atari trackball on a pc

[david656]

have looked around on google and have still not found a way to connect a atari trackball to a pc.

i just plugged it in to my sega master system to see what happened and the 2 buttons worked so i thought great but the ball didn't well i never fought my sega would of work with that anyway.

but i thought well i have a old pc i'll just plug it in instead of my serial mouse but no its not as easy as that any ideas would be greatly apreshiated

[cw]

this is an atari 2600 track?

[Texasmame]

Either way, a 2600, 5200 or arcade Atari trac would likely require a hack or at least a pre-made adapter.  atariage.com may have them in their store if there is such a thing. . .

[david656]

no this track ball works on atari 400 and 800 and a commadore don't ask me what model i think it was summit like c++ or something.

but i have none of the consol's so fought as its quite a big trackball i will use it on a pc in a arcade cabinet


thanks for helping keep helping me pleeeese
 

[Bluedeath]

Maybe you can use it in joystick emulation mode (if it's the model for the 2600 there is a switch underneath to set it )  with the direct pad driver and connecting it in the parallel port (you need to build a simple interface)  but a mouse hack will give far better results. Plus building the parallel port interface has the same soldering difficulty of the mouse hack.
An interesting option, if you know how to handle the data, would be to try to self build and interface connected to the parallel port and read the quadratures with some self made driver but honestly Again mouse hack is the most easy way.

[david656]

rite

i've got a good understanding of computers but to be honest am 15 and haven't a clue on what your on about!!

but it sounds good may be i could use this thing called opti pac i dont realy no

[Tiger-Heli]

What does the connector on it look like?

[Stingray]

IMO you would be much happier with a real arcade trackball.

-S

[MinerAl]

This thread details the hacking of the VERY similar Wico box for those computers/consoles.

[david656]

kk i will check out that link later and the connection is a 9 pin d sub basicly serial shape but obviously wired up differently

[Bluedeath]

The mouse hack (if you succeed) is still the best way, just don't mess up the wires during the soldering phase.

[Tiger-Heli]

Well, I think you have the following possibilities:

1)  Have you installed a serial mouse in your current computer and does it work?  If not, you might need a serial mouse driver installed.  It is possible (but unlikely) that the Atari TB will work once the proper driver is added to the system.

2)  It is possible that the trackball just has some wires out of place from a standard serial connection, so you could maybe re-arrange the wires or cut off the serial connector and run the wires to a terminal strip and connect them differently, put this is only slightly less work than a mouse hack.

3)  Interfacing, See the optical interfaces part of my chart, basically you have the following three options:

Mouse hack - See Note 49 on my page:

Opti-Pac or Mini-Pac from www.ultimarc.com - basically a pre-built mouse hack.

Also the Opti-Wiz from www.groovygamegear.com - also basically a pre-built mouse hack.