The Mouse Yoke! Turn a mouse into a flight yoke in 1992
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Date: 2024-05-03
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Comments and reviews: 19
jothain
I'm honestly quite impressed how it works mechanically. Meaning I thought you'd run into A LOT of issues that it wouldn't just track the metal tubing. That being said especially that yoke model doesn't make much sense thinking the very obvious centering issue. In that regard that steering wheel model might be something that I could've, maybe, perhaps enjoy as kid in the 90's. But at least with steering wheel you could try to dismiss spokes being occasionally in wrong. But all in all that is quite obviously quite bad solution. It should at least have some custom mouse driver bit somekind of button centering and likely it would be much easier to use if there were some kind of visual reference to how far you actually are in X-axis. But around 90's, dream on for such features; )
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I'm honestly quite impressed how it works mechanically. Meaning I thought you'd run into A LOT of issues that it wouldn't just track the metal tubing. That being said especially that yoke model doesn't make much sense thinking the very obvious centering issue. In that regard that steering wheel model might be something that I could've, maybe, perhaps enjoy as kid in the 90's. But at least with steering wheel you could try to dismiss spokes being occasionally in wrong. But all in all that is quite obviously quite bad solution. It should at least have some custom mouse driver bit somekind of button centering and likely it would be much easier to use if there were some kind of visual reference to how far you actually are in X-axis. But around 90's, dream on for such features; )
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Viking_Cookie
I desperately want to see Uncle Derek from Stop Skeletons from Fighting explore the use of this with console mice for the PS1, Saturn and N64 - pretty sure they're all ball mice, the Saturn one definitely is. I feel like this could have been massively improved with a second shaft and some swappable gears to let you vary the left-right sensitivity without impacting the forwards-backwards, but that probably would have made it more expensive to produce than a regular yoke.
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I desperately want to see Uncle Derek from Stop Skeletons from Fighting explore the use of this with console mice for the PS1, Saturn and N64 - pretty sure they're all ball mice, the Saturn one definitely is. I feel like this could have been massively improved with a second shaft and some swappable gears to let you vary the left-right sensitivity without impacting the forwards-backwards, but that probably would have made it more expensive to produce than a regular yoke.
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ludditzthrell2061
I was gonna suggest trying an optical mouse. glad to see we think alike in that respect! Still. yeah. I get the feeling an optical mouse and the driving wheel, maybe with a band of matte tape on it directly where the laser hits might work Still though, rather enjoy the absurdity and clever idea of it. Anyway, Clint, please keep finding weird stuff, it's always a treat when your oddware videos pop up in my sub box.
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I was gonna suggest trying an optical mouse. glad to see we think alike in that respect! Still. yeah. I get the feeling an optical mouse and the driving wheel, maybe with a band of matte tape on it directly where the laser hits might work Still though, rather enjoy the absurdity and clever idea of it. Anyway, Clint, please keep finding weird stuff, it's always a treat when your oddware videos pop up in my sub box.
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GreyWolfLeaderTW
Not gonna lie, when I realized how this yoke worked (obviously turning and pulling/pushing the yoke rolls it against the mouse's rollerball, I thought, 'That is clever!
Of course, I immediately considered that this is cheap aluminum and plastic we're dealing with here, so the yoke likely won't feel anything like a solidly built joystick or other kinds of controllers.
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Not gonna lie, when I realized how this yoke worked (obviously turning and pulling/pushing the yoke rolls it against the mouse's rollerball, I thought, 'That is clever!
Of course, I immediately considered that this is cheap aluminum and plastic we're dealing with here, so the yoke likely won't feel anything like a solidly built joystick or other kinds of controllers.
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4Wilko
Impressive drawing skills with the contraption. If they had included a way to hit the mouse buttons without taking your hands off of it that would have increased the satisfaction immensely. The list of games where no button input for long lengths of time is intended is very small.
6: 03 - That reverb got me good.
18: 57 - I kind of wish the laugh was synced with the spin here.
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Impressive drawing skills with the contraption. If they had included a way to hit the mouse buttons without taking your hands off of it that would have increased the satisfaction immensely. The list of games where no button input for long lengths of time is intended is very small.
6: 03 - That reverb got me good.
18: 57 - I kind of wish the laugh was synced with the spin here.
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MM.
Even though they didn't market it as such, it could be read as an example of upcycling. If you happen to have an old mouse where some of the buttons or the mouse wheel no longer work properly, you can give it a new life with this contraption. With USB, it's trivial to have multiple mice connected, on older systems, I suppose you could connect one mouse via PS/2 and the other via serial
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Even though they didn't market it as such, it could be read as an example of upcycling. If you happen to have an old mouse where some of the buttons or the mouse wheel no longer work properly, you can give it a new life with this contraption. With USB, it's trivial to have multiple mice connected, on older systems, I suppose you could connect one mouse via PS/2 and the other via serial
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nafion112
2: 41 My jaw is on the floor. I grew up in Fort Collins. I lived there for 30 years. Around 1995, I got my braces literally next door to that address on Whalers Way, and my dad lived for years on Sandy Cove Ln, literally 100s of feet away! .I kinda fancy myself a flight sim enthusiast, but haven't heard of Colorado Spectrum until today. feels surreal.
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2: 41 My jaw is on the floor. I grew up in Fort Collins. I lived there for 30 years. Around 1995, I got my braces literally next door to that address on Whalers Way, and my dad lived for years on Sandy Cove Ln, literally 100s of feet away! .I kinda fancy myself a flight sim enthusiast, but haven't heard of Colorado Spectrum until today. feels surreal.
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Kumimono
Ooo, distributed by Ubi Soft en francaise.
