Wico 2 1/4" Trackballs?

[pfriedel]

Is it possible to use a Wico 2.25" Trackball with any of the usual suspects?  They're _really_ cheap (looks like $25 for the TB), fairly small, and I've got a pile of old mice I could hack.  Heck, I wouldn't be adverse to buying an interface from someone.

  I've seen the reports that they aren't as nice as the happs TBs, but this would be 90% for windows navigation - game capability would be secondary, really. Which is why I can't bring myself to pony up the dough it would normally cost to get a trackball.  But hey, $25 is a different story.

  If they do work, what do I want for the usual mouse hack - active low, or active high?  (see http://www.wicothesource.com/new2/pages/page89.htm for whatever info Wico gives out.)  I'm guessing active high - the circuit diagram looks more.. mouse-y, somehow.

[jerryjanis]

I have two older Wico trackballs, and I was able to get them to work with the Opti-Pac and with mouse hacks without any problems.  This page includes a little writeup of how to do it:

http://jstookey.com/arcade/720/720-arcadejoy.php

I don't know what the active high/low business is about, and I don't know which kind of trackballs I own.  What is the difference?  How can I tell which ones I have?

$25.00 for those trackballs could be a real bargain!  I really like the ones that I have.

[u_rebelscum]

Is it possible to use a Wico 2.25" Trackball with any of the usual suspects?  They're _really_ cheap (looks like $25 for the TB), fairly small, and I've got a pile of old mice I could hack.  Heck, I wouldn't be adverse to buying an interface from someone.

  I've seen the reports that they aren't as nice as the happs TBs, but this would be 90% for windows navigation - game capability would be secondary, really. Which is why I can't bring myself to pony up the dough it would normally cost to get a trackball.  But hey, $25 is a different story.

  If they do work, what do I want for the usual mouse hack - active low, or active high?  (see http://www.wicothesource.com/new2/pages/page89.htm for whatever info Wico gives out.)  I'm guessing active high - the circuit diagram looks more.. mouse-y, somehow.

I'd go Active Low (did actually ).  Happs, Betson, and Wico 3" are all active low.  (At least, that's what I have my optipac jumper set to, and says so on the optipac page http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac3.html )

The 2 1/4" should hack just like any other trackball.  Runs fine on the optipac, too.

I do like any of the 3" trackballs better, but the 2 1/4" wico is a better than the 4X as expensive Kensington Expert Mouse Pro trackball for arcade gaming.  The wico is pretty slow in windows unless you jack up the windows mouse speed, though.  You should be happy with the wico TB.

FWIW: if you mount the 2 1/4" with the happs 2 1/4" mounting plate, the plate is only 1/2" by 1/2" smaller than that used by the (non-highball) 3" TBs, even though the true TB footprint is quite a bit smaller than the 3" TBs.

[pfriedel]

I'd go Active Low (did actually ).  Happs, Betson, and Wico 3" are all active low.  (At least, that's what I have my optipac jumper set to, and says so on the optipac page http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac3.html )

The 2 1/4" should hack just like any other trackball.  Runs fine on the optipac, too.

I do like any of the 3" trackballs better, but the 2 1/4" wico is a better than the 4X as expensive Kensington Expert Mouse Pro trackball for arcade gaming.  The wico is pretty slow in windows unless you jack up the windows mouse speed, though.  You should be happy with the wico TB.

FWIW: if you mount the 2 1/4" with the happs 2 1/4" mounting plate, the plate is only 1/2" by 1/2" smaller than that used by the (non-highball) 3" TBs, even though the true TB footprint is quite a bit smaller than the 3" TBs.

  Yeah, I stumbled across the optipac page after I posted.  You'd think that, with 2 iPacs an other Ultimarc stuff in my cab, I'd have thought of it sooner.  *sigh*

  The space savings is minimal, I know, but the cost is $20 less than the Wico 3" and $50 less than the imperial 3" PS2 and, well, Happs is discounting their 3" Golden Tee balls right now, sure.  It really boils down to cost/functionality/size, in that order, for me.  The way I figure it is that I'll order the 2 1/4" ball, try to hack it with my meeces, and if that doesn't work, buy an optipac.

[OSCAR]

I'd go Active Low (did actually ).  Happs, Betson, and Wico 3" are all active low.  (At least, that's what I have my optipac jumper set to, and says so on the optipac page http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac3.html )

The 2 1/4" should hack just like any other trackball.  Runs fine on the optipac, too.

I do like any of the 3" trackballs better, but the 2 1/4" wico is a better than the 4X as expensive Kensington Expert Mouse Pro trackball for arcade gaming.  The wico is pretty slow in windows unless you jack up the windows mouse speed, though.  You should be happy with the wico TB.

FWIW: if you mount the 2 1/4" with the happs 2 1/4" mounting plate, the plate is only 1/2" by 1/2" smaller than that used by the (non-highball) 3" TBs, even though the true TB footprint is quite a bit smaller than the 3" TBs.

The Happ trackball is actually both Active Hi & Lo, in a matter of speaking.  Andy W. gave me a more technical explanation of how it works once, but I can't recall the details at the moment.  Anyway, it will work on the Opti-PAC if the jumper is set at either, or you can remove the jumper all together and it will work just fine.

Also keep in mind that if you are planning to use a mouse hack, most mice I've come across, especially USB, require sourced optics (active hi), so if you go with an Active Lo trackball you may have to add pull up resistors to make it work.

[pfriedel]

Yeah, I forgot that they were also Suzo TBs, so when I saw that on Andy's site, I relaxed a bit - even if I can't pull off a mouse hack, there's always an optipac.  

[Rocky]

Here's a tip if you're going to hack a WICO 2 1/4" TB.

I had a real hard time connecting wires to the small red connectors that they provide  

I discovered that I could use the power connectors off of an old PC power supply  (3.5 inch floppy power connectors) and they fit ok onto the pin header.  So, I just spliced the wires from my mouse hack to the power connector instead of having to crimp / solder onto the pins  


Rocky