LGR Oddware - ICONtroller Input Device

[@PsychoIncarnate666]

I think it was made for old people. Like my grandma Who moves her mouse specifically to the location. Then moves her hands off and presses the buttons separately. Like the device can't handle moving and selecting at the same time

[@thelegendaryklobb2879]

It's a common condition among the elderly, the old man mouse syndrome

[@doubtful_seer]

Dylan that legitimately makes me sad

[@changoelchango]

i liked your comment like your grandma uses her mouse

[@noapparentfunction]

i want an IBM Soothing Sounds CD. an hour plus of just computer humming, complete with occasional pc speaker beeps, disk loading sounds and the errant key clack. who can make this happen? i'd buy it.

[@Funnygalsproductions]

noapparentfunction floppytron May have something

[@AshenTechDotCom]

already done, look up stuff like "hours of relaxing computer sounds" and the like on here... been around for years, one evil sod even made one thats relaxing then...god damn dialup modem sounds BLARE at you....LOL.. evil.. i love it.

[@doubtful_seer]

Not THAT is a lofi beats to chill and study to

[@dewdop]

You can make this happen.

[@doodoobrn]

You

[@iani103]

I just LOVE how you just naturally seem to balance the seriousness of presenting facts and properly demonstrating a product with a "this is just a KZbin video, not a pp-presentation for work", nonchalant attitude (that many other reviewers unfortunately have). Love it, thanks!

[@vwestlife]

This is basically similar to the early prototypes of IBM's TrackPoint, which started out as a miniature joystick stuck in the middle of the keyboard, and was eventually downsized even further to the size of a pencil eraser. However, the TrackPoint uses some rather sophisticated sensors to automatically adjust its sensitivity to both fast movement and fine detail, which this device clearly lacks, thus necessitating the manual selection between different sensitivity settings.

[@giancarloiannucci5725]

ive been watching this LGR for about 4 years, i do not own a gaming pc nor have i ever and i gotta say its always kept me entertained thanks for such an awesome show!

[@giancarloiannucci5725]

i do not know why i chose this video to finally comment lol

[@GentleHeretic]

That is an awesome shirt, I used to play Space Cadet Pinball all the time as a kid. Shame it's not in the newer versions of Windows...

[@jack_2000]

You can download it on Win10. It's really small

[@Peanut546]

Jack Egan and its super easy to find too.

[@Reshiram543]

Windows hates children confirmed

[@sonicunleashedfan124]

I have fond memories of not knowing how to play it...

[@kelseybrokaw2503]

My memories of space cadet pinball are of my grandma and I playing together all the time, taking turns on her old dinosaur computer, I miss those days

[@jeffread6593]

Use the right mouse button to put the mouse in yoke mode. In yoke mode, mouse alone controls aileron and elevator; mouse with left button down controls rudder and throttle. That's what I remember from flying with FS4 20 years or so ago.

[@ghostbirdofprey]

"I hope you don't mind disk loading sounds" Are you kidding? That's premium nostalgia there. That, along with the sound of a dot matrix printer and the POST beep.

[@AndreDeLimburger]

The POST beep, it ain't complete without the sound of the floppy disks seek.

[@jesselindsey9760]

"THIS works." *immediately dies* "Oh."

[@Thanos6]

MIND disk loading sounds? They make me happy.

[@LGR]

As they should.

[@gfs5551]

It has been a long time I didnt hear these calming sounds

[@danmanx2]

I am glad I'm not the only one!

[@pip5528]

Me, too! Gotta love those classics! :D

[@fixman88]

I grew up with those sounds :3

[@TurtleWaveZZZ]

My dad has the tac 2 joystick. It’s in a box with all his commodore stuff. It was really cool getting to check out that era of games being born after it.

[@SamThredder]

Clint. Dude. You make me so happy. If ever I'm feeling down and I happen to click an LGR video, I will always feel a whole lot better. Thank you

[@MegaZsolti]

THIS IS THE ICONTROLLER IT TROLLS ICONS

[@praveensharma9893]

I WOULD RECOMMEND NOT BEING TROLLED BY IT

[@ErdenizS]

Dammit... I'm 8 months too late...

[@kanyegaming5296]

MegaZsolti xdddddddddddddddd

[@randomhuman]

MegaZsolti xd

[@ThePiquedPigeon]

...and 10 months later, this is not still the top comment!!

[@ChellZelda]

Im very glad LGR puts himself in his videos now!!!

[@LGR]

Hate to break it to you, but I've been in my videos since I started KZbin. :) I just don't appear in every single video, since I don't see the need.

