Cannot get trackball to work

[Birdman]

Hello,

Noob here.

A week ago I purchased an ARPICADE RASPBERRY PI MULTICADE JAMMA PCB ADAPTOR FOR ARCADE MULTIGAME from HighScoreSaves and I am using a Raspberry Pi 3 b+ setup.

For the life of me I cannot get my trackball to work. I have 2 different lighted trackballs from here:
1) https://www.diyretroarcade.com/index.ph ... ry-pi.html
2) https://www.diyretroarcade.com/index.ph ... mma-1.html

For 1, I am using a PS/2 to USB converter and plugging it into a USB on my pi 3 b+
For 2, I plugged it into what looks like a trackball connector on the Multicade jamma board

I am only using power through the JAMMA board connectors.

Is there something I am doing wrong? Do I need an extra supply to the RPI? Is the connecor on the Muilticade board for a trackball? Why isn't any of my USB ports working? Does it matter if I use the mouse or the keyboard cables on the PS/2 to USB adapter?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

~Birdman

[dee2eR]

Unfortunately I have no experience with that style of trackball so my advice may not be 100% accurate...

The second one, with the 6 pin (?) connector - I take it you're trying to plug this one into the RaspberryJAMMA kick harness header, that won't work - that header is just wired for buttons, not trackballs.

The PS/2 to USB adapted one may be able to work, again I'm not sure with that particular hardware. Are you using the adaptor recommended by the seller that has 2 PS/2 ends? If so it may be worth trying the other PS/2 connection. If the trackball winds up using the USB standard it should work, if it needs a driver for PC use it probably won't as they have probably ignored the USB standards. It claims to be compatible with Linux & RPi so it should probably be able to work.

If you haven't already I'd try the USB adapted one into your PC and see what happens, if it acts as a mouse and doesn't require any custom drivers it should work with ARpiCADE.

You DO NOT want to add extra power supplies to the RPi when powering via JAMMA - JAMMA power only is right.

What actually happens with the trackball when plugged into the system? No lighting? No input? Nothing at all?

[Birdman]

Thanks a bunch for your reply.

You bring up some good debugging that I need to do. Thanks for highlighting that the board connector is for the kick harness and won't work with a trackball...that narrows down the one trackball I need to focus on

I need to pull the ball out of my system and plug into a PC as you suggest. There is a possibility that although the PS/2 to USB adapter cable I have looks similar (with both keyboard and mouse ends) to the one on the site where I bought it, maybe there is something about it not quite allowing it to be recognized by the rpi. I've sent a request to the seller of the trackball if he may have a bit more info on that.

I have tried both PS/2 connectors with same results.

Symptons: nothing Ball doesn't light up and doesn't seem to control anything when the system boots.

[Birdman]

Hi Everyone,

Wanted to close this one out. Bottom line was my trackball was bad. I ordered a new trackball, plugged it into the USB, and it worked right out of the chute.

So, I now am using the JAMMA interface to connect to my joystick and a USB port on the pi to connect to my trackball and all is good!

[Sk8ersublime]

what emulator are you using? Ive only been able to get the trackball working on MAME-203, but Missle Command has sound issues and Golden Tee and Marble Madness and stupid slow

[dee2eR]

AdvMAME and MAME 172 should work with trackball and have better performance than 203.

[flyingfistofbudha]

Will usb spinner be ok also?

[cool_factor]

yes