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Anyone up this late? Looking for some trackball advice
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ropeadope:
I decided to draw kind of a blueprint to show you (and myself) what I want to do:
http://www.fustercluck.bluemonday.org/images/mamecab.GIF

30 inches in width, 12 inches long, 5 inches high sounded good to me.

I decided to add more things than the trackball, and to still leave room for improvement. Decided to add a couple of side buttons, for Pinball emulation. A couple buttons on the top panel, not sure if I want to add those yet, probably could do without them. Also i thought a vibration detector would be fun. Like the one here: http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_vdt.shtml - I don't understand how the computer is supposed to detect it though, it sounds kind of complicated, so I might pass on that for now also. I've already got a lot on my plate with this trackball/cabinet, and still have no idea how I'm going to set it all up, probably will take a few weeks to figure out and buy all the extras. Don't know how to mount the trackball, or how to wire it or the buttons. Obviously need to keep the trackball in place so only the trackball itself moves and not the entire trackball unit.

I'll probably buy the optiwiz and no-solder cable tonight, and might as well get the buttons there too as you suggested. Won't I have to do some soldering to get the buttons working though anyhow? Do I just need one Pushbutton Nut Wrench? Once I get everything I can do the mesauring, buy the materials (plywood and fiberglass or something), and get them cut. I love to jump into things like this, which is why I'm confused :) - Luckily this place is here and you are all very helpful.
ropeadope:
Before I order buttons and stuff, can someone link me to an easy guide on how to install buttons and make them PC compatible? Same kind of guide for a trackball would be great too. So many good guides around it's hard to find specific ones sometimes.
Kaytrim:
You can solder wire to the button switches.  Another method uses quick disconnects crimped on the end of the wires.  These slide onto the blades of the switches.  Joysticks and Buttons are connected to a device called a keyboard encoder or a game pad encoder.  The encoder sends signals to the computer and MAME uses those signals to perform the actions in the games.  The encoders that are most recomended are the Key-Wiz and GPWiz from GGG and the IPac and MiniPac from Ultimarc.

It sounds like you still need to learn quit a bit more before you put in an order.  Head over to the Wiki and/or get Saint's book.

TTFN :cheers:
Kaytrim
ropeadope:
Thanks again. I'm definitely just going to focus on getting my trackball to work for now, I don't have the money to get a keyboard encoder. But, I'm still curious what the difference between the Key-wiz and GPwiz are, there also seems to be a few variations of each one, no idea what the differences are. I have been reading a lot about custom arcade building lately, lots of helpful links around the site.

Don't want to overload my brain though so I'll save the buttons/joy sticks for later, if i decide to add them. Got my trackball today. I think I'll try the mouse hack, sounds better to me right now than spending $40 at GGG to get a no solder hook up for it, even though I'm sure that would be easier and don't even know if I can solder. Plenty of Soldering guides around though, and I can always practice soldering before actually doing it. If it looks too complicated or like I might screw up something, I just won't do it. Don't want to break my trackball when I just got it. It will take a while to save up another $40 though, so i think I might take a crack at the mouse hack, as complicated as it looks. It would be good experience.

I also need to work on a trackball mount (after I get my trackball working, which could be days from now), I didn't find many guides on building a mount for a trackball, can someone link me? I could find what I need at Home Depot/Lowes I imagine.
Kaytrim:
Here is a link to the Happ Trackball mounting system...  You can add up to three buttons on a mouse hack or an Opti-Wiz and they would be recognized as mouse buttons by the computer.

There are two differences between the Key-Wiz and GP-Wiz.  The first is they way they connect to the computer, Key-Wiz is a PS/2 and the GP-Wiz is a USB.  The second difference is how the computer recognizes them, Key-Wiz is seen as a Keyboard and the GP-Wiz is seen as a gamepad.  Otherwise they perform the same function.  The different styles you see on the GGG site are the different ways to connect the wires from the buttons to the encoder card.  There is one where you solder the wires, one where you use screw terminals, one that uses DB15 connectors and one that uses an IDE cable.

TTFN :cheers:
Kaytrim
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