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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: markiej on September 27, 2019, 10:25:36 am

Title: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on September 27, 2019, 10:25:36 am
I finally got everything running on the mini-pac.  Everything is buttery, including the spinner, except for the trackball.  It's very slow and laggy - in Windows and in MAME.  Should I switch to a USB controller for this device?  Is there another option?  It's also slower on the X than the Y, which is weird (it's not exactly smooth on the Y, just a bit peppier).
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: Titchgamer on September 29, 2019, 07:19:33 am
I would run it as a USB device personally.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on September 29, 2019, 07:31:13 pm
Thanks!! I'm tempted to do that myself - although I have to see - it weirdly partially resolved itself - so now it's slow, but more evenly slow and predictable, as if it it's struggling to move across all those 4k pixels at the same pixel-speed as a 1080p.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: Titchgamer on September 30, 2019, 01:17:48 am
Adjusted the sensitivity?
Bigger problem is why the hell are you playing spinner/trackball games on a 1080p wide screen!? :o
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on September 30, 2019, 10:39:46 am
The X axis was originally much slower than the Y axis, which was also quite slow.  Now the X has caught up to the Y
Bigger problem is why the hell are you playing spinner/trackball games on a 1080p wide screen!? :o
The canvas is wide, but I'm playing pretty much the usual games at their intended ratios.  Tempest and Millipede are two of my top ten all-time favorites.  Also, I loaded up SCUMMVM and my littlest likes to poke around the freddi fish games with the trackball.  horses for courses
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: Alaska on September 30, 2019, 01:42:18 pm
The trackball gets better over time the more you use it. There is a bit of a break in period. I believe Andy originally recommended using a small amount of lotion... might want to doublecheck... to lube up the rollers. It does sound like your issue was more with X/Y sensitivity though.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: Mr. Peabody on September 30, 2019, 05:28:12 pm
Resolution of device relative to screen. It's a simple equation.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on September 30, 2019, 06:24:11 pm
Yeah I thinking it's working as designed now. But right after I installed it, X was much slower than Y.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on October 13, 2019, 10:48:36 am
For posterity's sake, here is the solution...

when I opened it up, I noticed that the skinny black wheel with the notches cut out (to tell the optical reader the speed/direction at which to move along that axis, was loose - meaning it was not spinning 1:1 with the axle it was attached to - slower, and would keep spinning after I stopped.  When I tightened it to the axle, it worked perfectly.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: Mr. Peabody on October 15, 2019, 09:53:04 pm
Troubleshooting protocol is soft then hardware.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on October 16, 2019, 01:06:27 pm
Troubleshooting protocol is soft then hardware.
that's what I did - except being basically an old-timey ballmouse turned upside down, there's not much to troubleshoot on the software side (no special drivers or software - it's a generic mouse).  Turns out it was a simple physical fix - a turning of a screw.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: Mr. Peabody on October 18, 2019, 01:44:18 pm
Yes. If you had taken a moment to open it, you would not have needed to ask.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: KenToad on October 19, 2019, 04:26:51 pm
I'm glad the OP shared his experience. My U-Trak also jumped around quite a bit and was definitely moving a lot more smoothly up and left than down and right. This thread convinced me to open it up. There was no loose screw in there, but somehow, after reinstalling, it does seem to work better.
Title: Re: ultimarc u-trak very draggy and laggy
Post by: markiej on October 21, 2019, 08:06:07 am
Quote
There was no loose screw in there, but somehow, after reinstalling, it does seem to work better.
I was surprised by how simple and "analog" it all was when I went in there, and how all of it is held together by the box.  I actually did open it up before my first post, but didn't notice the loose screw (it's on the end of the x shaft).