great find for a project....

[severdhed]

tonight i stopped at Kmart, just to look around.  I don't go there that often, but every now and then i pop in to see what i can find.  i was looking through the video game section, and I found this:



for $15.  i know that the wiimote works as a lightgun in mame, do a limited extent.  i know that there are issues with getting it to automatically sync, but i can only hope that this will get fixed in time, so i picked one up...i figure, either way, i can use it with my wii until everything is sorted out on the PC end.

then i went back through the toys, and they had a clearance rack, where i located this:



it is a golden tee game that you plug into your TV.  i found an article online where someone did a mouse hack on one of these, so i had to pick one up. it was on clearance for $20...and even better yet, when i went to check out, it rang up as $12.99.

so now i just have to see if i can locate a USB ball mouse.  i have some ps2 ball mice, but i would rather go with USB if i can.  i already have a 3" wico trackball for my cabinet, but i figure this thing would be perfect for use at my other PC for when i'm playing around with mame stuff. ( i have to get my centipede fix)

i'll keep you guys posted with the trackball mouse hack project over the next few days.

i just wanted to let you guys know that i found these at great prices, so if any of you are looking..go check out Kmart.

[Ginsu Victim]

Got a link to that mouse hack?

[severdhed]

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?p=248724&sid=c7058703e3dc992728a70155ab2ddcb5

and here:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=61832.0

not really any pics or detailed instructions, but it sounds like a fairly straight forward mouse hack...i'll know more once i open it up tomorrow (hopefully).   i did manage to find a USB ball mouse in my attic, so if i get some time tomorrow, i'll try to get this done.  the trackball rolls quite nicely, not quite as long as my 3" wico, but still pretty well.  my biggest complaint so far is that the buttons are a bit stiff, hopefully they will losen up over time. Either way, for $12.99, i could'nt pass it up.  i hooked it up to my 7" LCD to test it tonight, the game is pretty lame, but it will make for an excellent pc trackball.

when i get around to doing this mouse hack, i'll try to remember to take pics and document the process.

[scotthh]

You HAVE to tell us what's inside that Golden Tee thingy. How does it only have 2 outputs?

[ark_ader]

I got two of them at wallymart.

I also have the mice and it is a straight forward soldering job.

Its nice and roomy in there for adding the mouse board even if you might need to Dremel out a bit of plastic.

Hoping it also works with the Xbox via USB.

[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.

[ozzi22]

Has anyone else hacked one of these to use as a trackball mouse if so can you post pics for someone who has never hacked one.  Is there an easy way?

[severdhed]

sorry, i forgot to take pics. i have been busy working on my ps2 gun cabinet.  i didn't take this pic, i got it from the thread i referenced earlier, i just labled the connections.




it is hard to see from the pic, but the trackball pcb has a gray ribbon cable already attached that is plenty long enough to use to connect it to the mouse PCB..so the only additional wire you will need is to connect the mouse buttons.

that takes care of the golden tee trackball part, the mouse hack can vary based on which mouse you use.  there are several tutorials on line on how to hack a mouse to use with an arcade trackball.  here is a good one...


http://www.willcoxonline.com/mame/controlpanel/controlpanel.htm

basically, you use a multimeter to locate a ground and 5v source on the mouse circuit board.  you unsolder the button switches, and the ir emitters and receivers.  it is easy to tell which receiver goes to which axis, so just attach wires from the mouse board to the proper location in the trackball...once it is all hooked up, give it a spin, if any of the directions are reversed, just unsolder and swap the two corresponding wires.  it is really pretty simple.

[MonkeyFracas]

Scoped out those Golden Tee TV games at my local K-mart today, currently they're priced at $30.00 but ring up at $20.00. They've got about a half dozen - I'm going to give it some time and see if they get reduced any farther.

[severdhed]

yeah, i'd keep an eye on them.  K Mart seems to do that alot, they have stuff on clearance that rings up for less than the sticker price.  i was willing to pay $20 for it, so i was pleasantly surprised when it rang up as $12.99

[MonkeyFracas]

I found one of these at a different local kmart for $12 today - you are correct, they're very sturdy and the trackball feels great for the price. I will try and get to the mod this weekend.

[Turnarcades]

Great hacking hardware if you can get it. Sadly not available in the UK, and probably would be to dear if it was.....

[wongojack]

sorry, i forgot to take pics. i have been busy working on my ps2 gun cabinet.  i didn't take this pic, i got it from the thread i referenced earlier, i just labled the connections.

it is hard to see from the pic, but the trackball pcb has a gray ribbon cable already attached that is plenty long enough to use to connect it to the mouse PCB..so the only additional wire you will need is to connect the mouse buttons.

that takes care of the golden tee trackball part, the mouse hack can vary based on which mouse you use.  there are several tutorials on line on how to hack a mouse to use with an arcade trackball.  here is a good one...

http://www.willcoxonline.com/mame/controlpanel/controlpanel.htm

basically, you use a multimeter to locate a ground and 5v source on the mouse circuit board.  you unsolder the button switches, and the ir emitters and receivers.  it is easy to tell which receiver goes to which axis, so just attach wires from the mouse board to the proper location in the trackball...once it is all hooked up, give it a spin, if any of the directions are reversed, just unsolder and swap the two corresponding wires.  it is really pretty simple.

Old thread dig to say that this post and link helped me to perform this hack myself.  It was helpful that someone had figured out the pins on the device for me and the link answered some questions about working with the mouse.

I wired button 1 to both outside buttons and the other 2 mouse buttons are the inside buttons.  I used tape to keep my wires down, but I just kinda left the mouse board wedged in and floating.  The USB cord wraps around the plastic screw housing closest to the cord exit hole for strain relief.

Some tips here would be that all 3 of the +5v lines need to be connected on the ball.  At first, I assumed that only one was needed but that is not true.  Knowing this now, I would have routed all 3 through a small board like I did with button 1 and the ground.  This would have eliminated 2 solder points on the mouse PCB.  I could have eliminated another solder point If I'd routed direction and button ground to the same point, but I was testing directions and ended up with 2 ground points.

I learned that I am a bad guesser when it comes to picking which point will be U/D L/R.  I traced the lines to the chip but that didn't help me guess as I guessed wrong both times.  I also wasn't paying very close attention to the way the mouse rolled as I wired Up/Down to Left/Right at first - ugh.  I even ended up wiring button 2 where I wanted button 3, but that's not a big deal.

[severdhed]

i'm glad i was able to help.  i almost forgot about this..i may have to dig mine out and try it again

[wongojack]

i'm glad i was able to help.  i almost forgot about this..i may have to dig mine out and try it again

You certainly left a nice trail for me to follow here.  I keep it out and it works as a mouse and trackball for my upright cab.  I was actually surprised at how much fun I had using this with spinner and flight stick games.  This really enhanced my MAME experience.

Here is an action shot:

[Brian74]

I got one of these with the intent to use it in my first build. Never did use it. I total forgot I had it.

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