Connecting trackball to TurboTwist II board

[GregD]

Does anyone know if you can connect a trackball to the included OptiWiz based board that comes with the Turbo Twist II?  Can both devices use this same board?  Thanks

[GregD]

Feel free to ignore this.  Looks like I asked the same question a couple of months ago.  I will email Randy and update with his answer.  I did find an article out there that said you could do it with the original Turbo Twist and I cannot visually see any differences in the included boards.

[BobA]

There may not be a physical difference but the software on the board could definitely be different.  It says the optiwiz is different for the TurboTwist so you may have a problem with it and a trackball.  Looks like it was optimized for spinners.

[RandyT]

For the last couple of years, we have hardwired the Master version of the TT2 to the X-Axis.  This can be changed on the board, but requires some soldering skill to change the jumpers.  The Slave version can select Y or Z by plugging it into the appropriate headers.

I don't suggest using the same board for trackball and spinner, because the MAME code was changed a couple of years back, and the code to "normalize" the Z-axis to X and Y has been omitted.  This would require a code patch to make things work properly on Z.  This presents a level of difficulty that most don't wish to deal with.  Also, PC games which could otherwise be used with the TT2, probably won't have the ability to change the control scheme to Y or Z.  

For those who do wish to run both a trackball and the TT2 from the same controller, we can put the TT2 Master on Z for them if it is requested in the comments at order time, or in an email once the order is placed (preferably the former).  Folks just need to be aware that there are some limitations in this configuration.

RandyT