Would this trackball hack work?

[grafixmonkey]

Pure theory...  my trackball is already working...

but, I read about people connecting opto components from ancient mice to PS2 ports to get around using an IPAC, and someone trying to find a suitable USB mouse and having difficulty...

so, here's what I was thinking.  My Happ trackball has a hole on the underside where the ball shows through to the bottom.  (this is so you can put a lamp there and make it glow.)  Well, what if you just duct-taped an optical mouse over the hole?  Or took the optical eye out and taped that in, if you needed it to be closer?  Would that work?

Same thing for a spinner.  What if you just stuck an axle with a paper cylinder on it underneath your spinner, and duct-taped an optical mouse next to it?  I bet you'd have a new record for least time spent making a spinner.

Depends how cheap you can get an optical mouse though.  Maybe there are some first-release models that have been overshadowed by newer models and are now dirt cheap.

[IceCold]

Pure theory...  my trackball is already working...

but, I read about people connecting opto components from ancient mice to PS2 ports to get around using an IPAC, and someone trying to find a suitable USB mouse and having difficulty...

so, here's what I was thinking.  My Happ trackball has a hole on the underside where the ball shows through to the bottom.  (this is so you can put a lamp there and make it glow.)  Well, what if you just duct-taped an optical mouse over the hole?  Or took the optical eye out and taped that in, if you needed it to be closer?  Would that work?

Same thing for a spinner.  What if you just stuck an axle with a paper cylinder on it underneath your spinner, and duct-taped an optical mouse next to it?  I bet you'd have a new record for least time spent making a spinner.

Depends how cheap you can get an optical mouse though.  Maybe there are some first-release models that have been overshadowed by newer models and are now dirt cheap.

I don't know about your answer, but this would be used to get around using an optipac not an ipac.

[Tiger-Heli]

Pure theory...  my trackball is already working...

but, I read about people connecting opto components from ancient mice to PS2 ports to get around using an IPAC, and someone trying to find a suitable USB mouse and having difficulty...

so, here's what I was thinking.  My Happ trackball has a hole on the underside where the ball shows through to the bottom.  (this is so you can put a lamp there and make it glow.)  Well, what if you just duct-taped an optical mouse over the hole?  Or took the optical eye out and taped that in, if you needed it to be closer?  Would that work?

Same thing for a spinner.  What if you just stuck an axle with a paper cylinder on it underneath your spinner, and duct-taped an optical mouse next to it?  I bet you'd have a new record for least time spent making a spinner.

Depends how cheap you can get an optical mouse though.  Maybe there are some first-release models that have been overshadowed by newer models and are now dirt cheap.

People were hacking optical mice to use with spinners and trackballs a couple of years ago, and it didn't work very well, if memory serves.

[jerryjanis]

Similar ideas come up every once in a while.  I like that idea of taping it underneath - easy to try out.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=10878;start=msg82999

[grafixmonkey]

I don't know about your answer, but this would be used to get around using an optipac not an ipac.

d'oh.  It's so easy to say 'ipac' when you mean 'optipac'.

People were hacking optical mice to use with spinners and trackballs a couple of years ago, and it didn't work very well, if memory serves.

Oh well, it's probably a problem with not getting the mouse close enough.  I wondered about that, since holding my mouse very far at all over the table makes it stop responding.  I was mostly curious if it'd been tried before, guess it has.  

[Chris Goodwin]

I have no idea how an optical mouse works over a surface with no optical features (i.e. a flat white or black surface).  My optical trackball has little black dots all over the red ball, I'm assuming to give the optical sensors something to register.

[sac01]

i Actually did try this awhile back, It dosn't work...The trackball is just too smooth for the optics on the mouse to pick up the movement accuratly.

[grafixmonkey]

it's interesting what those will pick up and what they won't...  I can use my optical mice on smooth, glossy black book covers, which I would think would be the worst, but they have trouble on my table surface which is a dark (but still visibly contrasting), rough, red and black wood grain.  

You could always get a salt shaker cap and a can of spraypaint...   hehe...   Dalmation Trackball!

[Antiriad2097]

Well, its my thread linked to above as I was thinking the same a few weeks ago. Plan to give it a go for real in the next 2 weeks, so we'll soon find out if it works or not.

Neat twist with the spinner idea. Given the mouse I got was only

[Radical]

I wouldn't use an optical track ball.  I've never seen one that has fast enough optics to be usable for serious gaming.  If you spin the ball fast it just won't work.

It might work for slower games, but something like Golden Tee or Marble Madness would suck with an optical trackball.

Same reason why I don't use optical devices for games like Quake3.   The old mechanical/optical devices offer far superior performance in my opinion.

And I haven't seen an optical trackball that could use a completely solid colored ball (but who knows).