Trackball installation 1 wire at a time.

[TNHANK]

I keep reading about some boards being track ball
Compatable and some are not.  Can you just wire a trackball
The same way you wire any joystick?  If I have a jamma cab.
Can't I splice the wires going to the player 1 joystick and connect to the trackball?

[PL1]

I keep reading about some boards being track ball
Compatable and some are not.  Can you just wire a trackball
The same way you wire any joystick?  If I have a jamma cab.
Can't I splice the wires going to the player 1 joystick and connect to the trackball?

Unfortunately, it won't work that way.

The joysticks are microswitch devices that require a digital encoder -- either keyboard-style (IPac, etc.) or gamepad-style. (GPWiz, etc.)

A trackball requires an optical (mouse) encoder to translate changes in the quadrature waveforms into mouse movements.

Check with the vendor where you got your XXXX-in-1 (that's what you want to connect the trackball to, right?) and see if they have a trackball/interface that is compatible with the drivers already on your XXXX-in-1 -- it's probably going to be a PS/2 version that plugs into the mouse port of the computer board.

Once you find and install a suitable trackball/interface, there are videos on Youtube showing how to change and save the MAME control settings for trackball games.


Scott