Hardware cheating: normal desktop trackball on MAME? Griffin Powermate/spinner?

[P-chan]

A buddy has one of these floating around:

http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-K72337US-Orbit-Trackball-Scroll/dp/B002OOWB3O/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_b



Will this work with Centipede/Missile Command/etc under MAME? 

Also, what about this as a spinner:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Griffin%20Technology/NA16029/?utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_campaign=productads

Spin Control
PowerMate is an assignable controller. That means you can program it to do anything* you want, in any application. Program the wheel to scroll your email, set the button to switch to your browser. Customize it to your needs and get wild.

[drventure]

A trackball is just a mouse to mame, so anything that looks like a mouse to the os will technically work.

Thing is, it might not feel terribly much like an arcade trackball.

There's a big difference in the feel of a little desktop trackball, and a 3" Happ arcade trackball.

But, if you were building a small scale bartop, it might be the better option. All depends.

[MTPPC]

Mame can use any mouse for input. I'm sure that kensington is seen by the PC as just a mouse> I use this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-2-1-4-Trackball-MAME-PS2-Arcade-Pc-Not-HAPP-/120848605081?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUA%26otn%3D5%26pmod%3D130550347141%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D7787182999886792754 and it works good.



As far as that spinner goes, I don't know if it would work because the latest mame versions look for direct input and ignore software driven devices like joy2keys. I guess you'd have to try it.

[leapinlew]

I used the griffin for a spinner. It doesn't work very well. Needs more weight, needs to spin more freely and needs to feel more solid.

[alfonzotan]

I used the griffin for a spinner. It doesn't work very well. Needs more weight, needs to spin more freely and needs to feel more solid.

Second this.  The Griffin knob never worked well for me, wound up returning it.

[compute]

I bought a Griffin knob and had a ---smurfette--- of a time with it in Linux.  It can be configured to do just about anything, but I couldn't get MAME to track it quickly enough.  There was no setting to make it work "faster," so you wouldn't have to spin it 6 times to get the paddle across the screen in Arkanoid.  For Windows it may give you more options, but the way it's implemented in Linux is completey dumb.  At the end of the day, if you want real arcade feel, you need real arcade parts.  Those cost real arcade money, which is why I don't have a trackball or mouse yet on my MAME rig

[P-chan]

I bought a Griffin knob and had a ---smurfette--- of a time with it in Linux.  It can be configured to do just about anything, but I couldn't get MAME to track it quickly enough.  There was no setting to make it work "faster," so you wouldn't have to spin it 6 times to get the paddle across the screen in Arkanoid.  For Windows it may give you more options, but the way it's implemented in Linux is completey dumb.  At the end of the day, if you want real arcade feel, you need real arcade parts.  Those cost real arcade money, which is why I don't have a trackball or mouse yet on my MAME rig

Yeah, I'm just starting on my first 1/2 cab and it's not going to have a trackball or spinner. 

[alfonzotan]

I bought a Griffin knob and had a ---smurfette--- of a time with it in Linux.  It can be configured to do just about anything, but I couldn't get MAME to track it quickly enough.  There was no setting to make it work "faster," so you wouldn't have to spin it 6 times to get the paddle across the screen in Arkanoid.  For Windows it may give you more options, but the way it's implemented in Linux is completey dumb.  At the end of the day, if you want real arcade feel, you need real arcade parts.  Those cost real arcade money, which is why I don't have a trackball or mouse yet on my MAME rig

Eh, there are ways to do it cheaply.  Used Happ trackballs show up on eBay for $20 or so all the time (I've picked up a couple at that price), and it's relatively easy to hack an old ball mouse to get a USB interface for one of those.  All told I put no more than $35 into the trackball in my cab, and that includes the mounting plate.

Spinners, unfortunately, are another story (although they can be home-made cheaply if you have the skills and/or patience... which I don't).

[leapinlew]

I've purchased a couple spinners from GGG. I'd probably build my next one and hack a mouse. For as infrequently as it gets used, it works fine.

[Mysterioii]

I have a slikstik tornado spinner in my current cab and I'm happy with it, and I just bought one from GGG since I'm planning on building a new control panel.  The GGG doesn't spin anywhere near as long as the slikstik spinner, but honestly it doesn't need to...  more of a gimmick on the part of the slikstik.  Although I do admit to just giving it a spin for fun sometimes and seeing how long it'll spin...    give it a whirl, go feed the cats, water them, scoop 3 litter pans then walk back to the cabinet and it's still spinning...  seriously...  It's kinda cool but nobody actually plays games like that so it's pretty unnecessary.  The GGG one seems fine and I like that it mounts in a standard-sized pushbutton hole.

[ark_ader]

Find yourself a old hard drive and use the motor for a smooth spinner.