Old Arcade Trackball on a PC?

[Danhanado]

Hi there,
Has anyone had success in rewiring an arcade trackball (from marble madness etc.) Into their custom cabinet?

I've attached a photo of one I'm looking at atm

Sent from my AC2001 using Tapatalk

[PL1]

Has anyone had success in rewiring an arcade trackball (from marble madness etc.) Into their custom cabinet?

It's fairly easy to do and well-documented.

Each trackball axis will have 5v, ground, and two data lines that you connect to an optical (mouse) encoder. (2015 or newer IPac, Opti-Wiz, Arduino with a Mouse firmware, etc)

Click on the search link at the top of the page, put "quadrature" and maybe "red board" in as search terms and "PL1" in the "By user:" block and you'll find my many relevant posts.   


Scott

[Danhanado]

Thanks! I'll look into that.
Also, seeing that it will be translate into a mouse device, what do you do if you want 2 for some multiplayer marble madness or segasonic?

Sent from my AC2001 using Tapatalk

[PL1]

what do you do if you want 2 for some multiplayer marble madness or segasonic?

1. Create a mame.ini file using the "-cc" (create config) software switch after your mame executable.
i.e. "c:\mame\mame.exe -cc"

You only need to run mame with "-cc" once -- unless you mess up mame.ini and need to make a new one.   

2. Open mame.ini in Notepad.

3. Change "multimouse     0" (disabled) to "multimouse     1" (enabled), save file, and exit Notepad.

Code: [Select]

#
# CORE INPUT OPTIONS
#
coin_lockout              1
ctrlr                     
mouse                     1
joystick                  1
lightgun                  0
multikeyboard             0
multimouse                0

4. You can now map the each trackball's X- and Y-axes separately.
- Easy way is to do this is to remap the defaults under the MAME "Input (general)" P1/P2 menus.

If you've already remapped buttons in a game, MAME created a custom .cfg file for that game and you'll need to either delete the .cfg file (.\mame\cfg\" folder) or reset each axis in the game to default or remap each axis in the game.

To reset the axis to the new default:
- Press TAB to enter the MAME menu system.
- Go to the "Input (this game)" menu.
- Highlight the axis.
- Press ENTER. (map the setting)
- Press ESC. (set it to none)
- Press ENTER. (map the setting)
- Press ESC. (reset it to default)

5. Any axis using an optical (mouse/spinner/trackball) control should have the "Dec" and "Inc" set to none.

Those are reserved for key presses being substituted for analogue input.

- Highlight the "Inc" or "Dec" setting.
- Press ENTER. (map the setting)
- Press ESC. (set it to none)


Scott

[seawolfgoo]

If you want a no solder option, get a trackball wiring adapter that converts the molex to dupont.  You can plug the dupont connectors into the i-pac mentioned above (trackball, spinner, joystick, & buttons encoder) or a smaller u-trak usb adapter (2 button mouse encoder).  I've gotten all of these items at t-molding.com.  Note that your two player harness looks like two standard 6 pins fused into a 12pin, if it's not standard you may need to swap a few pins in the dupont connector.

[PL1]

GGG carries the Trackball Cable for Opti-Wiz™ "No-Solder" that entirely replaces the molex harness. (optical board connector ==> Dupont pins)



As seawolfgoo mentioned, you'll need to move either the 5v or ground pin to connect to an IPac, but otherwise this cable is plug-and-play easy.


Scott
EDIT: Fixed wrong link.   

[seawolfgoo]

Another great trackball resource is Bob Roberts, he has some useful information on wiring colors and pinout changes for the original 1984 Marble Madness trackball optic boards vs newer 1999 era boards on http://www.therealbobroberts.net/tracks.html.