Arduino as an input device

[Sid Whittman]

Hi, I'm building a generic WW-2 warbird cockpit and need some advice about using an Arduino as an input device.

I'm mainly concerned with the left side controls, which are stuff like throttle, prop pitch, mixture and trim as analogue inputs.

I have an Arduino Uno, and managed to get Unojoy working but it thinks it's a gamepad. What I need are axes ( axises ? axi ? ) which are reported as sliders. A couple of rotary encoder inputs would be nice, but in no way essential.
I'm OK with electronics but I'm no programmer, so I don't have a prayer of figuring this out for myself.

Can anyone help ?

[BushPilotWannabe]

I can only parrot other posts in saying that broken, surplus or thrift store, branded usb joysticks are a gold mine for parts to build straight ahead analog controls. In addition it may come with up to 12 push buttons and a top hat. If the factory potentiometer isn't applicable to your build, swap in a sliding or rotary linear pot of the same resistance.

Arduino sketches can encode the movement of the pots but joystick manufacturers have spent a life time producing a controller specifically for game analog control. Toggle and rotary switches, rotary encoders are easily programmed with your UNO. In addition the Arduino IDE is a fantasic introduction to C languages. Have you looked at the "Arduino Cards and Link2FS" forum? Push the "Forum" button and look towards the bottom of the list.

[Sid Whittman]

Disregard, now found an ideal solution, just means I have to get a different Arduino or a Teensy 2

[Sid Whittman]

I think something is wrong with the way my browser is interacting with the forum because I didn't see your reply until now.
So my apologies, I must seem really rude

I have a Logitech joystick control board, and two generic PS2 style controllers that I have stripped for their parts.
The Logitech board is going to supply the stick inputs and the rudder ( I'm going to use the throttle axis for that ) - the stick cost virtually nothing even brand new and apart from the awful centering mechanism it has been incredibly reliable.

The PS2 controllers are a bit problematic, but I won't bore everyone to death about it...

I did do some C programming but it was 20 years ago and I'm not sure I can face re-learning it...

Thanks again.