# How does my DS work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749 "2006-07-31T18:26:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/1 "2006-07-31T18:26:23Z")
Or indeed any touch-screen device. Baffled, I am. And while we’re at it, how does a light-gun work? No big words, please. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/2 "2006-07-31T19:05:30Z")
From [howstuffworks.com](http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question716.htm) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/3 "2006-07-31T20:32:06Z")
My understanding of ye 'ole NES lightgun was that it essentially took a picture of the screen where it was pointed, and if the target shows up in the picture, you hit the duck (but not the dog). I’m sure someone will be along shortly to correct and chide me. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/4 "2006-07-31T20:34:06Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > Or indeed any touch-screen device. Baffled, I am. And while we’re at it, how does a light-gun work? > > No big words, please. What do you mean by light gun? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/5 "2006-07-31T20:44:45Z")
The light guns are cool because the way that they really work is such a mind screw. [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010511.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010511.html) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/6 "2006-07-31T23:59:27Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > My understanding of ye 'ole NES lightgun was that it essentially took a picture of the screen where it was pointed, and if the target shows up in the picture, you hit the duck (but not the dog). > I’m sure someone will be along shortly to correct and chide me. Well, sorta, but not really. The old NES light gun is a simple light sensor. It looks for a spot of light at the right brightness. When you fire the gun on the Nintendo, the whole screen went black for a moment, and the duck was colored white. So if the gun was pointed at the duck, it registered a hit. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/7 "2006-08-01T00:23:52Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > Well, sorta, but not really. > > The old NES light gun is a simple light sensor. It looks for a spot of light at the right brightness. When you fire the gun on the Nintendo, the whole screen went black for a moment, and the duck was colored white. So if the gun was pointed at the duck, it registered a hit. So that was what the square around the target was, then. Pretty good WAG at 12 years old, though. ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/8 "2006-08-01T00:36:17Z")
Re: the OP, what’s a DS? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/9 "2006-08-01T01:00:31Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > From [howstuffworks.com](http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question716.htm) Interesting. I remember a friend asking me that three years ago, in connection to a new pocket PC I was showing him. I managed to guess a pretty good version of the resistive system. Didn’t realize there were other ways to do it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/10 "2006-08-01T01:09:21Z")
> [@galt](#): > > Re: the OP, what’s a DS? I believe the OP was referring to the [Nintendo DS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_ds) hand-held game console. ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-my-ds-work/366749/11 "2006-08-01T03:46:26Z")
Lightguns don’t work the way the old NES one did. The newer than NES but not cutting edge guns are connected to the tv signal cable (either directly, as in the case of the Playstation/PS2 GunCon guns, or through the connector as is the case with the Xbox\*). When you pull the trigger, the gun compares the time of the sync signal sent ot the TV to the time where the light sensor first sees light. From that information it can figure out the point the gun is aimed at. It’s much more accurate and lets you do things like have on screen “laser sights” and the like (like the calibration screen for PS2 GunCon games). However, that system only works on CRT TVs. Since these are going the way of the dodo, the newest “light” guns use acceleration sensors to tell where the gun is pointed. - The Xbox controller connector contains the standard 4 USB wires and a 5th yellow wire that contains the video sync signal for lightguns. That’s why there are very cheap Xbox controller to USB adapters, because they don’t need to contain any logic, they’re just a plug converter.\