[@Ghost_Of_SAS]

Couldn't they have made a thin metal base that slots into the device and slides under the keyboard, using the weight of it to hold itself in place? Keyboads were heavy back then. Still better than sticky frickin' tape.

[@AceStrife]

Omg floppy disk sounds. Haven't heard that in over 15 years. I want more of the sounds of old stuff!

[@Larry]

Have you noticed how rare it is for electronic items to come packaged on styrofoam nowadays, everything seems to be cardboard now, Is it an environmental thing or the fact it builds static? Oh, I got that TacPro stick for my C64, it's pretty awkward to control as the stick is a straight line, rather than ergonomic.

[@DagothBob]

Might just be cheaper.

[@FromTheCabin]

Styrofoam takes hundreds of years to biodegrade and the packaging takes up a lot of space. Cardboard is the most recycled material on the planet. It's probably also cheaper, which makes for a nice combo with the environmental aspect.

[@Jackpkmn]

VaterYester Also in some environments the Styrofoam can become caustic and ruin the items stored in it.

[@robloxdude19]

I still remember when I got my NES off Ebay and actually made a remark to my dad at the fact that 'Normally you'd see Washing Machines and appliances in Styrofoam, didn't think they'd packaged consoles in this stuff...'

[@Gooberslot]

I don't know what the reason is but I'm thankful for it. There's no more annoying sound than squeaking styrofoam.

[@cabbycabby1770]

I have an undying love for the graphic design on the boxes of these products.

[@LasseHuhtala]

No Doom or Duke Nukem, much disapoint. :-)

[@ellaemukid]

"this thing's weird and old" perfect, 10/10

[@The_Laser_Channel]

ahh, back in the days when hardware came with all needed accessories! Don't have a 3 1/2" floppy? They include the 5 1/4" floppy! Don't have a 9-pin serial port, they include the adapter! Now you have to buy USB cables just to use a brand new printer!

[@DengekiGamer]

Sounds hillarous, but its sadly the Truth.

[@RRW359]

Yeaah, but now you can also use the shitty wifi to also print. The majority of products come with what you NEED to run it (although it isn't always preferable), unless your name is Nintendo.

[@ThomasSpychalski]

RRW That is why the Wii sucked for me, tons of shit to buy...like the classic controller and motion plus...

[@SianaGearz]

DvdXploitr Printers are special little puppies: they have, to the best of my knowledge, never included the data cable, only the power cable. I remember zero printers in the 90ies shipping with cables vs. at least 4, spanning 1991 till 1998, shipping without. And those printers were expensive back then! And it's not like there was a ton of connectivity options, they only had one data port on the device itself. It is perhaps conceivable that it's because the printer side was standardized (Centronics port), but the computer side was not. Some computers could have a built in DB25 connector with Centronics compatible signalling, others would have a Centronics connector, yet others didn't have anything and you'd need a cartridge or extension card.

[@DengekiGamer]

Siana Gearz Yes Printers where rarely shipped with Cabels. The Reason, so the producers of this Things, are taht every one needs diffrent lenghth of Cable.

[@NdieCity]

Everyone here is talking about disk loading noises and here I am enjoying the stock music at the beginning that WhatCulture uses.

[@NJRoadfan]

For some reason I think my Amiga needs one of these. The system switch likely was used to switch between Microsoft Mouse mode and Mouse Systems mode, the latter of which natively supported 3-button mice. I that thing was designed to be attached to a nice heavy IBM Model F or Model M, bet it wouldn't slide around with one of them weighing it down!

[@sacamentobob]

Clint, long time viewer here, but only watching this in 2020. To see you do that voice live is just awesome. Never gets old!

[@metfan4l]

Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ, $99.95?! In 1990? That would be about $186 in 2017, absolutely insane pricepoint, no wonder it didn't take off.

[@arthas640]

For a good frame of reference, not long after this... thing came out, I got a kickass jetski with a trailer for $100

[@doubtful_seer]

Arthas Menethil like, used? Because even then that’s.... way too cheap

[@grootsChannel]

@@arthas640 thats not a fair comparison because thats an absurdly cheap price. Thats like saying a 100k car is stupid because I just bought a house for 5k

[@dewdop]

@@grootsChannel a 100k car IS stupid

[@grootsChannel]

@@dewdop It is but it's still an unfair comparison

[@avonleahaymart6958]

I love when you do videos on older technology. I'm really into old technology so it makes me happy :)

[@torch3972]

Our school has just put up a really cool display made of 3.5" floppy disks, and over half of them (about 250 of them) were drivers for this in grey and blue. Who needs that many drivers?

