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Author Topic: Trackball advisement!?  (Read 1658 times)

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Trackball advisement!?
« on: October 21, 2003, 04:54:23 pm »
Hi ya all!

During my resarch, i've found something that's gonna be great due to a
spare mouse that i have here with some button contact problems!
I'm strongly thinking about hacking a mouse to do a Trackball interface!
Well, all that i ask is for some opinions about my decision and some
useful links explaining the whole process! :)

There's one more thing! As a 90's kid living in Portugal, i didn't had
much contact with that kinda hardware and i'm looking for a medium sized
glowing trackball, where can i get one in europe with that specs cheap!?

Is it really worth it?! I'm thinking in games like marble madness or missile
command to play...

THKX again, you guys are super! :)
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Pedro Vieira

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Re:Trackball advisement!?
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2003, 05:33:28 pm »
I hacked up a mouse to drive my trackballs/spinner.  It's really quite easy.. typically you just remove the optical receiver modules (probably photodiodes) and solder wires from the pads where they used to be to your trackball outputs.  You should have a datasheet for your trackball which says which wires are which.  There are probably 4 of them called XA, XB, YA, YB or similar.
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Re:Trackball advisement!?
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2003, 09:27:22 pm »
Quote from: Whiskeroids on October 21, 2003, 04:54:23 pm
some
useful links explaining the whole process! :)

Here's where I learned:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/bakaye/tballhack.htm
http://mamewah.mameworld.net/MouseHack.html

Here's my page with some more info:
http://jstookey.com/arcade/720/720-arcadejoy.php

Quote
Is it really worth it?! I'm thinking in games like marble madness or missile
command to play...

Yeah.  It's worth it.  I think that a trackball is as useful as a joystick.  After I installed a trackball, I stopped using the joystick for a long time.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2006, 12:29:07 am by jerryjanis »
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Re:Trackball advisement!?
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2003, 06:43:58 am »
THKS guys! When i have the time i'll look for that!

A "stupid" question, (can i say "stupid" in this "free" forum?!),
The trackball is directly mounted on top of those tiny mouse trails, or it's just the interface/board that connects to it?!  ;D

Sorry the bad english and my ignorance as well...
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Re:Trackball advisement!?
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2003, 09:51:57 am »
Quote from: Whiskeroids on October 22, 2003, 06:43:58 am
THKS guys! When i have the time i'll look for that!

A "stupid" question, (can i say "stupid" in this "free" forum?!),
The trackball is directly mounted on top of those tiny mouse trails, or it's just the interface/board that connects to it?!  ;D

Sorry the bad english and my ignorance as well...
Didn't understand the last question, but the referenced sites should walk you through the hack.

2-1/4" trackball is available from www.ultimarc.com for $26.  I'd look at www.suzo.com.uk  (maybe not the right link), anyway, SUZO for the translucent ball, but don't know if they sell to individuals.
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jerryjanis

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Re:Trackball advisement!?
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2003, 11:10:58 am »
You will take the mouse apart and leave the trackball intact.  You will solder the wires that come out of the trackball to the circuitboard of the mouse.
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