Opti-PAC USB now on sale

[AndyWarne]

The USB Opti-PAC is now available. The board handles all of the controls of the existing version but through one USB cable, so using MAME Analog+ and Win 98 you can have 2-player trackballs with only one cable and USB port.
There is also an upgrade kit to enable any existing board to be changed to USB.
Check out our Opti-PAC pages at www.ultimarc.com for details.

[rampy]

that's great news! Would it be untimely/ungrateful of me to ask how the ulti-arcade-compatible-videocard  is coming along?

Just wondering =)

rampy

[gnateye]

i have one of these i dont need and am still tryin to get into a good home, anyone interrested please email me.

its the usb optipac but it also has everything to make it serial as well.

natty@cosmicbreaks.com

[SNAAAKE]

me too...ERR...little off topic...but what happend to the video card...

[Lilwolf]

Hey, the upgrade.  Do you need to purchase both the the upgrade and the serial -> usb cable?

I still (yeah I know... bought it over a year ago) haven't got mine plugged into my system.  Would rather go usb then trying to get the others working.  Plus the analog+ mame might make me go out and get another trackball sooner

btw, thanks for continuing to make great products for us guys!

(hey, you don't have in your order website page the parts you sell.  Whats the chance of having them added?  I need some encoder wheels and do you still sell the encoder cards themself (the handmade ones, not the happs ones)

thanks!

[AndyWarne]

Good point about the cable, yes the cable is included in the price, I'll make that clear on the site.
The video card is coming along. Windows XP drivers are practically done. The card will come with a large number of pre-set native resolutions in XP, no need for hardware stretching, stretchMAME etc. Desktop rotation support for vertical monitors. DOS VESA3 modes all supported. Thanks to David Penfold for a complete list of all resolutions used in MAME with example games, I am aiming to implement as many resolutions as possible.
Target is early Jan. Windows 98 drivers might come after the launch.

[MinerAl]

I realize this may be a "duh," but... since it's USB it should work on a USB Mac, right?

[gnateye]

i havent been able to get mine to work on any of myh mac which is why im parting with it, i had hoped it would work, but alas! no luck!

[Xiaou2]

 If you buy 2 of them, will they allow for twice as many inputs?  Or will they interfere with each other?

[Lilwolf]

It already handles 2 trackballs and 4 spinners.  Do you really want more?  Are there any games that use more?  (but good question)

btw, Andy, How about the parts question.  Is there a list of parts you sell on your site anywhere?  I need some items and might put a full list together (with a usb upgrade)

thanks

[StingMe]

I realize this may be a "duh," but... since it's USB it should work on a USB Mac, right?

I've got a Happ trackball and Oscar pro spinner connected to my Mac (via USB Opti-PAC) and everything works like a charm.

9500 with G3/400 upgrade, USB PCI, OS 9.2.2

I got in on the beta testing phase of the USB Opti-PAC and have had absolutely no problems with it yet, on any Mac...

gnateye: what seems to be the problem? What hardware/OS are you using?

[AndyWarne]

It already handles 2 trackballs and 4 spinners.  Do you really want more?  Are there any games that use more?  (but good question)

btw, Andy, How about the parts question.  Is there a list of parts you sell on your site anywhere?  I need some items and might put a full list together (with a usb upgrade)

thanks

Everything that we sell is on our order page www.ultimarc.com/orderd.html

[Tiger-Heli]

 If you buy 2 of them, will they allow for twice as many inputs?  Or will they interfere with each other?

I would imagine you could do this.  (Urebel or Andy, please confirm!).  MAME analog plus supports up to eight mice (and they can all use the same driver) so I would think you could use up to four opti-pac's in your system.  The drawback is if you unplugged them and plugged them in in a different order, the devices might shift (trackball 3 might now be trackball 5, etc.)

[Dave_K.]

Has anyone tried the opti-pac on a Playstation2 (for games which support a usb mouse)?  Is there a special driver for it? Or does windows simply recognize as a standard usb mouse?

