(also see DIY Optical
Sensor Page)
Connecting the Ultimarc/STC 2-1/4 inch
trackball
This is supplied with connecting cables. There is one cable
per axis. The location of the two plugs is described in the table looking from
the top.
Set the jumper to "A/LO". The GND and +5V from both plugs go
to the same GND and +5V connections on the Opti-PAC.
| Plug at "12 o'clock" position |
Plug at "9 o'clock" position |
| Black |
Red |
Yellow |
Green |
Black |
Red |
Yellow |
Green |
| GND |
+5V |
Y1 |
Y2 |
GND |
+5V |
X2 |
X1 |
(Old colour code used until Dec 2003 was: Brown = GND Black =
X1 White = X2 Red = 5V )
Connecting a Happ trackball
The Happ
trackball is supplied with a connecting cable. Cut off the large plug mounted
on one end. Strip a short length of each wire and connect as shown in the table
below. Set the jumper to "A/LO".
| Black (2 wires) |
Red (2 wires) |
Purple |
Blue |
Yellow |
Green |
| GND |
+5V |
X1 |
X2 |
Y1 |
Y2 |
There are two +5V and GND wires. These can both be connected
to the same +5V or GND connection.
The Happ trackballs have a green ground
wire. This is to prevent static buildup and can be connected to any convenient
ground point.
Set the USB/Serial jumper to the correct position for the
interface and cable you are using.
Plug USB cable into the "Port 1"
connector on the board and connect to the PC USB port. The PC will auto-detect
the device and install a standard mouse driver. (Actually it installs two mouse
devices)
OR:
Connect one serial cable from the "Port 1" connector on the
board to the PC serial port.
If using the serial interface, a power source
is needed. Connect the supplied power cable to the header plug on the I-PAC.
The power cable should come already connected to the Opti-PAC board if ordered
as a serial board. If it is not already connected, the wire colours
are:
Either RED to 5V and BROWN to GND
or WHITE to 5V and BLACK to
GND
Software
Windows
There is no need for any extra
software when using Windows. If you are already using a PS/2 mouse in Windows
(which you can continue to use) you may have to do a "Hardware Detection" so
that the additional port is found. The Opti-Pac appears to Windows as a
standard Plug-and-Play serial mouse, when serial port 1 is used. In USB mode
the device is detected as two mice (even though only one device will be active
if you are only using Player 1)
DOS (serial mode) you will need a
mouse driver. The normal Microsoft Mouse driver can be used and will
auto-detect the Opti-Pac as a Microsoft mouse. The driver supplied with EMU+
and later MAME versions is the "cute-mouse" driver CTMOUSE.EXE. Use the
command-line switches /M and /1 for Microsoft mode on com port 1 (or change
this second switch to the com port number you are using if it's not com1)
Note that without the /M switch, CTMOUSE defaults to "mouse systems mode" which
will not work.
Serial mode is fully supported in DOS but USB mode should
also work on most PCs.
We have had feedback that
this mouse
driver also works very well.
For enabling the second port (Player
2), the special dual mouse driver is required. This is included in later MAME
versions and there is a readme file describing it's use.
Buttons.
If required connect two buttons
to the button connections as marked (ie Port 1 L=left button. Port 1 R=right
button). For each button, one connection goes to one of the four button inputs,
the other goes to any connection marked "GND". You can use your control-panel
buttons which are already connected to an I-PAC board. Just wire them to both
an I-PAC input and an Opti-Pac mouse button input.
Correcting Reverse Movement.
Depending
on the orientation of the trackball the horizontal and vertical movement may be
reversed.
If the horizontal and vertical axes are reversed, swap the "X"
wire connections with the "Y" connections.
If either of the horizontal or
vertical movements are backwards, swap the X1 wire with X2 or swap Y1 with Y2
as appropriate.
Other Devices
Connecting a Suzo or Wico 2 1/4"
Trackball.
The Suzo trackball (also supplied by Wico) is supplied with
two plugs which are designed to have wires pushed into the connections. A small
screwdriver is needed to do this. The pins are numbered on the plug, 1 to 4.
There is one plug for vertical axis and one for horizontal. Connect as follows:
| Vert 1 |
Vert 2 |
Vert 3 |
Vert 4 |
Horiz 1 |
Horiz 2 |
Horiz 3 |
Horiz4 |
| +5V |
Y1 |
Y2 |
GND |
+5V |
X1 |
X2 |
GND |
There are two models of Suzo trackball: Active High and
Active Low. Set the A/HI or A/LO jumper as appropriate.
These are the part
numbers:
29-0210: Active Hi White ball
29-0210-2: Active Hi Red
ball
29-0230: Active low White ball
29-0230-1: Active low Red ball
See above for button connection and software.
