Trackball/Spinner Kit Idea

[D_Harris]

Has anyone ever thought to make available a trackball/spinner kit consisting of a controller and a harness, with optical sensors at the end, along with a choice of various optical wheels, for use with it?

That way one wouldn't be trapped into having to buy a specific trackball to work with the controller. One would instead have the option of using any arcade spinner/trackball.

Any thoughts?

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[severdhed]

i think the problem with that is, that no all optical sensors are interchangeable, due to their physical size and shape.  it would probably be quite difficult to design an optical sensor board thet would fit in a happ trackball, and a wico trackball and a (insert name here) trackball. 

optical interfaces already exist that work with a variety of trackballs, for instance the Optiwiz from groovygamegear or the optipac from ultimarc.   i personally have an optiwiz, it worked great with my old wico trackball, works fine with my friends happ trackball, and now i am using it with my Ultimarc Utrak trackball. 


as for spinners, i dont know how you would do that either, since each spinner is a little different in the way it works and the way the optical sensor is mounted..i just dont see how you could create a universal kit like you describe.

[u_rebelscum]

There was a guy on the BST forum who had multiple models of sensor boards to fit on existing arcade TBs (and some spinners).  And Oscar's (closed ) used to have a "generic" spinner sensor board.

But with a near standard in arcade TB output that most arcade spinners followed, all the kit needs is a interface board and hardnesses.  GroovyGameGear has both (optiwiz & TB harness), and Ultimarc sells a few interfaces (optipac, minipac, U-HID, & U-HID nano) but no arcade trackball harness (there are harnesses).  The interfaces work with most trackballs and spinners.  I don't see why you have the impression that you get stuck "having to buy a specific trackball to work with the controller".

So you can put together the parts.

edit fixed link

[D_Harris]

I was thinking of this in reference to MAME, and not to run actual arcade PCBs, so the electronics of the optical sensor would be a part of the controller.

In fact, an optical wheel wouldn't be necessary part of the kit, providing trackball/spinner speed adjustment is made a function doable in the controller software or MAME.

If the optical sensor itself is small enough I don't see a problem with creating an adjustable mount.(If I had access to a variety of trackballs I could probably come up with something universal myself).

Anyway, I have two Midway arcade spinners. And having the option of such a kit would allow me to use them in a MAME control panel without having to do a mouse hack or be force to use more than one USB port for all the control on the panel.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[u_rebelscum]

I was thinking of this in reference to MAME, and not to run actual arcade PCBs, so the electronics of the optical sensor would be a part of the controller.

Of course.  But...

As long as the interface card works with the sensor board, it doesn't matter if they're taking arcade or some propitiatory protocol.  The good thing about the "arcade standard" is it's very simple, open with without fees, and you could sell parts of the kit to other niches.  Use another protocol to talk between the sensor boards and the interface card and you're stuck to a very very very small niche with little room for expansion.

In fact, an optical wheel wouldn't be necessary part of the kit, providing trackball/spinner speed adjustment is made a function doable in the controller software or MAME.

Well... the spacing of the sensors has to "match" the spacing in the wheels for the sensor to work.  It doesn't have to "match" perfectly.  In fact, the spacing cannot be the same (or an integer multiple of) each other, or it doesn't work (which is why I was quoting "matc"; it's more of a "mismatch").  How far off the spacing has to be depends on the hardware speed and sensitivity, but the perfect match is for one sensor to see a change exactly when the other sensor is in the center of a gap or tooth.

I guess I'm saying in most cases you could swap in any sensor with any wheel, but there might be a few cases when a wheel doesn't work with a sensor.

If the optical sensor itself is small enough I don't see a problem with creating an adjustable mount.(If I had access to a variety of trackballs I could probably come up with something universal myself).

Are the sensor boards on the BST forum not "universal" enough?

Anyway, I have two Midway arcade spinners. And having the option of such a kit would allow me to use them in a MAME control panel without having to do a mouse hack or be force to use more than one USB port for all the control on the panel.

As hinted, if the above linked sensor boards fit, get two of those and an optiwiz/u-hid nano/optipac with harness, and you're pretty much set up.  If the sensor boards on the spinners speek "raw quadrature" (the most common arcade spinner/TB protocol), then you don't even need to buy new sensor boards.

Do you have a link to pics of the midway spinners?

[D_Harris]

I was thinking of this in reference to MAME, and not to run actual arcade PCBs, so the electronics of the optical sensor would be a part of the controller.

Of course.  But...

As long as the interface card works with the sensor board, it doesn't matter if they're taking arcade or some propitiatory protocol.  The good thing about the "arcade standard" is it's very simple, open with without fees, and you could sell parts of the kit to other niches.  Use another protocol to talk between the sensor boards and the interface card and you're stuck to a very very very small niche with little room for expansion.

In fact, an optical wheel wouldn't be necessary part of the kit, providing trackball/spinner speed adjustment is made a function doable in the controller software or MAME.

Well... the spacing of the sensors has to "match" the spacing in the wheels for the sensor to work.  It doesn't have to "match" perfectly.  In fact, the spacing cannot be the same (or an integer multiple of) each other, or it doesn't work (which is why I was quoting "matc"; it's more of a "mismatch").  How far off the spacing has to be depends on the hardware speed and sensitivity, but the perfect match is for one sensor to see a change exactly when the other sensor is in the center of a gap or tooth.

I guess I'm saying in most cases you could swap in any sensor with any wheel, but there might be a few cases when a wheel doesn't work with a sensor.

If the optical sensor itself is small enough I don't see a problem with creating an adjustable mount.(If I had access to a variety of trackballs I could probably come up with something universal myself).

Are the sensor boards on the BST forum not "universal" enough?

Anyway, I have two Midway arcade spinners. And having the option of such a kit would allow me to use them in a MAME control panel without having to do a mouse hack or be force to use more than one USB port for all the control on the panel.

As hinted, if the above linked sensor boards fit, get two of those and an optiwiz/u-hid nano/optipac with harness, and you're pretty much set up.  If the sensor boards on the spinners speek "raw quadrature" (the most common arcade spinner/TB protocol), then you don't even need to buy new sensor boards.

Do you have a link to pics of the midway spinners?

I can take some of mine, but you can check out this link someone referred me to...

http://gl.tter.org/spinnerhack/

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York