[gnateye]

it doesnt even show up in my system prifiloeer or anything, i am using a g3 mac 300 mhz runnin os 8.6. i also tried it on a g4/500mhz runnin 9.2.2, still nothing, i was in on the first batch too, but could never get it to work, i would be the happiest man alive if i could get my trackball working, can you help?

i felt bad about buggin andy so much, especially sinc ehe doesnt use mac, i would be forever grateful if you could help me

i have tried withmy millipede trackball and my oscar pro spinner, both dont show up or show any, movement like my oscar model one usb and the pro also does usb and works that way.

im sure i have all the wires plugged in correctly and all that.

make my day! (please )

[Xiaou2]

It already handles 2 trackballs and 4 spinners.  Do you really want more?  Are there any games that use more?  (but good question)

   I believe thats 2 trackballs  ** OR **  4 spinners.

  There are games like rampart that use 3 trackballs.

 Also, because I have 8 optical inputs... it would be helpfull.  

 dual trackballs
 dual spinners
 dual opto rotary joys
 dual supersprint wheels


  If you have other USB devices plugged in ... like other use mice or trackballs..ect, will they also interfere?

  If you hot swap devices, will you have any probs?
(ie - need to reboot)

 Sincerely,
 Steve

   

[StingMe]

gnateye:

Do you know that the Optic-PAC itself is not defective (or the serial-USB cable for that matter)? Have you used the serial port and a PC to test it? Otherwise, what have you done already as far as troubleshooting on your Macs? What USB port are you plugging the Opti-PAC into (monitor, keyboard, mobo, etc.)? A simple extension conflict may be causing problems so starting up with System extensions only may do the trick. Beyond that, I'd say a clean install of the OS (no need to reformat the disk at this point), zap the PRAM, and/or reset the CUDA (probably not necessary, but as a last resort...) may flush out the gremlins.

The Opti-PAC was truly plug and play for me - sorry to hear about your trouble with it. If none of this brings the Opti-PAC to life drop me a line and we'll see what else we can do to get you up and running.

Good Luck!

[u_rebelscum]

It already handles 2 trackballs and 4 spinners.  Do you really want more?  Are there any games that use more?  (but good question)

I believe thats 2 trackballs  ** OR **  4 spinners.

There are games like rampart that use 3 trackballs.

Plus atari football and atari soccer can have 4 trackballs.

Also, because I have 8 optical inputs... it would be helpfull.  

 dual trackballs
 dual spinners
 dual opto rotary joys
 dual supersprint wheels

Mame:analog+ can track all eight "mice", but people can only use one "mouse" per player, so there is a limit of four mice in use at a time.  (Actually, one mouse axis per player axis, with two player axes results in two half mice, so I guess all mice can be used at a time, but who cares about the details. )

If you have other USB devices plugged in ... like other use mice or trackballs..ect, will they also interfere?

No problems here.  I can have one USB ipac (with two trackballs), one happs USB trackball interface, one PC trackball, one USB gamepad, and one USB steering wheel with no problems, besides my computer desk covered with input devices.

So I am able to "play" the four trackball games.  I put quotes around the play because I can't fit that many people around my computer, so one person has to control two trackballs.  But it works (winMe, mame:analog+ .62 and .61)

 If you hot swap devices, will you have any probs?
(ie - need to reboot)

Nope.  You can plug/unplug either the USB end, or a trackball from the ipac with little problems.  There is the time it takes windows to load the drivers if you plug/unplug the USB end.    Also, don't plug/unplug the USB end while playing a game, or analog+ will lose track of the trackballs and the input will be messed up.  Just exit and restart the game to fix it.  No problems if you plug/unplug the trackball on the ipac side, though.

[u_rebelscum]

Has anyone tried the opti-pac on a Playstation2 (for games which support a usb mouse)?  Is there a special driver for it? Or does windows simply recognize as a standard usb mouse?

Windows recognizes the ipac as two standard USB mice.  Haven't tried it on a PS2