From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sirius Joyport
Sirius Joyport
The Sirius Joyport was a game controller adapter for the
Apple II computer designed by Keithen Hayenga and
Story of Its Invention
Steve Woita (who were employed by Apple at the time) The impetus for the invention of the Joyport came from
and then licensed for manufacture and distribution in well-known game designer Bill Budge, who Woita met at
1981 by Sirius Software.[1] The device was meant to ad- Apple and who had been thinking about a way to port
dress a limitation in the built-in game control offered by games that required manipulation of two joysticks to the
the Apple II, by allowing either four Apple-compatible Apple II. (Crazy Climber was mentioned specifically.)
paddles or two Atari-style joysticks (but not both types at Woita agreed to work on a solution involving Atari con-
once)[2] to be read by the computer simultaneously. trollers, and since at the time Hayenga was already work-
With the Joyport, a game could support twice as ing at Apple on a way to connect four paddles at once, the
many players as a standard Apple game port, but game two projects were a natural fit. The two hardware engi-
designers had to specifically modify their code to take in- neers began to cooperate on a single device, which was
put from the Atari side of the Joyport.[3] Many of them later christened the "Joyport".[6]
did so, and this modification is what is often seen listed Perhaps not surprisingly, both Woita and Hayenga
in Apple II game configuration screens as the "Atari Joy-
Atari were eventually hired by Atari, where Woita designed
port option.
port" the games Quadrun (1983), Asterix (1984), and TAZ
The recommended Atari joysticks were switch-driven (1984), for the Atari 2600,[7] and Hayenga specialised in
(i.e. digital), instead of the smoother-action analog sticks the Atari 5200, with the game RealSports Baseball (1983)
that were already becoming available on the Apple II.[4] and then a port of Tempest.[8]
Since the Apple II hardware made no distinction between
two paddles or a single analog joystick plugged into the
same jack,[5] it would have also been possible to connect
Notes
and read two fully analog joysticks with the Joyport via [1] Woita, Steve (2007), Classic Gaming Expo - Steve
the paddle jacks, but few (if any) two-joystick games sup- Woita, http://www.cgexpo.com/bios/swoita.html,
ported this, and Sirius did not suggest it. Why not is un- retrieved 2007-03-26
clear, but there may have also been a noticeable speed [2] Reese, George (2004), Good Deal Games - Classic
advantage when driving two digital rather than analog Videogame Games INTERVIEW - Keithen Hayenga,
joysticks on the limited hardware of the time.[4] http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/
int_Keithen%20Hayenga.html, retrieved
2007-03-26
Physical Characteristics and [3] Ahl, David H.; Rost, Randi J. (1983), "Blisters And
Packaging Frustration: Joysticks, Paddles, Buttons and Game
Port Extenders for Apple, Atari and VIC", Creative
The Joyport was a white plastic brick about the size of a Computing Video & Arcade Games 1 (1): 106ff.,
paperback novel that connected to the standard (inter- http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/
nal) Apple II gameport and broke it out into four input joysticks.php
jacks (left paddles; right paddles; left joystick; right joy- [4] ^ Rost, Randi J., op. cit,
stick). A switch in the centre controlled whether to ac- http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/
tivate the paddles or the joysticks. Another switch could joysticks.php
disable either the left- or right-side jacks (or neither). [5] Baum, Peter; Baxter, Glenn A. (1988), Apple IIe
Bundled in the package was the game Computer Foos- Technical Note #6: The Apple II Paddle Circuits,
ball, which was written specifically by Hayenga to handle http://web.pdx.edu/~heiss/technotes/aiie/
up to four players at once (through the Joyport) on the tn.aiie.06.html, retrieved 2007-03-26
Apple II. Also included were BASIC and Pascal source [6] Thomasson, Michael (2003), Good Deal Games - Classic
code listings of sample programs making use of the Joy- Videogame Games INTERVIEW - Steve Woita,
port, indicating the hobbyist influence in the market at http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/
the time it was released.[4] int_woita.html, retrieved 2007-03-26
[7] Stilphen, Scott (2001), Interview with Steve Woita,
http://2600connection.atari.org/woita.html,
retrieved 2007-03-26
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sirius Joyport
[8] Reese, George, op. cit,
http://www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/
int_Keithen%20Hayenga.html
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sirius_Joyport&oldid=434586525"
Categories:
• Game controllers
• Apple II peripherals
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