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This time around the question is 5V is actually needed for most joysticks (on pin 7 for Kempston/Atari)? I know the Megadrive pad needs it (on pin 5), but only if you want all the buttons to work as it works fine passively but only two fire buttons register (B & C)
I've got a pretty sizeable collection of joysticks from the 80s and I've not found one that needs 5V. MasterSystem 2 button doesn't, Amstrad GX4000 doesn't, Competition Pro nope, ZipStick nada... Autofire circuits also don't seem to need it with my ZipStick working fine. Note this is the separate 5V on pin 7, not the direction pins or fire buttons.
Sinclair didn't add it to their joystick interface but Kempston did and I'm just wondering why? Most joysticks just connect the direction/fire pins to ground to activate, meaning you only need to pull up the pins to get it to work.
TomD