Kensington Expert Mouse Trackballs Revisited

[Safron]

Ok, I searched all over and can't find a clear answer.
I am looking at getting a Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball, Model #64215 to use as a trackball for my CP.

I am wondering if you can get these things working with an Opti-PAC?
If someone can explain in detail.
Like you would to a small child, I am senility impaired

[tmasman]

If you are using a working mouse, you do not need an optipac.
If the mouse is broken or something, then you can hack it to work with the OptiPAC.

[Safron]

It wont be broken, but I ran out of USB and PS/2 inputs.
As far as I can see, the Opti is the next best solution.

To get it working with an Opti, is it just cutting wires on the trackball and hooking it up ro the right pins, or is it more of a mousehack type fix?

[Wienerdog]

Holy smokes, get a powered USB hub for about $10.  You cannot run out of USB ports.  

*ruff*

[Safron]

Aw, come on guys, cut me some slack

I already have an Opti-PAC, I do not already have extra hubs.
Any Kensington to Opti-PAC experts out there?

[Chris]

Holy smokes, get a powered USB hub for about $10.  You cannot run out of USB ports.  

If I can recall correctly, you can run out of USB ports.... I think the max is 127.

--Chris

[hyiu]

I always thought the max was 255....

hmmm.... learning new stuffs everyday....
 

[Chris]

Oh, now yer gonna make me look it up....

<look, look>

Okay, from the USB FAQ:

Q9: How many USB peripherals can I connect at once?
A9: Technically, you can connect up to 127 individual USB peripherals at one time. Due to the fact that some devices reserve USB bandwidth, the practical maximum of devices is less than the theoretical maximum. However, PCI-USB add-in cards provide an independent USB bus to which even more peripherals can be connected.

----------------

It's also worth noting that the hub counts as a device, so a fully-loaded 4-port USB hub is 5 devices.  I don't know if pass-throughs count as hubs, though...

--Chris

[Wienerdog]

Holy smokes, get a powered USB hub for about $10.  You cannot run out of USB ports.  

If I can recall correctly, you can run out of USB ports.... I think the max is 127.

--Chris

*ruff*  Of course I stand corrected, but I was only talking in practicalities.  If we are talking about limits of the USB specification, then it is 127 due to the 7 bit addressing 2⁷-1=127 (or so I hear) .  If we are talking about practical applications, you will run into trouble long before 127 devices (bandwidth consuming devices.  Passive, no bus powered devices aren't a problem).  You know us though, we are all keyboards, joysticks and trackballs!  

[Chris]

Of course, that depends on the trackball.  I understand that Happs USB trackball actually draws quite a bit of power....

[Sasquatch!]

I know that 1UP interfaced his Crayola Kidsball to an OptiPAC, and there was a bit of hacking involved: "The problem is, the Opti-PAC requires raw data directly from the optics of the device you're using, rather than the encoded data sent out thru the serial cable."

http://www.1uparcade.com/projects-kidsball2.html

[u_rebelscum]

I have the Kensington Expert Mouse Pro (#64213), hooked up through a $8 USB powered hub.  FWIW, I can use it and three other USB mice at the same time for mameAnalog+ without noticable USB bandwidth problems.

The Expert Mouse models do not have standard sensors: they bounce the light off the grooved sides of the bearings the ball rolls on to a sensor spaced a ways away on the same side of the bearing.

I didn't hack mine (I'm not going to break my $100 PC trackball!!!), but the kensington web site has a lot of pictures.  According to them, there are "big" differences between different model and model revisions, so check the support site.  (The cleaning pages have a lot of pictures.)

Hooking up to the optipac involves cutting some connections and wiring them directly to the optipac instead.  You will need to leave in the original light & sensor AFAIK.


BTW, the kengsinton site does not have the 64215 model listed.