Adding a second device to the first
port.
Another device such as a spinner or rotary joystick can be added to
Port 1.
Connect as above to the connection group marked "Port 1 Rotary".
A spinner uses only one axis so connect this to the X1 and X2, +5V and GND
only. A second single-axis device can be connected to Y1, Y2, +5V and GND. The
selection of which axis to be used in each game (and therefore which control)
can be made in MAME. So now we have a trackball and a spinner connected to one
serial port or the USB port. Which one is active at any time? See below:
Automatic switching between devices on one
port.
If devices are connected to Port 1 Trackball and Port 1 Rotary,
they are both routed to serial port 1 or one USB mouse device. The active
device is automatically switched as follows:
The first device to be moved
becomes the active device. The other is disabled to prevent it from interfering
with the game.
If neither device is moved for 5 seconds, the first to be
moved after this time becomes the active device and the other is disabled. This
also applies to devices connected to Port 2 inputs.
Using two ports (2
players)
The Player two port requires the following to
operate:
USB MODE:
Windows. MAME
No extra USB cable (one
cable handles both players)
or:
SERIAL MODE:
DOS only
Late
MAME version with dual mouse-driver functionality installed.
Two serial
ports and cables.
Connection of devices to Port 2 (Player 2 port) is
identical to Port 1. The automatic device switching described above applies to
port 2 also. There are some restrictions on the use of port 2 as follows:
Port 2 cannot be used on it's own. If only one port is being used it must be
Port 1.
In USB mode, port 2 uses a second USB mouse device (although this is
via the same cable as Port 1). Recent MAME versions support independent mouse
devices.
Port 2 cannot be used with Windows in serial mode. Windows can
only accept one serial mouse and one PS/2.
Port 2 cannot be used with a
standard Microsoft mouse driver in serial mode. It is intended for use with the
special dual driver supplied with EMU+ or later MAME versions.
Port 2 will
not function in serial mode unless a mouse driver is installed and working on
Port 1 also. To test Port 2 using the standard Cute-Mouse driver the board must
be initialised by issuing the following DOS commands: (assuming Port 1 is
connected to COM1 and Port 2 to COM2):
CTMOUSE /M /1 (initialise COM
1 driver in Microsoft mode)
CTMOUSE /U (Unload driver)
CTMOUSE /M /2
(initialise COM 2 driver in Microsoft mode)
Routing Port 2 controls to
Port 1.
Controls connected to either of the Port 2 input groups
can be routed through to Port 1. This gives a large number of available control
types for one player. To do this, move the "P1, P1+2" jumper to the "P1"
position. (or install JP1 on older boards)
With the jumper in the "P1"
position, controls connected to "Port 2 Trackball" are fed to Port 1 in the
same way as "Port 1 Trackball". There is no timeout or switch-over between
them, they are simply paralleled and act together. The rotary control inputs
are also merged in the same way.
Detailed
Information.
Any optical wheel type sensor type
device can be connected to the Opti-Pac. In order to connect other devices this
section contains further information on the connections.
How a track ball works.
A trackball
functions in exactly the same way as a mouse. Each axis has a slotted optical
wheel which is located between two sensors mounted alongside each other. The
two sensors generate pulses when the wheel is rotated. These pulses are decoded
by the software in the microcontroller (on the Opti-Pac board or inside the
mouse) to generate horizontal or vertical movement information which is sent to
the PC.
The two sensors correspond to the X1 and X2 inputs of the Opti-Pac,
or the Y1 and Y2 for vertical. On a trackball the horizontal and vertical axes
are two completely separate circuits.
A spinner is a single-axis device so
simply has only one of these two identical circuits. This means two spinners
require the same number of inputs as one trackball.
Connection Schematic.
Below is a
schematic showing one Suzo Active High trackball and two buttons connected to
the Opti-Pac.
Here is some information on the
function of each connection and jumper in order to interface other controls to
the board:
| X1,X2 Y1,Y2 |
Inputs from the phototransistors on the optical sensor |
| +5V |
Positive voltage supply to the optical sensor LED. Note that all
connections marked +5V are connected together on the board and any one can be
used. |
| GND |
Return from the optical sensor LED. Note all connections marked GND
are connected together on the board so any one can be used. |
| Port n Button L |
Left mouse button input. (connect other switch contact to any
GND) |
| Port n Button R |
Right mouse button input. (connect other switch contact to any
GND) |
|
|
The optical sensor connections are grouped into four control
groups. Each of the four groups can accept one trackball or two single-axis
devices such as spinner, rotary joystick etc.
There is no difference in the
function of the "Trackball" groups and "Rotary" groups. The different names are
for convenience only.
The two control groups marked "Port 1 Trackball" and
"Port 1 Rotary" are routed to Port 1 (Player 1) This would normally be
connected to Com 1 serial port.