[@orphenelsp6910]

LGR, I've been following for some years now, I just wanted to say your videos are awesome! Even your let's play! Keep up the awesome work man!

[@zackschilling4376]

Id love to see anything ADAM Computer related, thats pretty odd. We had one when I was a kid, along with a Colceo , and it was a very interesting computer. Its main problem was the power supply was in the printer so when it shat out you had to get a whole new printer, and we went thru at least 3 of them. My Dad was in an ADAM club and even went to some of the conventions called ADAM-Con in South Bend, IN.

[@bruutus99]

Definetely one of the coolest channels on the youtube!

[@faithless8888]

Nice one LGR! Love that NCR pc of your's!!

[@LGR]

Thanks! That's one of my favorite machines :)

[@thegreene3]

I love your voice, and your videos. :D Loving seeing the odd things that came out in the past. Keep up the good work!

[@sarowie]

maybe the antistatic cleaning pad was indented for cleaning the surfaces before sticking the sticky tape on to them.

[@Gillymonster18]

I love this channel, the nostalgia is awesome :)

[@BackForwardPunch]

Love this series man! So interesting that all this stuff was made. Really a different time.

[@OneAngryDeacon]

Oh. I see you've been working on shooting a crt monitor. Proud of you.

[@eswesje]

The thing that made my day even better: eating lunch while watching a LGR vid. Thank you for supplying my lunchtime entertainment!

[@Psistarstormer]

Nothing like some Oddware to end a Friday. There's just something so relaxing about a new episode of LGR.

[@-DeScruff]

Wow! I actually had that exact one at 2:00 when my family got a Commodore 128! It was never very good because it was just too small, and the button was oddly placed. The idea though made sense as an early portable mouse control thing before touch pads existed

[@kendrickc.8243]

I come to watch your videos because they bring me peace. It’s an escape from the absurdity that we are living in 2020. Thank you brother

[@RetroGamerVX]

I remember when school got windows 2, we never had any sort of pointing devices :o) Went straight to mice after that. I LOVE disk loading sounds ;o) Funny how it seems that Microsoft's products are the most compatible with this!

[@peterpockets7462]

Wow, the product page showed the ergo stick. I had the ergostick for my C64. It was the most comfortable durable joystick I ever owned. Made of soft rubber, and had finger grooves molded into it for holding in your left hand. Trigger was perfectly placed for your left index finger. Good Stuff!!!!

[@adamthompson6669]

Still loving the channel and greetings :) Great work Clint

[@general0ne]

Awesome! I have one of these that I used with a couple of my old laptops. My version has a coiled cord, and has heavy duty velcro to attach it to the computer. It also came with a little padded carrying case.

[@sammitman3031]

i just died laughing when the "Oh FRIGGIN COPY PROTECTION!!" part came up. lol that was so unexpected and hilarious. lol reminds me of me. lol

[@LGR]

Copy protection: still bothering gamers decades later.

[@sammitman3031]

thats the sad part. im not really a classic pc gamer unless i find what im looking for on Steam, but ur videos really take me back. I love your channel. im not so much into videogames as much, but now more into graphics/animation and writing, and creating my 1st board game.

[@-ahvilable-6654]

Sam Mitman 11:47

[@ComradePhoenix]

I mean, it's EA. I wasn't even surprised.

[@apathyguy8338]

The video says no mature content but this guy keeps going on about a wonderful package.

[@charlesdoesmore5488]

6:02 Consult your Doctor

[@Polaventris]

I still use tac-2 with my commodore 64 even today. Fantastic joystick that only lacks an autofire switch to be perfect.

[@Supersaiyan79]

Adding autofire to TAC-2 isn't hard. It may be possible to make one button auto fire and another button single fire. If you don't want to open the joystick you can always add the autofire to the cable or make some sort of "dongle" between. There are also commercial products like PointMaster Fire Control and Blaster Auto-Fire. They are made for Atari but should work with C64 also.

[@shawbros]

I have an ICONtroller that is made for Commodore 64. It plugged in between your joystick and the joystick port. It was just a mini version of your joystick, and it worked great. For games that used the keyboard and joystick, it was VERY convenient to have a tiny joystick mounted on the side of the keyboard.

[@Michirin9801]

Oddware is my favourite thing about this channel!

[@neiloch]

I love this kind of ended in a 'ragequit'

[@thedungeondelver]

I remember seeing these at Electronics Boutique back in the 80s, for the C64/128. I didn't know they released them for the PC as well. Would you do a GEOS review? That's an interesting bit of computer history.

