How do things like trackballs, spinners, lightguns work?

[blueoakleyz]

I'm asking two questions here
1) How do these work in relation to their natural arcade setting and 2) How do these work in relation to a mame/PC setup?

I know joysticks and buttons use a very simple microswitch-circuit close design, but how do trackballs and such work? Is it simple and similar to microswitch design or is it more complicated?

[Mameotron]

Those are some pretty detailed answers.  I suggest looking on the left side of your screen (where all the arcade buttons denote topics), click on the interfaces button, then click on the mouse port section.  You will find a detailed article about how these devices work and how to interface them.

[Goz]

This is very clearly laid out and detailed with pictures and stuff in the 'Project Arcade' book. If you don't have the book. I would strongly recommend a trip to the bookstore.

Or a visit to Oscar Controls for deatils on spinners

There are additional sites that clearly show you the answers you are looking for.

I referrence these sources as opposed to answering the question as they are both excellent resources and you will surely end up with the book and viewing Oscar's site sooner or later. Plus I'd hate to miss a detail you might want / need

Hope this helps,

-Goz