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Should I use an Opti-pac or Oscar's mouse hack?
AceTKK:
thx for the quickreplies everybody. I wish the Mini-pac were an option; it looks like a nice all-in-one solution. The problem is that 28 inputs is just a couple shy of what I need for my CP layout. Also, after the added cost of wiring harnesses the Mini-pac ends up being almost as pricey as an I-pac + Optipac.
At this point I'm really leaning towards the Oscar interface, I don't feel the opti-pac offers anything more to warrant the extra cost.
-Ace-
Sasquatch!:
I'm using the OSCAR mouse hack with my Vortex spinner and I've never had a single problem with it.
Thenasty:
alot of us seem to forget that the SERIAL PORT exist. I still wish the standard MOBO has 2 ports but they cut down to 1. I guess only server MOBO's will have 2. There is nothign wrong with the serial port. So you can use a TRACKBALL in PS/2 and SPINNER in SERIAL all by themselves without any extra parts to make it work.
I have no problem with my mouse hack serial port spinner, and my Ps/2 port is taken by my 3"Betson Trackball. Just my .02
Now unless you want 2-3 Trackballs, 2-4 Spinners then thats a whole new ballgame.
Flinkly:
well, if you can't make your own wiring harness, then the minipac is a bit expensive, but if you think that the minipac with the harness is the only one that supports the trackball and spinner, then your mistaken. as for extra buttons, just wire them in as a shift button and another button, so if you get really carried away, you can double the button input. i think i'm going to have to do that anyways.
also, you get two mouse buttons, so just wire those up as your extra buttons...so you really get 30 buttons for input, plus a trackball and a spinner. if you buy your own wiring harness stuff, which you should since andy is just guessing with wire length, you just buy a pack of quick disconnects which is like 3 bucks, plus a spool of wire(cause if your real good, one color is all you will need).
JODY:
I've got Oscar's board with the trackball wiring harness running on Windows XP with a USB mouse attached.