Colecovision trackball?

[rcajun90]

I’m quickly discovering I can’t play some games without a trackball.  I can’t find anything on EBay except a Wico trackball without any sort of a number pad.  Would this work?

[Oldschool80skid]

Did you try searching for 'roller controller'?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Colecovision-Roller-Controller-/124549212825?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

[mumbai]

3 minutes ago, Oldschool80skid said:

Did you try searching for 'roller controller'?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Colecovision-Roller-Controller-/124549212825?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Yes, this, but that particular one is GROSSLY overpriced.

[cedropoole]

They rarely sell for less than $50 and the game Slither that was the pack-in is a must have. There are only 7 games compatible with the analog roller mode Slither, Centipede, Mindwalls, Omega Race, Victory and WarGames

[mumbai]

Just now, cedropoole said:

They rarely sell for less than $50 ...

Well, no. Though, I suppose with the current bubble on sales on eBay, in the short term that might bear out.

[+evg2000]

and i think there are at least 3 sce roms out there one can download

[+evg2000]

or are they all just driving controller games?

[rcajun90]

Any way to rig a xarcade tankstick?  Is there such a thing as usb to Atari? = - )

[doubledown]

29 minutes ago, cedropoole said:

There are only 7 games compatible with the analog roller mode Slither, Centipede, Mindwalls, Omega Race, Victory and WarGames

That's incorrect.  Firstly, there is no "analog" mode on any track-ball type of controller, as it is making use of digital encoders.  And secondly:

 

Slither

Victory

...can be played in true track-ball "Roller" mode.

 

...and 

 

Centipede

Omega Race

War Games

...can only be played in "Joystick" mode (not "Roller" mode).

 

Plus the Victory and Omega Race arcade cabinets used a single axis rotary controller, so playing these with a track-ball is flat out "wrong."  

[Swami]

 

35 minutes ago, rcajun90 said:

Any way to rig a xarcade tankstick?  Is there such a thing as usb to Atari? = - )

There are standard controller rom hacks for slither and victory. All the others games do not need the roller controller in their retail editions, but a few mentioned have it as an option. There are standard controller hacks for the driving module games as well, except maybe dukes of hazzard and burn rubber.  Centipede does not use the roller controller in roller mode. 

 

There is a standard controller rom hack for Front Line, but other Super Action Controller games will need this SAC controller for the 3rd and 4th button and spinner. 

 

I would suggest setting your price range and do a save search on eBay for a roller controller so you can be notified when a reasonably priced one becomes available. 

[cedropoole]

11 hours ago, doubledown said:

That's incorrect.  Firstly, there is no "analog" mode on any track-ball type of controller, as it is making use of digital encoders.

O' great sage, I may be wrong about Centipede working in Roller mode, but my research and personal experience indicates that my Atari CX22 is analog when the switch is set to 'T' and I own the AtariAge analog trak-ball hacks of Millipede, Missile Command, Missile Control and Centipede for the 7800. The CX80 is also analog.

[doubledown]

5 minutes ago, cedropoole said:

O' great sage, I may be wrong about Centipede working in Roller mode, but my research and personal experience indicates that my Atari CX22 is analog when the switch is set to 'T' and I own the AtariAge analog trak-ball hacks of Millipede, Missile Command, Missile Control and Centipede for the 7800. The CX80 is also analog.

Is the CX22 then converting the digital pulses of the encoders to an analog based signal to be read by the paddle lines of the ATARI consoles for some reason (as a 2-axis paddle)?  If so then I stand corrected.  

[cedropoole]

 

We all can learn sometime every day if we try. Analog [ˈanlˌôɡ] ADJECTIVE

1. relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position, voltage, etc.

What is Analog? - Definition from Techopedia 

P.S. My Sega Sports Pad is analog as well, ask your phone....

Edited February 2, 2021 by cedropoole

[mr_me]

The cx22 in trackball mode, like almost all trackballs and mice, send a number of digital pulses.  The rate of the digital pulses determine the speed.  One exception is the atari 5200 trackball which converts to analog signals to emulate the 5200 joystick.

 

The colecovision trackball has a joystick switch emulating a colecovision joystick.  In this mode it can be used with any colecovision cartridge programmed to use a joystick.

Edited February 2, 2021 by mr_me

[doubledown]

In the electronics world, a digital signal is a discrete value of either a 0 or a 1 (off, or on), and an analog signal can be any infinite value within the range of the hardware...0-20 mA, 4-20mA, 0-5V, 0-10V, and the likes.  As every track-ball I've ever seen uses optical encoders (digital), I just assumed that they would all be outputting a digital signal.  Then at that point it's just a matter of, if the software was written to additionally interpret and account for the speed at which the ball was spun, in addition to its direction.  So if any particular track-ball controller is outputting a digital signal, and the console and it's software can accept and interpret these digital pulses (both speed and direction), then it is truly digital (by technical definition), but people may incorrectly describe this as analog (by using the word analog as a general adjective, vs. it's electronic technical definition).  

 

As @mr_me mentions, the 5200 Trak-Ball controller apparently does convert it's digital encoder signals to an analog output to emulate the CX-52s internal analog potentiometers (I found this info on a few other websites).  So then, is it know with certainty, that the CX-22 outputs a digital signal, (that again, some may describe as analog albeit technically incorrect) to the console, or is also converting it's digital pulses to an analog signal? 

 

Additionally, to my knowledge, the ATARI Paddle Controllers, with their potentiometers, are truly analog by definition, while the ATARI Driving Controllers, with their encoders, are truly digital by definition, but again, some may refer to this as analog, because if you turn the Driving Controller slowly, your on-screen character will turn slowly. 

 

So with all that said, and due to my own curiosity, does anybody know with certainty, if the ATARI CX-22 / CX-80, and the Coleco Roller Controller are outputting analog, or a digital signals, when in their respective "Trak" / "Roller" modes?