BUILDING YOUR OWN STICKY BOX ---------------------------- From CU Amiga magazine. Typed and edited by Craig. Diagram by Craig. The Sticky Box -------------- When was the last time you wanted to play a two-joystick game before discovering you had to fiddle around unplugging the mouse? It was during one of these moments that I came up with the idea for this design. Functionally speaking, it works more or less like the excellent Roboshift by Steve Collins, although his design had a few more improvements over this one. Most notably it always defaults to the mouse port and the whole thing is built with ultra-compact SMT components. The Sticky Box is fully automatic so you simply just have to press fire to switch over to joystick, or click the mouse button to switch to mouse (just like the Roboshift). However, the main advantage that our Sticky Box has over Roboshift is that it`s seven quid cheaper. While Roboshift is only available commercially for about £17, this design can be bought for less than a tenner and is perfectly suitable for a first time construction project. Even if you have never wielded a soldering iron in anger before, this project is simple enough for almost anyone. Construction ------------ Building the Sticky Box is a simple matter of `stuffing` the PCB/Veroboard and wiring the flying 9-pin. Two points are worth noting: pin 1 of IC1 and IC2 (marked with a notch) face towards the D connectors. Also, take care when wiring the flying 9-pin D socket: the lead spacing is quite tight and you will need a small (typically 17 watt) soldering iron to do the job. A magnifying glass is helpful to read the pin numbers, too. What You Will Need ------------------ IC1 - 74LS157 IC2 - 74LS00 D1 & 2 - 1N4148 Switching Diodes LD1 - 5mm LED (10mA) Green LD2 - 5mm LED (10mA) Red R1 - 1K5 0.6W Metal Film 2% PL1 & 2 - 9 pin D Socket PL3 - 9 pin D Plug (in-line) Cable - 1/2M either 9x7-core with screen OR 10-way ribbon Veropins - 9 off Sockets - 14-pin DIL x1 16 pin DIL x1 Case - To suit End.