Need easy answer: Slikstick/Spintrak spinner to Minipac

[heretic]

I've assembled 90% of my control panel today and have searched for a clear answer for this but most of the answers don't directly apply. My spinner is the Spintrak one which is pictured on the Ultimarc website (but has Slikstik printed on the board). The harness it came with has a USB plug with the wires flat black, gloss black, green, white, red.
The harness on the minipac has the wires brown, blue, green, black.

How exactly do you connect the spinner to the minipac?

Also on the other side of the spinner board has 4 pins labelled Buttons G, L, M, R. Does this mean you can connect 4 more buttons to the Minipac ? or what are they for?

Thanks for any help

[Kaytrim]

I would just connect the spinner to the computer with the harness that it came with.  The minipac is designed for items that don't have the necessary circuitry needed to connect to a computer.  For your question on the pins on the minipac send an email to Andy at Ulitmarc.  He will be able to help you and is one of the best in terms of customer service.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[heretic]

I see the Opti-Wiz has the same G L M R.  I'm assuming they are for attaching mouse buttons and mean Ground, Left, Middle, and Right and should be able to be programmed through WinIpac or other configuration software.

PMed Andy.

[markrvp]

JUST PLUG IT INTO A USB PORT ON YOUR COMPUTER.

I repeat...

JUST PLUG IT INTO A USB PORT ON YOUR COMPUTER.

A spinner reports to the computer as a MOUSE.  PLUG IT INTO YOUR COMPUTER'S USB PORT and you'll see.  Go do it.  Turn the knob left and right and you'll see your cursor go left and right on the screen.

The three buttons you connect to the board (not necessary) are MOUSE LEFT, MOUSE MIDDLE, MOUSE RIGHT.  You don't have to program them with WinIpac, they just show up as mouse buttons.  They can't be remapped to something else.


Now, you can certainly strip the wires and connect it to a Minipac or Optipac, BUT WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO?  It's a fully functioning piece of equipment as/is.  JUST PLUG THE USB CONNECTOR INTO A USB PORT ON YOUR COMPUTER.


Now, the only issue you may run into in MAME is that the spinner MAY report to MAME as MOUSE 2 instead of MOUSE 1 (since the Minipac will probably show up as MOUSE 1).  All you need to do is go into MAME and map the spinner games to MOUSE 2.

[heretic]

The reason I was going to use the Minipac was the lack of USB ports on the computer (and I'm a newbie trying to sort this all out). I guess I'll have to get a USB hub and house it in the CP.

Within the control panel alone I will have the Minipac, 2 Led-Wiz, and the spinner. Does it make a difference if the USB hub is powered or not ? I've ran a 5V supply directly to the 2 Led-Wiz (60 connections total) so they aren't relying on the power from the USB.

[Kaytrim]

Instead of buying a cheep USB hub get a USB card for your computer.  It adds 4 more ports via a PCI card.  They would also be fully powered like any other USB port on your computer.  I use one in my cab and have no problems.  I had issues with the cheep USB hubs.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[AndyWarne]

This is definitely the type of question which I could have answered very quickly by email.

Correct advice though here, ie just plug it into a USB port. If you REALLY dont want to do this I can supply details of how to by-pass the USB interface but I would advise against this.
Andy

[markrvp]

Instead of buying a cheep USB hub get a USB card for your computer.  It adds 4 more ports via a PCI card.  They would also be fully powered like any other USB port on your computer.  I use one in my cab and have no problems.  I had issues with the cheep USB hubs.

TTFN
Kaytrim

I agree - this is the best way to go.