Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: markb on September 12, 2004, 05:56:39 pm
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I've recently built my first Mame/Game cabinet and am now in the process of putting on additions such as light guns, external volume control, steering wheel, trackball etc in addition to the 2 joysticks I started with.
So far I have done everything on the cheap but now it's time for the trackball. I had an idea this morning that instead of hacking a standard roller mouse it may be better to use an inverted optical mouse housed in very close proximity to the bottom of the trackball.
I done some research and it seems that an optical mouse works by picking up imperfections in the surface of whatever it is run over to detect motion. After purchasing a field hockey ball for
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i have heard of people attempting this, but pretty much stopped due to the 2 problems you mentioned. the first was the ball. if you are happy with a roughed up field hockey ball then that is fine.
as for the axis, i am unaware of a software solution. i believe that mame will let you map mouse axes so you can try mapping that axis in reverse. as for a hardware hacking solution, i could see how thats possible but cannot help you out in that respect either..
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I know it called B.Y.O.A.C.
I do enjoy building them. Very much so. I ahve built my own spinner . that was fun and works great.
hacked side winder to death.
Hacked Play Station controllers.
TRACK BALL >:(
I have spent enough money on used track ball to make me sick. I have taken apart so many mice just to find out its the wrong type
I got 2 working but thay were so worn out I hated them.
( Man am I going to get flamed) Bite the bullet and get a new one.
I just got a new one from ebay $80.00 usb and ps2 with 3 button wires
I put up a good seller plug in the for sale section of this site.
here is one of his auctions.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=13718&item=6118355217&rd=1
I do not know him personally but I will buy from him again
I am VERY happy with mine
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I think you can switch axes in MAME too yes. The ball would be a bigger issue for me. I think my logitech trackball is optical and it uses a patterned ball. That looks quite OK. But then it's a PC trackball so it won''t work for games (no free rolling).
If you want to buy a trackball then maybe an Ultimarc is a cheaper option. There is a thread comparing the 2 1/4 Ultimarc trackball vs Happs (http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=24537) They come without an USB hack though.
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I think you can use an optical mouse with a trackball, I've found out that the IC inside mice can acomplish several tasks, you can look at the technical reference from that IC and it will guide you through
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obviously, if someone was going to go through the trouble of building his own trackball, he would have considered buying one at least to some degree.
personally, i would think that this ball, (acrylic juggling ball with sparkles), would work nicely and look pretty to boot when a LED shines through it:
(http://www.extremespin.com/juggling/balls/acrylicglitter.jpg)
macally has a similar optical PC trackball, so i know it works:
(http://www.macally.com/gif/products/usb/qball.gif)
if you mount a ball above the optical sensor from an optical trackball, at least then you would get the correct axes. i noticed in another thread, someone actually looked up the IC datasheet for the chip in his mouse, so maybe that be something for you to do.
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Yeah, I've given it a lot of thought about buying one but I live in the UK and they are not easy to come by without quite a lot of expense. Maybe If i don't get this little project working I will splash out.
I have had a bit more success though, I found a little program called 'reverse mouse' it was on a practical joke website and runs in the background to other applications. It inverts the mouse directions and is only 15kb in size so I am going to see if I get get it to change only one direction of the mouse instead of both.
I like the look of that juggling ball, I bet that would look cool back lit. I've just tried to spray paint the nylon hockey ball with flecked metallic paint, it was a no go as the mouse would not pick it up. Still I have a few more options before i try and change the innards of the mouse.