Combining buttons without using chips

[Vertigo]

So ok.
Theoretical example: I have a pad with 2 buttons.
I want to make this pad work with a system that uses 3 buttons.
Is there a way, without using an extra chip, that I can make a press of A do the A function, a press of B do the B function, and a press of both buttons together do the C function?
Simple question, simple answers please.

[NFG]

A chip is, at its simplest, a collection of transistors.  You can use a few  transistors to do the job, but then, transistors are just diodes tied together, so maybe you can use diodes instead.  And diodes are just sand doped with other materials, basically, so you can take your fear of technology right back to the very beginning if you want to.

What's a man like you, frightened of technology, doing with a soldering iron and gamepad anyway?

[kendrick]

Lawrence, there's no need to frighten the man. :) There's really no simple way to do this without a chip unless you want to wire up a big mess of relays and/or transistors that will end up drawing more power than your controller port can provide. What you need to do is add an additional layer of logic that will provide circuit-closing output logic based on the input you provide. You ought to be able to do this with a PIC or maybe even a bunch of AND gates. If you give me a day or so I can come up with a simple design based around whatever IC ends up being the right choice.

-KKC

[Vertigo]

It's probably easier to just say no, it won't work. I can live with that

[Adeptus]

Hmm I think the simple answer is 'no'

But you should be able to do it with just a single AND gate:

Have 2 wires running from the non-common side of button A, one to wire A, one to input 1 of AND.
Have 2 wires running from the non-common side of button B, one to wire B, one to input 2 of AND.
Have output of AND going to wire C.

This should work I think? Anyone?

[Vertigo]

AND gate should be a relatively cheap thing to try.
If I do it the way you're describing, pressing both buttons would be like pressing all three buttons, instead of just the third button, right?

[kendrick]

That's correct. There would have to be an additional bit of logic after the AND gate to intercept and interrupt the output from the other two buttons in order to give us, exclusively, the 'C' button output that you want. Otherwise, pressing both 'A' and 'B' will give us all three down at once as you have predicted.

-KKC, attempting to find a laptop case suitable for containing Xbox internals.