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Potential for my trackball hack?
LJHalfbreed:
Although this *technically* doesn't fit...
I was running into a problem with my trackball and spinner setup (both ps2) and was looking for a way to get one of them to work USB style. All the USB mice I had were all logitech, which I'm told are stupidly hard to hack right. Well, the only other USB mouse I had was a stupid Dell optical mouse. Thought about using it with my trackball (similar to how you were talking) and totally swapping out the ball for a textured cueball
http://billiardgate.com/aramithballs/
http://www.ozonebilliards.com/roycrowpremg.html
However, I couldn't find them as singles, and didn't want to have to spend 200 bucks just for one or two balls.
However, I did realize something, if you take a spinner shaft, remove the mouse-electronic bits, and basically put a vertically striped sleeve on it (think of a McDonalds Straw), the optics work frickin' great with a spinner, depending how thin you draw in those lines.
And the best part about this is that you technically don't even have to take apart the mouse... Might be great for those people totally afraid to hack things together or afraid of destroying a perfectly good mouse.
I'd still like to find a pool ball with a grid on it though... or a 'perfect pattern' like the logitech optical trackballs...
-LJ
Bgnome:
i think stephen st hans' approach would be simpler than a striped axis..
http://home.t-online.de/home/stephan.hans/tricks.htm#SPINNER for superduperarcadeconsole
LJHalfbreed:
Yeah, his definitely is... but Mine would be really simple to rig into a cab in a sort of holster for 'popping out the mouse' to be used for admin functions. Or, it could be a really really simple way of getting something to work on a really tight budget (or totally unable to solder to save your life), and if you don't like it anymore, you don't have to worry about wasting cash on a spent USB optic mouse. Can you tell I'm tired of buying stuff yet?
But I'm going to whip out the tools tonight/tomorrow and see if his pattern (optics facing flat of cylinder, instead of curve) would work better/worse. I was worried mainly about the optic mouse seeing the angles and wigging out, but I guess it really
Then again, mine's an obvious and nearly tech-less idiot-hack, so it's not like I had the greatest idea in the world... LOL
-LJ
PS. Thanks for the link, Bgnome!
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