Abstract: A joystick controller employs differential pairs of electronic sensors to detect the direction of displacement of the joystick shaft and a single electronic sensor to detect the magnitude of the displacement. The differential pairs of sensors output signals representative of the direction of the displacement of the joystick shaft from a datum. The single sensor outputs signals having a magnitude representative of the magnitude of the displacement. A controller uses the output signals to control a dependent device. In one embodiment, the controller compares the sensor output signals to predetermined threshold values and ignores movements of the shaft which cause the sensors to generate output signals having magnitudes below the threshold values.