A process and an adjustable circuit using a joystick activated controller constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention to provide balanced forward and reverse directional regulation of bidirectional motors oppositely deployed to cooperation in the propulsion of an item of equipment. The joystick responds to the hand of a human operator to regulate the operation of a pair of motors driving opposite sides of an item of equipment along a path of travel. By operating the joystick, the operator can adjust the speed and the forward and reverse directions while trimming the motors or actuators to allow the piece of construction equipment to travel a straight path, or alternatively, to enable the operator to toggle the joystick to guide the equipment during its operational performance, along a path of varied direction.

A pointing device operable with a computer system having a graphical user interface. The pointing device includes a unique identifier that is associated with the pointing device, wherein a theme of the graphical user interface is automatically changed in accordance with the unique identifier. The theme may be a desktop theme. The unique identifier may also initiate a security protocol.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for communicating peripheral input information through a game adapter interface to a personal computer processor. A controller reads switch signals output from one or more switch arrays to detect switch activity. The controller conditions and outputs digital switch activity signals representative of the detected switch activity. A multiplexer multiplexes the digital switch activity signals output from the controller to obtain a corresponding analog switch activity signal. The type of switch activity detected by the controller can include the first switch to be activated among contending slammers and/or the current activation state of an array of selector switches. The controller includes a signal conditioner which asserts digital switch activity signals for a predetermined duration to enable a steady-state analog switch signal to be polled by a personal computer processor. In this way, even rapid, momentary peripheral inputs through the switches are detected by a heavily-loaded PC processor through the game adapter interface. The controller further outputs a digital report signal such as a semaphore indicating either an active multiplexing condition or a calibration period. During calibration, the controller outputs a sequence of digital signals having different binary values such that a respective multiplexer outputs a profile of analog values covering the range of different switch activities.

Communication with a computer through a gameport is provided in a fashion which provides an increased information bandwidth, e.g. for coupling three or more joysticks or other peripheral devices and/or a total of five or more buttons. In one embodiment, information from joysticks or other peripheral devices is provided to the synchronous serial digitized form over the 4 button lines. X-A and Y-A lines of the gameport are used for providing, to the external devices, timing information from which load and clock signals are generated to control output of information from the peripheral devices to complete.