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So is the Happs 3" trackball with USB worth it?
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xmenxmen:
And if you want to save a few more bucks and don't mind used, ebay has tons going from 15 to 40 bucks.  I had a few good result the last few times I have purchased them.  Just a bit of cleaning will do wonders to them.
u_rebelscum:

--- Quote from: TOK on August 21, 2007, 02:07:51 pm ---Somehow, I missed the comments about the USB version being bad, but now I'm interested in the topic. Since the USB version also includes a PS-2 plug, is it also bad when connected to that?
I'm amazed to learn I'm one of the few that's had a good experience with the Happ USB since mine has been rock solid for all games, Golden Tee included.
--- End quote ---

Some people have bad luck with the USB/PS2 versions, and have posted here asking for help.  Many of those worked fine for a time and then started having problems, others had the problems from the beginning.  The arcade version, OTOH, doesn't have a perfect record either, and many people haven't had problems with the USB versions.  Even so, is seems the USB/PS2 boards are, in general, not as good as the optipac/optiwiz encoders, going just by the number posts asking for help here. 

The cause of the problems shouldn't be due to if it's in USB mode or PS/2 mode as it's all on the same chip AKAIK, and that many people with problems had it working fine at first.  But I've seem weirder reasons.

Running theories include happs USB boards more sensitive to static, to shock, to shorts due to dust, poor solderings, and/or good and bad batches. :dunno
DaOld Man:
Here's my 2 cents worth:
I have built 3 cabinets thus far.
My first did not have a trackball. (A mistake I plan to correct as soon as I get the spare time.)
For my second cabinet I bought a used happ track ball off ebay.
It had no interface, so I took a very cheap USB mouse and hacked it.
The trackball worked fine, but it wouldnt work until a few minutes after the computer booted up.
The screen also flashed a mouse error for a few seconds while booting, and that just irked me to no end. I tried to get rid of the error by tweaking the bios, but I couldnt seem to get rid of it.
So I took another cheap mouse, but this time a PS2 and hacked it.
The trackball worked great. It starts to work even before the front end appears.
On my third cabinet I went ahead and hacked a PS2 mouse to it. It works good.
I dont know why no one likes to hack a mouse, the mice cost me about 3 bucks each off the net, which is a lot cheaper than a specially made interface such as optipac.
My fourth cabinet is in the works now, and it will have a happ trackball using a hacked PS2 mouse.
None of my cabinets thus far have a spinner, so maybe there is where the mouse hack would be un-desirable?
golfboyusa:
The USB trackball would give me problems even if I used the PS2 mouse plug. I had been on the phone with a Happ tech a few times. He said the USB trackball has a board built for it that they have no control over. It it not capable of registring high rpm spins.

Green Giant is right on the money. The optipac is the way to go.

 ;D
AndyWarne:
An often overlooked issue about the Happ trackballs is conventional vs High-Ball. I must confess to some bias here since we sell the high-ball type only, as I believe the small additional cost is well worth it in terms of playability. Its something worth thinking about though.
Andy
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