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great find for a project....
severdhed:
the golden tee only has two outputs because it is one of those plug n play tv games. you just connect it to your TV and turn it on and play. I am not a fan of golden tee, but the trackball feels pretty nice for $12.00.
i checked all of our local stores, but i haven't been able to locate any usb ball mice. i found one in my attic for this project, but i was hoping to locate another one so i could use it for my 3" wico for my cabinet. it is currently a ps2 mouse hack, but so is my spinner, so i need to change one or the other so i can connect them both at the same time... so if any of you find a good cheap source for usb ball mice, please let me know.
as for this working on the xbox, don't count on it. as far as I know, the xbox does not support mouse input for gaming. you can use a mouse if you have a modded xbox running xbmc, or several other apps, but i don't think you will be able to play any games with it.
severdhed:
Ok, i performed the mouse hack yesterday at work, so i didn't have my camera with me. it was a pretty straight forward mouse hack though. the control board for the trackball has a ribbon cable attached to it, so i used those wires to attach directly to the mouse board. 3 of the wires need connected to +5v, one to ground, and the other 4 are for up, down, left, and right. i got lucky and got all of the axis wires in the right place on the first try. the only problem I ran into was trying to get the mouse board to fit inside the case...the mouse i used had a large PCB that went around the ball, so it was hard to fit in there. after some careful alignment, i got it in place. I also removed the golden tee overlay that was on it, since i don't plan to use this for golden tee. it is a nice smooth gray plastic finish underneath the sticker. it took about 45minutes and half a bottle of googone, but it looks pretty good now. i'll take pics as soon as i get a chance. i also moved the red button to teh far left, since that is the primary fire button in centipede.
for anyone thinking about doing this, i'd say go for it. it is a simple mouse hack, and a descent trackball for $12. it isn't the same as a real arcade ball, but for the price you can't beat it. one other thing to be aware of, the rollers that the ball sits on have a rubber covering, which attract dust and sticker debris...so if you plan on removing the sticker from your panel, do yourself a favor and take the ball assembly out first.
this trackball unit has a relativly small footprint, so it may be ideal for small panels, like in a bartop cabinet.
here is a crappy pic i took with my cell phone, i'll try to get a better one done later. if it looks discolored, it isn't, that is a reflection , the surface is relatively glossy
Ginsu Victim:
I'd love some pics "under the hood" if you get a chance.
severdhed:
i'll do that...maybe saturday or sunday. i'll probably be working late tonight and won't get a chance. i do plan on tearing it back apart to hotglue the usb cable to the inside so i don't pull it out accidentally, as well as try to plug up the hole at the front where the power switch used to be. when i do that, i'll take pics. my wiring isnt the neatest or anything, but i can label how i connected everything when i take the pics.
severdhed:
just an update, i'm returning the nyko gun attachment, my accuracy in link's crossbow training dropped really bad vs using just the wiimote. and since i am not even remotely pointing where it is shooting, it is stupid. maybe if the screen was smaller, it wouldn't be so noticable, but at 102", it is pretty bad.
my wife needs the digital camera tomorrow, so i may not get pics of the inside of the trackball, but i will try to do it when she gets home in the evening.