USB Opti-Pac and USB Slikstik??

[rbarr110]

My original intention was to get an opti-pac with a ultimarc trackball and an oscar spinner.  I ordered and received the opti-pac and trackball but later found oscar is now MIA.

I have been waiting for oscar to come back, but am almost done with the cabinet and still need a spinner.  I think I am going to get a SlikStik tornado but was wondering how having 2 devices seen as a "USB mouse" in windows would work.

Would I have to specifically select one or the other in windows as the default mouse?  For example, I want to play tempest so I have to switch to the spinner as the default in windows before launching mame?  Then later I decide I want to play marble madness and have to exit to switch to the trackball as the default and re-launce mame?

I know you can have 2 devices connected at the same time, but am wondering if the input from one of the will not respond if it is not default.

Anyone have any experience with this?

[the3eyedblindman]

I am almost positive windows will automatically switch it to the one you are using at the time...for example, an act labs lightgun is seen as a mouse in windows xp, if Im playing a gun game in mame with the gun, i can just set the gun down and use the mouse without changing anything, and keep going back and forth, Im almost positive, tell me if Im wrong someone.

[jcrouse]

Windows will have no problem with multiple devices acting as a mouse.

John

[crashwg]

Windows will have no problem with multiple devices acting as a mouse.

John

But...  If someone decides to give your spiner a whirl while you're using the trackball it'll controll your game which would most likely end up in death of some sort.

The optipac/minipac on the other hand has a built in automatic swithching function that will disable the device not in use until you stop using the one you are using for a shot amount of time.

[Sinner]

Windows will have no problem with multiple devices acting as a mouse.

John

But...

[tivogre]

Windows will have no problem with multiple devices acting as a mouse.

John

But...  If someone decides to give your spinner a whirl while you're using the trackball it'll controll your game which would most likely end up in death of some sort.

The optipac/minipac on the other hand has a built in automatic swithching function that will disable the device not in use until you stop using the one you are using for a shot amount of time.

I'm in the same boat...I need to purchase a spinner, and I own an Opti-Pac...is there a way to use the Tornado with the Opti-Pac??

I have some e-mails from Oscar on this.  Apparently, you CAN use the Tornado with the Opti-Pac.... but to get the auto detect working, you have to modify one of the resistors on the Tornado PCB.

If anyone wants to try this, I can dig out the exact instructions.

I'm living with both spinner and TB active at once.

[Sinner]

I would like that information...

[tivogre]

OK.  Here's the e-mail traffic I got.

It was actually between me and Andy from Ultimarc.

Again, I have NOT tried this to see if it works.  If anyone does, I may take thinks apart and re-do mine too.  Let me know!

Me:

          Hi Andy.

          I recently purchased the components for my MAME control
          panel, including a HAPP 3" trackball, a SlikStik Tornado           
          spinner, and your Opti-Pac board.
 
          I have the trackball working perfectly through the Opti-Pac on
          player 1 input 1.  The Tornado spinner works fine on it's own
          USB port.  My problem is that I can NOT get the Tornado
          spinner working through the Opti-Pac.
 
          I e-mailed the SlikStik guys;  they said it should work, using
          the wires off the "attached" PCB, and NOT using the USB
          board that  came with the Tornado.
 
          No matter what I try, I get NO response from the Tornado
          coming through the Opti-Pac.
 
Andy:

           Yes it should work. Have you tried it with the jumper on both
           HI and LO ?


Me:

           Yes, I have tried both jumper settings.

           Please send me info on which wires I should be using, and
           to which terminals on the Opti-Pac.

           Again, my Happ trackball is on the 1st input;  I am trying to
           get the spinner on one of the other inputs so they will auto
           select.

Andy:

           On the PCB I have, the plug is marked. LED, X1, X2 V+

           So LED would go to ground, V+ to 5 volts, and X1, X2 to the
           matching connections.

Me:

           The Opti-Pac Still will NOT auto-select.

           I will specify exactly what I have done;  see if you can spot
           the issue:

           Happ Trackball connected to Opti-Pac Player 1 Trackball
           inputs (trackball works as expected)
           SlikStik Tornado PCB connected to player 1 Rotary inputs
           (LED to GND, V+ to +5 Volts, X1 and X2 to X1, X2)

           Optipac connected to PC via USB connection.

           Jumper set to P1+P2

           I've tried HI and LO on the other (Rotary) jumper.

           My understanding is that this set up should auto-switch
           between the Tornado OR the Happ Trackball, depending on
           which is moved first (or most recently, after time-out).

           ONLY my trackball will control the cursor.  there is NO
           response, ever, from moving the tornado spinner in this
           set-up.

           I believe that the spinner itself is working, as it will function
           properly when connected to the auxiliary PCB and directly to
           separate USB.  That set-up, however, has BOTH the trackball
           AND the rotary control the cursor at the same time. This leads
           me to believe there must be an issue either with the Opti-Pac
           itself, or my connections to it.

           What do you suggest?  I'm open to additional roubleshooting
           suggestions too.


Andy:

           I checked again and the signal is rather marginal. It might be
           that they are using different makes of sensor which have
           different characteristics.

           I spent a long time trying to find out what was going on, and
           eventally realized that there is a design fault with the board
           I have. On my board the series resistor in the LED circuit (the
           only component on the board apart from the sensors) is 820
           ohms. This is simply incorrect. The correct value is 100 ohms.
           The too-high value causes the LEDs not to emit enough light
           and the sensing doesn't work properly. If you also have an
           820 ohm resistor (marked 821) then soldering an 100 ohm
           one across it will cure the problem.

I never tried his suggestion.

[krick]

I'm in the same boat...I need to purchase a spinner, and I own an Opti-Pac...is there a way to use the Tornado with the Opti-Pac??

Supposedly, you can modify the stock Tornado board (by cutting some traces and soldering jumper wires) so that it works like a standard trackball style optical board (basically bypassing the USB circuits).  I wasn't too keen on the idea of hacking on my Tornado board so I replaced it with an optical board from OSCAR Controls...

http://mame.3feetunder.com/tornadomod/

I'm pretty sure you can do something similar with a Happ (trackball) optical board if you don't have access to a board from OSCAR Controls.

[krick]

Andy:

[tivogre]

Andy:

           I checked again and the signal is rather marginal. It might be
           that they are using different makes of sensor which have
           different characteristics.

           I spent a long time trying to find out what was going on, and
           eventally realized that there is a design fault with the board
           I have. On my board the series resistor in the LED circuit (the
           only component on the board apart from the sensors) is 820
           ohms. This is simply incorrect. The correct value is 100 ohms.
           The too-high value causes the LEDs not to emit enough light
           and the sensing doesn't work properly. If you also have an
           820 ohm resistor (marked 821) then soldering an 100 ohm
           one across it will cure the problem.

I'm confused.  Is he saying that the Opti-PAC has an incorrect resistor in the LED circuit?

No.  The optical board on the tornado spinner does.