[@LGR]

Perhaps, I'm not really too keen on covering operating systems though.

[@halyomorpha]

Lazy Game Reviews Not too keen, eh? I guess you won't be *commanding* any attention for those kinds of videos. HEPH HEPH HEPH HEPH. oh wait did I do that right?

[@pip5528]

MarmaladeJacket LOL I see what you did there! Good reference!

[@shawbros]

The Icontroller for the C64 was great. I used one frequently.

[@YoungTheFish]

I thought it was Icon Trolling device...

[@puertoricanboy100]

Whatculture or Gameranx man, these channels need a music composer to score these great channels. LGR and the above mentioned, Thank You for your videos!! We love em!🔥💪

[@VolkStrokerMedia]

I just realized that the Arkanoid port was made by NOVALOGIC. So weird, I loved all their military sim games from the late 90s. I didn't know they did that kinda stuff in the early 90s.

[@JM-dq7xn]

"Stuff like electric shavers and...whatever else" That cracked me up, since I was watching this video on one of two philips monitors that sit on my desk xD Love your sense of humor, Clint!

[@BubblewrapHighway]

I absolutely love these videos. Nothing calms me like experimental 90s tech and people spouting specs I know nothing about. "It consisted of four rendering pipelines, with hardware T&L, and some limited pixel shader support. Innovatively the chip has 3 MiB of embedded 1T-SRAM for use as ultra-fast low-latency (6.2 ns) texture and framebuffer/Z-buffer storage allowing 10.4 GB/second bandwidth (extremely fast for the time)." Aahhh...

[@abandonedprogram9391]

imagine using this for competitive csgo

[@herohalv4543]

vs. globals

[@rinhato8453]

AbandonedProgram I'd just use it for doing stuff, it seems pretty funny.

[@mrwang420]

Map it for weapon and item switching and using. Lol

[@Helioski355]

"i hope you don't mind disk loading sounds" that was honestly the best part of my day, so nostalgic

[@Bobbydog66]

I love the moment the video starts, my eyes go directly to lego island. You need to review that.

[@MagnaRyuuDesigns]

Every time I see old tech like this I always think of how I can re-purpose it

[@TravisStewart42]

From the thumbnail I had assumed it was much larger, and am shocked by how small it was. I thought it would be big enough to really grasp, something where you might be able to have some fine control over the motion. I guess it is a bit like the trackpoint though, and those worked fairly well, at least for normal computing, rather than gaming, but I guess the way it is shaped and has to be held makes it harder to use.

[@robintst]

I love disk loading sounds. Makes it feel like something's getting done while you wait.

[@NecroxiaSWG]

Interesting review and nice haircut, LGR.

[@TheWarmotor]

The RS232 serial port was not IBM specific, it was its own standard. We use RS232C ports on industrial control computers to this day. DCEs (like the MDS 97/9810 series of data radios) use a DB25 serial connector, I don't know why DTEs generally use a DB9 and DCEs seem to lean DB25. It's getting harder to connect to them with PCs, as the standard PC serial port has been phased out and USB to serial devices vary wildly in quality. I freaking love your videos, bee tee dubs.

[@michaeldavidson8971]

Ahh the good old days, I remember strolling into Egghead computer and checking out the games and accessories. That's where I bought my very first sound card and CD-ROM! a Creative Technology Soundblaster-16 and 2X CD-ROM. I also purchased my first modem there too, a AT&T internal 14.4 (when most people were using external modems) later I got external modems when people were switching to internal, oh well! I've never been a trend follower.

[@Jawashaw1]

Love the doily on the back of your chair.

[@zachkiss8870]

Dude, you’re so cool and Oooooie! that voice is smooth!

[@TheLazurus]

I need that shirt. Like, it's becoming my purpose in life. Lazy Game Reviews

[@MrKanjidude]

Oh man I love these videos, and seeing that TAC-2 made me all warm and fuzzy inside; I loved that joystick. Sure it wasn't comfortable at all, but somehow I just loved it. And it was better than the Atari 2600-joystick I was used to before.

[@HairyPixels]

Damn they almost got Apple's future iEverything trademark if they would have just changed the capitalization and said iController.

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

I love ❤️ Floppy Disk 💾 Noises!!! Grrrrr-CaChunk-Bzzzzt-TikkTikkTikk!!!

[@linkstorm6]

That sounds like something a Pokemon trainer would say before the battle. "Trainer Zane would like to battle!"

