joystick
1. Informal the control stick of an aircraft or of any of various machines
2. Computing a lever by means of which the display on a screen may be controlled used esp for games, flight simulators, etc
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
joystick
[′jȯi‚stik] (aerospace engineering)
A lever used to control the motion of an aircraft; fore-and-aft motion operates the elevators while lateral motion operates the ailerons.
(engineering)
A two-axis displacement control operated by a lever or ball, for XY positioning of a device or an electron beam.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
joystick
A typical combat aircraft's joystick.
An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
joystick
(hardware, games)A device consisting of a hand held stick that
pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two dimensions
to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control games, and
usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be
read by the computer. Most I/O interface cards for IBM PCs
have a joystick (game control) port.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
joystick
A pointing device used to move an object on screen in any direction. It employs a vertical rod mounted on a base with one or two buttons. Joysticks are used extensively in video arcade games, and they were the primary game controller on home computers during the 1980s and 90s. PCs came equipped with a port dedicated to the joystick; however, that game port is no longer used, and the joystick has given way to much more elaborate controllers with several buttons, triggers and dials. The term comes from the main control stick in a small airplane. |
| Old and New |
|---|
| Joysticks such as the unit on the left used to plug directly into the PC's game port. Today, gamers use Xbox controllers like the one on the right as well as far more elaborate devices, all of which plug into the USB port. See video game controller. |
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