Trackball mouse-hack questions

[lustreking]

I have a couple newbie questions so forgive me if they

[Lilwolf]

you can buy a prehacked one for 12 bucks from Oscar (and I highly recommend them... I have 3)... But use that number as a base.

look on ebay.  You can't find them much anywhere else.  But I bought 3 for 3 bucks each... then gave up and bought a prehacked one. 

[RayB]

Umm, my (limited) understanding is you need to hack a BALL mouse, not an optical mouse. And you don't throw out the optical sensor (or do you??)

[cholin]

No, you dont.  Ive seen a few reports and you can use the mouse PCB directly if you set it up right.  Some trackballs with the 6-pronged connections, you can solder the wires directly to the board.

[Tahnok]

No, you dont.  Ive seen a few reports and you can use the mouse PCB directly if you set it up right.  Some trackballs with the 6-pronged connections, you can solder the wires directly to the board.

Yes, you can. I am using an Ultimarc trackball wired into an analog PS/2 port mouse hack. It is wired directly to the PCB without any problems.

[cholin]

Aha!  Heres an example:

http://www.willcoxonline.com/mame/controlpanel/controlpanel.htm

I found this recently and actually it looks pretty good going so far.  But anyways, heres an example.  He wired the trackball right to the mouse PCB.

[Mario]

Aha!

[OSCAR]

I posted some info on  how to hack a mouse to use with a trackball here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,15673.0.html


Mario - This does work with Happ trackballs.  In fact, I sell a harness on my website exactly for this purpose.

[Mario]

...
Mario - This does work with Happ trackballs.

[Popcorrin]

I posted some info on

[OSCAR]

I've heard some people have had success with a certain model of Logitech, but I haven't found a Logitech yet that works with the hack like I had shown in the other thread.  My advice, just don't bother with Logitech's, you may end up sacrificing many before you find a suitable one.

From my experience, I've found the Belkin and Kensington to work the best.  For the most part, they don't vary from the USB-PS/2 encoder chip reference design much, if at all.  Some of the MS mice I've seen have added a bit more to the reference design circuit, perhaps due to enhancements to their drivers, I don't really know...  I've also used MS mice before with varying amounts of success, but I like to stay with Belkin or Kensington whenever possible.  Although, I did have one particular PS/2-serial Kensington that didn't like to be hacked, it just wouldn't work no matter how I connected an optic board to it.  Maybe it was just a fluke with that particular mouse, but it worked fine with the OEM optics, just not with arcade optic boards.

[lustreking]

I picked up a trio of no-name usb mice at a computer show last weekend for $2 each.  I already have one torn open and my soldering iron at ready for when my trackball arrives (hopefully soon)!

-S