USB Game Port Adapter Rockfire RM-203 gameport

I was originally fixing to make my own analogue 15-pin joystick to USB adapter by cannibalizing an older junked joystick (switches went bad) and soldering the DAC pinouts to a D-sub DA-15 connector, then shoving everything into a 3D-printed housing. However, when I sat down to really take stock of the labor I'd be doing, I checked around to see what was already on the market. Turns out, not a whole lot! There is this Rockfire adapter and a couple knock-offs, all for the same price. Since they're all the same reasonable amount of coin, and my time isn't free, I decided to go with the one all the others are copying.The box for the product looks and feels like it came straight out of Fry's back in 1999, and for a piece of retro-to-modern kit that's perfect. Instructions are short, clear, and to the point. Set the switch, plug in your old-timey joystick, then stick the USB end into your computer. Win7 automatically snagged the appropriate driver and I was up and running in about five seconds. My old much-in-need-of-cleaning Thrustmaster Pro FCS calibrated about as well as can be expected with old, dirty pots, and with a bit of deadzone tweaking I was playing Wing Commander the way I prefer it once again. All buttons/switches registered correctly, and without any perceptible lag/delay (I can't feel microseconds).$25 felt a little high for what amounts to a simple DAC and USB module, but I can't argue with results. Instead of tearing apart a donor stick and spending an hour soldering and swearing at 24ga wires, I got a simple blue dongle that does the boring work for me.If you've got an old analogue flight stick you love, give this thing a shot. Yes, you could get a brand new basic flight stick for the same price, but if you've got an old top-shelf stick sitting in your closet, or you've picked one up off eBay for playing old games off GOG/in DOSBox, it's worth the price of admission.One thing of note: If you are using a full HOTAS setup, you might actually need two of these things. Back in the day, some stick + throttle or stick + throttle + pedal setups required the use of multiple game ports, or active splitters to get all the signals through. This device cannot handle those setups by its lonesome. Just keep that in the back of your mind if you've got the full cockpit of controls, and can't get everything to work together all at once - you might need a second adapter.Thumbs up. I like it.

I have been using this Rockfire adapter on a computer with a dual boot of Windows 7 (64bit) and Linux Mint 17 (64bit). I have used it with both a Gravis Analog Pro and a CH Flightstick Pro.The adapter has a switch that is supposed to let you choose betweenSwitch position 1 __ Thrustmaster FCS and compatibleSwitch position 2 __ CH Flightstick Pro and compatibleSwitch position 3 __ 4-axis 4-button joysticksSwitch position 4 __ 2-axis 8-button gamepadsBoth Windows 7 and the joystick tester in Linux Mint 17 (jstest-gtk) identify the joystick by what switch position is used on the Rockfire -- not by what joystick is attached to it. However none of the switch positions identify the CH Flightstick Pro as a CH Flightstick Pro. This is how they are identified by jstest-gtk:Switch position 1:2-axis, 4-button joystick with view finder, rudderAxes: 5Buttons: 4Switch position 2:4-axis, 4-button joystick with view finderAxes: 6Buttons: 4Switch position 3:4-axis, 4-button joystickAxes: 4Buttons: 4Switch position 4:2-axis, 8-button gamepadAxes: 2Buttons: 8Results in Windows are similar (unplug USB connector, change switch on Rockfire, plug back into USB port, check what it says about the joystick in DEVICES AND PRINTERS). Results should be different for the four different switch positions.None of these really match the configuration of my CH Flightstick Pro, which has the 2-axis stick plus the throttle gear (3-axis), 4 buttons (one of which is the trigger) plus the hat switch (aka the "view finder").Calibration options for the CH Flightstick Pro with the Rockfire in either Windows or Linux are limited. Aside from being able to outline the reach of the joystick, you get what you get. No ability to calibrate dead zone or sensitivity.I'm not sure why they specifically mention the CH Flightstick Pro when switch position #2 actually seems to be for a different CH model -- or maybe one with more pieces than the joystick, like a configuration that includes a separate throttle or pedals. Certainly my CH Flightstick Pro does not have 6 axes.However the Rockfire does work for basic joystick function. So far I've mainly used it for playing DOS games in DOSBox, where I have to do additional calibrations once the game is started - one for the DOSBox mapper and one for the game itself. Without calibrating the DOSBox mapper, only one of the buttons (button one - the trigger) works. Without using the game's calibration system, the joystick cursor is often stuck in the upper left corner. I see a slight lag in DOSBox, but then I see that in DOSBox with a joystick with a direct USB connection too so I am inclined to blame DOSBox's less-than-perfect support for joysticks rather than the adapter.

Didn't work for the joystick it claimed to work for.