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Atari Home Trakball useable for a Mame Cab ?

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NoOne=NBA=:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on September 08, 2005, 04:05:43 pm ---While superior to any other home trackballs, they are substantially lower quality than arcade trackballs.
--- End quote ---

How so?

You have steel rollers (unlike some of the arcade ones), the same bearings as the arcade versions (from what I could tell), and the same ball.
All that leaves are the encoder wheels and optic cards as different from the arcade versions.
Neither of those pieces factors into the equation, as they are not wearing parts.

I used mine for YEARS on my 2600, and it showed absolutely no wear on the rollers when I hacked it, and still spun almost on par with my Happ.
I think Happ uses slightly better bearings than any of its competitors, which would account for the smoothness of them.

RayB:
The difference might be that arcade operators routinely oiled the bearings, whereas a home-use trackball would be left as is.

NoOne=NBA=:

--- Quote from: RayB on September 08, 2005, 05:10:18 pm ---The difference might be that arcade operators routinely oiled the bearings, whereas a home-use trackball would be left as is.


--- End quote ---

That could be.
I used to oil/clean mine regularly--just like I do with my arcade ones.

ChadTower:

I use my official Atari trackballs for both the 2600 and 5200 regularly - we're Millipede people in my house - and it's not nearly as heavy as an arcade trackball.  The ball is lighter, the housing is lighter, the mechanics may be the same structure but they're sure not the same strength of metal as the arcade.  A home Atari trackball would never stand up to use on route.  Now, you're using at home, so that may not be a factor, but the difference is substantial enough that I wouldn't bother using one in a real cab.  The cost difference just isn't enough to sacrifice that much.

Level42:
OK, that's great, now I still don't know what to do HAHAHA ;)

Anyway, I think if I can pick one up tomorrow (going to a retro-computer fair here in Holland http://www.retrocomputerdag.nl/ there's also a page in English) for close to nothing I'll give it a shot. I won't be doing Centipede or Millipede (hate them, hate them.....games suck.......ok I admit this may also be because I only got 4th on the Atari Centipede championships in 1983 but that was on the 2600 with a joystick YUGH !) but I want to play Missile Command and Marble Madness with a trackball.

No-one uses the Wico home trackballs ? I remember they sold them in the 80's and were advertised as using a "genuine" cue-ball and true arcade mechanics:
http://www.jackbergsales.com/toys/WICOCommandControlTrackballController.htm

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