Main > Main Forum
Should I use an Opti-pac or Oscar's mouse hack?
<< < (3/4) > >>
Minwah:
I've never had any probs with Oscars' mouse hacks - I really rate them in fact.  IIRC Oscar has some info on his site with how to wire a trackball and spinner to one mouse hack at once, using a switch.  As said you could just use 2 mouse hacks also...

If you don't want your spinner/trackball to interfere with one another (ie if you have annoying mates who come along and spin whichever you're not using) then the OptiPac has a neat auto-select feature so only one works at once.  You may or may not need this feature.  If you like switching between trackball / spinner games very quickly then you have to wait for a short while for whichever control was last used to 'lose focus'.
JODY:
If you think you may eventually want 2 trackballs or more than 2 spinners for multi-player games then the Optipac looks more attractive than if you only want 1 trackball or 2 spinners.
AceTKK:
Thanks for the input Jody.  It's reassuring to hear that your trackball works well with the Oscar interface. 

I see your point about using two of the hacks with Windows; having the device order flipped upon Windows startup could be a major hassle.  I'd really like to get away with using just one mouse hack to control both devices.

Do you think it would be feasible to just twist the wires from the spinner together with those from the trackball's x-axis and connect both to the mouse interface?  Yes, I would have to avoid bumping / moving the trackball when playing spinner games and vice-versa but I don't think that will be too much of a problem.  Using a DPDT switch like the example shown on Oscar's site would alleviate the problem, but is a little less elegant.

Thanks again for everybody's input,

-Ace-
JODY:
I think you'll have problems just twisting the data wires (axis wires) from the mouse and trackball together.

You can read some details on this site about how USB works:
sodapopinski:
 
--- Quote ---it depends on money or reliability.  now i'm not saying anything against oscars mouse hack, but different systems seem to react differently to the hack...and usually react in bad ways.  with the optipac, you know exactly how it's gonna work.  quite frankly, i'd get the minipac for 35 bucks plus shipping and you'll have all you need for your control panel...unless it's more than two player.
--- End quote ---
i just ordered the minipac. I'm not clear about the trackball. It supports the happs trackball, but how about the mouse buttons? are they wired of the trackball harness?
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version