saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (06/23/89)
I'm curious about how a trackball feels as a pointing device. Are there any
trackballs commercially available in the US for the ST? Can any non-ST
trackballs be adapted for the ST using less than an hour of unskilled labor?
Anyone care to say either 'it's great' or 'don't waste your time?'
Steve J.hoang@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Dzung Hoang) (06/27/89)
In article <8759@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes: >I'm curious about how a trackball feels as a pointing device. Are there any >trackballs commercially available in the US for the ST? Can any non-ST >trackballs be adapted for the ST using less than an hour of unskilled labor? >Anyone care to say either 'it's great' or 'don't waste your time?' > Steve J. I have converted an Atari trackball for use with the ST. The trackball costs $12.95 and the conversion required only a soldering iron and a $3.95 joystick extension cable from Radio Shack. It works great for some games, but may be too cumbersome for general use. As a bonus, there is a switch for trackball/joystick operation. In the "joystick" mode, the trackball works with programs that expect joystick input. Details about the conversion may be found on many ST BBS's. I found the trackball indispensible for use with the game Tracker. Move- ment through the maze is extremely difficult without the trackball. Dzung Hoang hoang@comus.cs.tulane.edu tulane!comus!hoang
ins_bac@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Ajay Choudhri) (06/27/89)
In article <8759@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes: >I'm curious about how a trackball feels as a pointing device. Are there any >trackballs commercially available in the US for the ST? Can any non-ST >trackballs be adapted for the ST using less than an hour of unskilled labor? >Anyone care to say either 'it's great' or 'don't waste your time?' > Steve J. Well, I modified an ATARI 2600vcs cx22 trackball(2 bttoned one) and added a joystick port to it and I am quite happy with it, I replaced the case because the buttons are to far away from the trackball, otherwise I like it alot since Ihate the mouse buttons on the ST mouse and have rather limited desk space. The modifications are easy by the way.. I will look for the text file. -Ajay Choudhri Dreamer Extraordinaire ATARI fanatic. I burn NINTENDO, IBM and COMMODORE in effigy ok also APPLE. ins_bac@jhunix.uucp ins_bac@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu or ....... aplcen!jhunix!ins_bac
dhawk@well.UUCP (David Hawkins) (06/28/89)
In the referenced article, saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) wrote: >I'm curious about how a trackball feels as a pointing device. Are there any >trackballs commercially available in the US for the ST? > Steve J. I've been using a Wico trackball that had already been converted for ST use. I noticed one at my dealer's and have since noticed that several dealers have them for sale and have them hooked up to machines. What do I think of it? It took some getting used to. I had been using a mouse during my first month of Dungeon Master and had trouble making the switch. I recently went back to DM and played it just fine with the trackball. (I can take any one character and zip through the whole dungeon and make the final objective in under 13 hours--how's that?) I like having the trackball take up less desk space since I keep piling up stuff. The two buttons are slightly less convienient, but it's still ok for what I do. As for converting trackballs -- I don't know. later, david -- David Hawkins {apple,pacbell,hplabs,ucbvax}!well!dhawk dhawk@well.sf.ca.us -- In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich. -- Henry Ward Beecher
paulm@ccicpg.UUCP (tmp Paul Moreau usenet acct) (06/30/89)
In article <12439@well.UUCP>, dhawk@well.UUCP (David Hawkins) writes: > ......] > I've been using a Wico trackball that had already been converted for > ST use. I noticed one at my dealer's and have since noticed that > several dealers have them for sale and have them hooked up to > machines. > [.....] > As for converting trackballs -- I don't know. > [...... I have a wico trackball that I originally bought for my atari 800 that I would love to convert to a mouse. I've been reading this net for about 2 years now and I've never heared of anyone converting a wico so I gave it up as a lost cause, now I hear that David has one! Can anyone help me out? I've opened the box and there are the usual optics and just 1 big IC. What needs to be done ? It would also be nice if I can flip a switch and go back and forth between mouse and joystick (trackball) mode. Thanx. .===========================================================. | ####### ####### ### C O M P U T E R | =----------= | | ### ### ### C O N S O L E S | An STC Company | | ####### ####### ### Incorporated | =----------= | |-----------------------------------------------------------| | UUCP: ...ccicpg!dl2!paulm (Paul L. Moreau) | | or ...ccicpg!dl1!paulm (Diagnostics Software Eng) | | or ...ccicpg!paulm (Irvine, California) | `==========================================================='