[@Thriftyjeroen]

💾

[@SpoofyJ]

Hot damn, I'm loving the new setup. All those boxes! O_O

[@PabloNeirotti]

I love this mouse. It's one of the most complicated ones I've seen. Knobs, switches, buttons, love it, haha. Good old days...

[@SagaraUrz]

Man! you got a new room or something with more space? That T-Shirt so epic

This is so rad. I had some of these controllers back in the day for my ZX Spectrum but I think they were unlicensed bootlegs or euro variants since they were released under other companies names.

[@robabi9577]

good video, well put together, loved it

[@StephanS]

I love the sound of a working floppy disc drive...

[@23names]

THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT ODD DEVICES THAT I KNEW EXISTED AND THE PRICES ARE USUALLY VERY OUTRAGEOUS FOR THE LITTLE YOU GET, WHAT ODD THINGS, VERY COOL THAT YOU FIND ALL OF THOSE VERY INTERESTING ODD ITEMS AND SHOW THEM WORKING EXPLAIN IN DETAIL ABOUT THE ITEMS

[@Perriax]

Man.... them disc loading sounds. It's kinda soothing, very nostalgic...

[@cheezewheel]

Disc loading, brings me right back to my childhood :'D

[@foxtail4358]

disc loading sounds are the reason we all subscribe to Your channel :)

[@viciouscruciferous8549]

I love you and the oddware videos :D

[@Mk82cal]

Top button on stick is a mouse button. The three mode selector front of the stick is a selector that is that button a left, middle or right mouse button.

[@retrocjt]

That is the best shirt I've ever laid eyes on

[@jeffmaas9308]

I believe the switch on the top assigns the button to the stick function button. In position 1 it sets the button to button 1, position 2 sets the button to button 2 and so on and so forth.

[@srcheddar]

Dude, that shirt is awesome!

[@TheFoggyjones]

That TAC2 stick is a gorgeous gorgeous thing.

[@NickHintonComposer]

13:33 LOOOOOOL - yep that's me today on every computer I own.

[@SorinelTvOficial]

I actually had this,i used to love this thing back then.

[@LWolf12]

Oh man, loved the TAC-2 control.

[@Xzorbox]

Oddware episodes are my favorite.

[@DOSBoxMom]

We had the original C64 version of this, which attached to the side of one's C64 with a "poster square" adhesive. It was the most compact C64 joystick available, and made a more-than-adequate substitute for the mice that other computer systems seemed to require. (I remember liking it a lot better than the 1-button Amiga mouse, at least.) I think I remember the TAC 20 joystick also; we got one for our first PC because the local computer store at the time didn't have an MS-DOS version of the Icontroller.

[@howitusedtobe]

Dude I had a pair of those alter lansing speakers way back when … love those thingsx

[@DragRedSim]

So I found this rather interesting and did a *tiny* bit of research on it myself. The top switch changed the function of the button on the joystick to any of the three mouse buttons, so you could put left, middle, or right-click in the easiest place to access it. The bottom switch was for moving between MS and Mouse Systems mode - which explains why it didn’t work in PCPaint, as the logo there was for Mouse Systems, it makes sense to assume that was the protocol being expected. I don’t believe LGR moved it out of MS mode. But this seems like the earliest iteration of the concept that became the infamous TrackPoint mouse on IBM laptops. Tilt it and the cursor moves. It would probably work better with stronger, non-23-year-old adhesive though...

[@bwc1976]

I remember seeing ads for the Commodore version of this! Always thought it was cute. As for Flight Simulator, I definitely remember being able to fly it with the mouse, there was some button or key to toggle the mouse between pointing and flying.

[@Telrathian]

I had one of these on my 386 laptop back in the '90s. It was really great in a time before touchpads.

[@WareWolf801]

This worked really well in 3.11a as a mouse in situations with little/no mouse space, in lieu of a trackball there was not much else out there that was any good. Suncom started as a maker of controllers for 8-bit C-64 and Atari 400/800 line. They had a small joystick I can't recall the name of, but it was massively durable.

[@liquidt3ch]

back when I had my pentium 1 166mhz as a teenager, I had a small ass desk and there wasn't much room for a standard mouse. so I chose a trackball. I kinda miss it. believe it or not I got really good at playing unreal tournament 1 with that trackball lol

[@bwc1976]

+SerialVapist Trackballs rocked!

[@CraigStellmacher]

And trackballs can be very precise. Nice in photography, but not as quick for gaming.

[@akosangel1575]

"Speed-indicator-selector-thingy" wow, such a professional.