Trackball+Spinner combined mouse index help

[Thewick]

Is there a good way to adapt usb interface mouse devices to connect with controller boards that combine mouse and trackball on same mouse index (I have optipac and groovy game gear interface boards that both do this)?  Since my groovy game gear spinner is hard connected to its board and has pins to add a trackball my hope is to cut the usb cable from suzo happ or tankstick trackballs I have but that’s making an assumption that I usb interface can map (eg white and green data wires actually represent x and y).  Is there a better way like an adapter from usb to appropriate wires that can be connected to interface board jumpers etc?  My build is an RPi4 A1Up mod running RetroArch and I want the combined mouse index to make spinner and trackball games all work.  As a workaround for now I had been using AdvMAME for spinner games but that’s introduced other challenges I’d prefer to eliminate from my build.  Thanks!

[RandyT]

Not sure I understand the question.  But it sounds like you want to connect a stand-alone USB controller to a stand-alone USB interface?  If so, then no, that won't work.

The only hope you have of getting those other controls onto the interface is by modding them in some fashion.  The specific case of a USB / PS/2 trackball is a non-starter without some serious modifications, including bugging out the connection points, trace cutting or desoldering components, etc.   The easiest option is to just replace the opto-boards in those trackballs, but the cost of doing that approaches the cost of a new trackball.  IOW, don't bother cutting your USB cable.  It will just destroy it and you won't be any further ahead.

You can never assume that wiring will be the standard X and Y data lines, it must be verified.  For instance, the A1UP spinner/trackball controls are beasts of their own.  They typically do not conform to any normal arcade standard in their signal protocols.  The white and green wires of a USB cable carry USB formatted serial data, while the X and Y data from an optical control are quadrature encoded pulse-trains. 

Wires are just the conduits through which the signals pass, but those signals can be anything. 

[Thewick]

Thank you for the education.  I went ahead and got the GGG spinner+trackball and am loving it.  That said, one issue I’ve isolated however is that the usb controller board appears to prevent windows 11 from going into sleep mode.  Have you seen this behavior reported and any tips?  I’ve tried a bunch of general troubleshooting on windows support forums but no solution that works yet.

Thanks!

[RandyT]

Thank you for the education.  I went ahead and got the GGG spinner+trackball and am loving it.  That said, one issue I’ve isolated however is that the usb controller board appears to prevent windows 11 from going into sleep mode.  Have you seen this behavior reported and any tips?  I’ve tried a bunch of general troubleshooting on windows support forums but no solution that works yet.

I believe I just responded to your email.  Let me know if it's not received.