Those happy with their Happs TB, please list your OS/interface/frontend/wheel

[PaulG]

Hi. I've taken everyone's advice and have changed all the settings I should (I even went to: http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak1084.aspx  to disable mouse acceleration in Windows XP's registry (The mouse settings give you other options, but not those in XP).  And my new trackball still suffers backspin on anything other than medium spins (I've also played with Mame analog settings).  Mouse, Mame, Fast, Slow. Nothing fixes this.  Was I just expecting an arcade experience that isn't possible?  I'm running XP, Mame32, and the MiniPac.  My brand new Happs Golden Tee's encoder wheels are cheap *ss plastic (As opposed to metal I've seen in most pictures.  So if your trackball can take a whack and perform properly, please list your OS, Mame program, how its connected, and whether your encoder wheel is plastic.  I know from the stutter thread I'm not the only one seeking answers, so please help me troubleshoot the source.  One of the above has to be the problem and if people could list what setup works, maybe the problem can be nailed down.  Otherwise I tempted to list it AS-IS on Ebay.  I'm SO annoyed.

[Edgedamage]

I think the problem lies in with a trackball you are able to spin the incoder wheels faster and longer than any computer is used to. Here's a test I did using a black background as my desktop in windows which made following the cursor easy. I used three mice one was a normal ball mouse the second was a logitech marble trackball mouse. And the third was a micro$oft optical mouse. Moving the mice faster than normal across the mouse pad caused the computer to lose track of the movement same as spinning a trackball to fast. Funny thing with the logitech marble mouse spinning the ball super fast caused the cursor to sit in the middle of the screen shaking untill the ball slowed down. 99% of all arcade trackballs use the same style of incoder wheel so all arcade games are made with these trackballs in mind. Oh and BTW the metal incoder wheels are getting rare all new trackballs use the cheaper and just as good plastic incoder wheels.

[TalkingOctopus]

OS: WINXP PRO - I put in all of the settings from stutter/skip thread and it works great.
INTERFACE: hagstrom ke72-t - This is a keyboard encoder with a mouse interface.
FRONTEND: MAMEWAH w/ commandline mame.
WHEEL: Plastic

[Zakk]

I've always been able to control the backspin.  I've used at least half a dozen happ balls and both the oscar usb interface and the opti-pac.  I've set them up with XP, ME and 98se, and arcadeos and Mamewah.  I didn't read the stutter thread, but I assume it has the analog conttol settings listed, that's all there is too it.  Hey, see if you get backspin going both left and right, and up and down.  If it's both, then you can figure it's not the ball, it's the interface or the config...oh and I think all the happ 3" balls I've installed had plastic wheels, they've been fine. Hope this helps!!

[StLouisRod]

I've built and sold many Mame cabinets, and built one for myself, that all used the same trackball setup, which worked flawlessly in Windows 98SE, ME, and XP.

I use a Happs 3inch golden tee trackball and mounting plate, and connect to a hacked Microshaft rollerball PS2 mouse using procedure documented on this site.  Then just turned off mouse acceleration within Windows.

If you don't want to hack a mouse, then Oscar controls has a pre-hacked mouse interface for only $12.95, and for another $8.00 you can get the molex connector to attach directly to your Happs trackball!

I intend to use this approach on all my future Virtuacades, as the soldering/splicing process gets old after awhile and if not done properly can come apart down the road, making for very unhappy customers  .

[Edgedamage]

.Whoops forgot to also mention that my best success was using hacked micro$oft mice. Look at evilbay they sometimes have mice in lots of 5 for auction. Those mice provide everything you need even the +5v to run the optic boards on the trackball.

[Inaba]

I've used two different Happs 3" TB's now and haven't had any problems.

I just hooked 'em up to my IPAC and away I went.  I don't recall changing anything specific.

[PaulG]

In reference to an earlier post, I do get backspin up/down and left/right.  I guess I'll try a little more and try Oscar's cables as a last resort.