Editing Atari interface (section)

==Pin-out==

{|class="wikitable"
! 
! Pin 1
! Pin 2
! Pin 3
! Pin 4
! Pin 5
! Pin 6
! Pin 7
! Pin 8
! Pin 9
|-
!colspan=10|[[#Digital joysticks and gamepads|Digital joysticks and gamepads]]
|-
! [[#Atari_joysticks|Atari 2600]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
|
| Button
| ('''+5V''')
| Ground
|
|-
! [[#Atari_joysticks|Booster grip]]
| 
| 
| 
| 
| '''Trigger'''
| 
| '''+5V'''
| 
| '''Thumb'''
|-
! [[#Atari_joysticks|Atari 7800]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| /'''Right button'''
| 2600 button/'''Common'''
| ('''+5V''')
| Ground
| /'''Left button'''
|-
! [[#C64GS joystick|C64GS]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
|
| Button
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| '''Button&nbsp;2'''
|-
! [[#ZX Spectrum|Kempston Interface]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| (Button&nbsp;3)
| Button
| ('''+5V''')
| Ground
| (Button&nbsp;2)
|-
! [[#Commodore joysticks|Amiga]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| (Button&nbsp;3)
| Button
| ('''+5V''')
| Ground
| (Button&nbsp;2)
|-
! [[#Amiga_CD32_gamepad|Amiga CD32]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| ''Select''
| Red(Button)/''Clock''
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| Blue/'''Serial'''
|-
! [[#SAM Coupé|SAM Coupé]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| 0v
| Button
| '''+5V'''
| ''Common''
| ''Com 2''
|-
!colspan=10|Analogue controller
|-
! Atari [[#Paddles|paddles]]
|
|
| Left Button
| Right Button
| '''Right Pot'''
|
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| '''Left Pot'''
|-
! Commodore [[#Paddles|paddle]]
|
|
| Left button
| Right Button
| '''Pot Y'''
|
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| '''Pot X'''
|-
! Amiga analogue joystick
| (Button&nbsp;3)
|
| Button&nbsp;1
| Button&nbsp;2
| '''Pot X'''
|
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| '''Pot Y'''
|-
!colspan=10|[[#Mice and trackballs|Mice and trackballs]]
|-
! Atari Trak-Ball
| X&nbsp;direction / Up
| X&nbsp;motion / Down
| Y&nbsp;direction / Left
| Y&nbsp;motion / Right
|
| Button
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
|
|-
<!-- Not sure if this is correct/Findecanor...
! Atari 2600 [[#Steering wheels|Driving Controller]]
| X&nbsp;direction
| X&nbsp;motion
|
|
|
| Button
| ('''+5V''')
| Ground
|
|-
-->
! Atari ST mouse
| X1
| X0
| Y0
| Y1
| (Middle button)
| Left button
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| Right button
|-
! Amiga mouse
| Y0
| X0
| Y1
| X1
| (Middle button) or (Wheel/Middle button)
| Left button
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| Right button
|-
! Amstrad/Sinclair PC mouse
| X0
| X1
| Y0
| Y1
| (Spare)
| Left button
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| Right button
|-
!colspan=10|[[#Light pens and light guns|Light pens and light guns]]
|-
! Atari
| Pressure/Trigger
|
|
|
| 
| Light sensor
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| 
|-
! Magnum lightphaser
| 
|
|
|
| '''Trigger'''
| Light sensor
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| 
|-
! Stack light rifle
| 
|
| Trigger
|
| 
| Light sensor
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| 
|-
! Gun stick
| 
| Hit
|
|
| 
| Trigger
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| 
|-
! Amiga
| 
|
|
|
| Pressure/Trigger
| Light sensor
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
| 
|-
!colspan=10|[[#Keypads|Keypads]]
|-
! [[#Atari 2600 keypads|Atari 2600]]
| ''Row 1''
| ''Row 2''
| ''Row 3''
| ''Row 4''
| Column 1
| Column 3
| 
| Ground
| Column 2
|-
! [[#Atari CX85 Numerical Keypad|Atari CX85]]
| Bit&nbsp;0
| Bit&nbsp;1
| Bit&nbsp;2
| Bit&nbsp;3
| ''Bit&nbsp;4''
| Press
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
|
|-
! [[#Cardco Cardkey|Cardkey]], [[#Rushware keypad|Rushware]]
| Bit&nbsp;0
| Bit&nbsp;1
| Bit&nbsp;2
| Bit&nbsp;3
| 
| Press
| '''+5V'''
| Ground
|
|-
! [[#ColecoVision joystick|ColecoVision]]
| Up/Bit&nbsp;0
| Down/Bit&nbsp;2
| Left/Bit&nbsp;3
| Right/Bit&nbsp;1
| ''Keypad strobe''
| Left/Right button
| (Spinner&nbsp;1)
| ''Joystick strobe''
| (Spinner&nbsp;2)
|-
!colspan=10|[[#Partially compatible|Partially compatible]]
|-
! [[#Amstrad CPC|Amstrad CPC]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| (Spare)
| Button 2
| Button 1
| ''Common (row&nbsp;9)''
| ''Com 2 (row&nbsp;6)''
|-
! [[#J-PC|J-PC]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| ('''+5V''')
| A
| B
| ''Out''
| Ground
|-
! [[#Sega 8-bit|Sega 8-bit]]
| Up
| Down
| Left
| Right
| ('''+5V''')
| Button 1
| (Light sensor)
| Ground
| Button 2
|-
! [[#Sega 16-bit|Sega 16-bit]]
| Up
| Down
| GND/Left
| GND/Right
| '''+5V'''
| A/B
| ''Select''
| Ground
| Start/C
|}

Most lines are active when shorted to a ground line (or strobe).
Atari-compatible hosts should have a pull-up resistor on each such line.
Input lines that can be active high are marked in bold. <!-- Because overlining, which otherwise is the convention in electronics looked cluttered ... Use otherwise template:overline -->
Outputs are marked in italics.
Entries within parenthesis above are optional but supported by host hardware.

The state of the device's switches is often read directly over the wire. Video games were often running main loops synchronised to the video beam, so switches were polled at most 60 times per second — 16.7 ms interval, which is longer than what most switches are rated for [[contact bounce]].

Hosts could not sense which type of device was connected to a port and software was most often hard-coded for a specific class of devices. In the cases where software could support different classes of devices, the user had to tell the software manually.