Betson Trackball Mouse Hacking Help

[VonnerNIX]

Hello all.  I have an old Dell ball mouse that plugs into the PS/2 mouse port.  It appears to be some type of Logitech board inside.

I have taken it apart and tried to determine which places to solder the wires for the vertical and horizontal control.

On the optical sensor it has 4 leads.....which ones do I use?  I would hate to pick 2 of them and plug it in to test and ruin my computer.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to which ones I need to use?

I do not have the Betson trackball yet, I am just trying to get a head start for when it gets here.

See the picture attached.

[pcb]

The Dell/Logitech mice won't work as a mouse hack.  Sorry.

[Squeeky]

Honestly I would recommend giving up, I waisted 2 mices, and then grabbed a Opti-Wiz from GGG for $15 and gives me Z-axis for future spinner and 3 buttons.

[VonnerNIX]

Great.  Thanks for the information.   For whatever reason I was thinking they were quite a bit more expensive.  I'll be sure to go that route from now on, knowing that it will work properly out of the box.

[DaOld Man]

Will a USB mouse work?
If so, Ive got one that has been stripped, all you got to do is solder the wires to it.
(I havent tested it, but I hacked one identical to it and it worked, so Im pretty sure it will.)
You can have it for the postage, just PM me if you want it..

[VonnerNIX]

Thanks for the offer DaOld Man.  I might have to take you up on that....



Now for hypothetical reasons....let's say it DID work with a Dell/Logitech mouse.  Which prongs would I need to use?  Just for basic information for myself.

[DaOld Man]

Like was previously mentioned, I dont think Logitech will work.
I know there is one mouse board I found that usied different opto receivers than the trackballs do, so they just simply wont work, or at least I dont know how to make them work.
You may be able to invert the signals from the trackball with integrated circuits, but I would just order the proper interface before I went through all that much trouble.

[mybrainhurtz]

Wow. I must have just gotten lucky...
I initially hooked my trackball to my GGG TT2 interface board, but was having a heck of a time making the z-axis usable. I pulled out an "Artec" wheel mouse that was laying around in a drawer and soldered the wires to the mouse and plugged the +5v/GND wires to the TT2 interface and it all works perfect. I didn't know that some mice don't work for the hack! As far as my buttons, I took the easy way out and simply used joytokey to make two of my regular buttons function as mouse buttons.

It works great, no jitters!

Good luck on your hack!