Q: To what mode should I configure my parallel port?
A: PPJoy should be able to able to work with your parallel port in SPP, EPP or ECP modes.
When running PPJoy will try to switch the port to SPP mode. In some cases it may
be necessary to configure your parallel port to SPP in your computer's BIOS setup.
If there is an IRQ assigned to your printer port you may also want to make sure that it is unique - i.e. not shared with other devices.
Q: Do I really need an adapter for my joystick? A: Yes. No joystick plugs directly into the parallel port because the connectors are different. Most of the adapters are very simple and just connects the joystick signals to the right parallel port pins. You can either build or buy one.
Even though your joystick connector fits in the serial port it will not work since the signals are very different.
Q: Which interface (adapter) should I build? A: This depends on the type of controller and how many of them you want to use. Obviously you will want to build an interface that supports at least the number of controllers you plan to use.
For 1-2 digital joysticks the Amiga4Player interface is probably a good interface to build unless you want to use the adapter with Linux as well. Then look at the Linux0802 or LinuxDB9c interfaces.
Q: The PPJoy diagram for an adapter looks different from the original... A: All the original interface diagrams have been redrawn for PPJoy to give them all a consistent look-and-feel. In some instances the interfaces have also been modified to add support for extra buttons. PPJoy should work just fine with the adapter as presented on the original author/designer's webpage.
Q: Is PPJoy compatible with adapters for Linux? A: Yes. The adapters with the word Linux in them are exactly the same adapters used by the Linux joystick drivers. The idea was that you could use the same adapter for both Operating Systems.
Q: Is PPJoy compatible with adapters for DirectPad Pro? A: Yes. PPJoy supports the older DirectPad Pro adapters for people migrating from Windows 95/98/Me to Windows 2000/XP.
Q: I think the adapter or PPJoy damaged my computer or parallel port A: I did not want to know that! Whilst PPJoy or the interfaces presented here should not harm your computer there are no guarantees. You use PPJoy entirely at your own risk!
Q: What diode is used in the joystick adapters? A: The adapters all use 1N4148 diodes but just about any other signal diode should work.
Q: Can I change the way PPJoy assigns my joystick buttons? A: Yes. You can completely change the way that PPJoy assigns buttons and axes. You can even use buttons as axes and vice versa. See the Mapping section of the PPJoy user manual.
Q: Why can't I use the FMS PPM interface under Windows 98/Me? A: Windows 98 and Windows ME does not provide the parport.sys driver like Windows 2000/XP. PPJoy emulates some of this driver's functions using W98Ports.sys - but this driver does not provide the IRQ hooking functions of parport.sys.
If somebody cares to write the IRQ functions for W98Ports.sys then PPJoy will support the FMS PPM interface on Windows 98 as well...
Q: Yellow exclamation mark over "Parallel Port Joystick Bus" icon, Error code 2, in Device Manager. A: This error may occur on Windows 98 and Windows ME. It happens when Windows cannot find the "NTKERN.VXD" file. The reason for this is that it is not installed. It seems that Windows 98 only installs this file when USB support is installed. Try installing USB support.
Q: PPJoy Control Panel error message "Cannot open the Parallel Port Joystick Bus Enumerator." A: For some reason the PPJoyBus.sys driver is not properly started. There can be a few reasons for this. One might be that you are attempting to run the PPJoy Control Panel without installing PPJoy with the setup application. Another reason might be that the drivers were not installed because driver signing prevented them from being installed. It might also be that the PPJoy setup could not find the support DLLs it needs.
On Windows 98 and ME you need to manually install the PPJoyBus.sys driver.
Look in Device Manager under "Sound, video and game controllers". You should see a device called "Parallel Port Joystick Bus". If it is not there the driver was not installed for some reason.
If the driver fails to start (exclamation mark in Device Manager) go to the "System" section of the Windows Event Viewer application. Look for messages from sources with the names "PPortJoystick" and "PPJoyBus". This should tell you why the device failed to start.
Q: PPJoy does not respond to my Playstation controller. A: First, check the wiring of your adapter. The odds are that you wired the adapter incorrectly or improperly soldered a connection. There might also be a small percentage of Playstation controllers out there that PPJoy does not read properly.
Q: How do I make PPJoy work with my software? Do I copy a DLL? A: You need to first unzip all the PPJoy installation files and then run the setup application. Then you need to define joysticks in the PPJoy Control Panel applet. Your application should then see the PPJoy joystick(s) just like any other joystick.
You do not need to copy any additional DLLs or other files to your application.
Q: Is PPJoy a new version of DirectPad Pro for Windows 2000/XP? A: No. PPJoy is also a joystick driver and supports most of the devices supported by DirectPad Pro. But PPJoy is a completely different application and I have no ties to the developer of DirectPad Pro.
Q: Can I get a copy of the PPJoy source code? A: No. PPJoy is not Open Source software. Unfortunately I also do not have time to assist with general questions about driver development. I will however gladly answer any specific question related to the way PPJoy reads joysticks.
Q: My axes are "reversed". Help! A: You can change the direction (sense) of an axis using the mapping functionality. If the axis in question is an analog one (Mapped with an "Analog x" value) you need to select the corresponding "Analog x rev") value to invert the axis. If it is mapped as to digital values ("Digital x") you can simply swap the two values.
Q: The up/down buttons on my DirectPad Pro interface does not work A: Many of the DirectPad Pro interfaces uses pins 1 and 14 on the parallel port as inputs. These pins are in fact output pins but older motherboards or LPT adapters allowed them to be read as inputs.
There are a number of solutions: The most reliable is to build a different interface (like to Linux variants). You could also try to set the parallel port to "SPP" mode in your computer's BIOS - this may or may not work. Lastly you could try to find an older LPT adapter card and try that.