PS/2 or USB trackball hack?

[atarikari]

Hello -

I'm finally getting around to putting this all together, and have to figure out how (if?) to get my WICO trackball to hook into it all.

Is the Hagstrom device (PS/2) the best way to go? I'd rather pull a USB mouse apart, as I have several to spare. This looks like one way to do it: http://www.oscarcontrols.com/DPDTswitch.shtml Can one make a pass-through or splitter, so I can use a regular mouse as well?

My goal here is to use the dual monitor input on the Arcade VGA and some wireless peripherals to get a comp out of this system as well.

For what it's worth, I am a super noob and the KeyWiz is a great product. Now only to figure out what these .ini files are all about...

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[unclet]

I need a cheap USB mouse to hack apart for my Pole Position steering wheel.  Would you sell one of your USB mice (what kind is it) cheap?  emailAddrRemoved

[_Iz-]

the page you referenced on oscar's site deals with connecting both a spinner and a trackball to one mouse with a switch to select either or.

Yes, you can hook a trackball to a mouse (serial/ps2/usb) are all acceptable. Don't use a logitech mouse.

Open the mouse, remove the PCB and find the optics. they are mounted on either side of the encoding wheels. For each encoder wheel there will be one with 2 pins (the emitter) and one with 3 pins (the detector). To hack a trackball to the mouse we are interested in the detectors. Of the 3 pins on the detector, 1 is +5V, the other 2 are signal. Use a multimeter or trace the circuit paths to discover which is +5v. The other 2 are signal. You can remove the detectors and the emitters if you like. If you don't remove them you'll need to cover them with black tape so they don't interfere with the trackball. While you're probing the mouse PCB (circuit board) find out where +5v and ground begin directly from the cable to the computer. This can be easier if you find a diagram of the connector pinout so you know which wire carries them into the mouse. (A multimeter is also invaluable here). Open the trackball. There will be 2 circuit boards inside, each with an emitter/detector pair on either side of an encoder wheel (very similar to the mouse). Note the colors of the pairs of signal wires going to each PCB. The red and black wires are +5v and ground respectively. Now just connect the red wire from the trackball to +5v on the mouse, trackball black wire to ground and each pair of trackball signal wires to the signal locations for each detector.

Now cross your fingers and try it out!  If the axis are reversed, then swap the pairs of signal wires OR switch the boards in the trackball around. If the movement on one axis is reversed then remove, swap the positions of the 2 signal wires for that axis and resolder.

That should be it!

[atarikari]

@ unclet: I think I only have one spare that isn't a Logitech. D'oh. I'll email you if that changes as I dig through everything this we.

@_Iz-: thank you! man these boards are sweet