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Trackballs and Spinners without mice
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MajorLag:
I'm doing research for my future MAME cab and I wanted to include 3 trackballs and at least 4 spinners (trackballs aren't built into the panel, they're addon). It seems that the only way to have that many trackballs/spinners is to install special software to allow for more then one mouse, and only MAME Analog+ recognizes these extra mice anyway.

I was thinking, MAME has digital inputs for the trackball/spinner controls that move a set amount when a button is pressed. Would it be possible to rig a trackball/spinner to use these inputs directly, without encoding a mouse-compatable signal? Basically juse send the button press whenever a gap is encountered on the wheel, or something?
IntruderAlert:
I suppose you could use a couple of these
http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac1.html



or maybe just one + a mouse hack

Features:

    * USB Mode: One USB cable handles up to two trackballs and 4 spinners/rotary joysticks.
    * Serial mode: Two independent serial port inputs to accomodate two trackballs and 4 spinners/rotary joysticks.

MajorLag:
I was just looking at those. And while it looks like a great product, the trackballs and spinners still act as mice. In fact, if you read the features list, it specifically states "Also works in two player mode (two USB mouse devices) using MAME ANALOG+". The faq says that the serial one will work in the official MAME, but it only supports 2 trackballs, and I was really hoping for 3.   
JB:

--- Quote from: MajorLag on April 01, 2005, 05:36:04 pm ---I was thinking, MAME has digital inputs for the trackball/spinner controls that move a set amount when a button is pressed. Would it be possible to rig a trackball/spinner to use these inputs directly, without encoding a mouse-compatable signal? Basically juse send the button press whenever a gap is encountered on the wheel, or something?

--- End quote ---
You'd lose the entire point of using trackball/spinners. May as well just stick joysticks in.
MajorLag:

--- Quote from: JB on April 01, 2005, 09:06:49 pm ---
--- Quote from: MajorLag on April 01, 2005, 05:36:04 pm ---I was thinking, MAME has digital inputs for the trackball/spinner controls that move a set amount when a button is pressed. Would it be possible to rig a trackball/spinner to use these inputs directly, without encoding a mouse-compatable signal? Basically juse send the button press whenever a gap is encountered on the wheel, or something?

--- End quote ---
You'd lose the entire point of using trackball/spinners. May as well just stick joysticks in.

--- End quote ---
You think so? I wasn't sure. I figured that if you spun the wheel, it'd by like hitting the button a bunch of times really quickly, so it'd be faster then spinning the wheel slowly, and would feel about right with th right settings.

I suppose I'll just have to live with 2 trackballs.
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