I know how you feel.  When I came from consoles to the PC I also had a
hard time giving up the controller and adapting to mouse/ keyboard.  In
fact, I never fully made the switch.  Suncom, which I believe is now
defunct, made a controller for the PC called the SFX.  It was essentially
the same configuration as the SNES pad, but slightly larger.  But it was a
keyboard emulator.  There were no drivers needed. You didn't have to worry
about it working with your particular games, there was no messy software
configurations to go through to set the keys.  Start a game.  Put the SFX
in setup mode.  Press and hold the button on the pad that you wanted to
program.  Press the keyboard key for the function you wanted on that button-
done.   Repeat for other controls.  It held 4 different button configs and
worked with every PC game.

   The SFX got me through Doom and Tomb Raider, but when Quake came along I
had to bite the bullet and learn the mouse.  I got though most of the single
player game with the pad alone, but the speed with which you could aim and
turn with the mouse made it essential in deathmatch.

   However, my left hand, after years concentrating it's thumb on a D pad,
was a fumbling mess on the keyboard.  I just could not adapt to using my
other fingers.  So here I am, still today, with my left had holding the
trusty SFX and my right hand on the mouse ( have heard of others who do
similar with joystick and mouse).  Still need to go to the keyboard now and
then as there are not enough buttons within reach on the pad.  I have gone
through two or three of these pads, found one on Ebay a few years back.
Managed to get a free one leftover from the orignial production that they
found in a Suncom warehouse in England when the company briefly came back to
life for a year or two in 2000.  And I have patched these all up with guts
from old SNES pads bought at Funco when they go bad.

  But none of this helps you.  What  recommend is that you learn the
mouse(sorry - I know you dont weant to hear that), and try The Claw or the
Nostromo N50 for your other hand.  I have tried them both hoping to someday
find a replacement for the pad, but neither of these fit my hand real well.
They may work out better for you.  BTW, I'm also an over 50 guy.

Bob
http://www.bullseyecrosshairs.com

I started playing with keyboard only in Doom and I was still holding my
own using keyboard only in Quake 2.  My saving grace was that I knew maps
well enough to run backwards and then could shoot and dodge my enemies
face to face.  But to really master the railgun you needed to use a
mouse.  This became even more apparent in Tribes.  So eventually I bit
the bullet and after a few weeks of solid mousing I was doing OK.

If I can learn to use the mouse for aiming after several years of
keyboard only I think anyone can.  My only complaint is that I can't find
a decent replacement for my Mouseman Plus.  I tried a Logitech MX700 and
it was crap... mouse was jerky and not even close to being as smooth as
my old one.  Not sure if they had a defective batch or something because
I read the same complaint in the Quake 3 forum from a few other people
too so I'm not the only one.

Suggestions appreciated.