Is this CP doable? Stupid?

[Ninten-doh]

Okay, so right before the holidays I get all excited about making a MAME cab and impulsively buy an X-Arcade.  **Mistake #1**   I then find this website, and with my wife clamoring for her 4-way games, I order 2 Mag Stik Plus joysticks.  **Possible mistake #2**.

So now I take a deep breath, and try to think rationally.  Here's the deal.  I like 8-way and rotary games (like Ikari, Heacy Barrel) most, while my wife favors 4-way, and to a lesser extent, trackball games.  So surveying the parts I have in front of me [2 player X-Arcade, 2 Mag Stik Plus, and a USB optical mouse I was planning to use as a trackball like this http://www.geocities.com/lusosarge2000/etrackball.html]  I think about what I would like to do...

Buy a Happs optical rotary 8 way for Joystick #1, and use one of the 4 way/8 way switchable Mag Stik Plus as Joystick #2.  Then possibly add the USB trackball mouse in the center.  A larger, "real" trackball is not an option as my control panel area is quite small (an old Frogger cabinet).  This scenario would make everyone happy.  Yay!!!  But, here are the issues:

- I can hook up the Mag Stik Plus to the X-arcade encoder and use all the X-arcade buttons, but how would I connect the optical rotary joystick?
- Can I use a Happs trackball interface to connect the optical rotary joystick?
- If I was going to include the USB trackball mouse, would I be screwed because I would have two mouse devices hooked up?

The panel I described would be absolutely perfect.  Is it doable?  Is one of the ultimarc interfaces the solution?  The trackball is by far the least important component, so if there is a solution that doesn't include the trackball, that's cool with me.

[Flinkly]

i think you want a mechanical rotary.  an optical is just like a spinner, so you'd interface it as a mouse axis or something. 

as for the trackball, whatever you want, although you can get tiny nice trackballs from happ. 

as for the joysticks, i'd get an all in one like a 49-way, but with all the crap you've accumulated, your guess is as good as mine with what you should do.

frankly, it sounds like you need more than one panel with so little usable real estate.  or, get your wife into other games.

[Ninten-doh]

I was avoiding the mechanical because of the interfacing issues I've been reading in all the recent threads.

[Ninten-doh]

Giving this a bump for one last shot at some advice/feedback, then I will let it die a slow (or quick) death.   

[markrvp]

Yes, what you want to do is doable and quite easy.  The optical rotary joystick will feel much different than the Magstick plus.  The Happ stick has a longer throw with less resistance.  Shouldn't matter, though as you would be playing different games with each stick and the difference will be programmed into muscle memory.

Since your trackball mouse connects via USB, then I would recommend getting an Optiwiz from GroovyGameGear (or a mousehack) to interface the optical rotary joystick.  It will appear to your computer as a second mouse, although both the optical rotary joystick and trackball will be active at the same time.  This will not be a problem as you won't be using both at the same time.

In this scenario you would have the X-arcade PCB connected to the computer via PS2 and then both your trackball mouse and your Optiwiz would be connected to USB ports.

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks Mark!  I was thinking of using a Happ trackball interface (USB) to connect it to the PC, but the Opti-Wiz sounds like a cheaper alternative.  Does the Opti-Wiz need a power supply or does the USB provide the power?  If I understand correctly, one of the benefits of the Happ interface is that you don't need to connect it to a power supply.  But I could be totally confused about that.