Control device: Joystick

Manufacturer: IBM

Model: PCjr

Year: 1983

 

Controlled device: Travel alarm clock

Manufacturer: IDEA international (Japan)

Designed by: Ippei Matsumoto (Industrial Facility)

Model: Jetlag

Color: White, red

Year: 2009

 

Hard-wired year: 2010

Serial number: HWD-corp-029

Collection: Corporation

Dimensions: 30x55x10 cm

Cable: 53 cm

Power: 3v button cell x1

 

Set up minutes up (alarm): Joystick front

Set up minutes down (alarm): Joystick back

Start set up: Hold 3 seconds any set up action

Set alarm on/off: Red button (hold 3 seconds)

Alarm off: Red button (hold 3 seconds)

Snooze: Red button

Light: Black button

 

A fairly familiar joystick design for the IBM PCjr system. The IBM PCjr (read "PC junior") was IBM's first attempt to enter the market for relatively inexpensive educational and home-use personal computers. Two joystick ports were built into the PCjr, evidence of IBM's goal for marketing the PCjr as a home-friendly machine. Other than the Tandy 1000 and Amstrad IBM PC compatible lines a few years later, the dual built-in joystick ports introduced by the PCjr never became standard on IBM PC compatibles, and haven't been seen since. Also, in addition to the joystick ports having a different connector than used on the "game adapter" ISA card for PC compatibles, they required joysticks that had a different electrical resistance range in their X/Y access controllers, necessitating the use of PCjr-specific joysticks (or generic joysticks that had a dual-mode switch).