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Potential for my trackball hack?
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Antiriad2097:
I'm in the early concept/planning stage for a cab but as usual I'm on a tight budget.

I have a Kensington Expert Mouse (Trackball), model no 64215 v5.0. (For pic of a similar model, see here: http://www.kensington.com/html/1175.html)

The trackball itself is nicely constructed and is near perfect for a neat control panel mounting, but performance is, well, ok. It works, but the resolution is quite low - any fast spin completely loses it and the mouse actually moves slower, something I presume is better in other models.

What I want to know is: Can I fix a standard optical mouse upside down under the trackball?

Given the proximity of the ball to the base of the trackball case, I thought it might work if I simply drill a hole through the base. Mounting a higher resolution optical mouse upside down/back to front directly onto the base of the trackball should then (in theory) allow the trackball to be read as a moving surface under (ok, over) the static mouse.

Has this been tried before?

Does it work?

Are there any problems with this?

I fear the trackball itself may be too plain or too reflective for a good pickup by the optical mouse sensor, but I can't try it as all my mice are old 'ball' ones.

If it is known to work, I'll forge ahead. If its known not to, then I may have to rethink. If its unknown, then we may find out soon  ;)

Any takers?
jerryjanis:
I know this has been brought up before, but I don't recall anybody actually trying it...

Sounds expensive (optical mice are often kinda expensive), and you'll probably end up with something that isn't very arcadey at all...

If you're broke, I say just stick with a poorly working Kensington until you can save up a few dollars.  You can get a new trackball from http://www.wicothesource.com for $24.99 and Oscar's USB mouse hack for like $8.

I use a USB mouse hack and an ancient/used wico trackball and it's really nice.
Antiriad2097:
The ball feels right enough, nice and weighty, its just not as responsive at speed as I'd like.

As it seems to be an untested method and it won't destroy either component (other than a small fillable hole in the trackball base), I think I'll give it a go.

If it does fail, I can live with the trackball as is and my other main PC will have a nice new optical mouse  :)

As for costs, you'll find its not quite so inexpensive in the UK.

Other parts are reasonably well sourced - Happ have a UK distributor I can get sticks and buttons from. I've a PS1 to USB adapter, so plan to hack a PS1 pad for stick and button controls. I just feel a trackball is something of an essential for a multi-emulator/PC game cabinet. I just figured an optical mouse trackball hack would work out fractionally less expensive and be easier to set up - straight PS2 mouse connection with no wiring hacks, guaranteed to perform the same for all functions.

Thanks for the advice.
jerryjanis:

--- Quote ---As it seems to be an untested method and it won't destroy either component (other than a small fillable hole in the trackball base), I think I'll give it a go.
--- End quote ---

Cool...  I'm curious to know if it makes for an improvement, so make sure you post here when you're done!

The only reason that I have an optical mouse next to my computer is because I initially misconstrued what a mouse hack was...  When I read about "optics" I mistook that to mean "optical mouse".  I realized my mistake before I gave a real honest try at hacking my spinner with it (sorta like you are doing).

Good luck...  And by the way, I love my optical mouse - it was a great purchase!
Antiriad2097:
Will post  results, but may be a few weeks. I'm in no rush as it'll just cost even more, so want to research best price/performance for mouse. Also have to wait for payday...

Not too complex a hack, so once its bought it won't take long.
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