Trackball & Spinner questions

[krick]

It's time to make some purchases and I'm looking for input.

I'm designing my control panel and I intend to put two trackballs and two spinners on it.

Since space will be tight, I'm thinking about getting 2.5" trackballs.  I don't see myself ever playing Golden Tee so I doubt I'll miss not having the 3" units.

I plan on running Windows XP using MAME Analog+  though I have considered using DOS if necessary but I really don't want to.

1) My motherboard has two serial ports.  I was considering using hacked serial mice to connect the trackballs but I don't know if USB might be better.  Any thoughts?

2) What brand/model/supplier is the best for trackballs?  For spinners?

3) Other than the two trackballs and two spinners, what else do I need to hook this all up?

4) As I understand it, I can drive two spinners off of one hacked mouse.  Is this correct?

5) I've read that Oscar sells the best spinners.  Anyone feel otherwise?

6) Out of all the Oscar models, which do most people buy?

7) What's the deal with the Opti-PAC and why would I need one?

...
Krick

[SirPoonga]

Go USB, serial is a pain. And mame analog+ works with usb mice.

Get oscar spinners or the tornado from slikstik (which has a smaller footprint that might be better in this case).  kevsteele has a video review of the spinners.

The optipac, IMHO, is the best choice here, is supports everything you need and is easy to setup.  Otherwise you go the hacked mice route.  Yep, 2 spinners per mouse using analog+ mame, the two mice for hte two tballs.  That;s 3 mice total.  However you can have the spinners work with the same mice as the tball mice.  wiring gets to be a pain then.

For tballs, happs is probably the best.  If ound it cheapest to get one off ebay, even if it isn't in good shape, then buy new rollers and bearings for it form bob roberts.

[jerryjanis]

1) My motherboard has two serial ports.  I was considering using hacked serial mice to connect the trackballs but I don't know if USB might be better.  Any thoughts?

My gut feeling is that serial ports might be getting phased out in favor of USB over the next few years.  That's the only thing - over time, it might become a pain in the butt to hook up serial mice if serial ports don't come installed on pc's.  Also, USB is nice because there's practically no limit to how many devices you can connect.  Of course, if you've got the serial mice laying around than by all means use those, but don't go out of your way to do serial!

7) What's the deal with the Opti-PAC and why would I need one?

Basically, the Opti-Pac saves you from the hassle of doing mouse hacks.  You can hook up 4 spinners and 2 trackballs all at once, and it can automatically choose which ones to activate based on which ones you are using at the moment.  It acts like 2 hacked mice with the added bonus of the trackball/spinner switching ability.

[krick]

hmm...  the Opti-PAC supports 4 spinners and 2 trackballs at the same time?

Are there any games that can utilize 4 spinners at once?

[bionicbadger]

My gut feeling is that serial ports might be getting phased out in favor of USB over the next few years.  

I really don't think this will happen.  There are too many serial devices out there.  Many network devices (switches, routers, firewalls, etc.) are accessible via a serial console connection, I use it pretty much everyday at work.  And even if by some miracle it does get taken off the otherboard, you will be able to get an add on card with a couple serial ports.

[Stingray]

I'll second the Tornado, it has a tiny under the panel footprint. What games use two spinners?

-S

[jerryjanis]

Are there any games that can utilize 4 spinners at once?

Here's a list of spinner games with more than 3 spinners:

http://jstookey.com/arcade/sortinfo/index.php?num_switches=2&do_search=1&switch0=control&operator0=%3D&switchvalue0=dial&boolean0=AND&switch1=players&operator1=%3E&switchvalue1=3

Some of the games listed shouldn't be listed.  At least one of them uses optical rotary joysticks (TouchDown Fever).  Most of the ones that work are driving games (Sprint 4, Sprint 8, Demolition Derby, Car Polo).

There are also a few paddle games.  A spinner is a very decent replacement for a paddle controller (but it's not perfect):
http://jstookey.com/arcade/sortinfo/index.php?num_switches=2&do_search=1&switch0=players&operator0=%3E&switchvalue0=3&boolean0=AND&switch1=control&operator1=%3D&switchvalue1=paddle

Warlords is absolutely amazing with 4 players.

There are some other games that use 3 spinners (Super Sprint, Hot Rod, Super Off-Road).

[krick]

Ok, if I assume that Happ trackballs are the best, what should I be aware of in the way of mounting?

My control panel is 3/4 MDF and I do not intend to cover it with plexi/lexan.  I plan to use PartsExpress black textured vinyl...

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=260-018

...I bought 4 rolls a while back when it was on sale.

I have a plunge router if necessary for the installation.