Dumb Mouse Hack question

[chrisindfw]

Ok... I just got my 3" Betson Imperial.

I ripped open a mouse I had laying around at work. Its a nice IBM mouse without the wheel.

Soon I will do the soldering to hack it.

But I have a question. I should know the answer but would like to know. Why must I solder the wires to the mouse board? The trackball has the wires from each board on the trackball (x and y) Why can I not just hook up the mouse wires to the wires that come out of the trackball.

Please forgive me stupidity...

[GamingGreg]

It's because you'd be missing the circuitry that translates the raw optic signals into data that can be sent to a PS/2 or USB port.  You still need that part of the mouse, even though you're bypassing the raw optics part of the mouse.  

Arcade boards are built to use the raw input from the optics, that's wh the trackballs only have that portion.  Thus you still that other piece of the mouse to talk to a PC.

This link might help some http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mouse.htm