Posted by Dustin Haug on 22, 2001 at 9:29 AM:
In Reply to: Partial answer (would like confirmation) posted by Tiger-Heli on 22, 2001 at 6:45 AM:
Something like what you described is what I was hoping would work, I could possibly even rig up a switch to activate either the rotary joysticks or trackball. I hope someone else can confirm that this would work. Anyone?
: I think you COULD do this with just the KE-72T.
: I know the opti-pac supports up to two tracballs AND 4 rotary joysticks, which would not work with the KE-72T.
: Why couldn't you attach the trackball to the KE-72T, the Player 1 opto-rotary joystick to the KE-72T X-axis input, and the Player 2 opto-rotary joystick to the KE-72T Y-axis input (rotary joysticks in parallel with the trackball).
: You would need EMU+ (or maybe WinMAME (hopefully)) to be able to control both rotary joysticks from a single serial port, but that is easy to set up. (Player 1 rotation = Trackball X-axis, Player 2 rotation = TB y-axis)
: Using this setup, the TB and rotary joysticks would "fight" for control, but this should only have the following effects.
: AFAIK, there weren't any games requiring both a trackball and a spinner input, so you wouldn't need to use both at the same time.
: (NOTE: with the opti-pac, you could have dual trackball and 4 spinners hooked up together, which won't be possible with the KE-72T, but that's a different issue.)
: The only legitimate drawback is that if you were playing IKARI Warriors and someone accidentally sent the trackball spinning horizontally, the Red Warrior would start spinning crazily! (Might make the game more interesting. Keep an eye out for the other player moving a hand toward the T/B while playing ;-)
: Someone please tell me if there is a reason this wouldn't work or if I missed something?