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happ mini trackball
vrf:
So, I'm thinking of getting the 1 1/2" trackball. It's too frickin expensive, I know, but it might be my only choice for an arcade-quality trackball in my micro cab.
Anyhow, what else do I need? It has an optional mounting kit for $30, and a USB cable for $45! And a $7 button harness.
So...
Can I mount the ball without the mounting kit? (It'll be in a laser-cut acrylic panel.)
Can I use some other cheaper cable? $45 bucks for a cable seems ridiculous.
Finally, is the button harness the only way of having mouse buttons? What if I wire up to a Keywiz or something?
Thanks for your help!
menace:
maybe look for an old logitech trackball mouse or something similar--that price is ridiculous and by the time happ adds all their shipping fees its going to be one pricey little trackball.. I'm all for arcde authentic parts but sometimes economics wins...
whammoed:
I'm sure its a quality item but I don't think its necessarily meant for arcade games...more likely kiosks. Haven't heard from anyone whos bought one yet, so....
Look around, you may be able to find a kiosk trackball this size cheaper elsewhere.
ArtMAME:
I am with whammoed, it looks like a kiosk trackball, like the ones they have at Target stores or in department stores.
I am sure the kiosk trackball would be quality item and very playable, but you can get a Happ 2-1/4" arcade trackball for less $ from other sources like Ebay or maybe from one of the vendors on this forum.
Used ones would run about $5 - $50 on Ebay, but you may have to clean or even replace the bearings. New ones could run $50 - $100 on Ebay. Happ sells them for $100 - 160.
The easiest thing to do would be to get one with a USB/ PS/2 interface, this makes it look like a mouse to the PC. If you have an optical encoder interface, then you can just get a regular trackball and interface it that way.
A mounting plate makes the trackball very easy to mount, but it is not really needed. If you don't use a mounting plate, you may have the bolt heads sticking out over the panel (look at the X-arcade Trackball) There maybe a way to hide these with out one, but I just went with the mounting plate. Some people just don't like the mounting plate thing so they chose to mount it a different way.
Or you could just use a PC trackball mouse and either lay it on your control panel, or hack it into your control panel. If you would like to go this route, I would suggest you try the Logitech USB Marble Mouse, or the Macally iBall Pro ( have not hacked these, I have just used them as regular trackball mice and lay them on the control panel.) They are both under $20 and seem to work smother than the other PC trackball mice I have tried. They are not as playable as the arcade trackballs, but if you are only playing Centipede, Millipede, and navigating Windows, they are acceptable, though far less than ideal. GoldenT, Crystal Castles, Marble Madness...faghetaboutit!!! These games are just not playable with a PC trackball mouse.
Hope this info helps...good luck :D
Dizzle:
I was faced with a similar situation. There's no room for me to place a regularly sized trackball in my panel (a HotRod SE) and I was thinking about the Happ mini trackball, but nearly fainted when I saw the price. Like ArtMAME suggested, I picked up a Marble Mouse (Logitech) instead and lay it on top of the control panel when I'm using it. I'm pretty happy with it -- it works fine for Marble Madness for me, and pretty good as an alternative for spinner games. But for any games that require a hard spin on the trackball (Golden Tee) ... it's pretty bad.
Still worth the $20 for me though....