the saga isnt over unfortunately. I replaced the joystick with another one that ended out worse. Decided it wasnt worth the hassle and upped the dead zone. Just went to play some FSO and now its decided to kick it up a notch. Definately need to ditch my current one.
I hate returning stuff. Especially gaming equipment to non-gaming stores, its always so difficult to explain when things dont act properly to someone who doesnt first take your word for it. A second return is going to make it look like I dont take care of my equipment... /*****
Im starting to dislike Saitek.
the joystick era is technically over. i remember in the late 90s you could go to electronics stores and input devices would take up an entire row. one side would be keyboards and mice and the other would be all joysticks of various configurations. this was pefore usb becam,e the primary interface though, and a joystick was just a bunch of pots and a button matrix hard wired to the port.
some of the more advanced sticks were smart and could cram
of functions through the sound card interface. on some soundcards the axis resolution was 16 bit. further screwing around with the midi pins could even get some extra functions out of the thing (early sidewinders used this technique for more buttons and force feedback).
id even go as far as saying that the original sidewinder force feedback was the most advanced stick ever. the circuitry was high density, with chip resistors and diodes instead of the older style ceramic and glass ones. most newer/more expensive sticks, like anything from saitek and even ch, used hand soldered boards with older style components. that sidewinder is the only stick that i used an optical sensor instead of pots.
when people started making usb sticks, they new it would be
more expensive, so they tended to use the cheapest micro controllers possible, typically single chip solutions or a standard off the shelf general purpose micro controller. this is why
of usb sticks have lower axis resolution than would be expected. they could stick a cheap chip into an expensive looking joystick and sell it for $200 (which was the price the original sidewinder force feedback went for). sad thing is thats what a mediocre joystick goes for theese days, which is less accurate than what a $30 joystick out of '98 woulda been.
mechanical technology hasnt changed very much either. the old direct shaft method was probably the best, since theres no gears to jam up or become loose with wear (im pointing at you x52!). gimbal tech is essentially the same as it was in the earliest 2 axis joysticks. sensor tech has improved somewhat, but i seem to find pots as the most accurate (and easy to replace to boot).
