Add Mouse buttons to U-Trak?

[mark6437]

Is this possible? I need left and right mouse buttons on the panel so I dont have to drag a mouse out everytime I need to configure the cab in windows.

Thx
Mark

[Turnarcades]

No, the U-Trak is recognised as a mouse device, but does not have connections on it's own board or mini-USB interface for mouse buttons. There are a couple of solutions though:

1. Somehow hack a mouse in full and interface the U-trak axis' to it, connecting pushbuttons to the mouse button connections.

2. Same as above, but leave the U-Trak connected as it is now interfaced, and just hack a mouse to make button connections.

3. Activate the 'numberpad mouse' function in Windows (can't remember how off the top of my head) and connect those remaining inputs on your keyboard encoder interface labelled 'mouse 1' and 'mouse 2' (if it has them - the mini-pac does) to buttons on your control panel. I think by default Windows maps the left and right buttons to keys 5 and 9 on your numberpad when 'numberpad mouse' is activated - you would have to use these mappings if doing it this way too, as on the mini-pac those two inputs are non-programmable.

Personally I'd go with #2.

[rfancella]

If you are using the Opti-Pac interface for the U-Trac, there are four inputs for P1 LMB, P1 RMB, P2 LMB & P2 RMB.

[u_rebelscum]

Variation of #1 & #2, instead of hacking, use an optiwiz or a fully functioning u-hid nano.  (My understanding is the u-trak board is a non-programmable nano pre-programmed without buttons).


Note on #2:  If the button and mouse movements are on different mouse devices, you can't click and drag.  At least that's my experience.

[mark6437]

Ok so it looks as though the options are:

Optiwiz
Fully functioning u-hid nano (where would I get one of these?)
Opti-Pac

Right now I have two U-Traks hooked up via USB with the boards that came with them.

Which one of these options would be the easiest?

Thx
Mark

[u_rebelscum]

Andy makes both the U-HID and the U-Trak.  You can purchase the u-hid nano @ ultimarc's store.

The easiest IMO would be getting an u-hid nano.  It's the same physically as the boards that come with the u-trak, so you just replace that one part; you get to reuse the harness and everything else.

The optiwiz is nearly as easy, and cheaper, but you'll probably want to get the harness too, making the prices almost the same (but the optipac still cheaper).

If you want buttons on both TBs, the optipac might be the best option.  You only need one of them, unlike two optiwizes or two nanos.

[TOK]

As much as I love Ultimarcs products, the Happ trackball is available with a 3 button mouse harness. It all works off 1 USB cable and is identified as a mouse by Windows.

I made the trackball buttons the bottom row of my Player 1 layout and just remapped MAME to use them instead of the defaults.

[mark6437]

Yea on my cab I have 2 Happ trackballs with the mouse buttons, very useful. But on the cab I am building now I didnt do enough research and I bought two U-Traks without realizing they didnt have mouse buttons, I just assumed they did. With that being said I like how the U-Trak spins WAY more than the Happ TB.

Hey u_rebelscum (cool name by the way) I may beconfused by what you are telling me. I wanted to clarify. You said The easiest thing to do would be to get the u-hid nano. I went to that page and looked at the pic and that is exactly what I hav now attached to the U-Trak. At least the pictures match. Am I cornfused? 

Thx
Mark

[u_rebelscum]

I went to that page and looked at the pic and that is exactly what I hav now attached to the U-Trak. At least the pictures match. Am I cornfused? 

It's like binning CPUs and GPUs: physically the i7 920 (2.66 ghz) is the same as the i7 960 (3.2 ghz), but the i7 950 passed tests that it runs at the faster speeds, and then some connections were made/broken to set the frequencies.  (In fact, a 920 chip might have passed the same tests as the one labeled 960, but they needed more 920s, so it was down binned for selling reasons.)

Anyway, the boards you have are binned down u-hid nanos.  Yours have buttons disabled, while the nanos button work.  Yours are not reprogrammable, while the nanos are.  The only difference is due to was is written in the firmware.

One thing I didn't think of yesterday, about reusing the harness.  If the harness that came with the u-trak only has 5-6 wires instead of 9 in the nano harness, you'll have to get another harness.

[edge10]

As much as I love Ultimarcs products, the Happ trackball is available with a 3 button mouse harness. It all works off 1 USB cable and is identified as a mouse by Windows.

I made the trackball buttons the bottom row of my Player 1 layout and just remapped MAME to use them instead of the defaults.

Is this the one you are talking about?

http://www.happ.com/trackballs/56011300k.htm

Then when you remap them in MAME, you can use them for any other button you wish?

Thanks in advance.

[SephYuyX]

If youre building a new CP, and want to have both a trackball and spinner, I suggest getting both the UTrak and SpinTrak from Ultimarc, theyre both USB components, so no need for extra interfaces, and the the Spintrak allows mous buttons. So you can control the mose with utrak, and use the mouse buttons from spintrak.

[TOK]

As much as I love Ultimarcs products, the Happ trackball is available with a 3 button mouse harness. It all works off 1 USB cable and is identified as a mouse by Windows.

I made the trackball buttons the bottom row of my Player 1 layout and just remapped MAME to use them instead of the defaults.

Is this the one you are talking about?

http://www.happ.com/trackballs/56011300k.htm

Then when you remap them in MAME, you can use them for any other button you wish?

Thanks in advance.

Yes... They are identified as mouse buttons 1 though 3.
From the tab menu, you just go into the key assignments and make those buttons do whichever function you want.
In my case, with the buttons in the bottom row of a Street Fighter style layout, MAME's default buttons 4, 5 and 6 are now bound to mouse 1, 2 and 3.

The one I got was different from your link. It was the complete ball with PS2/USB and 3 button harness. I got it from Tornado Terry for like 85 bucks a few years ago.

Edit: Here it is. Don't buy from Happ though, the price is probably triple what you can get it for from one of the vendors in the For Sale forum or Tornado Terry.
http://www.happ.com/trackballs/565600xx2.htm

[AndyWarne]

On the latest assembly batch of U-Traks we made a design change which reduces the number of required pins on the USB interface by one, thus freeing up two pins for use as mouse buttons. The change is to wire X and Y ground connections through one pin.
We have not implemented this overall though as we still have some of the previous batch left.
But if anyone wants to do this I can supply details of the wiring change and updated firmware. Note soldering is needed.

Andy