[vox-tech] Classic Atari Trakball as input device under X-Window?

[Steve Weiss]

For a good $99 trackball often used for CAD work, take a look at 
http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html. I've been using one on my 
desktop for 5-10 years instead of a mouse and love it. It's smooth and 
large enough for excellent control, plus it's fast, optical, and has low 
friction - good for zipping across a page with a flick of the fingers. 
And you don't have to move your hand all around - easy and efficient.

One accessory that's a must for me is a wrist cushion. This corrects the 
ergonomics of the tilted trackball base, letting my hand and wrist be 
straight and fingers curl naturally. One I found with the right height 
is: http://imakproducts.com/product.php?c=Wrist+/+Carpal+Tunnel&s=16
It's the same width as the trackball base, about 5"

Hope this helps,
Steve

Bill Kendrick wrote:
> So I've got three great tastes that I think can taste great together:
>
> 1. Linux & X-Window
> 2. Stelladapter
> 3. Atari Trakball
>
> All of us here know what #1 is.  #2 is a device for PCs that allows you
> to connect Atari video game controllers (joystick, paddles, driving
> controllers) to a modern PC's USB port.
> (See: http://www.pixelspast.com/products/ )  And #3 is the trackball
> device for the Atari 2600 (VCS) and Atari 8-bit computers from the 1980s
> (See: http://www.atariage.com/2600/controllers/con_AtariTrakball2.jpg )
>
> The Trakball works similar to ball mice, just upside-down
> (See: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mouse2.htm ).  On the Atari,
> you had to use machine-language to read the bits coming in from
> the joystick port -- BASIC was too slow to read the pulses in such a
> way to make any sense.
>
> On a PC, I imagine using Stelladapter + Trakball and then converting
> USB joystick input (which ends up being an analog interpretation of
> the Atari's digital joystick up/down/left/right bits).
>
> Anyone feel like helping me code this? :)  (read: coding it for me)
>
> OTOH, I suppose I could look for a good trackball for PCs.
> It'd need to be arcade-quality, not some tiny Logitech thumb-controlled
> thing.  Something like this: http://www.xgaming.com/trackball.shtml
> Not like this: http://pan1.fotovista.com/dev/1/3/46410031/l_46410031.jpg
>
> But it's even larger than my Atari Trakball, and relatively expensive ($60).
> Worse, it'd be Yet Another Device to have hanging around the house...
> whereas I already HAVE the Atari Trakball and Stelladapter. :)
>
>
> Along with using it to demonstrate Tux Paint, I've got another classic
> game I'm planning to clone -- an arcade game that played with a trackball.
>
>