By Andre "ILL-DRE" Jennings

  Introduction:

I've been hearing rumbles about the need for a USB HOTAS for a few years now. I guess the general thought is that this interface will make installation easy and the HOTAS will function without all the problems of the traditional HOTAS to joystick port/keyboard connection. Are all our troubles over? Let's take a look at Saitek's new offering.

The X36 USB HOTAS came packaged in a box with cut Styrofoam molding to allow the stick and throttle to fit into it. Along with the throttle, the box had the Saitek Product Companion disk and a SGE Install Disk. Also included are the warranty card, a tech support card, and a three-page installation guide with IMPORTANT information in it (more on this later).

What does it look like?

The throttle looks the same as the original unit. It has one DB-15 female connector on it that is used to connect it to the digital stick. It sports the throttle axis and the built in rudder axis, as well as two rotary knobs.

The rotary knobs can be programmed to be analog or key functions like incrementing radar ranges etc. There is an auxiliary button that slides to three positions, a single thumb button, a three-position MODE switch, a mouse control, and a single button just behind the mouse control. There is also a small screw on the bottom of the throttle to adjust the tension for movement.

The stick has two connectors on it. One is the DB-15 male connector for the throttle. The other is the single cable with two connectors on it. The connectors are a DB-15 male joystick connection with a small USB connector pigtailed off of it. (NOTE: only one of the connectors are used based on the type of installation you are doing.)

I noticed filler plastic inserts at the locations where the old trim wheels used to be for the x-axis and y-axis as well as the keyboard and mouse connections. The Stick contains two 8-way hats. One of the hats can serve as a POV hat or can be programmed the way you prefer. The stick has a trigger, three fire buttons, a launch button, and a pinkie switch.

The throttle and stick have a nice feel. Your hands wrap around the devices with a sense of fit and comfort.

Click to continue

  Was the installation trouble free?

This is where things stopped being rosy. Before I go on, I've tried the installation with DirectX 7.0 as well as with DirectX 6.1. When using DirectX 7.0, the HOTAS can only connect to the joystick port of your controller.

This is because of a "serious flaw in the release of DirectX 7.0 that make it incompatible with the X36 HOTAS when used with the USB connection." Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and is working on it. The user also needs to make sure they have Windows 98 including the Service Pack 1 update or Windows 98 Second Edition.

The Test System:

• Motherboard: ASUS P3B
• CPU: P3 600
• RAM: 448 Megabytes
• Video Card: 3dfx Voodoo3 3000
• Sound Card: Aureal Vortex 1
• OS: Windows 98 Second Edition

Inside the box was the three-page installation guide mentioned earlier. This three-sheet set contained instructions for joystick and USB installations. Each type of installation had step by step instructions. The installation was straightforward. You are required to have at least DirectX 6.0 and Internet Explorer version 4.0 before installing the SGE software.

In my case, I had these versions or better so I clicked the third button to install. I followed the installation instructions to the letter and yet there were files that the installation couldn't find.

To remedy this, I had to open the "saitek.cab" file with WinZip and extract its contents to a temporary directory. I then pointed the installer to that location to finish. The last step for installation requires the user to run a file "C:\Program Files\Saitek plc\Saitek Gaming Extensions\Saigdefs.exe." If this last step is not completed, the X36 will not work properly.

Go to Part II