Spinner & Trackball connection question...

[dema]

I've settled on my joysticks and buttons and now I'm deciding what to do about the trackball and spinner options. I'm going to go with a 3" Happs trackball and the Oscar Vortex spinner, but I'm trying to decide whether or not to go with encoder interfaces or USB/PS-2 interfaces.

Cost aside, what is the easiest method to wire these two devices up to my CPU? To make the process as easy as possible I was thinking of buying the devices with the USB connectors so I can hook them straight up to the computer without encountering any wiring or interface difficulties. Is it possible to hook each of these up to a separate USB port and then hook an I-PAC up to the PS/2 port (controlling the joysticks and buttons), and have everything work perfectly? Or will there be a conflict with the two USB devices? My question is whether or not it's possible to skip out on buying an Opti-Pac altogether and simply buy an I-Pac for the joysticks and buttons, and wire up the Oscar spinner and Happs' trackball to the CPU directly. Or will the interface by such a method not work correctly or as well?

I had always assumed I'd need to get an encoder like the Opti-Pac to get these two devices running, but now that I think about how much easier it could be to simply plug the cable into the CPU I'd much rather pay more and be done with it. For a newbie I'm at the point where I'd rather pay a little more to get it done easily and correctly, without any additional complications, and put more effort into the other areas of the cabinet. This would help me along with things better.

Thank you in advance for any help.

T.J.

[Lilwolf]

How do you expect to hook these up to the CPU directly?

You WILL need to interface them somehow... Either by buying an OptiPac or hacking a mouse.  

btw... a very good way to do this (and cheaper) is to get two pre-hacked mice from Oscar.  They are easy and look good (about 10 bucks each).  If you where going to buy 2 mice anyway to ahck yourself... they will probably be 5 bucks or so.  So these are REALLY cheap (and a lot better then I am at hacking)

But if you go this route... BOTH the trackball AND the spinner will be working at the same time.... so knocking into one will mess up the other... unless you run Analog+ mame (where you can seperate them)...  But the latest few versions of analog+mame you can't save your mouse config.

The Optipac will allow you to have both trackball AND spinner on the same mouse... and only one will work at a time (touching one will diable the other).  VERY nice especially for normal mame builds.  But you wont' be able to use them for any 2 player paddle games (not to many of those)

[dema]

<<<How do you expect to hook these up to the CPU directly?>>>

I was thinking of buying the trackball and spinner versions that have the USB cable attached to the device. Couldn't I just run the USB cable from the trackball to the CPU directly, and then run the USB cable from the spinner to another open USB port? Wouldn't that do the same trick as running it through the Opti-Pac, with the exception of turning one off when the other is in use? Maybe I've got the whole thing wrong but plugging them in directly to the CPU would work just as well, right?

If this setup doesn't work then what is the advantage of paying more for the USB or PS/2 connection? In what situations would people use these versions?