CamTheBridge Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 Hey all, I'm working on a project for one of my graduate classes, just making a little game on the PC and I thought it would be fun to use the Wico Trackball to control it since I have on lying around, and an arduino (which can communicate with unity). I have one of these and can get a Sega Genesis controller to send digital signals to an arduino just fine using the pinouts I found online. I can't find any pinouts for the Wico Trackball, but it seems like people think it works the same as the TI's Joysticks. But when I look at the pinout and follow that, nothing seems to register. I even tried using the TI's Joysticks but that didn't work either. Looks like the TI handles it's inputs a bit differently than the genesis, as it doesn't seem to have a 5V in or ground pin. Any thoughts on this? Is it even possible to get readings to send to my arduino? Should I just give up? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 Pin outs are in the FAQ correct there's no voltage the trackball has it's own power supply that plugs in the trackball.. and yes it's basically a ti joystick as far as the ti is concerned the ti joystick adapters need diodes also in the faq Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamTheBridge Posted May 4, 2021 Author Share Posted May 4, 2021 50 minutes ago, arcadeshopper said: the ti joystick adapters need diodes also in the faq Thanks! So for example, if I wanted to run the signal for just the fire button on the Wico Trackball to the arduino for testing, I would want the track ball plugged into the wall, and I'd send the signal out of Pin 4, say into a bread board, then have the signal go through a 1N914 diode and then go into the arduino? Or are those diodes only used for the atari converter? I'm still new to electronics, so if this involves more work than I can accomplish in the week before my project is due I'll just do something else. Appreciate the reply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 I'm not the right person for the arduino side maybe you could look at@jedimatt42 's project where he uses a teensy for USB kbd it is the same chip as the joystickshttps://github.com/jedimatt42/TI-99-usb-keysSent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpedant Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 If you need a simple solution for using a TI-99 controller like the WICO trackball on PC, the Retronic Design USB controller adapter supports TI-99/4A controllers, and hence the TI WICO trackball. But as arcadeshopper says, the TI WICO trackball won't work without its power supply. So that is a contingent factor. Other system-specific WICO trackballs are, naturally, a different story. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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