15 Sep
2006
15 Sep
'06
7:23 p.m.
From: bpope at
wordstock.com (Bryan Pope)
<snip>>
P.S. Speaking of "different"
controllers, has anybody wired up an
arcade quality spinner or trackball (by themselves) to use with
a C64 or other similar system?
About 15 years ago I wired a number of Happ Control Atari arcade to generic PC mice to use in exhibits at the Field
Museum of Natural
History
in Chicago. These trackballs use a pair of optical
sensors on both the X
and
Y axes, like the mice did, so I desoldered the sensors
from the mouse
circuit board and ran wires to the sensors on the trackballs, bypassing
the
rest of the circuit on the trackball. Worked fine.
Happ now sells
interface
units for PC's.
I kept the "prototype" unit for myself, and used it for 10 years before
having to clean the rollers and lube the bearings for the first time. I
don't use it now because the laptop I have does not have a serial port.
Bob
A little trackball trivia to show you what a chicken-shit company Atari was
while they were under the Warner Bros Corporation umbrella. They ( Atari )
contacted a company in New York ( Orbit Instruments ) who held the patent
and produced military trackballs used in the tactical display consoles on
AEGIS Cruisers and Destroyers. Atari wanted a controller for the arcade
version of Missile Command that some asshole kid couldn't break off or
destroy ( like they could a joystick ). A deal was struck and Orbit "
shared " their proprietary design with the Atari engineers. A long period of
time passed and the Missile Command arcade games started showing up in malls
around the country with a " patented " trackball controller installed. Orbit
called Atari because this was a blatant patent infringement. Atari laughed
and said they had 20 corporate lawyers sitting around with nothing to do
that would just love to tie this up in the courts until Orbit ran out of
money. This is why I think patents are a joke unless you have tons of cash
to protect it. And the lawyers lived happily thereafter ....
Best regards, Steven