I am using a LogiTech Rumble Pad 2. After changing the in game settings to Joystick it worked as advertised (i.e. as per the reference card). I downloaded LogiTech's Game Controller Software and mapped keys to buttons. This gave me the ability to program pretty much whatever I want so I put in roll left/right, 1-button missle firing, thrust toggle.
The only tweak I had to do was to make this profile(i.e. custom key mapping) the default profile (I forget the exact setting in LogicTech's game controller tool and I am at work ATM).
The game controller software has the ability to launch a game from within the tool and load the appropriate profile for that game. However this does not work with DOS Box (or at least I could nto figure it out). So by making the profile (custom mappings) the default profile a button mapped to a key stroke is simply that, no matter what the application. As a test I went into notepad to see if the mappings worked there and they did. Of course I would need to change to another profile if I want to use this for another game.
So basically the LogicTech RumblePad 2 along with the software does everything I could ever need. I was even able to get creative. The left analogue stick is used for moving, but the right stick and direction dap are unused. You can map key strokes to those as well.