Hi,
A Gravis Gamepad Pro is what is use to!
It's pretty cheap and not difficult to program. The 10 buttons + 2 axes (4 buttons) = 14 buttons give me plenty options.
Look at
http://schapenstal.homeip.net/alcas/ then go to the hardware section to see how I will be using the gamepad.
The website not totally finisched yet, sorry for that.......
Greetz, Jospfh