One does wonder, if these were, modded back in the day. Obvious would be a, thing between the base and yoke, spacer of some sort. Rubber bands for rudimentary centering, wire some extra mouse buttons to the handles. Roughen the shaft up, maybe coat in some, rubbery paint, if it would still fit.
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Ooo, distributed by Ubi Soft en francaise.
One does wonder, if these were, modded back in the day. Obvious would be a, thing between the base and yoke, spacer of some sort. Rubber bands for rudimentary centering, wire some extra mouse buttons to the handles. Roughen the shaft up, maybe coat in some, rubbery paint, if it would still fit.
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zispinhoff0011
What a coincidence! I was just reminiscing about his very thing! It worked like a champ when it worked.
Our time with it ended when the turn wheel on the desk clamp broke off. No amount of super glue withstood the torque needed to fix it.
I still have the plastic yoke bars. Thanks so much for covering this one, Clint!
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What a coincidence! I was just reminiscing about his very thing! It worked like a champ when it worked.
Our time with it ended when the turn wheel on the desk clamp broke off. No amount of super glue withstood the torque needed to fix it.
I still have the plastic yoke bars. Thanks so much for covering this one, Clint!
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Laurastar2009
Love an Oddware episode. Although this was less odd than usual. Well, less odd for Oddware, but more odd for flight simulator add ons. Such a clever yet simple idea, it's a shame the sensitivity is off, but I guess it's a low-tech solution.
And I must add, your store room is beautifully organised.
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Love an Oddware episode. Although this was less odd than usual. Well, less odd for Oddware, but more odd for flight simulator add ons. Such a clever yet simple idea, it's a shame the sensitivity is off, but I guess it's a low-tech solution.
And I must add, your store room is beautifully organised.
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WhiteScarsEmo
I am an old-school gamer, starting back in the MS-Dos days. And I loved space flight sims. Tie-Fighter, Wing Commander, et al. Sadly, I am a bit too old to handle a joystick like I used to (Stop laughing. lol, same for prolonged use of a mouse. But this might be a good compromise. Thanks for sharing.
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I am an old-school gamer, starting back in the MS-Dos days. And I loved space flight sims. Tie-Fighter, Wing Commander, et al. Sadly, I am a bit too old to handle a joystick like I used to (Stop laughing. lol, same for prolonged use of a mouse. But this might be a good compromise. Thanks for sharing.
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WarValkyrie
looking at this device. If they had used a Pass-through where the mouse serial port connects to the end of the rod. And then the tod having a serial connection to the computer. they could have included buttons to the yoke as a result. And still have access to the two buttons on the mouse itself.
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looking at this device. If they had used a Pass-through where the mouse serial port connects to the end of the rod. And then the tod having a serial connection to the computer. they could have included buttons to the yoke as a result. And still have access to the two buttons on the mouse itself.
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BurstingVeins1
I saw the picture and was thinking, HTF is this supposed to even work It took me way too long to realize this was built expecting a ball mouse. You should try a newer optical mouse, like the Logitech ones with Darkfield tech, which are supposed to work well with any surface.
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I saw the picture and was thinking, HTF is this supposed to even work It took me way too long to realize this was built expecting a ball mouse. You should try a newer optical mouse, like the Logitech ones with Darkfield tech, which are supposed to work well with any surface.
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DeLorean4
This is a seriously elegant design. I love it. Some sort of pass-through for the mouse cable to transmit a center position to re-calibrate on the fly (no pun intended) would have been great, but would have brought the price closer to a real controller.
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This is a seriously elegant design. I love it. Some sort of pass-through for the mouse cable to transmit a center position to re-calibrate on the fly (no pun intended) would have been great, but would have brought the price closer to a real controller.
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Palmtop_User
Reminds me when i landed a cessna on a carrier in a flight sim using a track pad for a grade in highschool. The track pad wasnt part of the requirements, i just didn't have a joystick and didn't want to go back to the lab to get one
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Reminds me when i landed a cessna on a carrier in a flight sim using a track pad for a grade in highschool. The track pad wasnt part of the requirements, i just didn't have a joystick and didn't want to go back to the lab to get one
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signalcabin
An irish PC Magzine ( long defunct ) covered a project using a circular buscuit tin and use a metal / plastic tube /pipe with a suitable steering wheel. I did'nt try to make it. When I was playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 98
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An irish PC Magzine ( long defunct ) covered a project using a circular buscuit tin and use a metal / plastic tube /pipe with a suitable steering wheel. I did'nt try to make it. When I was playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 98
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JenniferinIllinois
That's it. I'm dumping MS Flight Simulator 2020 and my hardware setup and grabbing this for some MS Flight Simulator 5 action.
Yes, the Logitech two button mouse. My first mouse.
Make sure your ball is clean.
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That's it. I'm dumping MS Flight Simulator 2020 and my hardware setup and grabbing this for some MS Flight Simulator 5 action.
Yes, the Logitech two button mouse. My first mouse.
Make sure your ball is clean.
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MayaPosch
Getting some matte texture on the shaft (har) might make it work pretty well with an optical mouse, but you'd likely still run into centering issues. Mice in general aren't very good at that, after all.
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Getting some matte texture on the shaft (har) might make it work pretty well with an optical mouse, but you'd likely still run into centering issues. Mice in general aren't very good at that, after all.
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Charlesb88
If Egghead software had sold a custom branded version of this back in the day then they could have called it the Egg Yolk. /
Anyways, I enjoyed watching Clint shove his shaft in and out.
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If Egghead software had sold a custom branded version of this back in the day then they could have called it the Egg Yolk. /
Anyways, I enjoyed watching Clint shove his shaft in and out.
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