The two control groups marked "Port 2
Trackball" and "Port 2 Rotary" are routed to Port 2 (Player 2) This would
normally be connected to Com 1 serial port.
The "Port n Trackball" and
"Port n Rotary" are differentiated from each other using the
"First-to-be-moved" system described above, with a 5-second timeout.
Jumpers.
LO / HI jumpers: There are two
jumpers for setting whether active high or active low devices are in use. One
jumper affects both Port 1 and 2 "Trackball" inputs and the other affects Port
1 and 2 "Rotary" inputs. This means any devices connected to the ports marked
"Trackball" must be the same polarity, and devices connected to the ports
marked "Rotary" must be the same polarity. The design of the device determines
whether it is active low or high.
JP1: Installing this jumper routes Port
2 inputs to Port 1.
This means ALL inputs are fed to Port 1.
JP2: This
is for test only.
Diagram of jumpers.
Software Summary.
USB MODE: One Player, one trackball/spinner.
Windows (all versions)
Simply plug in the device. Windows will detect it
and install USB mouse drivers.
USB MODE: Two players, two
trackballs/spinners. Windows XP/2000
Recent MAME version required. Plug in
the device. Configure as per instructions.
SERIAL MODE: Windows with Win Application
(MAME32 for Windows):
An ordinary mouse can still be used on the PS/2
mouse port. With the OPTI-PAC connected to one serial port click "Control
Panel", "Add New Hardware". Let Windows detect new hardware and it should find
a "standard serial mouse".
From now on, both the PS/2 mouse and the
OPTI-PAC device will control the cursor.
SERIAL MODE: Windows with DOS application in a
DOS box.
If a "standard serial mouse" is shown in "control panel, device
manager" remove it. Windows will find your ordinary PS/2 mouse on startup but
should NOT detect the OPTI-PAC device. Then, from the DOS box, load a standard
DOS mouse driver. The "CTMOUSE" driver supplied with EMU+ is a good one.
Normally you could use a batch file to load the mouse driver every time the DOS
emulator starts.
SERIAL MODE: DOS Mame.
Use a standard
mouse driver in the "autoexec.bat" file to load on bootup, such as the CTMOUSE
driver. Ensure it is configured for Microsoft mode.
SERIAL MODE: Two Serial Ports.
For using
two ports, you need EMU+ or the functionality which has been added to MAME.
This is a DOS MAME so must be run in native DOS or a Windows DOS box. Two mouse
drivers are used, CTMOUSE for the first COM port and OPTIDRV for the second.
Full instructions are supplied in the Readme.txt file that accompanies EMU+.
Advanced Configurations.
Software-switched single-player mode
(serial).
In this mode connect a trackball to Player 1 inputs and
spinner(s) to Player 2 inputs. Connect PC to both serial ports. Enable the
trackball by issuing the command "CTMOUSE /M /1" or swap to the spinner by
issuing "CTMOUSE /U" then "CTMOUSE /M /2" via batch files.
Manual Switch Mode.
If you need any
controls that can be enabled/disabled by a manual switch, connect them to
Player 2 inputs and connect a switch to JP1. Use only Player 1 serial port. The
switch will enable/disable the controls connected to Port 2.
Controls selected by MAME.
You can
connect two spinners via USB or one serial port and configure games in MAME to
allow 2 players to share one port, one player going via the vertical mouse axis
and the other player via the horizontal axis. MAME has a great deal of
flexibility in this area.
Troubleshooting Trackball
Connection Problems.
If you have no trackball movement, try
the following.
Remove one trackball optical sensor PCB from the trackball.
These slide out after removing a small round retainer with a tab.
The track
side of the PCB should look like this. If it is the "special" type for Mini-PAC
it will have two extra resistors added to this side.
With a voltmeter check the following with the board still
connected to the Opti-PAC.
Black probe on GND, red on 5 volts. This
should read 5 volts.
If this does not read 5 volts, check the wiring from
the PCB locations to the 5V and GND tags on the Opti-PAC. Use the continuity
setting on the meter, after disconnecting the Opti-PAC from the PC (ie remove
power)
Black probe on GND, red on X1
The voltage should be approx 0.5
volts. Then place an object in the slots on the sensors on the other side of
the board. The voltage should rise to approx 4.5 volts.
Voltage stuck low:
this indicates a wire problem between the PCB and the Opti-PAC terminal, or
Hi/Lo jumper not set to LO.
Voltage stuck high indicates a problem with the
optical sensor or a wire connected to the wrong terminal on the
Opti-PAC
Repeat the above for the X2 connection.
Repeat all of
the above tests with the other axis. You might be able to isolate the problem
by swapping PCBs or cabling.
