What happened to my trakball?

[OldAtarian]

 

The big red square is apparently some sort of on/off switch as it clicks when pressed. The two little things above the trakball are buttons. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[jaybird3rd]

Looks like a custom modification of some kind. There's probably no way of knowing what it does without plugging it in and trying it, or opening the trackball.

[OldAtarian]

I'm not plugging it in until I know what it does. It might be some custom project that no longer works as a trakball anymore and could short out the joystick port at the very least. I'm hoping someone has seen this mod before so I don't have to open it up. I've never opened one of these before and I'm afraid I might not be able to reassemble it once it's apart.

Edited November 24, 2010 by OldAtarian

[sloopy]

I'm not plugging it in until I know what it does. It might be some custom project that no longer works as a trakball anymore and could short out the joystick port at the very least. I'm hoping someone has seen this mod before so I don't have to open it up. I've never opened one of these before and I'm afraid I might not be able to reassemble it once it's apart.

 

experience is something you get after you need it... open it up... slowly... and take pics... you will get it back together, its not hard...

 

sloopy.

[svenski]

Could be a monitoring device installed by the CIA ?

[+AtariNerd]

Thinking about the basis in which the controller creates it's signals and encodes them...maybe some sort of controller for a punk 2600 synth? Maybe the buttons toggle individual control on and off of each axis. Wild guess. Probably can work fine as a normal controller.

Edited November 24, 2010 by AtariNerd

[atariksi]

I'm not plugging it in until I know what it does. It might be some custom project that no longer works as a trakball anymore and could short out the joystick port at the very least. I'm hoping someone has seen this mod before so I don't have to open it up. I've never opened one of these before and I'm afraid I might not be able to reassemble it once it's apart.

 

There's an article in Amazing Computing (or some Amiga magazine) of how to modify the Atari 800 trackball to use as a mouse with two buttons for the Amiga. So it shouldn't harm anything if you plug it into the Atari 800 except one of the buttons may not work as it uses the POT lines (unless they added some internal pull-up resistor).

[Bryan]

Could be a monitoring device installed by the CIA ?

Yeah, looks suspicious. I think a full body cavity search is in order.

[STE'86]

modified to act like an upside down mouse or possibly so it can be used purely one handed?

 

Steve

[Rybags]

I'd agree with the ST and/or Amiga mouse idea.

 

Shouldn't harm the computer if plugged in, but you could always open it up and investigate further.

[OldAtarian]

Mouse mod sounds reasonable, but if someone built this knowing the second button wouldn't work, why include a second button at all?

[Rybags]

Second mouse button on an ST or Amiga mouse won't work either on the A8, IIRC.

 

I think there's a fix that makes it compatible on both... just a resistor value change.

[kurtm]

Mouse mod sounds reasonable, but if someone built this knowing the second button wouldn't work, why include a second button at all?

 

They mentioned the mod being for Amiga or ST. The second button not working was if you used it on an 8bit.

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

The mod for the STM1 (ST mouse) can be found on my special stuff page.

 

sincerely

 

Mathy

[russg]

 

The big red square is apparently some sort of on/off switch as it clicks when pressed. The two little things above the trakball are buttons. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

The red button may be a Joystick/Trak Ball switch. The two little switches may be a modification and work as fire buttons.

You could plug it in and do some BASIC stuff to see if it works, in joystick mode, don't know how TRAK BALL mode from BASIC.

10 X=STICK(0)

20 Y=STRIG(0)

30 ? X,Y

40 GOTO 10

[russg]

[quote name='russg' date='Thu Nov 25, 2010 8:58 PM' timestamp='1290736713' post='2144452'

 

The big red square is apparently some sort of on/off switch as it clicks when pressed. The two little things above the trakball are buttons. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

The red button may be a Joystick/Trak Ball switch. The two little switches may be a modification and work as fire buttons.

You could plug it in and do some BASIC stuff to see if it works, in joystick mode, don't know how TRAK BALL mode from BASIC.

10 X=STICK(0)

20 Y=STRIG(0)

30 ? X,Y

40 GOTO 10

Edit: The trak ball ball will change STICK(0) when you rotate it and of course the fire button should work STRIG(0)

(in PORT 1)> You can tell if it is in Joystick mode if STICK(0) shows 15 when ball isn't moving.

I just fixed my trak ball, the fire button pads were depending on foam rubber like push springs, but the foam

had deteriorated. I stuck toothpicks in under the pad and now my fire buttons work.

????? how'd I do that (double post).

Edited November 26, 2010 by russg

[OldAtarian]

 

The big red square is apparently some sort of on/off switch as it clicks when pressed. The two little things above the trakball are buttons. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

The red button may be a Joystick/Trak Ball switch. The two little switches may be a modification and work as fire buttons.

You could plug it in and do some BASIC stuff to see if it works, in joystick mode, don't know how TRAK BALL mode from BASIC.

10 X=STICK(0)

20 Y=STRIG(0)

30 ? X,Y

40 GOTO 10

 

It's a CX-22, so it has the joystick/trackball switch on the side, though it could have been relocated by someone for convenience. That tiny little switch can be hard to trip for someone with fat fingers.