Cocktail Cabinet with 2 trackballs... multiple IPAC's needed?

[Ellegon]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of building a cocktail cabinet with a friend of me. However, it's not set in stone yet if it will be cocktail, bartop or "just" a console to plug in a TV. Now he wants to have a trackball (mainly for the game missile command), and I would love to have the possibility of 4 players (e.g. for Gauntlet). With a console that shouldn't be a problem, however, with a cocktail setup I would need to have 2 trackball inputs. I have seen that the IPAC2 has a special input for the trackball, but the IPAC4 lacks them? Does this mean it would work with 2 IPAC2? Or, if using an IPAC4 (which would cover everything except the trackballs), could I attach the TB's in another way (special control interface for multiple trackballs)?

I just want to avoid planning in the wrong direction. So any input is appreciated...

[PL1]

Allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment:
- Are you sure you need/want two trackballs?
- How many games on your list (see steps 2 and 4 here) use/need two trackballs at one time?

For Missile Command, you can set the "cabinet type" dipswitch to "upright" if you want 2-player alternating play using just one trackball.
----------------------

Does this mean it would work with 2 IPAC2? Or, if using an IPAC4 (which would cover everything except the trackballs), could I attach the TB's in another way (special control interface for multiple trackballs)?

Either way will work.

- 2 IPac2's

- 1 IPac4 + an optical (mouse) encoder for each trackball, maybe an Arduino Pro Micro with a mouse firmware like StefanBurger's Illuminated Spinner firmware.


Scott

[bobbyb13]

Unless you absolutely love Rampart or Marble Madness (or... another simultaneous multiplayer trackball game?!) the panel is lots of expense and real estate for little return (says the guy with a dual trackball panel...)

Scott is correct with Arduino suggestion of course.
If you want a (somewhat) less intensive to set up interface, a U-HID is a great option too- but it is more $ and still needs some programming to work.
It will readily handle two trackballs at once.

From first hand experience I can attest that after a fair amount of trial and error in setup efforts that the U-HID  works grea.
AND Andy's product support is awesome.

[Ellegon]

Thanks for the replies. And I love devils advocats... that's why I asked...

And the question was a fair one... I think there is probably only one game we need it for (mainly the wish of my friend: Missile Command). And to be honest, I haven't even checked if that supports cocktail setups or if I should go with 2 players just sharing one side if needed. But it's great to know that it would work if needed.

Thanks a lot for all your help and suggestions.

[PL1]

I haven't even checked if that supports cocktail setups

It does.

In the MAME dipswitch menu, set "cabinet type" to "cocktail".
- If you do that, you'll also want to enable multimouse in mame.ini so the P1 and P2 trackball inputs are kept separate.  i.e. Moving P1's trackball during P2's turn does not mess with P2's aim.


Scott

[bollwerk]

If you want a (somewhat) less intensive to set up interface, a U-HID is a great option too- but it is more $ and still needs some programming to work.
It will readily handle two trackballs at once.

I bought a U-HID and the manual seems to indicate that only 3 axes are supported on a single USB port. (I'm not done setting it up yet, but I plan to use a single trackball and 2 spinners .. I had assumed one spinner axis would have to duplicate one of the trackball axes.
Am I missing something?
Or is this not accurate?

http://www.u-hid.com/u-config/u-hid%20Manual.pdf

Max 3 Quadrature mouse axes (X, Y and Z, Windows limitation)

[bobbyb13]

You can designate pins to use 2 separate trackballs on a U-HID but you need to ensure that you are using section J5 on the board for one of them and J6 for the other.

You can get a remarkable number of devices working on those board at once if they are programmed correctly (but there is a bit of a learning curve on the programming protocol.)

If you continue to have issue with it you can message me or better yet, send Andy an email with a specific question and he will generally get back to you very quickly.

Bobby