No, it's because of resolution and because of my interface (a hagstrom keyboard controller). I have an Atari 2600 driving controller plugged in currently and built a little paddle game, and the resolution of the driving controller is 16 pulses per revolution - you have to turn the dang thing 20 times to get the paddle to move across the screen, and I'm just drawing it in text! (5 chars on a 80 column textbox) ! In hires, it just won't do - to match the feel of regular atari pong/breakout the entire paddle needs to move across the screen in about 10/16 of one turn... with the screen resolution I am using, one pulse = a move of 4 pixels. with a screen of 640 pixels wide, that is
160 screen positions, if 160 is 10/16 of the total ppr, the encoder would have to be capable of 256 ppr. Ideally I would replace the encoder in the driving controller with one capable of 256 ppr, but mechanical encoders with that high res don't seem to exist (unless I'm looking in the wrong place). I think an optical encoder may be an answer, do they go up to 256? Also, I'm a programmer, I don't really know electronics beyond how to solder basic switches, so designing a circuit to drive an optical encoder may be beyond me. Also, cost is a factor, I want to spend as little as possible, ideally under $15 per controller. Anyway, a potentionometer to a DAC would take up 8 bits = 8 keys on my keyboard per spinner, which is too many inputs. With quadrature the paddle only uses 3 keys = 2 bits + fire button, which is good. A pot to a ADC to a PIC simulating quadrature at 256 ppr might do the trick and be cheaper than the hi res optical encoders (I have seen prices for those be $130 an encoder, no thanks)