This is a Chinese made clone of a Play-2 controller for PCs Readily available here in Chiang Mai for 100THB or less
For your 100THB you get 16 digital (on/off) inputs which are the joystick buttons
You also get 4 analogue inputs which are the X and Y joystick axis for the left and right mini-joysticks or “thumbsticks”
The only controllable outputs on the joystick are the two vibration or “rumble” motors which are used to give haptic feedback to the user In a driving game for example, they may rumble when you crash into the wall Because it is a USB device then we can write our own software to control the motors without any modification to the joystick
There is a simple and straightforward hack that we can do to the joystick that will allow us to use it as an interface for other things that we want to connect to the computer We can take the joystick apart and add a 9 or 25-pin connector underneath A soldering iron and minimal electronics knowledge are required This connector is wired into the buttons and joystick axes on the circuit board We can then plug external buttons or other simple circuits via the connector underneath the joystick If we press an external button then the game or software we are using simply thinks we are pressing one of the joystick buttons! If we plug in a circuit that changes the voltage on one of the joystick axes then the game or software simply thinks we are moving the joystick! If the hack is done carefully then you can still use it as a normal joystick as well
